Understand the basics of paint colour to help make the best colour selection
According to Dulux if you can ‘master the basics and learn how colour works’ then it’s easy to create a palette that works in every room of your home. Qpaint is Dulux accredited and we can offer in depth colour consultants to achieve the best interior or exterior paint job for your home. To start, it’s best for you to have an idea of the look or feel you want to achieve and this article can help you start that thought process.
Choosing Paint Colour
The number of paint colours and shades to select from is practically endless and can be overwhelming. But it’s really much more simple than people think. There are 4 key elements to colour;
- Tone
- Chroma
- Temperature
- Hue
Tone
Tone relates to the light and dark of a colour. Adding white lightens the tone and black darkens it. Light tones make a room appear larger so great for bathrooms or studies. It also gives an airy feeling to the space. Dark tones are great for feature walls or larger spaces and look elegant and sophisticated.
Chroma
Chroma is not a common term (except in the paint world) but it means bright and colourful. So for paint colours, it is referring to the intensity of the colour. Chroma colours are bold colours that bring intensity and pop to a space. Think of bright red painted front doors for example. Chroma colours are best used in smaller but impactful areas such as front doors or feature walls.
Temperature
Paint colours can make a room feel warm or cool. These are the two types of temperature colours of paint. They can impact whether the colour recedes or is a focal point, and can even impact the depth perception of a space and what mood it gives off. Warm colours are reds, oranges and yellows. Cool colours are greens, blues and purples.
Hue
The hue is the foundational aspect of a colour scheme and is basically another word for the colour. Hues are primary – red, blue and yellow, Secondary – a mix of two primary colours and tertiary which is a combination of both primary and secondary colours.
What Paint Colour Scheme works in a dark or light space?
The room you want to paint should be the biggest clue to what colour scheme is going to work. The lighting of the room whether artificial or natural will have the biggest impact on how the paint colour will look.
Bright rooms filled with natural light look amazing with cool, neutral colour schemes. But if it’s a dark room white still works but it needs to have a darker white hue to bring warmth and brighter feels.
Qpaint has been painting Queensland homes for over 40 years and we understand colours, for more on colour consultants see https://qpaint.com.au/colour-consult/
