By Tania Venn
Today we are all searching for well-being, a sense of harmony and balance in a busy world. We typically strive to achieve this through diet, exercise, spirituality, work, family and friend connections, as well as community involvement. But there is more. Our living spaces can be considered one of the spokes in the wheel of a smooth ride through life. We often don't consider how our home environment affects our well-being. When it comes to color, we choose a specific color because we like it and possibly it goes with our furniture. That's step one. Step two is considering how the colors we like make us feel and how they can be matched to the activities we carry out in each room.
Color has an amazing ability to evoke feelings of well-being. Call it color therapy - the way the painted hues of a room make you feel. Just like the seasons, colors have the ability to subdue stress, inspire and motivate, and generally make us feel happy or even gloomy.
Most of us understand the basic concept of warm vs. cool colors. Warm colors are yellow-based: yellow, orange, brown, yellow-green, and warm or orange-hued reds. Cool colors are based on blues: blue, green, teal, pink, purple, and vibrant reds. We are familiar with which colors look good on us when we get dressed for the day. So why not take the same approach to our homes?
The first step is to consult a color wheel to choose the colors that make you feel best. If you're living with other peoples, have everyone go through the color wheel exercise and build your plan from there. There will be some compromising!
WikiHow has a great article on how to bring color into your home, including a guide to the meanings of colors and which colors to use where.
Meanings of colors
- Cool colors bring to mind the outdoors: the sky, water, trees, mountains. They make us feel calm, balanced, and peaceful.
- Warm colors are brilliant and fiery, like the sun, fire and stars. They make us feel energetic and creative.
Which colors to use where
- Cool colors are perfect for bedrooms, dens, and meditation rooms because they evoke soothing feelings of peace and calm
- Warm colors are great for studies, kitchens, bathrooms and dining rooms because they evoke feelings of vibrancy and fun, stimulating creativity and warmth
- Feel free to create a blend of both. For example, cool colors in the dining room are calming and will promote slow eating; mixed with warm colors to encourage love and laughter.
- Color does not have to be considered only for the walls. Everything in your room, from the colors on the walls to those of your furnishings and accents all contribute to the overall feeling in your living space.
Happy Painting!
Photo courtesy of www.dreamhomedecorating.com