Paint for house interiors: reducing anxiety

Color is a formidable weapon of interior design, and sometimes we don’t realize about its actual influence, it can give us calm, cheer us, depress us, invigorate us or inspire us. Color is a reflection of ourselves and it becomes a part of a definition of our psique, our very being. When it comes to choosing colors for house interiors you must wait and think about what is the concept and significance that you want to express, before making any decision

Ever wondered why correctional facilities transmit such a disheartened and unpleasant sensation? Why the spa you visit it’s actually comforting? Or why some candy stores are so stimulating. Well, it’s basically because of psychology. Color psychology studies the positive and negative effect that colors have in our feelings, perceptions and mental health. Below you will find a style guide of color palette for bedrooms by D.Signers.

Dimming the purity of color

Pastels are variations of pure colors dimmed with white to make them visually gentler. That’s the reason why the sky and the turquoise beaches of the Maldives or the Caribbean transmits us a sense of immensity and peacefulness. We always relate pastels with tenderness and serenity. An interior painted with pastels will be a kind interior.

color significance

A comprehensive guide on the implications of color is always necessary before making a choice on color. In the past color choices were made based on de decorator’s intuition and taste. For example many throne rooms in Europe like the ones in Buckingham Palace and the Royal Palace of Madrid are red because of the dramatic effect to underline royal authority. Hospitals are painted usually with sterile tones of white, blue and gray, to express hygiene and calm, so can you imagine a hospital in red and purple? Neither do I.

red

It’s a color that transmits strength, passion, power, and lust. Red is usually used in restaurants, bars or night clubs, places that require more dynamic character and visual stimulation, it’s perfect for this purpose because of its energizing qualities. Its negative side is the significance of aggression and unrest; it can be overwhelming and intensify feelings like anxiety. Definitely is not recommended to use in places where we spend many hours or where we are supposed to be relaxed or focused like bedrooms, offices, meditation rooms etc.

blue

It communicates relaxation but it can also be cold, depending of the tone is not recommended for dinning rooms or small rooms in general. Pastel blue can be a great tool to make a bedroom or meditation room more peaceful. Dark blue is a very formal color it can bring poise and elegance to a large room, as long as it’s balanced with warmer colors in furniture and accessories. If used in the entire room, blue can create a gloomy appearance, remember that it had to be balanced with warmer colors, a great example of this, is Ralph Lauren Home, their brand color is dark blue, however they always balance it with white and brown, creating very stylish interiors.

yellow

It’s a vibrant color that reminds us of the sun, it brings joy, clarity. It can create a fun and youthful atmosphere; it is widely used for many spaces at college campuses and schools. When used excessively it can be annoying, because of it’s stimulant effect. It helps to break monotony in an interior space; in a bedroom it’s preferable to use it for an accent wall, so the white (or other neutral color) counteract the intensity of the yellow. If you are intending to paint an entire room with yellow make sure is a social space like a family room or dinning room.

green

One of the most soothing colors, it relates to nature and life. When green has a higher amount of yellow it’s a warm and refreshing color, it makes rooms cheerful and more spacious. When green it’s combined with a higher amount of blue, it turns into a cool color, more appropriate for formal spacious interiors. It will make a small space look smaller, so this kind of blue is more convenient for big rooms.

orange

Orange has the strength of red and the radiance of yellow. It is a vibrant and fun color as well, very juvenile, perfect for places like the family room or media room. It communicates coziness and warmth, if used disproportionately it can make the interior tedious and exhausting. If you like orange (or any color) so much and want to paint the entire room with it, have in mind that you will have to neutralize the color with opposite colors in the furniture. So if you are using a warm color like orange in the walls you should use cold colors for the furniture and accessories to create harmony, which is after all the purpose of a soothing color palette.

purple

A contradiction comes with purple, is not a warm color but is not precisely cold; it has the passion of red and the coldness of blue. It is powerfully evocative about opulence, aristocracy, passion and intelligence. Its negative side brings frivolity, death and the enigmatic to our minds. This is why the Disney villains like Ursula or Maleficent and many others were usually designed with a black and purple outfit. Purple is perfect to suggest femininity and tenderness if it’s properly lowered with white to create a pastel tone. You can use pure purple selectively, otherwise, just like red, it can intensify anxiety or anger feelings, this is specially important for a teenager’s room, pure purple should be used preferably only for an accent wall or accessories like pillows or the duvet.

earth tones / neutrals

Earth tones like brown or gray gives us an extraordinary sense of peacefulness, because these are neutral colors that communicate formality, calm and stability at all times, it relates us to nature. It will turn a space into something more soothing and friendly. The only negative side of these colors is that they can be dull and visually heavy, it is necessary to balance them with pure colors to make the atmosphere a bit more stimulating.

white

This is the king of colors, because it allows us to create a balanced palette. White symbolizes purity and serenity; it can be dimmed with different colors, to create cold white or warm white, depending on the purpose of the project, adding a bit of blue will result in cold white, by adding a bit of orange or brown, the outcome will be a warm white ivory tone. The negative side of white is that it can be dull and sterile, we all have seen a mental asylum in movies at least and we know how numb they look like. White should be complemented with other colors to create the effect of revitalizing peacefulness with the following rule.

60% of the white tone of your choice, at least 3 walls out of 4 should be painted with white.

30% of a complimentary color, this means that if you picked a cold white you should balance it with a warm color like orange or yellow in the accent wall, the upholstery of the sofas, chairs or carpet.

10% of an accent color that balance the temperature of the complimentary color, so if the upholstery in the sofas is orange, you can pick cold green or blue cushions. In this ten percent you can be as bold as you want, you can pick pure colors and you will enjoy their positive significance, this small portion of color will give character to the room.

conclusion

In the right proportion where the serenity of white governs the space, colors will create an atmosphere of revitalizing peacefulness. By dimming colors with white, they will lower their strength and they become more visually friendly and calming. Calm and wellbeing is after all what we need our home to provide. Get creative and dive into color.