Complementary Color Scheme
A complementary color scheme pairs two hues from opposite sides of the color wheel — like blue and orange, or red and green. It delivers the boldest contrast of any scheme, which makes it perfect for a confident accent.
A complementary color scheme uses two hues directly opposite each other on the color wheel. The contrast is maximal, so one color usually dominates and the other appears as a sharp accent. Build one below in real paint.
Drag the base dot around the wheel — the scheme follows the rule. Each color snaps to the nearest real paint. Tap a swatch to copy its hex.
This is the complementary scheme drawn on the wheel — drag the base dot to explore, then open any result as an editable palette in real paint.
Find your base hue on the wheel and take the color directly across from it (180° away) — that's its complement. Used at full strength on both, complements vibrate; the trick is balance. Let one hue lead at 60-70% and use its complement for the 10% accent, with neutrals carrying the rest.
Use complementary when you want a room with punch — a navy living room with a burnt-orange accent, a sage kitchen with a terracotta detail. It's the scheme behind most 'pop of color' moments.
Tap any example to open it as an editable palette, or try it on your own photo in the visualizer.
Prefer to start from a color? See ready-made combinations for any base.
Our color tools run on our own catalogue of 26,000+ real paint colors across 16 brands — Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, Behr, Dulux, RAL and more — with the color math (HSL and CIELAB matching) computed in-house, not scraped from summaries. Every color you pick maps to a real, buyable paint with its code, so what you see here you can actually take to the store. We review and update these tools and their data regularly.
Created by Denis Kataev, founder of DSGN.HOUSE — a software engineer and digital entrepreneur building professional color-design tools for everyone.
What is a complementary color scheme?+
Two hues directly opposite on the color wheel — blue/orange, red/green, yellow/purple. They produce the highest possible contrast, which reads as energetic and bold.
What are some complementary color examples?+
Blue and orange, red and green, yellow and purple, teal and coral. The generator above starts on a complementary pair and snaps both to real paint codes.
How do I use complementary colors without it being too much?+
Let one hue dominate and use its complement only as a 10% accent, grounded by neutrals. Muting one of the two (a softer, greyed version) also keeps the contrast from vibrating.
Is navy and orange a complementary scheme?+
Yes — navy is a deep blue and orange sits opposite blue on the wheel, so navy-and-orange is a classic, slightly sophisticated complementary pairing.