Did you know that colours can affect your mood? They can make you feel happy, calm, energetic, or even tired, depressed, and constricted.
Did you know that colours can affect your mood? They can make you feel happy, calm, energetic, or even tired, depressed, and constricted. When choosing the colours with which you’d like to paint your home, it’s important you consider the emotions each colour inspires. This article will look at different colours and what moods they can inspire.
Red
Red can bring on feelings of:
- Excitement, enthusiasm, energy
- Passion, romance
- Confidence, power, luck
- Warmth, safety, protection
- Sociability, friendliness, assertiveness
- Thoughtfulness, creativity
Red is good to use as the main colour in the kitchen, dining room, home office/creative spaces, and entryway. As an accent colour, red is great in the living room, bedroom, and billiard or games rooms.
Yellow
The colour yellow often incites feelings of:
- Happiness, joy, cheerfulness
- Warmth, relaxation, cosiness
- Enthusiasm, energy
- Intuition, creativity
- Sociability
Use yellow as the main colour in your kitchen, dining, bathrooms, home office/creative spaces, living room, entryway, and small spaces. Yellow is also a great ceiling colour.
Orange
The colour orange can make you feel:
- Excited, enthusiastic, energetic
- Hungry and powerful
- Creative and meditative
- Warm and cosy
- The colour orange can give you a feeling that it’s ‘summertime and sunny’
Orange is great to use as a main colour in an exercise or fitness area. Use orange as a colour to accentuate your living room, dressing room or wardrobe, living room, kitchen and small spaces.
Orange-pink
Colours that mix orange and pink, like coral, nude, and peach, can also bring on feelings of:
- Warmth and cosiness
- Happiness, joyfulness, energy
- Serenity and relaxation
- Colours that are a mix of orange and pink give a feeling that you’re ‘at the beach’ or that the sun is setting
Use orange-pink hues as the main colour in your bedroom, living room, kitchen, dining, and wardrobes or dressing rooms. Orange-pink colours are a great accent to any area.
Blue
Using blue in the home can make you feel:
- Calm, peaceful, untroubled
- Relaxed and less tense
- Clean and cool
- Confident, powerful, proud
- Intuitive, productive, and creative
- Focused and alert
- Spiritual harmony
Use blue as the main colour in home office/creative/study spaces, bedrooms, small spaces, living room, and any other social areas. Use blue to accent your bathroom and laundry. Blue is also an excellent ceiling colour.
Blue-green
Blue-green tones, like teal and jade, can make you feel:
- Cool and refreshed
- Calm, stable, confident
- Intrigued and creative
Use blue-green colours as you would with blues.
Green
Green can make you feel:
- Cool, refreshed, rejuvenated
- Calm, relaxed, and peaceful
- Restful and comfortable
- Safe and in control
- Connected to nature
- Confident, social, mature
- Less depressed, nervous, and anxious
Use green as the dominant colour in your kitchen and living room. Use green to accent colours in your bedroom, dining, and any primarily white rooms.
Purple
Purple can bring on feelings of:
- Calm and peace
- Relaxation and restfulness
- Purity and coolness
- Balance and uplifting
- Spiritual harmony
- Creativity and nostalgia
Use purple as an accent colour in your bedroom, and as the main colour in the living, bathroom, and small spaces.
Grey
The neutral colour of grey can make you feel:
- Calm and steady
- Reserved and peaceful
Use grey as a main colour anywhere, as it’s quite neutral and contrasts well with a lot of brighter colours. As an accent, grey works just as well, particularly with bright reds, yellows, etc.
Brown
Another neutral colour, brown can bring on feelings of:
- Calm and steadiness
- Peace and solitude
- Practicality and creativeness
- Stability, reliability, orderliness
- Wholeness and connection with the Earth
Brown can be used as a main colour in the living room and dining room, and as an accent, it works particularly well in the office or creative areas.
Black
Black, while not often used as a paint colour, can still bring on a variety of moods including:
- Calm, restfulness, steadiness
- Reservation and peace
- Elegance, formality
- A sense of potential and possibility
Use black as an accent colour in any room in the house, but it’s not advised to use black as the dominant colour.
White
White can make you feel:
- Calm, steady, and refreshed
- Reserved and peaceful
- Clean, pure, and sanitary
White is great as the main colour in the bathroom, and an accent colour in any other room.
Now that you know about the effects colour may have, think about what mood you want to create in which room. From there, look at different shades, tones, and accents, and consider how to utilise colour scheme to bring about the right mood for your home.
