Embrace Colour 60/30/10

Embrace colour. Just remember 60/30/10 and you’ll be a décor master.

What is 60/30/10?

The 60% choice is the main colour for your room. In a living room, it would be most of your walls, large accent pieces like area rugs and perhaps a sofa. The idea is that the 60% colours anchors the space and also serves as a backdrop for what comes next.

The 30% is the secondary colour. You’ll be using half as much of this colour as your main colour. This could include draperies, accent chairs, bed linens, painted furniture or by creating an accent wall. The idea is that the secondary colour compliments the main colour, but is different enough to give the room interest. The real fun now comes with the accent colour you add next.

The 10% is your accent colour. For a living room, this is your pillows, decorative accessories and artwork. For a bedroom, it could be accent pillows, bedside lamps or candles on the nightstand. Your accent colour can easily be added to a room through artwork or from a printed fabric on larger items.

Using the 60-30-10 rule makes choosing colour combinations simple and helps you achieve balance in decorating. To choose the three colours for your space, a colour scheme based on the colour wheel is the simplest method. Another quick trick used by decorators is to pull the colours from a fabric print, because the fabric designer has already done the matching for you.