How Colors Affect Your Mood

Choosing a paint color can feel like an overwhelming process but learning how colors affect your mood gives you a helpful starting point. Color psychology influences our behavior and should play an important role in how rooms are decorated. Some shades help you feel invigorated, while others are calming.

Before opening a can of paint, it’s important to consider how you want to feel in each room. This gives you the foundation you need to create just the room you want.

Consider Your Desired Mood in Each Room

Begin your color selection by determining the mood you want for each room. When cooking and entertaining, you want an energizing, happy color. This is why many kitchens following color psychology focus on light colors, specifically yellows.

Shades of yellow are shown to increase metabolism and energy while brightening a room. Perfect for a room designed around food and community!

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Bedrooms, though, are best painted with a shade of green. Green promotes tranquility and health, ideal for a restful bedroom. It can be hard to let our minds rest, and the right color paint can help you unplug and drift off each night.

Your living room is another important room in regards to paint color. This is commonly used for entertaining, as well as relaxing after your work day. To help create the right ambiance in your living room, choose a shade of lavender, which can help support relaxation.

Warm vs. Cool Paint Colors for Your Home

Color is often described as warm and cool, which is another way to decide what color to paint each room. Warm colors are those with warm undertones. This includes red, yellow, orange, and yellow-green. Shades like this are cozy yet radiant. They also make small rooms appear smaller, and large rooms appear more intimate, which is another way to use color to your advantage.

Cool colors are on the opposite side of the color wheel. These have cool undertones, and include purple, blue, and blue-greens. These colors are ideal when you’d like a calming effect, like in a bedroom or living room. It’s important to note that cool colors are best for a room with natural light, because they can make a room feel colder.

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Integrating Color Psychology into Your Home

Color psychology can be more than the paint. Paint is your starting point but use décor to highlight your chosen color and its complimentary shades. Pieces like artwork, curtains, pillows, and even your furniture colors can help you create the mood you want for each room.

You don’t need to choose only dark shades of each color, either. In this room, there are varying shades of lavender throughout, giving the room a cohesive, relaxed feel.

 

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A mix of dark and light create a layered appearance that you can incorporate into your own aesthetic. If you prefer a subtle mix of color, you can still use these principles to create a room you feel comfortable in.

Focusing on your desired emotion can play an essential role in choosing the paint color in your home. Because of how color can affect our moods, remembering each room’s role in your daily life will act as a guide. Color psychology may not immediately come to mind when painting your home, but by following these foundational concepts, you can create a home you’ll love coming home to.

At MoonDance Painting, we use color psychology to help you feel your best in every room. For an in-home consultation, give us a call at (888) 977-2468.