Choosing the right colors for your interior decorating project can brighten more than your room. It may brighten your mood.
I've always been interested in color. As a kid I loved going to the office supply store and while mom bought stuff for work I'd select colored stationary pages that looked good together. It wasn't until later that I discovered paint decks and the fabulous color combinations. In fact sometimes when I'm feeling creative but haven't latched onto a project I'll just sit there and match up colors in my paint decks.
I am a firm believer that the colors you like say something about your personality. I also believe the reverse of that can be true, that if you surround yourself with certain colors you can affect your moods and possibly your personality.
This premise is key in feng shui decorating. To balance your Chi, or energy, you should surround yourself with a lot of different colors. Not always a good idea when decorating but there is a way to incorporate feng shui without going overboard. You can use small, brightly colored items to integrate the moods you want to achieve. Try red candles or a pink floral arrangement in the love and marriage segment of your home. (If you are unaware of the divisions of home please refer to my article "Decorating with Feng Shui" to learn how to apply a Bagua Map to your home.) In the money area of your home you may want to add some bright blue or purple items.
There are hundreds of ways to incorporate color into a home and the feng shui method is just one path you can take. You can also add color simply based upon your personal tastes. Or you could decide to make some life changes and to help yourself along you will surround yourself with colors that coincide with your goals.
Feeling skeptical? That's understandable but I can guarantee you've been manipulated by color in the past and will in the future. The most obvious example is dining out. Think about your favorite restaurant, what color scheme do they use? Think about the most popular fast food restaurants and their signature colors. Most likely you've come up with the colors red, orange, black and brown. This is not a coincidence. There are numerous studies which have looked at the correlations of color and people's reactions and the colors restaurants choose are the ones people most associated positively with food. So if you want to lose weight do NOT paint your kitchen red or orange. Try instead a cool blue or a sunny yellow. Blue is a calming color and yellow is associated with happiness. If you eat out of stress or anxiety just the colors of your kitchen will begin soothing your emotions.
Now different countries and cultures approach color differently and so the connotations are different but most westerners associate the following colors with these feelings.
Red - Anger or Love
Orange - Enthusiasm
Yellow - Joy and Happiness
Green - Jealousy or Good Luck
Blue - Peacefulness
Purple - Creativity and Passion
White - Cleanliness
Black - Sadness
Review the list and then consider how you can incorporate color into your life and possibly bring a new level of inner comfort to your home.
