The Psychology of Colour

Colour psychology is a big thing when it comes to planning your interior design. The colour of your home will have a huge impact on the feel of your space, and therefore your mood. Various shades evoke various emotions, so it’s really important to consider the vibe you want to create, and which colours will help to create this. Choosing the right colour scheme is key to a happy home.

How to know which colours are right for your home

Although we can generalise how colours can have an affect on people (for example yellow being a happy, sunny colour) it’s also important to remember that age, gender and culture can also have a big influence on colour psychology. The way in which colours can impact our mindsets is unique to each individual.

Look at how colours make you feel

For this reason, it’s best to look at how colours make YOU feel. Is blue calming for you, or does it feel cold? Is yellow a happy colour for you, or is it too loud? Does green give you a sense of the outdoors, or is it too vivid? It’s up to you to differentiate how various colours and shades can make you feel. Look to places you’ve been, or decor schemes you’ve seen to determine the emotional impact of colour on your mood.

Image: All Things Wildlife

Image: Turton in Burnt Ochre

Find an image you love

Another way to determine the colours that have a positive impact on your mental psychology is to use a tool such as TinEye Labs to pull shades from an image that you particularly like the colours of. Remember though to determine whether it’s the colours from the image, or the image itself that makes you feel happy, as there’s a big difference between the two! Once you've found an image with colours that speak to you, look for similar shades of paint or wallpaper like the above Turton in Burnt Ochre, which perfectly complements the image of the countryside brambles.

Choose between warm and cool shades

It’s been proven that there are common colour themes when it comes to ‘depressive’ and ‘happy’ shades. When images are grouped together into each category, warmer shades of colours are thought of more positively than cool colours in terms of impacting mood, which is another thing to consider when decorating your home.

Colour theory

So you’ve determined the colours that make you feel happy, now it’s time to piece together a colour scheme for your home by looking at colour theory. If you take a colour wheel, there are 3 ways you could look at to help choose colours that complement each other:

Analogous:

These colours are neighbours and placed next to each other on the wheel. They are generally pleasing to the eye and create smooth designs. Choose one main colour, a second as support and even a third as an accent.

Complementary:

These are the colours that sit opposite each other on the colour wheel, for example red and green. Each colour has one main complementary colour, which is generally used as an accent colour.

Triadic:

Three colours which create a triangle on the colour wheel, for example orange, purple and green. These are generally for a high-contrast scheme to inject lots of personality into a space. A great method to infuse lots of colour into your home.

This is just a basic overview of the colour wheel but has hopefully  provided you with a starting point for your colour journey. If you’re stuck, get in touch; we’d love to help!