Colour plays an important role on our moods, different colours evoke different emotions and behavior. We always think about how lights effect our moods but we forget that colour plays a large role as well. There is a whole psychology to colour. It’s important to take this into account when planning on what colour to paint your space. Some colours make you feel tranquil and some rage.
Before choosing the colours for your space you have to decide what mood you want to set in your space. Do you want your bedroom restful and soothing or dramatic and intimate? Do you want your dinning room social and stimulating or formal and quiet?
Red is the most intense of all the colours. It evokes strong emotions and raises adrenaline levels. Since reds are thought to draw people together and stimulate conversation it’s a good choice in your living room or dining,where you want to encourage people to sit around and talk. Red is also an appetite stimulate, so a good choice for your dinning room. In an entrance way, it creates a strong first impression. Reds generally increase blood pressure and heart rate, so it’s considered too stimulating in bedrooms.
Yellow is considered to be warm and cheerful. It captures the joy of sunshine. It’s a create choice for kitchens, dining rooms and bathrooms as it invigorating colour. It’s also great in hallways and small spaces as it can make the space feel welcoming and larger than it is. Yellow is a great to paint your home office if you are someone in a creative field.
Blue is said to make you feel the most calm and serene. Since your bedroom is where you go to relax, blue is a great choice since it has a calming effect. In spaces with lots of natural light, pastel blue can look chilly on the walls, if you decided to go with it as your main colour in the room, it should be balanced with a warmed hue. If you want to create a relaxing feeling in your social areas, family rooms, living room, kitchen, blue is a great choice, best to go with a warmer blue. If you are someone who does mind-work, e.g. account, lawyer, than painting your home office is a great colour to help promote productivity.
Green is considered to be a very tranquil colour. Since it’s a combination of blue, a calm and serene colour, and yellow, a warm and cheerful colour. Green is great in any room in your house. It has enough warmth to encourage closeness and comfort as well as the coolness to promote unwinding.
Purple, is different than a lot of colours, since it’s darker value elicit very different feeling than it’s lighter value. A darker purple, such as eggplant is rich, dramatic and sophisticated. It’s associated with wealth and success. Lighter versions such as lilac and lavender bring the same relaxation to a bedroom as blue does, without the risk of giving off a chilly feeling.
Orange bring outs out excitement and enthusiasm. It’s not the best choice for a bedroom or living room, but it’s great for a workout space since it will evoke the emotions needed for your workout.
Neutrals (black,grey,white and brown) these colours are all part of a designs basic tool kit. There beauty is that they are extremely flexible to work with. Neutral colours work with all designs and all colours in the colour wheel. These colours are considered to be without colour.
Black is the strongest of the neutrals, and best used in small doses as an accent colour. It is associated with power, elegance and formality on the positive side. On the negative side it’s associted with evil and mystery.
White is at the opposite end of the spectrum. It’s considered to be associated with purity and innocence. When white is used as the backdrop in the space it allows the other colours to have a larger voice.
Ceiling make up a small part of your space but they shouldn’t be forgotten. It used to be thought that white was the only colour that could be used for a ceiling, but that’s not true. Even painting the ceiling a colour will have a different effect on the space. A ceiling that is painted lighter than the walls will make the walls seem higher. Ceiling that are darker than the walls will make the walls seem lower, which will evoke a more cozy and intimate feeling.
Things to remember light colours are expansive and airy, which makes things seems larger and brighter. Meaning a room with light walls will seem larger. Dark colours are warm and sophisticated, they give larger rooms a more intimate feel. Meaning a room with darker walls make the room seem smaller.
