Any designer who’s passed Color Theory 101 can tell you that color is a very powerful tool for creating meaning and mood in art. Complementing hues, contrast, and layering can help build just the right atmosphere for any room in your home.
Color also has a big impact on the human mind, to which color was very important information for survival in the wild—like telling which plants or animals were poisonous, for example. How we perceive colors in a given situation can also influence how hungry we are, how calm or excitable, and many other mental and emotional states. So at The RoomPlace, we want to explore a few important aspects of color in interior design for Chicagoland furniture shoppers and homeowners: furniture, accents and paint.
The colors of your bedroom, living room and dining room furniture, to name a few, will be chosen according to a complex interplay of criteria that you may not be conscious of processing: personal style, emotional needs, and where they’ll be in your home, to name just a few. Not surprisingly, those of us who gravitate toward warm colors are probably attracted to the feelings of optimism, gentleness, light, and positive energy, though when you start moving into the reds you’ll discover more dynamic associations with power, fire, and vitality. Cool colors are calming and often exemplify more passive attitudes. Green calls to mind the beginnings of life, nature, freshness, and blue has the additional associations of calm water, air, and the tranquility of a blue sky.
Interestingly, red, orange and yellow are appetizing colors—they make us more likely to feel hunger, which is why so many restaurant logos and décor incorporate them. But blue can have the opposite effect.
What do your color choices say about your mood? How is your mood affected by the colors of your décor? Take a look at your living room furniture, bedroom, dining room and beyond and take stock of your home’s emotional impact. You may be surprised.
