A client of mine was just about to have new ceramic tile installed into her main bathroom.  We got to talking about undertones and I mentioned to her that the tile she picked had pink undertones in it.  She compared her tile with a pure white coloured tile and immediately wanted to return her tile. She was grateful that she hadn’t paid to have it installed yet.  Pink was not the look she was going for. Pink undertones can make a room look dated.

Very few colours used in interiors are pure.  The primary colours, red, blue and yellow are pure colours and they will not have undertones.  Once you starting mixing them to make secondary colours they lose their pureness.  The undertone of a mixed colour is the minor colour that influences the main colour. It is important to determine a colour’s undertones as two different undertones may clash against each other.  You may feel something is not quite right in your room.

Here are some points about undertones:

• It is easier to spot an undertone in a neutral colour than in a cleaner fresher colour.

• Another way to determine the undertone of a colour is to ask yourself is the undertone warm or cool.  Aqua blue has a cool undertone and apple green has a warm undertone.

• If you choose to paint a room in a beige with pink undertones and your carpet is beige with red undertones you will have two beiges that will clash.  The pink will look pinker and the green will look greener.  The two undertones will intensify each other.   A white with yellow undertones will look unpleasant next to a white with blue undertones.

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