It seems to be ever evolving for us bloggers. If you scrolled back to my posts from a few years ago I was dabbling in interior design and making things for my home and have always loved design aesthetics but didn’t realise back then just how much I would it would be my every day focus.
I’ve just signed up for the ‘ Good Homes Interiors Design Course ‘ run by My Interior Design School. This is a really creative but also practical course for budding designers.
Good Homes readers can receive £50 off the total of the course, making it £249 for a whole year’s worth of online learning. Pretty good huh ? But even better – I have a code for you too at the end of this post – so if you’ve ever fancied a go at interior designing and styling then now is a great opportunity.
The very first module is colour. Whoop ! I have my colour wheel template from the course here in front of me and have been playing around with swatches and samples to make up four different colour schemes.
I’ll use a lot of these pieces here to make up some mood boards with paint cards and fabric swatches ( and in this case flowers too ) to work on colour schemes and cement my knowledge on the theory behind the colour wheel even further.
The purpose of the colour wheel is to create ‘ colour families ‘ and is key to making a room work. The wheel was first developed by none other than Isaac Newton back in 1706 and has since taken on varying forms and for interior design it is a visual tool to blend shades perfectly together.
I’ve used blue in each scheme as my main colour today to show you how just changing colours, even slightly can alter a look.
The first is Triadic which are 3 colours equidistant on the wheel. Blue, red – orange and yellow. Here is a room using the Triadic scheme which in this case is 40% blue main colour, 30% yellow as a contrast colour and 10% red – orange as accent colour. You don’t have to but ideally use a dominant colour because this is most effective.
I’ve put together these colours and will spend some time playing around with them and studying some images for inspiration they also have a really extensive library of stock photos to refer to on the course.
The second is Complementary which involves two shades on the opposite sides of the wheel.
Blue and orange is quite extreme but it definitely works or you could use blue – purple with yellow – orange . You could also go for green and pink ( red with white ) which is possibly my favourite combination.
Then there’s split complementary where you go for the main colour and then introduce two neighbouring.
So here is blue at 60% and then 30% yellow – orange and 10% red – orange. It makes the accents and contrasts really stand out.
The last one for today is Harmonious putting together 4 colours that sit right next to each other on the colour wheel. Here we have 60% blue, 20% blue – 20% green as contrast, 10% blue – green and 10% yellow – green. Okay, if you look closely there’s a teeny pop of red but we’ll ignore that for now …
I love this combination a lot. Much fun to be had with it.
There are also Monochromatic and Monochromatic Neutral schemes and I will be working on these next..
I’m soooo enjoying the start of the course and can’t wait to plough on. As I mentioned earlier I have a code for you and it is TEACHMEDESIGN. This will enable the course at the reduced rate by entering it at checkout.
If you are creative or want to become more adventurous then I recommend trying Interior Design School. I have worked on another but I feel this one is right for me as I am more focused on styling although obviously want to learn everything I can about interior design. They also run short colour courses at their HQ in Cheltenham if you’re interested ? You can find all you need to know on their website.
Which is your favourite scheme here ? Do leave me a comment under this post – I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Lucy x
This is a collaboration with My Interior Design School. All opinions are my own.
Images credits. 2. A Beautiful Mess 4. Love your Home 6. Karen Knox at Making Spaces and 8. LuxDeco. All other photos taken by me.
I’m decorating at the moment for the first time. It’s hard but so much fun, I could do with this course though, I’m very very tempted!!!!
I’m loving watching your DIY on your insta stories X
I think I love the split complementary best!! Sounds so interesting
Ah interesting! My favourite with this these colours is harmonious X
This is really interesting when you break it all down like that. And thank you for using an image from one of my projects. So my Sherwood Forest room scheme is considered to be a Split Contemporary Colour Scheme?
Thank you for letting me use it! Yes it is. I fits perfectly X
Hi Lucy those colour schemes are genious I had no idea you could use the colour wheel in this way. But it does make so much sense!
best wishes
Ashley xx
So glad you like them! It does and I find myself looking at every home image now working out which scheme it is xx
Love the triadic but maybe I’m being influenced by the mid-century vibe which I love!
It does look very cool – I have to agree! X
Loving the use of blues with the pops of orange. Feels very modern
I’d really love to do a course like this. When my babies are a bit more independent I would definitely consider signing up. I have so much to learn. Thanks for the intro.
So interesting to see the differences in shades! Especially love colour in the first photo xx
I loved doing this course Lucy, and always refer to my colour wheel from it when designing a scheme! I learnt so much from it!
Theres something about the blue and orange look that I love best! Love how a shot of colour and bring the room alive
Looks like a great course. x
Lovely post Lucy and really interesting to stop and think about how colours complement and contrast in the home – beautifully imagery too! x
Nice post Lucy. I’m currently trying to work out if I can slot this course into my life. You should never stop learning methinks x
I’m very scared of colour, so I think I need to take a look at the colour wheel! I never know which colours go together, and so have ended up with a very neutral house.
We’re currently renovating, so walls and floors are all neutral, and I’m hoping to add colour in soft furnishings.
Oh my gosh I think I would learn so much from doing this, I’ve learnt a lot from your post alone! X
The Good Homes Interior Design Course sounds amazing. Beautiful photos, I think the last interior is my favourite. x