Decorate for Happiness: How Color Affects Mood

Ever wonder why black signifies mourning? Yellow, happiness? Red, danger? Gray, conservative? It's because color affects mood.

More of us are experimenting with color in our homes. If you've ever wondered why this room is so depressing, that room feels so lively and that other room just doesn't feel right, take a moment to discover the meaning behind color and how it can affect you.

About Color: A Quick Lesson

There are three groups of colors: primary, secondary and tertiary. The primary colors are red, blue and yellow. Secondary colors are green, orange and purple. The tertiary colors (intermediate colors) are red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, yellow-green, yellow-orange, and red-orange.

Primary colors are pure, meaning that no mix is needed to achieve them. Secondary colors are created by mixing equal proportions of two primary colors. For example, if you mix equal portions of red and blue, you get purple. Tertiary colors are made by mixing a secondary and a primary color, e.g., red and purple make pink.

One of the most important tools an interior decorator uses is a color wheel. The color wheel is a chart of colors that demonstrate the relationship between colors. For example, complementary colors (e.g., red and green) are opposite each other. Analogous colors (e.g., red and yellow) are side by side.

Becoming familiar with colors and how they relate to each other is integral to understanding how color evokes moods.

What Color Evokes What Mood

The color wheel is divided into warm and cool colors. The warm side is red to yellow-green. The cool side is from green-blue to violet. Warm colors are known to excite; cools colors to calm. Depending on the hue, color can over stimulate or depress. It is usually in the tertiary colors that we find the right balance. The following is a list of attributes that are widely assigned to primary and secondary colors.

Red: (think passion) stimulates, arouses, heightens awareness.

Blue: (think water; the ocean) relaxes, calms, transfixes.

Yellow: (think sun) recharges, energizes, revitalizes.

Secondary colors create gradations of the feelings attributed to primary colors.

Green: (Blue/Yellow) stabilizes, balances.

Orange: (Red/Green) cheers, orders.

Purple: (Blue/Red) protects, comforts.

How to Effectively Use Color in Your Home

Now that you know more about which colors evoke what moods, it should be easier to begin selecting colors that not only fit your design palette, but your emotional palette as well.

Warm colors work well in areas where you wish to stimulate conversation and promote interaction. Think lively yellow in the kitchen; demure red in the living room; terra cotta orange in the den. These are rooms where family and friends congregate and interaction is expected.

By contrast, you want to put cool colors in areas where you relax: lavender bathroom; ocean-blue bedroom; forest green study.

Although these are widely accepted notions, the assignment of qualities to color is based on culture. For example, in America, black is for mourning. In China, it's white.

The use of color in your home can be fun and exciting. Yuwanda Black, co-owner of the online retailer EthnicHomeDecor.com states, "I love color. It makes me feel complete. My home runs the gamut: green bathroom, lavender bedroom and an orange/terra cotta color in the living room."

The overwhelming emotion you want to feel at home is happiness — so consult a color wheel and start painting!

 

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About the Authors: Yuwanda & Cassandra Black are the owners of www.EthnicHomeDecor.com. Ethnic Home Decor offers soft home furnishings with ethnic themes at affordable prices.

Photo by Lotus Head.