Using Color Psychology To Decorate Your Home

When decorating your bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, or any other part of your home, you might default to colors that you believe to be the most aesthetically pleasing. However, it’s important to look beyond the surface level appeal of colors when configuring your home’s interior design.

As it turns out, color – more than adding vibrancy and aesthetic to a room – can impact the way we feel. Interior designers and artists alike have utilized the theory that color impacts our feelings, known as color psychology, to guide their art form. Whether intentional or not, color can cause emotional reactions. Quinn’s Mercantile dives deeper into what color psychology is as well as tips for using color psychology to decorate your home.

What Is Color Psychology?

Color psychology focuses on the way that color can negatively or positively impact our psychological function. Though research expresses that the emotional effects of color psychology may only hold a temporary influence over individuals’ moods, painters, designers, marketers, and other artistic occupations still apply color psychology to their work and seem to acquire consistent results.

Culture’s Effect on Color Psychology

Of course, color psychology can vary from culture to culture, as different cultures ascribe differing meanings to colors. One example of this is with the color white. While Western countries may incorporate white to express purity or innocence, many Eastern countries apply white to represent mourning. Essentially, you’ve likely subconsciously adopted the way that your environment and society ascribe colors to moods.

Different Moods Associated With Varying Colors

To best understand common associations with varying colors, we will break them up by color types: neutral, warm, and cool. The following associations are frequently applied in home interior design.

Neutral Colors

• Brown: Brown is commonly known as the traditional color for comfort. Many home interior elements, such as ceiling beams, hardwood floors, and furniture, is composed of wood in various brown shades. Brown emits warm, elegant, and natural vibes.
• White: Soft whites bring calming sensations to people. White reflects light well and can make any room appear larger than it actually is.
• Black: Because it offers an intense and edgy depth, black should be used mainly as an accent color. Black can serve as a grounding feature to a room, accentuating other colors.
• Gray: Gray has become an increasingly versatile neutral color in interior design. Lighter gray hues provide a sense of calm and warmth, while darker gray hues contribute to modern vibes.
• Metallics: Metallics create a unique and engaging appearance, adding modern and creative elements to any space.

Warm Colors

• Red: Red is most associated with passion and high energy. Red is a complex stimulant color, as it’s known to spark both feelings of love and anger.
• Orange: Orange is also a high energy color, promoting excitement and enthusiasm when applied to interior design.
• Yellow: Yellow is referred to as the color of happiness. Because it resembles the joy of a sunny day, this color is applied to spaces that intend to evoke positive emotions.
• Pink: Pink is a more calming color to represent love. It’s often tied with feelings of kindness and creativity.

Cool Colors

• Blue: Like all cool colors, blue is one of the most soothing colors. Its calming presence can lower blood pressure and slow respiration and heart rate.
• Green: Green also has calming factors, as it has strong associations with nature. Green is known to relieve stress and aid focus.
• Purple: While lighter purples promote relaxation, deeper purples offer elegance and sophistication.

With an idea on which colors are associated with what mood and aesthetic, you can learn more on how to apply color psychology to your home.

How To Choose the Right Color for Your Kitchen Using Color Psychology

Gray is a popular color for kitchens, as it’s clean and versatile, but provides some edge. Gray works well with pops of either warm or cool colors, so you can still find ways to make your sleek, gray kitchen feel individualized.

How To Choose the Right Color for Your Bedroom Using Color Psychology

For your bedroom, you’ll want to stick to cooler tones to create a calming environment. Cool, deep blues and greens will help transform your room into a serene place, one that’s ideal for drifting off to sleep.

How To Choose the Right Color for a Nursery Using Color Psychology

You’ll find that nurseries vary in color, which may make it difficult to land on a color or two that’s best for your home’s. We recommend veering toward greens, yellows, and pinks with cool undertones to make a space for your baby that’s creative and colorful, but not so vibrant to the point of overwhelming and overstimulating them.

How To Choose the Right Color for an Office Space Using Color Psychology

Consider the type of work you do; do you need a space that evokes creativity? Focus? Both? Metallics will help create a sleek and creative space, adding a bit of fun to any average workspace. You can utilize warm colors to promote energy throughout the day or cool and neutral colors to maintain focus.

How To Add Color To Any Room Without Changing the Walls

If you’re content with the current color of your walls, there’s no need to alter them. There are plenty of alternative ways to use color psychology to decorate your home that are much more effortless than redoing your walls.

Décor

Decorative vases, frames, sculptures, and other colorful accessories help establish a vibrant and personal look to any room. Quinn’s Mercantile supplies an abundance of home décor gifts online in an assortment of colors to appeal to whatever mood you’re trying to promote through decorating.

Plants

As you’re probably aware, plants come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. Nearly every plant offers bits of green to contribute to a calming, natural space. You can also incorporate flowers with pops of pink, yellow, and other lively colors to help bring literal life into a room.

Wall Art

You can find wall art in every style and color to suit even the most eccentric of rooms. Wall art strengthens a room’s color palette and makes the room’s design feel more unified.

Throw Pillows and Blankets

For pops of color throughout your home, invest in throw pillows and blankets. Whether it be for your living room, your bedroom, or the nursery, throw pillows and blankets add both color and comfort.