Color is one of the fastest ways to add character to your interiors. An unexpected dash of red here, a wall drenched in a moody green there. It can instantly elevate a space from simple to sophisticated. But part of why color is so intimidating is because of this drastic effect it has on a space — while some shades can expand a room , others engulf it.
Which brings us to advancing and receding colors. What are they? What do they do to our homes? Advancing colors, as the name suggests, are colors that visually move towards the viewer. Receding colors, in contrast, visually move away from the viewer.
When it comes to decorating with color, advancing colors are warm tones (think yellows and reds) that reach forward or pop in a room.
Receding colors are typically cooler hues (like blues and greens) that tend to sit comfortably in the background. When you strike the right balance you can achieve perfection.
To better understand advancing and receding colors, Andrea Moorea Wong, of Livingetc’s magazine, gives a wonderful review of what this color phenomena can do in a space.
“Advancing colors do what you’d expect from their assertive name – they lean in for attention, and sit at the front of what you can see,” she explains. The shades that tick this box are the warm tones on the color wheel, such as red, orange, and yellow. These colors have longer wavelengths which our eyes interpret as moving forwards. They create a sense of vibrancy and energy, making an object or area stand out, and feel louder and more prominent. However, as they come forward, they can also make a space feel closer, so you may want to avoid using a warm-dominate palette in an already small or restricted space. Therefore, advancing colors are perfect for making an open layout or larger space feel cozier by creating a warm, cocooning environment in a space such as a bedroom.
Receding colors are those that don’t want any focus on them, that ease themselves quietly into the background,” explains Amy. Classically these are the cold colors — blues, green and violets. “These colors have shorter wavelengths which the eye places at the back of what it’s looking at. Receding colors feel calm and unobtrusive, and they allow other shades to take center stage.
As they appear to move away from you, they create (the illusion of) depth, making objects or areas seem further away and fostering a sense of spaciousness”.
So, a room full of receding colors will sit serenely with the eye, often feel more peaceful, and will even be a good base palette to work from.
Receding colors are a great paint trick for low ceilings, or if you have a small layout, they can make the space feel more expansive. Just be sure to balance the values (darkness or lightness) appropriately.
You can also adjust colors. In order to make a color recede, you can mix it with white or gray, thin paint, or mix paint with its complementary color. All of these methods work.
Saturated colors will make the color advance forward.
Placing receding and advancing colors together can be an effective design technique.
It can add a ton of interest to a space by creating a sense of movement and/or dynamism, even whimsy.
Sitting alongside each other, the duo forms an illusion; the warmer color seems to slowly loom forward while the cold tone shrinks back. Adding accents of opposing colors creates visual balance in interior design, tempering the effects of the leading tone and making a space feel harmonious while also somehow dynamic.
For example, a room color-wrapped in warm- toned stripes will help to create the illusion of an intimate space that you can then accentuate with contrasting a green (advancing) accent pillows and drapes.
Alternatively, if you choose to paint a room in a warm color scheme, brick red, Amy says, “I’d go for big pieces of (receding) deep greens and blues for depth, contrast, and richness such as a chunky chair or sofa.”
Understanding the relationship between advancing and receding colors is all about context.
“Advancing and receding colors come down to how they’re placed and what they’re contrasted against,” says Amy. “As you’d expect the advancing/receding contrast is heightened and more noticeable if the colors are placed directly alongside each other, whereas if they’re spread out or layered with neutrals, everything softens.”
As you create a color palette, watch the colors come together and mingle with one another.
Soon you will figure out what colors work naturally with your eye and design style.
Color in Context
A critical concept to understand when working with color, is that it is oftentimes clearer when compared next to other colors. By making these direct comparisons, we gain a better understanding of that particular color, or set of colors.
The kinds of comparisons which help place color in context are;
- Warm vs. Cool
- Light vs. Dark
- Bold vs. Muted
Here is an example:
If you were to ask anyone, they would say that this is pink. And they would be correct. They might find it difficult; however, to decide if the color was warm or cool, light or dark or bold vs. muted. This can best be determined through comparisons to another color or colors.
Pink’s mother color is red, a color which is located on both sides of the color wheel so it a bit more nuanced to decide where it falls on the temperature barometer. Sachet Pink has a cool blue undertone which makes it a cooler pink. But, when it is placed next to Almond Blossom look how it appears warmer than when it stands alone. That is due to the comparison to an even cooler pink.
Let’s take a look at what is going on.
Cool vs. Warm
If you divide the color in half through red and green, the colors on the left side of the wheel are cool and the colors on the right side of the wheel are warm. Most of us are aware of cool vs. dark colors. But there are nuances to this concept which may be new to you. Notice that the red and green are colors that can be both warm and cool depending upon which side of the wheel that they fall on. These are typically noted as either blue reds and orange reds and blue greens vs. yellow greens.
Below are just a few of the many examples of this difference in the temperature of colors.
The color on the left is cool whereas the color on the right is deemed warm (or at least warmer as in the blue shades.)
These last two examples are more nuanced because they are neutral shades.
The main characteristic of neutral colors is their lack of a dominant hue. They have have low intensity and saturation.
Neutral colors are not on the traditional color wheel and are often a mix of opposites, making them complementary to other shades. They are oftentimes a more complex mix of undertones for this reason and it can be more difficult to determine if they are warm or cool. (We will discuss undertones in a different section of the course.)
Pure Neutrals
- Black: The absence of all color.
- White: The presence of all colors.
- Gray: A perfect balance between black and white.
Earthy and Desaturated Neutrals
- Beige: A light grayish-tan color.
- Brown: A dark-colored neutral often found in nature.
- Tan: A pale brown color.
- Taupe: A mixture of brown and gray, often with a hint of purple or green.
- Cream and Ivory: Off-white shades with slight yellow undertones.
Near-Neutrals
- Muted Colors: Some muted or desaturated versions of other colors, such as olive green or navy blue, can also function as neutrals because they lack intensity.
Because neutrals lack their own strong color, they work well with other colors and are often used to ground and balance more vibrant hues.
Light vs. Dark
This comparison is much easier to understand and doesn’t need much by way of an explanation. But an interesting point to note is that when a lighter color of the same shade is put next to a darker color version, the lighter shade appears lighter and the darker color even darker.
Here are a few examples from the three Colortime palettes.
Sunrise Palette
Sunlight Palette
It can be more subtle but we can still see that
Moonlight Blue is lighter than Moroccan Blue
Here are few tips with regard to using light or dark shades of color. A dark or intensely saturated color on a wall in a large area, such as an office or retail space, will draw attention. Small, dark spaces such as hallways, entries, alcoves and powder rooms can be dramatized with intense color. Vivid or deep shades are most effective in a passageway leading to light, larger areas – the effect created is that of a light at the end of a tunnel. To length a short hallway, the walls would be best painted in a deep tone, floor and ceiling should be light. The frames of the artwork along the walls should match the ceiling or floor color. This forms a horizontal pattern that the eye will follow to create more length.
In order to open up a tight space, lighten the hue on the wall needing expanding. For example, if a sofa must be placed on a short wall, lighten both the wall behind it and the and the wall immediately opposite. The two remaining walls may be darkened to a medium or deeper tone. The same technique works for a narrow room. The narrow walls should be lighter than the wider walls. To make a square room less box-like, ne wall should be done in a tone deeper than the other three walls.
Bold vs. Muted
This is a color comparison that comes from the saturation level for the shade. It refers to the level of gray in a shade. A hue in its purest form is at maximum chroma. The purer a color, the more it approaches the colors of the spectrum and the grater its saturation. The grayer and more closer to neutral a shade, the less its saturation. The most commonly used words to describe saturation levels are; intensity, clarity, purity brilliance, richness, boldness, vividness, and truth. Colors which are not grayed and at their ultimate brilliance are said to be at their fullest intensity. Lowered saturation may be described as subdued, misty, subtle, soft, toned-down, muted or dirty.
Here are some examples from the Colortime palettes. They are more subtle comparisons than the examples above but still evident and important when making design decisions. Let’s look at Petit Four from the Sunrise palette. It is much brighter and truer than Placide Blue Lake from the same palette. Of course you could pull another shade that is even truer than Petit Four or more muted than Placid Blue Lake. It is all a matter of comparison.
Large vs. Small Masses of Color
Because colors are rarely used in isolation, they will appear to change according to their surroundings and how much of that particular is being utilized. If a small square of medium gray is surrounded by a larger area of black, the gray square will appear brighter than a gray square surrounded by white. The brightness of the pure white contrast will make the gray appear duller; against a deep black, the gray appears brighter.
Colors selected from small samples will intensity and appear stronger when applier to a larger expanse, such as a wall. A pleasantly cool blue can turn icy cold on a wall. Dark objects are perceived as heavier in weight than light objects. Black is the heaviest followed by blue, red, purple orange, green yellow and white.
The human eye has the ability to discern between several million variations of hues. Be cautious when placing two highly saturated colors next to each other in pattern as the colors can blend to form the mixed together. This can occur with blue and red, for instance. If you were to use this pattern on a throw pillow and walk into the next room the pillow could easily become a nice rich shade of mid value purple. I have firsthand experience with this so just as a precaution!
