Color & Patterns
12 color & patterns terms used in interior design, each with a clear definition and how to use it.
60-30-10 rule
The 60-30-10 rule is a classic interior design principle for balancing color in a room: 60% of the space in a dominant color (typically walls and large furniture), 30% in a secondary color (upholstery and rugs), and 10% in an accent color (decorative objects, art, pillows).
Analogous colors
Analogous colors are groups of three or more colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel, sharing common color characteristics and producing harmonious, naturally-pleasing palettes. Analogous palettes are calm and unified, making them excellent choices for restful spaces like bedrooms, living rooms, and primary spaces.
Color wheel
The color wheel is a circular arrangement of colors used to visualize color relationships, typically showing 12 colors organized as 3 primary, 3 secondary, and 6 tertiary colors. The color wheel is the foundational tool for understanding color schemes (complementary, analogous, triadic) and remains essential for interior design color decisions.
Complementary colors
Complementary colors are pairs of colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel, such as red and green, blue and orange, or yellow and purple. When placed next to each other, complementary colors produce maximum visual contrast and intensity. In interior design, complementary palettes are bold and energetic but require careful balance to avoid visual fatigue.
Monochromatic color scheme
A monochromatic color scheme uses variations of a single hue, different shades, tints, and tones of one color, throughout a room. The result is a deeply cohesive, often calming space where visual interest comes from texture, pattern, and tonal variation rather than color contrast.
Neutral palette
A neutral palette is an interior color scheme dominated by colors that are not strongly identified with any specific hue, including white, cream, beige, taupe, grey, mushroom, oat, and warm or cool variations of these. Neutral palettes provide a calming foundation and serve as the dominant aesthetic in many contemporary luxury styles including Belgian, quiet luxury, Scandinavian, and modern Mediterranean.
Saturation
Saturation (also called chroma) refers to the intensity or purity of a color, how vivid versus how muted it appears. Highly saturated colors are pure and intense (fire-engine red, electric blue, neon green); low-saturation colors are muted, washed-out, or close to grey. Understanding saturation is essential for choosing paint colors that work in different design contexts.
Split-complementary color scheme
A split-complementary color scheme uses three colors: one base color plus the two colors adjacent to its direct complement (rather than the complement itself). This produces the contrast of complementary palettes with more sophistication and less visual aggression, making it one of the most useful and balanced color schemes in interior design.
Tint, shade & tone
Tint, shade, and tone are three ways to modify a pure color (hue). A tint is a hue mixed with white (lighter), a shade is a hue mixed with black (darker), and a tone is a hue mixed with grey (muted). Understanding these three transformations is essential for understanding how the same base color produces dramatically different design results.
Triadic color scheme
A triadic color scheme uses three colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel (120° apart), such as red, yellow, and blue (the primaries) or green, orange, and purple (the secondaries). Triadic schemes are vibrant, balanced, and offer maximum color variety while remaining harmonious, but require careful proportioning to avoid feeling chaotic.
Undertone
Undertone is the subtle underlying color tendency within a primary color, particularly important for whites, beiges, greys, and other neutrals. A "warm white" has a yellow or red undertone; a "cool white" has a blue or green undertone. Understanding undertones is critical for paint selection because it determines how colors interact with surrounding materials, lighting, and other paint colors.
Warm vs cool colors
Warm and cool refer to the psychological and visual temperature of colors, warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows) evoke fire, sun, and energy; cool colors (blues, greens, purples) evoke water, sky, and calm. The warm-cool distinction is one of the most important practical tools in color selection for interior design.