Colors can have a profound effect upon our psyche. They can cheer us up or make us feel sad. They can raise our energy levels or make us feel calmer. When decorating your home, it is important to consider carefully how you can best use color to enhance the atmosphere of each room.
Decorate your hall in a light, welcoming color, such as yellow. As most halls benefit from less natural light than other rooms, dark colors will make an already light-deprived hall seem very oppressive and unwelcoming.
If you wish your living room to be a place of rest, decorate it in a relaxing, calming color such as lilac or soft pink. If, however, you do a lot of entertaining in your living room, you could enliven the atmosphere by painting the walls yellow or orange.
Orange or blue are good choices for the kitchen or dining room. Both colors enhance digestion, but blue also paradoxically reduces hunger pangs, so that you are less tempted to over-eat. Orange adds vitality to a room and would enhance a dining room where dinner parties are often held.
Bright blue is a great color for a home office, as it stimulates the thought processes. It wakes up your brain and helps you to concentrate.
Shades of purple and pink are good colors for bedroom decorating. Lilac, soft purple, and pale pink aid relaxation, while bright pink or fuchsia is said to inspire passion.
For the bathroom, turquoise and shades of aqua create a calming atmosphere, but, if you regularly have queues at the bathroom door, red may be a better color choice. It provides a burst of energy and creates a sense of urgency that will have the whole family in and out of the bathroom door in no time at all.
Throughout your home, add touches of green, including house plants. Green is a healing color but it can lead to a sluggish, de-energized atmosphere if it is used abundantly.
A color to avoid is black. It drains energy and creates a very depressing ambiance. Dark brown can have a similar effect, so choose softer shades of brown with undertones of yellow or red and use them sparingly.
If you are unsure whether a certain color would work in a particular room, try adding accessories in the chosen color to the room before tackling the decorating. That way, you will be able to gauge whether or not a certain color scheme enhances the atmosphere. Alternatively, if you wish to keep your walls neutral, you could just add accessories in mood-enhancing colors to change the ambiance of each room.
Once the transformation is complete, you and your family will reap the psychological benefits of decorating with mood-enhancing colors.
