How colour in your home can affect your mood:

Did you know that different colours are known to affect people and our moods? Colours can make us feel happy or sad, hungry or relaxed, and can even affect our energy levels too. That’s why some restaurants choose certain colours, depending on the atmosphere they want to create: fast food places often use bright colours to encourage you to eat quickly, whereas a fine dining restaurant might favour softer hues to encourage you to feel calm and relaxed.

The same goes for the colours in your home. You wouldn’t want a bold colour in your child’s bedroom: that’s going to make them feel energised and excited when they’re meant to be relaxed and winding down for bedtime. Bold colours are better suited to a room where playtime happens.

As you can see when choosing colours for a room, it’s important to take into consideration the mood you’d like to create in the space. This doesn’t mean you have to go and paint a whole room bright yellow (unless you’re feeling brave), if you wish to create an energetic and happy space. Accessories, scatter cushions, rugs and throws are the perfect options for adding pops of colour to a room. Take a look at our tips on how to choose and arrange scatter cushions in your home.

So, let’s have a look at how different colours can affect us and which colours suit which rooms.

Warm colours:
Warm colours such as red, orange, yellow and pink can evoke feelings of excitement, increased energy, happiness, and creativity to name a few. Adding pops of these colours to a room, for example: yellow chairs, vases and flowers to a kitchen, can create brightness, happiness and joy, which makes us want to spend time there. A kitchen is a natural place of gathering where socialising happens while cooking or listening to your favourite tune with a glass of wine in hand.

Orange is great for a playroom as it’s a stimulating colour and encourages creativity, as well as being inviting and friendly. Young children love colour and you can accessorise the playroom with scatter cushions and colourful artwork (that the kids have drawn or painted).

Cool colours:
Greens, blues and purples are more calming and soothing colours. They are said to help relieve stress, lower blood pressure and improve relaxation. One of the most important rooms to create relaxation in is the master bedroom, where you want to go to sleep feeling calm and wake up feeling rested. Green is a great colour to have in your bedroom, and deep green, which is very trendy right now, is the perfect colour to paint your walls or have as a headboard or ottoman. If you prefer a more subtle approach, simply adding greenery through plants is a great way to incorporate this colour into your bedroom.

When working from home, as many of us do nowadays, dark blue (or navy) is a great colour for an office or homework area. It represents order, responsibility, calmness and security. If you do go for a darker blue, add lighter shades into the room, like a wooden desk, white lamp shade etc, as you don’t want the room to feel too dark.

Neutral colours:
These include brown, grey, white, black and metallics. Neutrals make a great base on the walls, cabinets and large pieces of furniture or carpets. You can then add different shades and pops of colour as accessories, smaller furniture items and rugs. Neutrals can bring calm and comfort into a room, but it’s important to find the perfect shade so it doesn’t fight with your other furnishings. When choosing a carpet colour for your home check out our tips on choosing the right carpet colour for your room.

Browns generally add tradition, such as darker wooden tables or photo frames. This also creates a sense of stability and has a grounding effect on us.

White instantly makes an area feel larger and more open with a bright, fresh look. It’s the most neutral colour and creates a sense of calm, although using too much white can make a room feel a bit clinical and cold.

Grey has become more trendy lately and is completely versatile as it creates different feels according to the hues used. Darker grey is very modern and can give a sophisticated look, especially as a feature wall.

Black can create a feeling of luxury and elegance but use it carefully as it can be a very strong statement. It creates depth and is great when used as accessories in a room.

Metallics are fun to play with and can give a room really stylish accents.

In general deeper shades create intensity, while lighter shades are more calming.

When it comes down to it, colour is a personal opinion and not everyone feels the same about them. They may bring back a memory, or one colour could mean something totally different to one person than it does to another, due to different cultures and beliefs. Trends also come and go, but the colour in a room can make all the difference to how you feel, so remember this when you’re designing or renovating a room or area in your home.