Color is a powerful tool that can affect us both physically and emotionally. Color expert Sherry Payne and Kitty Bartholomew, host of HGTV's Kitty Bartholomew: You're Home, explain the impact of various colors. Shades of purple and violet can relax and stimulate us at the same time. Violet is relaxing, making it a good choice for use in a bedroom setting (figure A). Purple is often favored by artists, designers and musicians because it stimulates creativity. Daydreams are more likely when you're surrounded by purple, which in turn can stimulate imagination. Cool blue, in every shade, is an American favorite (figure B). The color blue slows respiration and heartbeat, making you physically feel calmer. Walls painted a medium blue can make a small room appear larger because our eyes focus blue in the front of the retina. Blue has a reputation for inhibiting appetite. If you're dieting, put a blue light in your fridge to cast an unappealing color on tempting treats. Red is the most dynamic and energizing color of the spectrum. The warmest color, with the longest wavelength, closest to infrared, red can make us feel hot. Red makes food look more appealing and is used widely to great advantage in restaurants and kitchens. The intensity of red can be overwhelming: tone it down with shades of green and blue-green that are its opposite on the color wheel (figure C). Plants or art in these colors will provide necessary visual balance. Recent concern for environmental issues has brought green a new level of popularity. Dark green has been a traditional favorite for years, and current color-trend forecasts expand the palette, featuring a wide variety of greens. Because we focus the color green directly on the retina, it's the easiest color for the eye to see (figure D). It's the best color to use in a study or library, helping you to read, relax and concentrate. The color is also connected with feelings of security and stability. Because it's considered the color of home and hearth, it can help ease homesickness. Send along green towels or bedspread with children who are going off to camp or boarding school to help them through the transition. Yellow is often considered a sunny, happy color, but it can provoke anxiety. Although happiness, joy and hope are connected with the color yellow, experts find that spending long periods of time surrounded by yellow that is unrelieved by other colors can make a person irritable and hostile. Studies done at the University of Chicago indicate that babies cry more in yellow rooms. Balancing yellow with other colors can help relieve this problem (figure E).
RESOURCES :
Sherry Payne, Designer
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