Basics of Choosing Paint Colors for Interiors

Home Decorating and Picking Paints to Establish a Mood or Decor

Aug 24, 2009

Color and mood very often go hand in hand. Its more than just matching. How colors are used when decorating a home interior can help to either relax or energize a room.

The right paint and accent colors for a room depend on its purpose. Humans are conditioned to feel that certain colors mean certain things, an instinct that runs to the core of consciousness. This is part of human self-defense; if a person learns by experience that red fire is hot, he will not get too close to it again. If he learns that blue-green ocean water is cool and refreshing, he will associate that color with those feelings.

The Psychology of Color and Emotions

Most people have favorite colors, to which they unconsciously attach pleasant emotional connections, perhaps the result of a fond memory. Very often a person may truly dislike a color for the same reasons. Cultural differences can also have a great impact on the psychology of color. For instance, in many cultures, purple is the color of royalty, so people who are part of those cultures feel respect or awe when they see it.

Bloomsburg University's Graphic Design lesson plan includes a section about color and how it affects mood. This teaches student designers that the colors they choose can have an impact on the advertising they create. The same is true for the colors chosen for home interior; they can and do affect the mood of a room's occupants.

The emotional temperature of color is another important factor in interior design. Reds, oranges and yellows are felt as warm colors and can help a cold room feel warmer. Blues, greens and violets are considered cool colors and can help to cool down a room. However it should be noted that the shade or intensity of colors can also have a large impact on the emotional temperature – a very bright reddish purple can start to have a very hot feel while light pink can feel cool.

How to Use Color Schemes for Decorating

Monotones are varying tones of one color and can be calming, especially when used with a calm color. Monotone may be a bit boring for some, but it works well in certain environments. Monotone becomes Monochromatic when a large variety of different shades of the same color are used.

Complementary color schemes are schemes that are built around two colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel such as blue and orange. These colors together help to create excitement and expectation in a room.

Analogous color schemes are made up of three colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. This color scheme is often found in nature such as the colors in a sunset that range from blue through purple to red.

Using these color schemes along with colors that are chosen for their emotional value is the key to decorating a home or a room to suit an emotional need. These are the design principles that help transform a room from simply a place to be, to a place that people want to be in.

The copyright of the article Basics of Choosing Paint Colors for Interiors in Interior Decorating is owned by Robin Montanye. Permission to republish Basics of Choosing Paint Colors for Interiors in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.