This is a really good example to discuss. :-)

Blonde and Nomadic are about the same tone, meaning the grayness in each color is about equal. One isn't any more muted than the other. Some people mistake that for value. That's not value. It's nuance. Nuance describes a color's relationship to black and color intensity. Colors with different root hues can have the same nuance -- Blonde and Nomadic are a great example.

Value speaks to lightness and darkness of a color and Blonde, since it's *root* hue is a yellow, is lighter than Nomadic. LRV numbers come in handy in determining that.

You will often read color tips that state as long as you use color with the same "value", they will go together. Or worse, as long as you choose colors from the same position on a color strip, your colors will go together. Simply not accurate.

Blonde and Nomadic are similar in tone, nuance. But, they don't look all that pleasing together. It's okay. Nothing offensive and they could certainly live happily next to each other and get by just fine -- but, they don't look great together.

Chamois would be an alternative to consider. It is darker and more dramatic than Blonde, but that's also why it might be a better fit next to Blonde.

Nomadic would work with so many colors, you really have many options. I think you're pausing on these color choices because your gut was telling you something didn't look and feel right with the Blonde and Nomadic combination. I think you were spot on and you should trust those instincts.

Wow funcolors, I knew I'd get good info here! Thank you!!

Chamois is not a color I would have looked at but now that you point it out - I like it. I was originally going to go with a spicy orange color like Baked Clay or Reynard but decided those were bolder than I wanted.

funcolors, when I took color theory, relative color intensity was referred to as 'chroma.' 'Hue' is the color, and 'value' is as you said, how light or dark the color is. Have these terms changed since I was an art student (1980's!)?

Kim, one of the problems I deal with every day is one-dimensional color theory being applied to the three-dimensional. It's like trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole. Pound hard enough and you can probably get that peg wedged in that round hole to the point that you can say it fits. The square peg will be battered. Corners clumsily whittled and splintered. By no means a good fit in that round hole, but it made it in none the less. I think there is much work to be done. :-)

Intensity, chromaticity or chroma, saturation are *for the most part* interchangeable terms in wall color world.

They basically deal with the same. Brightness and dullness. Vivid or weak. Vibrant or muted. How has a hue been altered to create a color and what is the resulting color's relationship to black. Or, you could also look at it as how close has the color been moved towards a neutral gray.

Nuance is a very important term to understand relative to paint color in particular. It's a two-dimensional term. Could say it sums up light/dark and chroma/saturation/intensity all in one visual evaluation. It's a great term to use to talk about the mood and character one sees in and feels from a color.

Hue and color are not the same thing and are not interchangeable. IMO any way. Pink and red are not the same color, but they both have the same root hue, red. Hue is what you start with. It's the genesis of a color. Color is what results when you do something to the root hue. Defining what the primary or root hues are can make for very interesting color conversation. lol! :-)

It can depend on which corner of color world you are talking about too. Whether you are talking additive or subtractive. Each of those terms can have further detail, can be used to deconstruct color further and for more specific application. And there are many more color terms in the same boat. i.e. What's the difference between luminance and reflectance? Is there a difference? Some people use the word saturation solely to speak to how close to white a color has been moved. Chroma strictly to describe pureness of color, how pure or muddied is the color. It goes on and on... Some would simply classify it as semantics. Others would blast the semantics argument and flat out call it too lazy to learn *proper* color vocabulary. Hard part is getting agreement on exactly what *proper* color vocabulary is.

You might also look at 6390 Bosc Pear.

Thanks, funcolors! Makes me wish I'd had more than a semester of undergrad exposure to color theory! I still do have some of my color theory assignments filed away, which may make for an interesting post some time...

I just finished painting my bedroom "Nomadic Desert". I don't hate it, but I don't love it as much as I thought I would. During the day, I love it. Under our incandescent light, it has a mustardy yellow tone.

Make sure you paint a good big sample on your wall (I did) and look at it at different times of the day (I didn't).

OK, I'm not the brightest bulb when it comes to deciding which colors go together...

The Blonde is out - it makes the Nomadic Desert look like it is pinkish. What would you think of a dark brownish-purple color like SW Dutch Cocoa #6032?