Colour your world happy

Understanding the psychology of colour will help you to choose a palette for your home that has a positive effect on you and your family.

On bright sunny days, we become happy and recharged. While sitting by the ocean, we feel relaxed and at peace. The colours associated with those feelings (yellow equals happy and blue equals relaxed) get stored in our memory and are drawn upon when selecting colours for our home.

According to colour consultant Leatrice Eiseman, author of The Color Answer Book (Capital Books, 2003) and Colors for Your Every Mood (Capital Books, 2000), many of our colour associations are attached to childhood. “If you used to bake cookies with your grandmother and her kitchen had red and white gingham curtains, that would forever be embedded in you as a pleasant memory and you would gravitate towards it.”

But, Leatrice explains, the opposite is also true. Understanding the psychology of colour helps us to choose colour that will positively impact our mood and energy.

Warm vs. cool
The colour wheel is divided into warm and cool colours. Reds, yellows and oranges are warm colours because they remind us of fire and heat and tend to excite and energize us. Blues, greens and purples are cool colours, playing on nature and the outdoors, which calm and relax us.

Within the two categories, each colour is said to further elicit different emotions.



Red The colour of excitement, raising our blood pressure and increasing feelings of passion.

Yellow Livens up a grey day, making us feel happy, recharged and uplifted.

Orange As a combination of yellow and red, it has the power to elicit good cheer and happiness, as well as energy and excitement. It's also said to stimulate appetite.

Blue “Blue is associated with dependability, constancy,” says Leatrice. “People feel serene and tranquil because that's what we associate with the sky.” It also suppresses our appetite, likely because there aren't too many blue foods.

Green Reminiscent of the outdoors or nature; offers freshness and balance.

Purple The colour of creativity, combining the excitement of red on one hand and the tranquility of blue on the other.


It's important to keep in mind that these colour-mood associations are general, and that there are always exceptions. Leatrice points to electric blues, which will excite more than calm, and yellow-greens such as chartreuse, which are strong and overwhelming.


A colour for every room
Once we understand how colour works, we can apply it to various rooms to elicit and reflect the mood we desire. “They paint prisons pink to calm people down,” jokes Peter Fallico, host of HGTV Canada's Home To Go, before getting down to which rooms in the home merit which colours.




Bathroom: “People want to see crispness in a bathroom,” says Peter, “to get that spa feel.” For coolness in the bathroom, aquas, blues and greens work well, but anything in the peachy/rose range flatters the skin, adds Leatrice.
Bedroom: Leatrice used periwinkle blue in her own bedroom, a colour that offers a little bit of excitement but remains for the most part tranquil. Peter suggests a soft yellow, something that is at once safe and warming, and vibrant enough to get a person out of bed in the morning.
Dining room: If you want to get people salivating, Leatrice suggests trying colours from apricot, rosy orange and peach to terra cotta, wine and cranberry. Even the colours sound appetizing!
Home office: Since this is a room where concentration is required, Leatrice suggests something restful to the eyes such as teal, a colour that combines green's outdoor inspiration with blue's dependability. Peter moves a little further into the green family with celadon –“It's alive, it's perky,” he says – or pear, which is motivating.
Living room: “You need something calming, a colour that you can be around a long time with,” says Peter, suggesting tan or sable, either of which looks beautiful against wood tones. If the room is used for television, Leatrice prefers a green.
Kitchen: “A bright sunny yellow will keep the kitchen alive and fresh,” says Peter. Leatrice agrees: “Yellow is just cheerful and fun, even if you spend little time cooking.”


Whatever colour you choose, make sure you like it. “Orange may be a trend colour, but if it doesn't say pleasant things to you you're not going to be comfortable,” says Leatrice. “Choose a colour based on your emotional response to it.”

Interior Design: Living & Dining Area Tips

● In interior design, a focal point is important in every room. It could be a large window or painting or an interesting art piece. In your living room, arrange your furniture around a focal point. Put your biggest piece of furniture first (like the sofa) then continue with the smaller pieces of furniture down to your accent pieces.

● Consider the size of your living room when you buy the furniture. Don't buy oversized pieces if your room is not that big. It will make your room smaller and cramped. And also don't buy tall furniture if your ceiling is low, they will make the ceiling appear lower.

● Many of us Filipinos tend to buy living room furniture "sets" with a sofa, two matching side chairs, with matching coffee and side tables. Be different, don't match the couch with the side chairs. In fact, in interior design, it is more fashionable to have different styled pieces put together like a modern sofa with classic or antique side chairs and different styled tables.

● If you plan to put several picture frames on the walls. it is a good idea to group them together by theme and arrange them inside an imaginary frame. They can be the focal point of the room.

● Before you buy you dining room set, take a good look at your space. Be sure that there is ample room to walk around the dining set even if all the seats are occupied. Interior design has a lot to do with ergonometrics, not just appearance. We Filipinos have the tendency to buy bigger dining sets than our space can accommodate and push one side of the table against the wall.

● If your living and dining area is on the same room, you may use a different flooring material on the dining area to delineate the space from the living area. Or you may put an area rug on your dining area for definition. A free standing screen is another good option.

● Avoid using fluorescent (white) lighting in the living and dining areas. Food looks more inviting under incandescent (yellow) light and people's complexion too look better under yellow light. But if you really like to use fluorescent light, combine both white & yellow light at the same time.

● If you plan to put a chandelier above your dinning table, don't put it up so high. Lower it 3 to 4 feet from the table top.

● Aside from your direct light source above the dining table (a chandelier for example), add some pin lights around the room and a dimmer switch to make your surroundings more pleasing to the eye. Do the same with your living room.

● It is ok to put family pictures on the living room but don't put so many, specially school diplomas and trophies. They are better put in the den or your bedroom.

Interior Design: Kitchen & Bathrooms Tips

● If your kitchen is small (or any room for that matter) use light colors: off white, beige etc. but you can accent the room with bright colors if you like to brighten up your kitchen. Dark colors will make a room look smaller than it's actual size.

● The kitchen sink, cooking stove and the refrigerator should form a work triangle where the total distance of the three stations is no more than 26 feet. The three stations should be close enough for convenience when preparing food.

● Avoid dark colored tiles on shower areas of bathrooms and kitchen counters. Although black or royal blue may look stunning, soap residue can easily be seen and is difficult to clean when hardened. Unless you have a helper to clean the bathroom right after you shower, it is better to use light colored tiles on the shower area.

● Like any other room, if your bathroom is too small use a large mirror on top of the sink or one whole wall - it will make the bathroom look bigger.

● You can also place a mirror in the kitchen. A good place is opposite the window, it will not only make the room larger but it will reflect the light and brighten the room.

● Put small indoor plants on small pots in your kitchen and bathroom. Plants gives a fresh feeling to the interior design of the kitchen and bathroom.

● Don't be limited to stainless steel sinks, drawer handles, frames and pans, use copper, chrome, wrought iron, tin, brass and platinum. They will make your kitchen or bathroom more interesting.

● If you have shelves to spare, put cookbooks, small indoor plants and other accessories to make your kitchen more appealing.

● During holidays change the look of your kitchen by putting themed table cloth and chair slipcovers to cheer up the room.

● Always make sure that there is adequate lighting on bathrooms and kitchen. Inadequate lighting makes the kitchen & bathroom feel cramped and gloomy. Aside from the general lighting fixture at the center of the room. Put task lights under the kitchen hanging cabinets. In the bathroom, put wall lights on either sides of the vanity mirror. The classic style of placing small wall lamps on both sides of the mirror gives your bathroom a charming and elegant look.

● Bathroom interior design can be fun. If your bathroom is big enough, you can decorate it with some framed pictures or artwork. Just make sure that it is not affected by moisture. Pictures or artwork makes the bathroom more interesting. Also put some scented candles, soaps and flowers. They are always a welcome add on -specially to your visitors.