At George Street Linen, we believe in the power of colour to create ambiance, evoke emotions and express your personal style. And to unleash that power, it helps to have a little inside knowledge.
IS IT COMPLICATED?
The theory of colour is complicated, but understanding how to mix colours doesn’t have to be. People talk about the colour wheel as if it is this mysterious tool with the power to transform. But it’s only a diagram used – originally by Isaac Newton in the 1660s – to illustrate how colours relate to each other. Newton had noticed that when light falls on a prism, the different angles of the prism separate the light into multiple colours – what he called the colours of the spectrum – in a very particular order. The same thing is visible in rainbows.
ON THE SPECTRUM
The colours of the spectrum go from violet, blue, green, yellow, orange to red. You can break them down even more into three pure, or primary, colours – blue, yellow and red. Other colours, known as secondary colours, are created from these pure colours – thus, violet is made from blue and red, green from blue and yellow, orange from red and yellow. Looking at the colours in a circle, or wheel, you can see how they merge into each other. Paint colours and fabric dyes are combinations of the primary and secondary colours with white or black, as well as every variation in between – tints to which white has been added, as well as different intensities, or tones, of a colour.
Once you understand the relationship colours have to each other, and how they are mixed together, you can start having fun. There are no hard and fast rules. It’s all about what feels good to you. But there are a few tricks and we plan to reveal them month by month so you can turn your bedroom into a sanctuary.