Show me your feathers!

What do a peacock and a red fox have in common?

An analogous color scheme, of course. 

Two, three, four colors locking arms as if in a game of Red Rover.  Side by side they stand on the color wheel - content, harmonious, friendly - creating what’s called an analogous color scheme.

Brilliantly, nature uses a line of hues to attract, i.e., the flashy peacock’s blue, turquoise, green plumage or the monarch butterfly’s delicate orange wings dotted with red and brown. 

Slyly, nature camouflages the red fox or a school of tropical fish.  Red, orange, brown fur hides in the surrounding terrain. Blue, turquoise, green iridescent scales move just below the water’s surface.

Marketing gurus have mastered the use of analogous colors.  Mastercard’s red and yellow circles overlap giving us a row of red, orange, yellow.  Sprite and Subway rely on yellow and green to tantalize the eye and satiate the taste buds.

How do interior designers draw attention to space through analogous colors?  Think Mid-Century Modern homes boldly washed walls and upholstered furniture in mustard-yellow, orange, and red.  Think Coastal bungalows resting in the sand, sporting blue, teal, aqua décor.  Think Southwestern adobes with peach, orange, red, brown as seen in terracotta tiles, clay roofs, dark wood beams. 

Easy to coordinate, versatile, and visually amicable, analogous color schemes are true winners.  How do you create a well curated home using a chunk of color from the wheel? Follow a few simple rules for success.

1.     Choose a primary color then select adjacent colors.  Use blue, green, yellow or yellow, orange, red, or red, purple, blue. 

2.     Balance the colors in your space.  Try the formula of 60% dominant color, 30% supporting color, and 10% accent color. 

3.     Stick to a warm (red and yellow) color palette or a cool (blue and green) palette. 

4.     Select colors with enough contrast to produce an interesting venue.  Warning… colors too close to each other may appear flat and boring.

Be cool with blue, blue-green, green.  Go all out with sherbet hues in mango, orange, raspberry.  Scream savvy sophistication with purple, blue-violet, violet.

The possibilities are endless when you’re willing to hold hands with your neighbors.  

Photo source Getty Images