Some rooms look pulled together and some look like a collection of unrelated things. Often the furniture is no better in one than the other. The difference is how the colour is shared out.
Designers have a simple rule for this, and it is one of the few that works almost every time. It is called 60-30-10. Once you know it, you start to see it in every room you like. And it gives wall art a very clear job.
The rule
Divide the colour in a room into three parts.
- 60 percent: the dominant colour. The background. Walls, large rugs, perhaps a big sofa. Usually a neutral or a quiet colour.
- 30 percent: the secondary colour. About half as much. Upholstery, curtains, bedding, a feature wall, large furniture. It supports the main colour and adds interest.
- 10 percent: the accent. The smallest amount and the boldest colour. Cushions, a lamp, a vase, a throw, and art.
The numbers are a guide. Nobody measures. The point is the proportion: a lot of one colour, a fair amount of a second, and a little of a third.
Why it works
The eye likes a clear order. When one colour plainly leads, a room feels calm. When a second supports it, the room has depth. When a small amount of a third appears in a few places, the eye has somewhere to travel.
Rooms go wrong in two ways. Too even, with three colours in equal amounts, and nothing leads. Or too many, with five or six colours, and nothing repeats.
Where art fits
Wall art is nearly always part of the 10 percent. It is small compared with the walls and furniture, it sits at eye level, and it is where the strongest colour in a room can live without becoming too much.
That makes art the most useful tool you have for an accent. A cushion is one colour. A picture can hold the accent and the secondary colour together, and show how they relate.
The best trick: start from the art
Instead of choosing a scheme and hunting for art to match, choose the art first and take the scheme from it.
- Pick a piece you love.
- Find its three main colours. Squint at it. What is the largest area of colour? The next? The small bright bit?
- Use the quietest of those, or a neutral, as your 60.
- Use the second as your 30.
- Use the brightest as your 10.
The artist has already made those colours work together. You are borrowing a scheme that is known to be good.
Three worked examples
A violet bedroom
Art: Hand of the Stars. A glassy violet-pink hand against a dark sky that shades from deep red to indigo.
- 60: a soft warm grey or off-white on the walls, and pale bedding.
- 30: deep indigo or charcoal in the headboard, curtains or a rug.
- 10: violet and pink. The picture itself, two cushions and a small lamp.
A calm blue living room
Art: Blue Mountain Fog. White cloud and teal-blue pines.
- 60: white or pale cream walls and a light rug.
- 30: a blue-grey or teal sofa.
- 10: here the art is quiet, so the accent needs help. Add something warm: a tan leather cushion, a brass lamp, a terracotta pot. A warm accent in a cool room is what stops it feeling cold.
An orange and blue desk corner
Art: Japanese City Punk FX.2 Koi Attack. Orange koi and red signs against deep blue towers.
- 60: charcoal or white walls, a black desk.
- 30: deep blue, in a desk mat, a chair or LED lighting.
- 10: orange. The koi in the picture, and one or two small things on the desk.
Repeat the accent three times
An accent colour that appears once looks like an accident. Put it in at least three places, spread around the room: the art on one wall, a cushion across the room, a small object on a shelf. The eye links them, and the room feels planned.
This is the most common thing missing from rooms that nearly work. The art is right. Nothing else in the room talks to it.
When the art is the loud thing
If you love a piece that is big, bright and multi-coloured, let it be most of the 10 and keep everything else very quiet. Pick one colour from it to repeat, and leave the others in the frame.
When you want more than three colours
You can split the 10 into two accents. You can use two shades of the same colour as the 60 and the 30, which gives a calm, layered room. Black and white count as neutrals and can be added freely. What you can't do is give four colours equal weight.
Small rooms and desks
The rule scales down. On a desk: the desk surface and wall are the 60, the mat and chair are the 30, and the art and a few small objects are the 10. See choosing a desk mat by colour scheme and desk mat and wall art pairings.
A quick check for your own room
- Stand in the doorway. What colour do you see most of? That is your 60.
- What is second? That is your 30.
- Is there a third colour, in small amounts, in more than one place? That is your 10.
- If you can't answer the third question, the room needs an accent, and a piece of art is the easiest way to add one.
For more on colour, see warm vs cool colours and matching art to your couch. Browse the canvas and poster collections to find your starting point.