Interior Paint Color
Undertones - part 1

Did you know that most interior paint color shades have undertones? If not, this tutorial will be a real eye-opener for you - you will never look at home paint colors the same!

Why You Need to Know About
Interior Paint Color Undertones

Have you ever painted and decorated a room, and even though all the colors are supposed to look good together, something seems off? Maybe you even used a paint color wheel to come up with a scheme, or copied the look from a magazine or a friend's house - how come the result is nothing like what you expected?

Well, most likely, color undertones are the culprits here. They are often the main difference between professionally coordinated decors, and interior color schemes that looks amateurish.

For a home decorating color scheme to work, there must be a relationship between wall paint colors and the colors of your fabrics, flooring, woodwork, and accents. But here's the tricky part: even colors from the same color family can look totally unrelated and un-balanced when used together - if they have different undertones.

You can often hear professional decorators and house paint color experts say things like: "This beige has a pink undertone", "This gray looks greenish", or "There is some yellow in this red". And while all this may seem mysterious, in reality there is no magic or super-human abilities involved. The pros simply know how to see subtle color - and now you will, too.

So if you are struggling with your home color design and can't figure out why your beige couch looks pinkish against your wall color, or why your freshly painted woodwork looks dirty, this tutorial will help you solve the mystery.

Plus, this skill will come in handy when matching paint color to carpet, tile, fabrics or other decor elements.

So What Exactly Are
Interior Paint Color Undertones?

First of all, home paint colors have mass tones and undertones. A mass tone is pretty simple - it's the predominant color you see (red, green, violet, orange and so on).

A color Undertone can be described as:

• a color behind the main color

• another color added

• a hint of other color present

• a different color showing through

So if you take olive green, for example, its mass tone is green, while the undertone is yellow.

When coordinating paint colors with the rest of decor, most people pay attention only to the mass tones. But it's often these subtle nuances in color (undertones) that can throw the whole room color scheme off balance.

To learn how to see interior paint color like a pro, continue to "House Paint Color Undertones - Part 2".

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