3 Reasons the Psychology of Color Matters in Your Home

"Our dining room is our own private getaway without having to leave our home. We eat all of our meals here. It's a very special place." Imagine how it would feel to live in a space that made you feel so good that you called it special. A room that you loved so much that you couldn't wait to spend time there. This is how my clients feel whenever they're in their redesigned dining room.

So what is it that makes this dining room so special? The color palette. The main color is a softer shade of turquoise, which is my client's favorite color. Not only do they like this color, but it also has special memories attached to it. You could say it's their happy color.

1. Common Associations of Color for Your Home

Every color has a set of common associations attached to it. If I asked you what feelings or characteristics you thought of when I said blue, you'd probably say calming, soothing, restful. That's why it's a popular color for bedrooms. On the other hand, red is associated with passion and energy which makes it a good choice for a dining room. Turquoise has happy memories attached to it for my dining room client.

But as well-accepted as these associations are, it's good to remember that our personal experiences also affect how we respond to color. Chances are if you had a traumatic experience in a room that was blue, you would not find that color calming and restful.

2. Variations of Color and How They Influence Your Mood

All color is not the same though. Color can be changed by adding white, gray, or black to the true, pure color. Each of these options has the ability to change the tone of the color and make it more neutral, less saturated, and those changes also affect how we feel. think, or act. For example, I love the color blue but I know there are some tints or shades of blue that are the visual equivalent of hearing nails on a chalkboard. But if a little white, gray, or black is added I won't be looking for an excuse to leave the room.

Since color is such an important part of the design, I like to help clients figure this out early in the design process. I like to determine if they prefer saturated color or a color that has been toned done with a neutral. I'll have them look at colors in a paint deck with two different levels of color saturation and tell me which one they prefer. Bright bold colors vs a slightly toned-down palette for example. We keep going through this process until we've determined the color level they prefer. They're surprised when I show them the section of a paint deck that is all neutrals and explain to them that these colors are actually the bright bold colors with gray or black added to the original color.

3. Best Practices for Incorporating Color in Your Home

I always tell my client there is no bad color, we just need to find the right tint, shade, or tone of a color for the look and feel they want. If we're working on a bedroom and they love yellow, I'll find a yellow that has some white added to it to soften the tint. Or even yellow that's been mixed with a little gray to make the yellow more subtle and restful. By changing the saturation by mixing in another neutral color, a color that would normally make someone feel energetic can be toned down and create a calming, peaceful space.

If I'm selecting colors for an entire house, I will keep the color palette consistent throughout the house, but change the amount of each color used in each room. I call this playing with the percentages. Let's say the color palette of a house is blue, green, and orange. The living room might have 65% of the color blue, 25% of green, 10% of orange, all with a mix of tints and shades within these colors. In the dining room where I want more dramatic colors, I might change that to 55% blue, 25% green, and 20% orange, still using the same tints and shades in the living room. When we get to the bedroom, the percentages will shift again so there's more green and blue, with less orange. And the orange will be far less saturated so it will draw out the blue and green but be seen only as a suggestion.

The same colors are still being used which creates a consistent look, but the amount in each room is different depending on the use of the room and the feel we're going for. And by using tints and shades, the possibilities are endless in how the colors are mixed and the mood they create.

Color has emotional power. This is why my clients love their new dining room so much. The colors they're surrounded by in this room make them happy and they make them feel like they're on vacation. This is why they look forward to eating every meal in this room. I took the turquoise that they loved and created a palette of colors that connect with them.

Because of the emotional power color has, a lot of people are overwhelmed with the idea of selecting the colors for their homes. No one wants to live with colors that are the visual equivalent of nails on a chalkboard so they'll play it safe and choose colors that don't evoke a reaction at all.

But I'm here to tell you choosing color doesn't have to be overwhelming. It can be a wonderful opportunity to figure out exactly which colors you respond to, and it can also help you understand what colors to avoid in the future. And most importantly, it means you too can live in a home that feels special.

Need a color expert on your team? We've got your back! Contact us here and let's chat.

Until next time,

Beth