COLOUR THEORY
Colour psychology in interior design is well worth paying attention
to. It can set the mood for how your guests feel when they come to
visit you and how you feel every time you come home. You can literally
use different colours to enable you to experience different feelings
as you walk into a room. Once you start to understand the power of
colour in your home, you can start to use it intentionally to allow
you to influence how you feel in different parts of your home.
Have you ever walked into a sunny cafe with bright yellow walls and
instantly felt livelier? Or entered the calm of a spa decorated in
soft, natural tones and felt an unmistakeable feeling of zen? The
colour combinations and paint ideas used in your home can affect your
mood in exactly the same way. It's important to remember though that
whilst there is something of a science behind colours, at the end of
the day, how you react to them is subjective. One person's idea of
heaven with a black room is another person's idea of hell. So it's
important to find the colours that work for you.
Yellow is the colour of happiness, optimism and creativity. This is why it's such a great colour for children's spaces. Kids' bedrooms, playrooms - people instinctively use it in these rooms without understanding why. It is a colour that brings a smile to people's face when they walk into a yellow room. It comes in so many shades that from buttercup to mustard, there's a shade to suit every style of home from a modern apartment to a period house.
Orange is an undeniably confident and positive colour that shows a bold personality. This colour has so many different shades, it doesn't have to be the bright, traffic light orange. If you like this colour but are a bit wary, look at something with touches of peach or leaning more towards pastel shades. If you love that really bold orange, remember colour doesn't just go on walls, a small pop with a cushion can bring this positive colour into your home.
Red is a energizing, strong colour that evokes a strong reaction. It's conducive to socialising and strong personalities. That's why you often had one of the socialising rooms in grand old houses painted a strong red. Whilst you don't often see rooms painted entirely in red in more modern times, it can be a fantastic accent colour to make a statement. Some of the darker reds can be a gorgeous, daring choice for kitchen units.
Pink is no longer the domain of little girl's bedrooms. It's at once inviting, fun and grown up - if the right hue is used. The softer, earthier shades are fantastic to use in a bedrooom as its' softness lends itself to create a soothing feel. However, the stronger tones can work fantastically for show-stopping accent pieces. A staircase painted in a dark, moody pink in an otherwise neutral hallway makes a fantastic statement.
Purple is often associated with luxury and elegance through its association with royalty. Indeed the darker variants of this colour can create an imposing presence when used on a wall. However the ligher shades, like lavender, can have a wonderfully calming effect. These tones are great used in bedrooms where the aim is to soothe. This is also why you often see them used in places people go to be calm such a meditation practices.
Blue is one of the most versatile colours on the colour wheel. It can be used from everywhere from the bedroom to the living room to the kitchen. An incredibly peaceful colour, it's great for monochromatic schemes where you are pairing different shades of the same colour together in the same space. The dark navy that has been so popular in kitchens in recent times gives a room an edge whilst still allowing it to feel grounded.
As everyone knows, green is the colour of nature. It is an innately peaceful colour in its purest form when close to forest colours. It is seen as a colour that promotes good luck and health. Like blue, it is a very versatile colour that comes in so many shades it can be used just about everywhere in the home. Wherever it is used, it creates a sense of peacefulness that is unequaled in any other colour.