Choosing color combinations can be one of the most intimidating tasks for beginning decorators. To make the job easier, you can rely on the color experts’ most important tools – the color wheel. Most of us are put off by the standard color wheel, and for good reason. The pure colors you see on the standard color wheel – brilliant orange, bright red and pure violet aren’t ones you necessarily want to use on your home. And the sophisticated, mixed colors you see in the design and home magazines aren’t a part of the color wheel. No wonder we think the color wheel is useless. But, it’s really not! In fact, the color wheel is one of the most powerful decorating tools available, once you know how to use it. Within this colorful circle are harmonious color relationships and helpful color cues. With a little knowledge, a little practice, and a little patience you can use the color wheel to build a color scheme from scratch or amend an existing color scheme that’s unsatisfying.

Effective design depends on the relationship of different colors in a room or on your home’s exterior. Color creates a home’s personality, defines its style, sets its mood, controls its space, accents its advantages, and hides its faults. It can turn a dull space into a warm, inviting environment. Yet it’s nearly impossible for one color to achieve these benefits. You need a combination of colors that complement and reinforce a particular look or mood. This selection of color combinations becomes your decorating plan.

The Color Wheel is a great tool to see how colors relate to each other. There are three main relationships on the color wheel that are good to know:

Primary Colors. The most basic of color relationships, primary colors are the three pure colors found in light: red, yellow and blue. They cannot be broken down into other colors, but when used in various combinations, they create all other colors. Primary colors are the same distance from one another on the color wheel.

Secondary Colors. The second level of colors are orange, green, and purple. Each is created from equal amounts of two primary colors. On the color wheel, each secondary color falls halfway between the two primary colors it contains and directly opposite the third primary color.

Tertiary Colors. Tertiary, or third-level colors, are created by combining equal parts of a primary and its adjacent secondary color. Yellow and orange, for example, form yellow-orange.

Color levels build on each other. This means you need primary colors to form secondary colors, and both to develop tertiary colors. The bottom color wheel presents the differences among pure colors, or hues, shown in the middle ring; shades, created by adding black, shown in the outer ring; and tints, created by adding white, shown in the inner ring.

The color wheel demystifies color relationships and helps you find colors that work well together. There are no set rules about which colors should be used together, but some natural combinations make successful matches. The following classic combinations are considered the basics for beginners.

Analogous Colors. This set uses three colors located next to each other on the color wheel. Green, yellow-green, and yellow make an analogous arrangement. So do blue-green, blue, and blue-purple. Analogous colors are harmonious because the colors are closely related and your eyes pass over them easily.

Complementary Colors. Two colors located opposite each other on the color wheel complement each other. The most common example is the red and green associated with the holidays. Another is blue and orange. Because a complementary plan combines exact opposites, it balances warm and cool colors. Complements stimulate one another but can seem garish if used together in full intensity.

Triad Colors. Three colors, or a triad, are spaced equally in distance from each other on the color wheel. Red, blue and yellow are a triad, for example, as is orange, green, and purple. Triads form complex, lively color plans, so controlling values and intensities is important.

Split Complementary. This scheme combines a color plus the color on each side of its complement. Pairing yellow with blue-purple and red-purple, for example, makes a split complementary plan. The subtle shift in the complementary colors enriches the plan.

The following color combinations are also great schemes but require a little more thought, control and balance.

Double Split Complementary. This plan combines four colors, one from each side of two complementary colors. It is a rich color plan but difficult to pull off successfully.

Monochromatic. In a monochromatic plan, one color is used in many values, intensities, and textures, so the mix stays lively and interesting. This sophisticated, aesthetic plan needs texture contrasts to work well.

Neutral. This plan uses whites, grays, and black to build an elegant color palette. Some designers include browns, from cream to chocolate, in this category. The neutral plan needs value, intensity, and textural contrast to be effective.