4 Surprising Colour Combinations that Look Great
The thinking that highly contrasting colours should be avoided at all costs is now outdated. In fact, ask any painter, and they’d tell you that contrast is key to creating dazzling and dramatic scenes.
In today’s article, we explore if two bright, energetic colours can come together without becoming an eyesore. Spoiler alert: The answer is yes!
For the classic black and white look, try Vogue Grande.
Here are some cool colour combinations that we think just look great:
1. Orange and grey
Orange can be a tricky colour to use outside of autumn, especially when it isn’t supported by shades of red and yellow – but paired with grey, it can make an otherwise dull and flat space really pop with life.
The great thing about this colour combination is the sheer versatility of the different shades of grey – from smoky to charcoal, there’s a whole range to choose from that can bring out different looks when paired with orange. Within the orange spectrum, you could also experiment with shades like peach, coral, or burnt orange to get the mood that suits you.
For tones that go great with orange, check out Charcoal and Ash from our Blitzen Stone series.
2. Yellow and black
Yellow on its own is already a very high-energy colour. When paired with black as a base, it only makes its brightness stand out all the more – that’s the reason why safety tape typically sports yellow and black stripes!
Whether you’d go for yellow on black or black on yellow, an important concept to keep in mind is the 60-30-10 rule of creating a colour palette: the dominant colour should make up 60% of the room, the secondary colour 30%, and the final 10% can be an accent colour.
Try Black Copper from our Legacy series to really make your yellow tones pop!
3. Red and white
Also known as the Christmas colour combination, the combination of vivid red and white just makes everything look extra lively and festive – think Santa hats and candy canes for an idea.
One of the common pitfalls with this combination is that it can get too bright and saccharine to the eyes. Our advice would be to pair a bright shade with a more muted shade – for instance, if you have bright red elements, you might consider a subtle off-white like those on Vogue Grande’s white tiles; similarly, where you have glossy white surfaces, you could consider deeper shades of red such as wine red.
4. Blue and brown
Among the colour combinations mentioned so far, this probably sounds the weirdest, but is in fact the most common: think about the contrast between earth and sky, or sand and sea – those are classic blue and brown combinations found in nature!
With the selection of the right shades, blue and brown can also imbue a sense of class into your interiors: it’s the reason why they are often the colours of business suits. For natural wood-brown tones and textures, consider Timbre-land for your next project.
