Nicolette Toussaint Comfort and Joy Home Design San Francisco, CA (415) 794-6956 Living in Comfort and Joy Blog E-mail Nicolette

Color Me Happy, or Energized, or Calm -
Color Impacts Our Moods!

Psychologists have found strong links between color, behavior, and emotion. One researcher found that people were apt to buy more in a shopping area that was painted blue. Another found that red enhanced men’s amorous feelings. Another investigator asked people to guess the air temperature in a room where the thermal level was held constant and found that their subjects’ perception of warmth influenced by the color of the room.

Although you may not be conscious of it, the hues of your environment color your mood. As both an interior designer and a painter, I'm keenly appreciative of light and color, and an expert in using them to improve the look and feel of a room. For example, the yellow room at right looks warm even though the fireplace is not lit. That was the reason I chose this color for my client; the room is in a condo at the beach, and the foggy environment can often make the room appear - and feel - chilly.

The green accent wall in the photo below adds a calming feel to the room. That's not surprising. Hospitals are often painted green because studies have shown it to be calming, and to promote healing.

This is one of my paintings. Another one, "Zen Stones" appears at right and is the theme image for my blog.

We refer to watery blues and greens as “cool colors” and to fiery yellow, red, and orange as “warm colors” for reasons rooted in our psychological response to our environment and in our physical sensations. Language, too, reveals these connections: we refer to anger as being “hot under the collar” and to embarrassment as being “red in the face” with terms that correspond to the physical sensations that accompany these emotions. (Although the emotional associations of color vary with culture, there's also some consistency, as this webpage nicely summarizes.)

Color Alters our Perception of Space

 

White or pale colors seem to make objects recede. Dark or bright colors draw things closer, and, that in turn, causes them to look larger. Yellow, red, and orange seem to move toward us, while a blue or green wall, or one that’s painted a dark gray, will appear to move away.

Knowing this, I can use color to improve an awkwardly shaped room. For example, a corridor can be made to look less long and skinny if the side walls are painted a lighter color than the wall at the far end of the hall. (In addition, one can hide unattractive objects, such as wires and pipes, by painting them the same color as the wall behind them.)

I can also use color and finish to help a room that gets too much, or too little, sun. A light colored surface will reflect more light than a dark surface. Reflective surfaces, such as mirrors and shiny metals, enhance this effect as well.

Your Colors Should Complement Both
Your Furnishings, Lifestyle and Architecture

 

 

You should consider your furnishings and lifestyle when choosing colors and paint finishes. For example, matte white walls and small children are not a good combination! An eggshell or enamel finish in a light green or yellow will probably hide little fingerprints and bear cleanup better. Similarly, if you have a white cat, a light-colored couch is probably better than a navy blue one.

Your home's style and solar orientation will also influence these choices. You may love deep, rich colors, but if the only windows in your room face north and your indoor lighting is poor, charcoal colored walls will produce a gloomy effect, rather than a handsome modern one.

I often work with clients who have collected artworks, antiques or favored furnishings, and want to feature these in a room. In those cases, I will often create a custom color pallette that is keyed to both complement and show off these treasures. The story below provides an example of doing that for my client Jane.

I prepared these Photoshop images for a client who told me that her all-white living room (on the left) looked like "the inside of a refrigerator." She wanted to make the room more inviting. She couldn't visualize what the room would look like with different colored accent walls, and wanted to see how the colors I had suggested would look with her furniture. She chose the green; a photo of the finished green accent wall in the completed room is above at right.

Jane's Mediterranean Colors After years of living in an off-white apartment, Jane bought a condo near the beach. Finally, she could paint the walls. She loves royal blue, and she told me that she wanted it to play a prominent role in her new condo. “Uh oh!” I thought to myself. Blue is a devilishly hard color to use in interiors, unless you happen to live in the tropics. Blue looks great in brilliant sun – I love it on walls in Mexico and Morocco – but it’s hard to transfer this love to a cool climate. Sure enough, on my first visit, I quickly saw that the blues in the furnishings Jane had collected during her worldwide travels looked chilly in her living space. Even her baskets looked drab and washed out. What to do? I asked Jane to show me things she that she had collected. I admired photos that she had taken in Italy, in Southern France, and in Africa. I noted how nicely the texture of her basketry contrasted with the deep sheen of her Mexican blue glass. But what would pull these disconnected items into a composition that would chase off the chill? I found inspiration hiding in a duffel bag filled with fabrics Jane had collected. You can see a sample of these fabrics in the photo at right. These are African Kente cloths. The fabrics told me that Jane loved bright color, particularly colors characteristic of sunny climates. I suggested a warm, poppy gold for Jane’s living room. This yellow has lots of orange in it, a color that you will often see in the Mediterranean, where it is paired with blue and orange. It's a palette that's a favorite of the Provencal region of France.) Since blue and yellow-orange are complements – located across the color wheel from one another – the boundaries where they come together have a sizzling pop to them. Jane loved the colors. Me too - I love to visit and I feel great in this room!