Colour is one of the main elements in interior decoration. Trying to decide on the right colour scheme for a room or an entire home can be difficult. You can simplify the process by using your colour wheel and narrowing down your choices to two colour schemes. There are more, of course, but these are the most effective and provide a great place to start.

Complementary Colour Scheme
Complementary colours are across from each other on the colour wheel, such as red and green, blue and yellow, or purple and orange. Rooms decorated with a complementary colour scheme tend to provide a clear separation of colours and often are more formal and more visually challenging. Complementary colour schemes should be used in the more formal areas of the home — for example, the living room or dining room.

Colour can be spread by simple touches like vases, candles, cushions, that are easy to change when you want to refresh a room.

Here are some meanings to help you with your choices..

Orange is the colour of social communication, creativity, attraction and optimism. Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. Orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite.

yellow is the colour of the mind and the intellect. It is optimistic and cheerful. Yellow is an attention getter that's why few taxicabs companies are painted in yellow. Yellow is effective for attracting attention, so use it to highlight the most important elements of your design, but when overused, yellow may have a disturbing influence (it is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms).

Green is the colour of balance and growth. It symbolises harmony, freshness, safety and fertility. It's the colour of nature. It has a healing power. It's the most restful colour for human eyes.

Blue is  the sky and the sea, the colour of trust and peace. It can suggest loyalty and integrity as well as wisdom, confidence, intelligence.. Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body, having a calming effect. When used together with warm colours like yellow or red, blue can create high impact, vibrant designs.

Purple is the colour of the imagination, associated with royalty, power, luxury and ambition, mystery and magic. Children love the colour purple .

Pink is unconditional love and nurturing. Pink can also be immature, silly and girlish.

Red is a colour of universal harmony and emotional balance. It is spiritual yet practical, encouraging common sense and a balanced outlook on life. Red is the colour of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination. It's a very emotionally intense colour. It is use to stimulate people to make quick decisions

Brown is a friendly yet serious, down-to-earth colour that relates to security, protection, comfort and material wealth.

Grey is the colour of compromise - being neither black nor white, it is the transition between two non-colours. It is unemotional and detached and can be indecisive.

Gold is the colour of success, achievement and triumph. Associated with abundance and prosperity, luxury and quality, prestige and sophistication, value and elegance, the colour psychology of gold implies affluence, material wealth and extravagance.

Silver has a feminine energy; it is related to the moon and flow of the tides - it is fluid, emotional, sensitive and mysterious.

White is colour at its most complete and pure, the colour of perfection. The colour meaning of white is purity, innocence, wholeness and completion.

Black is the colour of the hidden, the secretive and the unknown, creating an air of mystery. It keeps things bottled up inside, hidden from the world. Black is also associated with power, elegance, formality and mystery. Black gives the feeling of perspective and depth, it makes other colours stand out.