The Psychology of Color in the Home

Color is much more than a tool for giving your home a fresh look; it can also affect how big a room feels, as well affect how you feel when you’re in that room. That’s why color is such an important consideration when it’s time to renovate or redesign. Let’s look at the psychology of color in your home.

Warm, Cool and Neutral

Colors really do have different personalities. There are three categories under which a color’s personality can fall: warm, cool, and neutral.
Warm colors include yellow, red, and orange, as well as combinations of these colors. These shades evoke a feeling of warmth, and not only psychologically. They’ve also been found to raise body temperature, blood pressure, and the rate of breathing. This particular category of color personality can make large rooms feel more intimate, as well as make a small room feel even smaller.
Cool colors are the blue, purple, and green shades, including their combinations. They have a calming effect, most likely due to the fact that they remind us of nature. Just as with warm colors, cool shades affect us physically, lowering body temperature and blood pressure and slowing breathing while causing muscles to relax.
Neutral colors are those shades not found in the cool or warm categories. They include black, white, gray, and beige. Neutrals offer plenty of variety, as they are available in many shades. They can also contain undertones of cool or warm colors.

What Colors Should You Choose?

Now that we’ve explored the personality of color, let’s talk about which colors can be best for certain rooms. The colors you choose will depend on your individual taste, as well as what feeling you wish to evoke.

Yellow is a happy color, but, when overused, it can cause anxiety and fatigue unless it’s a soft buttery shade. Yellow reflects light, making it ideal for brightening up dark hallways. It can also increase the perceived height of a room, so it can be great for a bedroom ceiling.
The calmness that the cool shade of blue evokes makes it a good choice for the bedroom, but it also can improve focus, which allows it to be used in an office as well.
A soft, deep red in the dining room can add lots of elegance, but, because it’s a stimulating color, it can also keep your guests conversing and munching into the wee hours.
The healing and soothing shade of green can work very well for living rooms, where many choose to unwind after a day’s work.

Get More Out of Your Colors

Adding natural light to color will increase its vibrancy, but you can’t get natural light to reach every area of your home, can you? You can when you replace traditional walls and doors with glass sliding doors. Enjoy natural light by allowing it to flow freely through your home with glass products from The Sliding Door Company. Our safe, top-quality products are made to suit your specific needs; find a showroom near you.