How to use Colour in your bathroom

Are you confused about which shade, tint, hue, or tone will work in your bathroom? How do you create a colour scheme that works? This article will help illuminate things for you! To begin, let's take a look at the colour wheel.

Image by macrovector on Freepik

Making something visually pleasing by using colour utilises the colour wheel. It's a valuable tool in helping you use colour with stunning effects in your bathroom. It can help you choose colours that work well together.

The colour wheel is made of the primary colours, Red, yellow & Blue, which when mixed make the secondary colours, Green, Orange & Purple. Finally, if you mix a secondary with a primary you get the tertiary colours, for example, a yellowish-green or a blueish-green.

Hue - Colour

Shade - When you add black to a Hue/colour

Tint - When you add white to a Hue/colour

Colour temperature - warm colours are yellows, oranges and reds, whereas cool colours are blues, purples and greens. Warm colour are often associated with being bold and cheerful, whereas cold cool colours are subtler and calmer.

Saturation - Purity of colour. high saturation produces intense bright colours

The most popular and visually pleasing colour schemes are created using the following catagories;

Complementary
Analogous
Triadic
Split complementary
Tetradic (square)

Complementary

Complementary colour schemes are opposites on the colour wheel. For example red and green or blue and orange. They work well together creating a bold statement. More trending complementary colours would be a burnt orange paired with a turquoise!

Analogous

Analogous colour schemes use colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel. For example, yellow, orange-yellow and orange.

Triadic

Triadic colour schemes use three points (triangle) on the colour wheel, for example purple, orange and green. All three colours can look very harmonious, particularly when using reduced saturation subtle hues. A soft blue, yellow and pink makes a beautiful triadic colour scheme.

Split complementary

Split complementary colour schemes are similar to complementary colour schemes in that they work with opposite colours on the wheel, however, it makes use of three colours, so instead of using both complementary colours, you use one complementary, then the colours on either side of the opposite complementary colour.

Tetradic (square)

A tetradic colour scheme is a little more complex as it involves four colours on the wheel by using two sets of complementary colours. Pastels work particularly well in a tetradic colour scheme.