Room Color and How it Affects your Mood

Intro

While most of us may not spend a lot of time thinking about room color, it affects every day of our lives. Room color can influence our mood and our thoughts. Colors affect people in many ways, depending upon one’s age, gender, ethnic background or local climate. Certain colors or groups of colors tend to get a similar reaction from most people – the overall difference being in the shade or tones used. So it’s important to choose wisely.

colors wheel

To have a beautiful home, you do not have to worry about trends. Color trends will come and go. The people who live in a home make it beautiful by choosing colors that reflect their likes and their personalities. The trick is to blend those colors you like into a pleasing combination. Choosing color combinations is one of the most intimidating steps for beginners. Color has the power to change the shape and size of furnishings as well as the shape and size of the room itself.

Selecting colors is not difficult if you equip yourself with some basic information about color and its effects, so let’s find more about room colors, and how these affect your mood.

Let’s begin …

When selecting color for a room, keep in mind that each color has a psychological value. Think about how those colors make you feel. The main color of your room can have an effect on your mood. These colors can make you feel anything from tranquil to rage. So when trying to create peace and harmony in your home choose your colors wisely. Some colors in large amounts will have just the opposite affect on you and your loved ones’ moods.

What mood do you want to create? Which colors will help you achieve that mood?

Find clear answers to these questions. If you find this task quite difficult try to look at magazines, decorating books, blogs and websites for ideas, or let your fabric be your guide. In fact, this is a good approach to take even if you’re starting from scratch. Fabric, carpeting, furniture and tile are available in a more limited range of colors than is paint, so choose them first and then decide on your paint color. Once you’ve found what you where searching for limit the number of colors in a room to no more than three or four. Too many colors can make a room look busy or cluttered.

Paint is a fairly inexpensive and transforms a room more quickly than anything else you can do so you can afford to experiment a little.

Room Colors

Understand that colors behave in three basic ways : active, passive, and neutral , and you can easily match every room’s colors to your personal desires and taste and to the room’s purpose. Light colors are expansive and airy, they make rooms seem larger and brighter. Dark colors are sophisticated and warm; they give large rooms a more intimate appearance.

Now let’s find more about some colors.

red colorRed raises a room’s energy level. It’s a good choice when you want to stir up excitement, particularly at night. In the living room or dining room, red draws people together and stimulates conversation. In an entryway, it creates a strong first impression. Red has been shown to raise blood pressure, speed respiration and heart rate. It is usually considered too stimulating for bedrooms, but if you’re only in the room after dark, you’ll be seeing it mostly by lamplight, when the color will appear muted, rich, and elegant. Red, the most intense, pumps the adrenaline like no other hue.

Crimson can make some people feel irritable. With red invoking feels of rage and hostility is a color that should be avoided as the main color of a room. Sitting for long periods of time in a room this color will likely breakdown any peace and harmony you are striving to create in your home. Ancient cultures used the color red to stimulate the body and mind and to increase circulation.
yellow colorYellow captures the joy of sunshine and communicates happiness. It’s perfect for kitchens, dining rooms, and bathrooms, where happy color is energizing and uplifting. In halls, entries, and small spaces, yellow can feel expansive and welcoming.Yellow although is a cheery color is not a good choice in main color schemes of a room. People are more likely to lose their tempers in a yellow room. Babies also seem to cry more in a yellow room. This color tends to create feeling of
frustration and anger in people. This color is the most fatiguing on the eyes.In chromotherapy yellow was believed to stimulate the nerves and purify the body.

blue colorBlue brings down blood pressure and slows respiration and heart rate. That’s why it’s considered calming, relaxing, and serene, and is often recommended for bedrooms and bathrooms. Be careful, however: A pastel blue that looks pretty on the paint chip can come across as unpleasantly chilly when it’s on the walls and furnishings, especially in a room that receives little natural light. If you opt for a light blue as the primary color in a room, balance it with warm hues in the furnishings
and fabrics.

To encourage relaxation in the rooms where people gather family rooms, living rooms, large kitchens consider warmer blues, such as periwinkle, or bright blues, such as cerulean or turquoise. Blue is known to have a calming effect when used as the main color of a room. When going with blue go for softer shades of blue. Dark blue has the opposite effect. Dark blue evokes feels of sadness. So refrain from using darker blues in your main color scheme. Stay with the lighter shades of blue to give you and your loved ones a calm effect.

green color

Green is considered the most restful color for the eye. Combining the refreshing quality of blue and the cheerfulness of yellow, green is suited to almost any room in the house. In a kitchen, a sage or medium green cools things down; in a family room or living room, it encourages unwinding but has enough warmth to promote comfort and togetherness. In a bedroom, it’s relaxing and pleasant.Green also has a calming effect when used as a main color for decorating. It is believed to relieve stress by helping people relax. Also believed to help with fertility this is a great choice for the bedroom.

purple.jpg

Purple in its darkest values (eggplant, for example) is rich, dramatic, and sophisticated. It’s associated with luxury as well as creativity, and as an accent or secondary color, it gives a scheme depth. Lighter versions of purple, such as lavender and lilac, bring the same restful quality to bedrooms as blue does, but without the risk of feeling chilly.

orange.jpgOrange evokes excitement, enthusiasm and is an energetic color. While not a good idea for a living room or for bedrooms this color is great for an exercise room. It will bring all the emotions out that you need when jumping into your fitness routine.In ancient cultures orange was used to heal the lungs and increase energy levels.

black-white.jpgNeutrals (black, gray, white, and brown) are basic to the decorator’s tool kit. All-neutral schemes fall in and out of fashion, but their virtue lies in their flexibility: Add color to liven things up; subtract it to calm things down. Black is best used in small doses as an accent , indeed, some experts maintain that every room needs a touch of black to ground the color scheme and give it depth.

To make the job easier, you can rely on the interior designer’s most important color tool: the color wheel.

Something about Ceiling and Walls

The ceiling represents one-sixth of the space in a room, but too often it gets nothing more than a coat of white paint. In fact, for decades, white has been considered not only the safest but also the best choice for ceilings. As a general rule, ceilings that are lighter than the walls feel higher, while those that are darker feel lower. Lower” need not mean claustrophobic: Visually lowered ceilings can evoke cozy intimacy.

Dark walls make a room seem smaller, and light walls make a room seem larger.

Conclusion

These general guidelines are a good starting point in your search for a paint color. But remember that color choice is a very personal matter. You’re the one who has to live with your new paint color, so choose a hue that suits you, your family and your lifestyle.And after investing time to select just the right color, make sure it continues to look that way long-term by investing in a top quality paint.

P.S – If you’ve found this article useful, you should also read “Things You Should Know before Buying a New Bed”

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126 Responses to “Room Color and How it Affects your Mood”

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  1. 126
    Holly Says:

    I would like to see some studies to see to what degree color can affect behavior. For example, would pale pinks, greens, an blues have a calming effect on a prison population? It seems fairly conclusive that certain colors have been shown to be good for dining.

  2. 125
    10-Minute Green Home Makeovers - Earth911.com Says:

    [...] to Freshome Interior Design, color and mood go hand-in-hand. Blues and greens are great for reducing stress and relaxing. But [...]

  3. 124
    Janna victoria Bade Says:

    i think the color that match at your mood is color “RED” because it is the color of your life,of your own love it is a color of our desteny!!!!!!!

    .janna

  4. 123
    Shiela Baldevia Says:

    i thing a color that match at your mood is color “GREEN” because you will realize that you will ganna love the enviroment and especialy your love

    .shiela

  5. 122
    Happy Office = Happy Client (and designer) | CrazyLeaf Design Blog Says:

    [...] in the home -  http://freshome.com/2007/04/17/room-color-and-how-it-affects-your-mood Vicki Willingham is a freelance graphic designer living in Suffolk, UK. She runs VictoriaAnn [...]

  6. 121
    Interior Decor Tips? | Modern Home Decorating Says:

    [...] to try and answer your question about which colors are said to have certain effects. Go here: http://freshome.com/2007/04/17/room-color-and-how-it-affects-your-mood Just scroll down past the intro and it goes color by color… it’ll tell you what colors [...]

  7. 120
    Jasmine Says:

    Thank you for the good info trust me you helped a lot!!!!!!!!!!! But you should put more colours and odd colours but you had the info i was EXACTLY LOOKING FOR!!!! :-D

  8. 119
    Home Interior Design by Timothy Corrigan. :: Interior Design Photos New Ideas Exhibition Says:

    [...] that might give you some useful informations 7 Most Important Interior Design Principles andRoom Color and How it Affects your Mood. After you have the basic idea, you can start to search for pictures with home interiors to feed [...]

  9. 118
    Do Colours Affect Our Mood? « Student Voice Says:

    [...] http://freshome.com/2007/04/17/room-color-and-how-it-affects-your-mood/ [...]

  10. 117
    Room Color & Its Affect on Your Mood « Says:

    [...] Design and Architecture have compiled a list of colors and their psychological affects – read the full article to learn more about what colors mean for your room: [...]

  11. 116
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  12. 115
    How Room Color Affects Your Mood | AmyBSells Team - Cincinnati Real Estate Blog Says:

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  13. 114
    Interior Paint Colors Revisited « Post and Beam Living Says:

    [...] http://freshome.com/2007/04/17/room-color-and-how-it-affects-your-mood/ A faux Venetian plaster paint technique in golden shades of yellow equals dramatic warmth. [...]

  14. 113
    mental_floss Blog » What color should I paint my bathroom? Says:

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  15. 112
    Colour and Mood | ChrisPrasojo Says:

    [...] my appetite while darker colour and blue lighting keeps the word hungry a little off of my mind. Read this article to find out more how various colours affect our [...]

  16. 111
    Lauren Says:

    I am on my last two years of high school and i decided to paint my room purple becasue of its relaxing and reashuring feeling, i am not so stressed, and i am able to do my work. Purple is TOTALLY the way to go :) But what would browm be? My mom painted the spare room blue and brown, what kind of mood would that put our guests in?

  17. 110
    Amanda Says:

    I am a student in middle school
    and i am researching how moods
    affect people, and this site helps!

  18. 109
    John Says:

    The publisher should put what gold, silver, and pink mean. or like the mood it gives you.

  19. 108
    un-needed Says:

    Thanks for this info, I am in high school and doing a project and this helped a lot!

    ~????

  20. 107
    kimi long Says:

    i like how this website tells about almost every color but what about colors like gold, silver, and pink????

  21. 106
    Taxi Says:

    Wow, im in eight grade and i already knew about ALL of this. WOW.

  22. 105
    The Impact of colour Part II by Monica « Hans27026’s Weblog Says:

    [...] For more info http://freshome.com/2007/04/17/room-color-and-how-it-affects-your-mood/ [...]

  23. 104
    Color Theory and Human Behavior « Nuleif’s Weblog Says:

    [...] help balance a room, by using more it can calm a room or using less to liven things up.” (http://freshome.com/2007/04/17/room-color-and-how-it-affects-your-mood/)  By utilizing color schemes that enhance the appropriate reaction for the purpose of a room, I [...]

  24. 103
    S.S. Nagaraja pandian Says:

    Hello, I am very much knee to known what sort of paint color I should use to paint my room because I watch tv & read & do all my daily actives in the same in night I take rest, so you please guide me choosing the paint color.

  25. 102
    Home Interior Design by Timothy Corrigan Says:

    [...] that might give you some useful informations 7 Most Important Interior Design Principles and Room Color and How it Affects your Mood. After you have the basic idea, you can start to search for pictures with home interiors to feed [...]

  26. 101
    salma Says:

    thank you very much,
    I’m a student in highschool and doing a researsh about the effect of colors on mood and behavior. this article has helped me alot.

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