How Color Affects Your Mood

When making decisions about your home décor you should be aware of the affects that colors can have on your mood when they are used on your furniture, floors, and walls.

Yellow-Red-Orange
Yellow seems to capture the joy of the sun and can communicate happiness. Yellow is a perfect color to use in dining rooms, kitchens, and bathrooms. Yellow is a happy color and is uplifting and energizing. Using yell in small spaces like halls and entries can make the space fell welcoming and expansive.

Red has been known to speed respiration and heart rate and to raise blood pressure. It is normally not used in bedrooms because it is too stimulating, but if you will only see the room after dark when it lit by lamplight, the color will be muted. This can make the room look rich and elegant. Crimson can cause some people to feel very irritable. If you really like red, but it bothers your mate, try using it with small touches in upholstery fabrics and accessories.

Orange is much like red and is very stimulating. Orange used in its pure form may be rather difficult to live with. Using variations of orange like shrimp, coral, peach, salmon, and terra cotta are often more pleasing variations. Peach will give a nurturing and restful feeling in a bedroom and will flatter skin tones when used in a bathroom. Using shades of orange in a family room or a living room will bring energy and warmth to the space. Using orange in a kitchen that faces west however, can make the room feel unpleasantly hot.

Blue-Purple-Green
Blue is known to lower the blood pressure and will slow the heart rate and respiration. Since the color blue is considered to be relaxing, serene, and calming it is often used in bathrooms and bedrooms. Be careful when choosing your color though. A soft pastel blue may look lovely on a paint chip but when it's used on the walls and furnishings it can look unpleasantly chilly, particularly if the room gets natural light. If you choose to use light blue as the main color in a room, be sure to use warm hues in fabrics and furnishings to balance the room. Using warmer blues such as periwinkle or bright blues like turquoise or cerulean are perfect for use in rooms where people gather because they are very relaxing.

Purple used in its darkest shade, like eggplant, offer a rich, sophisticated and dramatic look to a room. It is often associated with creativity and luxury. When used as an accent or secondary color it gives a room wonderful depth. The lighter shades of purple, like lilac and lavender, will give a bedroom the same soothing quality that blue offers without the risk of creating a chilly feeling.

Green is considered to be the most restful color to the eye. When the refreshing quality of blue is combined with the yellow, green is appropriate for any room in a home. Using sage green or a medium green in a kitchen will cool the room and when used in a living room or family room will encourage relaxation. It is great for a bedroom because it promotes togetherness and comfort while being relaxing and pleasant.

Neutrals
The neutrals, black, white, gray, and brown, are basics in any decorators tool kit. While all neutral schemes will fall in and out of fashion, their true virtue lies in their flexibility. You can add color to liven a room up and take it away to calm it down again.

Black
Black is best to use as an accent in very small doses. Many experts agree that every room should include a touch of black to ground the scheme and provide depth.