The colors of the rooms within your home need to bring out
your personality. 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 when it comes to decorating, it is
important to choose wisely.
In order 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 out more about room colors, and how these influence your mood.
Choose Wisely!
Keep in mind that each color has a psychological value.
Think about how those colors make you feel- they can influence any feeling from
tranquility 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
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 paint, so choose them
first and then decide on your paint color. Once you find something you like,
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 fairly inexpensive and
transforms a room more quickly than anything else, so you can afford to
experiment a little.
Room Colors and Their Effects
Understand that colors behave in three basic ways : active,
passive, and neutral. You can easily match every room’s colors to your personal
desires, to your taste taste and to the room’s purpose. Light colors are expansive
and airy, making rooms seem larger and brighter. Dark colors are sophisticated
and warm; they give large rooms a more intimate appearance. Now let’s find out
more about colors and what they can do to a room:
Red
Red raises a room’s energy level. It is 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.
Yellow
Yellow captures the joy of sunshine and communicates
happiness. It is perfect for kitchens, dining rooms, and bathrooms, where happy
colors are energizing and uplifting. In halls, entries, and small spaces,
yellow can feel expansive and welcoming. Even though yellow although is a
cheery color, it is not a good choice to use in main color schemes when it
comes to designing a room. Studies show that people are more likely to lose
their temper in a yellow interior. Babies also seem to cry more in a yellow
room. In large amounts, this color tends to create feelings of frustration and
anger in people. In chromotherapy, yellow is believed to stimulate the nerves
and purify the body.
Blue
Blue is said to bring down blood pressure and slow
respiration and heart rate. That is why it is considered calming, relaxing and
serene, and it 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 is 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 for the furnishings and fabrics.
To encourage relaxation in the social areas ( 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. Go for softer shades of blue. Dark blue has the opposite
effect, evoking feelings 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
Green is considered the most restful color for the eye.
Combining the refreshing quality of blue and the cheerfulness of yellow, green
is suited for almost any room on the house. In the kitchen, green cools things
down; in a family room or living room, it encourages unwinding but has enough
warmth to promote comfort and togetherness. 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, making it a great
choice for the bedroom.
Purple
Purple in its darkest values (eggplant, for example) is
rich, dramatic, and sophisticated. It is 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
Orange 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 out all the emotions that you need
released during your fitness routine. In ancient cultures orange was believed
to heal the lungs and increase energy levels.
Neutrals (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.
Crimson
Crimson can make some people feel irritable. Invoking feels
of rage and hostility, this is a color that should be avoided as the main color
of a room. Sitting for long periods of time in a room painted in this color
will likely affect the peace and harmony you are striving to create in your
home.
Color Effects on Walls and Ceiling
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. As a general
rule, 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 are the one who has to live with your new paint color, so choose a
hue that suits you, your family and your lifestyle.
Source Via : freshome.com
