How Color Affects Mood in Your Home
By Kathryn Bechen
Want a “romantic rendevous” feel for your bedroom or a soothing and quiet oasis for one? Since we humans respond more to color with our hearts than our heads, how you “color” your home’s walls, furnishings, and accessories holds the key to achieving the best “feel” for your dream home, no matter which room in your home you are decorating.
To start, think back to a home you lived in or someone’s home you visited that you absolutely LOVED. What was it in that home that made you feel welcomed & comfortable (other than the people)? Close your eyes and try to remember if there were any specific colors that illicited a positive, happy response in you. Next, try the following methods for choosing colors for your home.
1. Go to a box of crayons and see if you can find the colors you like the most.
2. Peruse a clothing store and look at the artfully arranged displays. Which colors are you drawn to? Look in your own closet and you probably will notice a palette of colors you continually choose. The same ones that are your clothing favorites can be used in your home decorating.
3. In kids’ rooms, throw out some colorfully wrapped candy on the table or floor. Have them select which color wrappers they love and use those colors in their rooms.
4. Walk out in nature. Notice the color of trees, flowers, bugs (yes, bugs!) and butterflies—God has created some of the most beautiful colors!
5. Get fruity. Go into a grocery store and notice the produce aisle. The colors are bright and bold and enticing.
6. And of course, you can always go to a paint store and choose the sample paint strips that you are immediately drawn to.
THE LANGUAGE OF COLOR
Green…Balances, normalizes, refreshes. Encourages emotional growth. Ideal for bedrooms or private retreats to restore depleted spirits.
Pink…Soothes and promotes affection and congeniality.
Black…Encourages independence, authorizes, strengthens. A neutral color. Good for bridging together different rooms and colors.
Yellow…Cheers, increases energy, expands. Unleashes creative juices. Good for home offices and kitchens.
Red…Stimulates, empowers, dramatizes. Symbolizes passion. Good for bedrooms
where a passionate feeling is desired.
Orange…Stimulates appetites, conversation, and charity. Cheers.
White…Enlivens all other colors. Purifies, unifies. Good for displaying very colorful art and furnishings.
Purple…Creates mystery, comforts, draws out intuition.
Blue…Relaxes, refreshes, produces tranquil feelings and peaceful moods. Ideal for bedrooms where a calm and restorative feeling is wanted.
Choose the colors that inspire you and that you love and you'll walk through the door after a hard day's work and say, "Ah, I'm home!"
c2005 Kathryn Bechen. All rights reserved worldwide.
Visit http://www.kathrynbechendesigns.com for more free ideas and tips for decorating your cottage style home on a dollarwise budget and to sign up for Kathryn's free e-newsletter of decorating tips and resources. Kathryn is an interior decorating consultant and author who specializes in Cottage Style, Non-Toxic, and Dollarwise decorating.
