The Psychology of Color in Interior Painting
There’s a lot more to color than just tying a room together.
Knowing how colors can affect mood and perception adds oomph to your design projects.
Have you ever wondered why some rooms feel cozier than others? Or, conversely, why you might feel more energetic in some places and more tired or relaxed in others? Beyond aesthetics, colors can influence our emotions, behaviors, and even our well-being. This science is aptly called color psychology and it’s used every day by marketers, salespeople, interior designers, and – as you guessed it – painters.
Knowing the psychology behind color is essential for making the most of your projects. While color psychology can be applied commercially to marketing and brand development, it can also create living spaces with the desired feeling and mood you’re going for. In this article, we’ll explore the basics of color psychology and how to apply it to your next home renovation project.
Understanding the Basics of Color Psychology
Color psychology explores the impact of different colors on human emotions and behavior. From the fiery energy of red to the calming serenity of blue, each color evokes distinct feelings and associations.
For example, warm tones like reds, oranges, and yellows are often associated with energy, passion, and warmth, making them ideal for living spaces where socialization and vitality are desired. On the other hand, cool tones like greens, blues, and purples evoke feelings of tranquility, relaxation, and harmony, making them well-suited for bedrooms and bathrooms where rest and rejuvenation are paramount.
Neutral tones like grays, blacks, and whites offer versatility and sophistication, allowing homeowners to create timeless and elegant interiors that serve as blank canvases for personal expression.
Knowing how to mix these colors to invoke certain emotions or underpin a story or sensation you’re trying to tell with the room itself allows you to tailor your spaces to your liking. It’s not just about aesthetics, but feeling, form, and function.
Here’s a quick guide to what each main color means from the London Image Institute:
Red: excitement, strength, love, energy
Orange: confidence, success, bravery, sociability
Yellow: creativity, happiness, warmth, cheer
Green: nature, healing, freshness, quality
Blue: trust, peace, loyalty, competence
Pink: compassion, sincerity, sophistication, sweet
Purple: royalty, luxury, spirituality, ambition
Brown: dependable, rugged, trustworthy, simple
Black: formality, drama, sophistication, security
White: clean, simplicity, innocence, honesty
As you reflect on this list, think about different concepts, objects, places, and brands that are associated with these colors. For instance, Valentine’s Day uses a lot of red to channel the idea of love. However, red can also evoke strong emotions such as anger (someone’s “red in the face”) or hunger (many restaurants and food brands use red in their branding including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Applebee’s).
Again, color isn’t just about hues and tints, but concepts and our understanding of the world around us.
How to Use Color Psychology in Home Interiors
While it’s true that color and how you decorate your home is a matter of personal preference, understanding color psychology gives you more control over how to best tie a room together or promote a certain physical or mental state.
Begin by asking yourself how you want you, your family, or guests to feel in a certain area. For instance, red in a kitchen can promote hunger and heat whereas blues and greens can calm that area down. Using warmer hues for a living room such as oranges and yellows can give the space more energy whereas browns and tans can make the space feel cozy (think of your typical den or finished basement complete with bar and pool table).
The rooms themselves can be painted neutral colors such as whites or creams but then accented with different colors, whether molding, furniture, or a dedicated accent wall. Using paint to change the perception of a space’s size and openness is also a tactic that falls under the color psychology umbrella as different colors do a better job at manipulating that perception than others.
Once you know what you want a space to feel like and have an idea for the core color you want, you can further modulate the effect by considering various tints, tones, and shades. While these terms might be used interchangeably, this is how they’re defined:
Hues are pure colors, for instance yellow, red, purple, etc.
Tints are lighter versions of hues, effectively the hue with added white to it.
Tones are deeper versions of hues, equating to the hue with gray mixed in.
Shades are darker versions of hues, a hue mixed with black.
Using tints, tones, and shades can help amp up or mute different hue effects. For instance, bright yellow is much more energetic than a deeper, darker one akin to gold. A dark red can complement the rustic feel of a mainly-brown room whereas a light red might clash or be too aggressive.
Again, each person will have different tastes and preferences but knowing how color psychology works will allow you to have more control over how to decorate your spaces.
Transform Your Space with Icon Painting
Color psychology is a science that’s easily understood yet can be difficult to master. We’re constantly exposed to various colors that subtly affect our mood and perception without realizing it. Now armed with the basics, play around with color and see how it can add a whole new layer of depth and life to your living spaces.
At Icon Painting, we pride ourselves on knowing how to breathe new life into homes through paint and color psychology. If you’ve been interested in a change of pace or need to refresh your living room, kitchen, bedroom, and anything in between, reach out to us today and learn more about how we can help you turn your house into the home of your dreams.
