Color Help: Color Pictures for Happy Homes

Website design By BotEap.comColor researchers have estimated that up to 70% of our subconscious reactions to people and environments are based solely on our reactions to color. With that in mind, it is important that you pay particular attention to the effects you want to create when choosing color schemes for your interior spaces in your home.

Website design By BotEap.comColor is a visual experience that influences our psychological reality. The way the mind perceives the colors our eyes see is called color imagery, and that mental image deeply affects our emotions and physical comfort. Colors call out to our feelings and create the emotional atmosphere within a room.

Website design By BotEap.comSo always start your color deliberations by asking yourself what feelings you want to evoke in a particular room. Think about the purpose of the room. For example, baths should be retreats for cleansing rituals. In that light, what colors come to mind? Refreshing, blue, green, creamy white or the color of your childhood bathroom? Imagine a Florida spring, a tropical lagoon, or a mountain waterfall. Expand your happy memories by adding colors that work for you.

Website design By BotEap.comUnlike bathrooms, the purpose of a dining room is to bring the family together to share meals. Psychologists have shown that food actually tastes better when it is served in rooms decorated in “food” colors, such as reds, greens, browns, yellows, and pinks.

Website design By BotEap.comIn our 1878 Victorian dining room, we painted the walls deep pink and then created a clear coat enamel, using an amber stain and polyurethane. The result is a soft peach color. (The amber tint was the paint color of a neighboring room.) After finishing the dining room, we wallpaper the ceiling and painted it dark green with a blush red trim.

Website design By BotEap.comEach room in your home has a different purpose and will require thinking about what color you will need to add to the walls to elicit a particular emotional and physiological response from the people who will be using that room for a specific activity. If 70% of our subconscious reactions to people and situations have to do with the response of color, that means that creating meaningful backgrounds for every room in the house is not something to be approached lightly.

Website design By BotEap.com(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.