Psychology of color

Do you think about the psychology of paint colors? I always see kitchens in bright airy colors, dining rooms in dark moody colors.

What are some of the moods & colors for your rooms? Pics would be great too.

I'm leaning toward yellow for a kitchen. It reminds me of morning with the sun coming in.

Re: Psychology of color

That's interesting. We just painted our diningroom dark blue.

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shoot.... what does that say about us? We have almost no color in our apartment! Everthing is sleek and black, dark grey, silver, glass, or white..... only a persian rug and a couple linens have a bit of red... other than that, no color what so ever! The only additional colors are in our art

I guess we're pretty gloomy or dull.....

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I found that by picking the colors I like, all my rooms come from the same palate. It's really cool that it worked out that way. Everything blends.

I love combinations of taupe, olive, chocolate and cream. All of the rooms are in those tones.


ETA - I dont know what that means about my psychology... it just tells me I don't like primary colors.

Message edited 7/28/2007 1:04:37 AM.

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ok, I must confess.... you inspired me to google this topic...

the first article I found was in better homes and gardens (wow they have annoying ads!)

BHG colors and moods
they were somewhat critical about red (Crimson can make some people feel irritable) and black (Black is best used in small doses as an accent). They do admit that red livens up an otherwise neutral environment... explains our high degree of entertaining, and lack of relaxation, I guess....

Now this site is much more pro black and red they reflect authority, power, energy, strength and independence.... I'll go with that story instead

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DH found out that yellows and greens inspire creativity, so for our office/DH's music room, he painted 2 walls bright yellow and 2 walls kelly green.

The first time I walked in the Sesame Street theme burst into my head!!!

Message edited 7/28/2007 8:08:47 AM.

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DH and I talked about this last night and I said I like yellow kitchens. He was dead set against it! Jokingly I said fine, then I want it to match my Kitchenaid mixer. And he agreed!

My mixer is pistachio green.

Although I love green, I think that might be too much for that big of a room.

Thanks for those articles, I definitely want to look into them! We do like the currently trendy earth tones with white trim, but don't want to overdo it. And there are carpets to match that just would not go with that kind of color palette.

That's another thing - complimentary colors. One of the carpets is dark blue and the other is teal.

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we painted the master in our townhouse with an opera red accent wall & dijon gold on the other walls.
Both DH & I never slept well in the room from that point on. Our guest room is a very girly pink to match my grandma's heirlooms that its furnished with & everyone that stays in that room says its so soothing & they sleep really well.
So I think there is something to it.

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Red and yellow are a great combination for gardens too, I noticed. When you described the colors, I thought WOW that must have looked great.

But now that I think about it, you might be right about it not being soothing. I think though that would look great in a dining room. Someplace sit-up-straight formal, you know?

I suppose all colors have their place somewhere, it just depends on the mood they invoke.

When I worked as a stage lighting designer, certain colors were used for that purpose - yellow was a "crazy" color and used for scenes where the actors were under severe stress. Pink = love, blue = sad... etc.

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I've heard that reds, yellows, oranges, inspire hunger, so they would be good for kitchens and dining rooms.

Lavendar and purple are soothing and are good for bedrooms.

Yellow is good for the guest room b/c it is not as soothing, and it prevents guests from staying too long.

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My entire house is in tropical or florida type colors....my neighbors daughter says she feels like she's in a beach house.

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Posted by Kate

I've heard that reds, yellows, oranges, inspire hunger, so they would be good for kitchens and dining rooms.

Lavendar and purple are soothing and are good for bedrooms.

Yellow is good for the guest room b/c it is not as soothing, and it prevents guests from staying too long.

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Posted by Kate

Yellow is good for the guest room b/c it is not as soothing, and it prevents guests from staying too long.

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Where did you read that about yellow? Because I finally got DH to agree to yellow for the kitchen but that will become the meeting place for the house, I'm sure. I don't want people to feel uncomfortable there.

I was thinking a creamy yellow, something like this:

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This color yellow looks nice. We were thinking yellow for our kitchen originally, but all of our samples weren't quite right--either too muddy or too bright. We wound up going with a pale green (sorry, no pics yet). The color is BM Pale Sea Green Mist. We like it.

It is funny you mention this though--DH and I have been disagreeing about paint colors. He wants very pale colors or white. I want almost no white other than trim (too many years in white apts. I think). I would like some richer, darker colors in certain rooms (like the dining room), but he is dead set against anything like this. Right now we're trying to find a beige or tan for the living room, and everything he likes is almost white. Everything I like is a bit darker. Guess we're not compatible this way!

Bedrooms I don't mind using pale colors, since I associate bedrooms with sleep and rest.

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Maybe if you showed him pictures of dining rooms with medium to dark colors, but a really beautiful setting, it might sway him?

I have very little personal vision. I take everything from other sources like magazines.

Hopefully, you come to a nice compromise! But if you don't, you can always repaint in a darker color. Not so easy to go from dark to light.

Message edited 7/29/2007 5:38:35 PM.

Re: Psychology of color

Posted by greenfreak

Maybe if you showed him pictures of dining rooms with medium to dark colors, but a really beautiful setting, it might sway him?

I have very little personal vision. I take everything from other sources like magazines.

Hopefully, you come to a nice compromise! But if you don't, you can always repaint in a darker color. Not so easy to go from dark to light.