Achromatic, Analogous and Monochromatic Color Schemes for Decorating

Check out how to decorate your home using achromatic color, analogous color and monochromatic color schemes!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

Originally published in 2020 but updated in 2026.

If you are coming from Lesson 2: Complementary Colors, here is Lesson 3, all about achromatic, analogous, and monochromatic color schemes. You definitely don’t have to decorate like this but if you are curious as to what colors go together, this is a foolproof way to do it.

If you landed on this post but want to start at the beginning then check out Lesson 1: Color Theory.

Achromatic

Achromatic literally means without color. There is little or no color saturation so all you have is black, white and grey.

Accented Achromatic

Accented achromatic is exactly that, one accent color added to an achromatic color scheme. This example below shows pink added.

Analogous

Analogous colors are any 2 to 4 colors which are side by side on the color wheel. You can imagine all the beautiful color possibilities.

Monochromatic

A monochromatic color scheme is based on tint, tone or shade of just one color.

And last image – my bedroom!

I hope this has given you insight to the world of color theory and how you can decorate your homes in achromatic, analogous and monochromatic color schemes. Be sure to continue on to the last part of the series, Lesson 4: Decorating with Split Complementary, Tetrad, Triadic and Clash Colors.

Get your own artist’s color wheel here.

Click in case you missed:

Lesson 1: How to Use a Color Wheel for Decorating

Lesson 2: How to Decorate with Complementary Colors

Lesson 4: Decorating with Split Complementary, Tetrad, Triadic and Clash Color Schemes