How To Use Colour Effectively In Your Home
When starting a new interior design project, or simply redecorating your own home; there are many aspects that must be thought through before the purchase of furniture and paint. Colour is a powerful tool that can be used to create space illusions, set the mood or atmosphere for a particular room and even inspire emotions for the occupants. When you clearly think out and plan your colour choices for a design scheme before fully undertaking a project, you allow for the energy that the colour will bring dictate the atmosphere of the room. Such as painting a kitchen a pale yellow, would bring a bright and fresh feel to the room. If you say to paint a small children’s room a bright red colour, the effects would be disastrous. The colour red creates an active, intense and also hungry vibe. This would have an intensive effect on the child’s sleep patterns. These things need to be taken into consideration when decorating a home. Here are a few tips on how to use colour psychology in your home.
Red has been known to build a person’s appetite; this colour would be perfect in say the kitchen or the dining room. However due to red being a very intense colour, it would be easier on the eyes if the red was dotted around the room, maybe as a set of cupboards or the pantry. One of the biggest reasons for the majority of fast food restaurants having red as a defining colour in their colour scheme is for this factor.
A great way to create the illusion of a spacious living environment is the use of bright colours. Using light vibrant colours like creamy yellows and icy blues, open up spaces and give of the illusion that the room is bigger than it actually is. Light and bright colours are reflective and also maximize the effect created by natural light. Dark colours work against this and absorb light therefore giving off the optical illusion that the room is smaller than it actually looks.
When decorating your home and picking out the colour scheme you want to use, make sure you are working with the season and not against it. Warm up your home in winter with deep, warm tones. Warm tones such as orange, maroon, and red can make the home seem more welcoming and warmer during the cold winter months. In summer its nice to cool down your home with colder colours, such as blue and light greens, this will give your living environment a cool and fresh vibe.