Fixture-World Modern Home Decor Blog » Color psychology: The effect of color on us

Color psychology: Decorating with Gray

Charnell — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 22:01:21 +0000

When you think ‘gray’, you think dark stormy skies, dreary German orphan overcoats, stern accountants in gray suits..but gray is much more than that. It needs a chance to show it’s ‘other’ sides. Gray is associated with intelligence, discipline, stability, sophistication and quiet authority. Many people think of gray as a “safe” color, but decorating with gray is a delicate matter indeed. Choosing the right gray can be the difference between either creating a brilliant decor color scheme or a dull, moody one.

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Bedroom: Grey was always regarded as a conservative color worn mostly by bankers but these days it’s also associated with style. Make gray a little less conservative by throwing in some brilliant color accents into the mix. The shade of gray you choose also has an effect on the “mood” you’d like to create in the room.

[decorpad.com]

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Bathroom: The color gray can instantly lend a subtle, elegant formality to a room.

[styleisinthedetails.com]

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Living room: Too much gray (and the wrong shade), can be depressing. Liven a gray room up by adding color room accents. Like brown, gray can go with a wide variety of colors and really make it pop.

[countryliving.com]

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Dining room: If sophistication is the effect you’re going for in a room, gray is your color. Use a variety of gray shades in a room for interesting color depth.

[houseandhome.com]

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Kitchen: Apart from its psychological effects, gray also has practical properties. Stir a bit of gray paint into ready-mixed paints to take the synthetic edge off. If you want to paint dark walls a light/er color, there is no need to paint layers and layers of lighter paint to cover the dark. Just give the dark walls a base coat of medium gray, let dry and apply the light paint of your choice.

[media3.washingtonpost.com]

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Office: Gray is your color if you’d like a smart and sophisticated office. Gray is associated with “dependability” and stability.

[theepochtimes.com]

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How NOT to decorate in gray: It does not matter how pretty the contents of the room is, too much gray in the decor can make a room appear, dull, depressing and lifeless.

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For more info on ‘Color & the subconscious: the effect of color on us’ – Click HERE..>>

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Pick another room color:

Color psychology: Decorating with Brown

Charnell — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:47:36 +0000

Earthy and secure, associated with nature, earth, comfort, reliability and warmth, it conveys a sense of familiarity and home.

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Bedroom: The psychological effects of the color brown are often described as reassuring, safe and stabilizing. Decorate your room in shades of earth tones to sleep “safe” and sound.

[fabulousfinishes.wordpress.com]

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Bathroom: While lighter shades of brown are more associated with “safety” and “nurturing”, dark chocolate browns are associated with sensuality.

[minasdecorandfashion.blogspot.com]

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Living room: Is black too “black” for you? Soften the psychological impact of stark black by using near-black neutrals like charcoal or dark coffee browns. They carry visual weight, but without the severity of outright pitch-blackness.

[2.bp.blogspot.com]

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Dining room: Literally ANY color goes with, especially, chocolate brown. If you’re not that adventurous but would like to try a different color scheme in your home, use brown as a base color and dress it up with a second, brighter color.

[houseandhome.com]

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Kitchen: Brown can add warmth and depth. It can inject earthiness into a cool or neutral color combination and make it more welcoming. Obviously, the psychological effects of the color brown vary with its shades and tints.

[1.bp.blogspot.com]

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Office: Create a “trusting” atmosphere for your employees and clients.

[2.bp.blogspot.com]

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How NOT to decorate in brown: Not all people like bright colors but not adding ANY color to a predominantly brown room, can make the color scheme seem very dull.

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For more info on ‘Color & the subconscious: the effect of color on us’ – Click HERE..>>

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Pick another room color:

Color psychology: Decorating with White

Charnell — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:17:37 +0000

Suggests purity, innocence, and cleanliness. May evoke a sense of sterility, but is therefore great in kitchens (especially restaurant kitchens). White can be used to give an open, spacious feeling to a smaller work area. Soft, muted, or tinted whites are the best choice for the main wall colors in offices. Pure, bright white, when used in large quantities, can strain the eyes in a brightly lit work environment. Instead, use bright whites for trim and moldings to create a crisp, clean look.

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Bedroom: On its own, pure brilliant white can look sterile or high-maintenance, particularly with very sleek interior design styles that involve lots of polished surfaces.

[cococozy.com]

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Bathroom: An room decorated mostly in white, doesn’t need to feel arctic (unless you’re living in a very warm climate). To make the room more warm and inviting, layer up tints (from chalky white, ivory, bone, rose etc.) and textures (in walls, textiles, and floor coverings). This will help make a white room warmer and more inviting.

[countryliving.com]

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Living room: White gives an airy / pure / clear / serene feel to a home. Mix in some neutral colors (grays and browns) to give it more of an “earthy” feel.

[decorpad.com]

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Dining room: On floor, walls and furniture, the color white can make a room feel larger than it is and add a crisp freshness to a room interior.

[homedesignfind.com]

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Kitchen: White gives the impression of cleanliness and sterility. A reason why it’s a favorite in restaurant kitchens.

[homedesignfind.com ]

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Office: A white office can look very slick and sophisticated but can come across as impersonal and chilly if the “wrong” white is used (e.g. ‘arctic white’).

[roomenvy.wordpress.com]

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How NOT to decorate in white: Chromophobia or Chromatophobia is the Fear of colors and yes it’s a real fear. If you don’t suffer from “Chromophobia” and just like this type of style, mix in some other shades of white (e.g. ‘bone’, ‘eggshell’, ‘arctic white’), to give the room more depth.

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For more info on ‘Color & the subconscious: the effect of color on us’ – Click HERE..>>

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Pick another room color:

Color psychology: Decorating with Black

Charnell — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:17:40 +0000

Black is associated with death, power, eccentricity, drama, authority, stability, strength, evil, depression, sophistication, formality, elegance, mystery, style, fear, mourning, rebellion etc. It’s a powerful color and should be used in moderation or it will overwhelm a room (and you) very quickly.

Unless you’re living the Gothic lifestyle, it’s better to use the color to “underline” accents or details in a room like e.g. picture frames, lighting fixtures, piping, detail in textiles, some furniture pieces, flower vases and so forth. It’s a good color to give a room an ‘edge’ or to temper a color like pink. If you want to draw attention or make a statement, black is your color.

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Bedroom: Black absorbs color and light so if your room is on the small side, you should use it even more sparingly or the room will seem like a cave. Add it to the bedroom for a modern and sophisticated effect.

[decorpad.com]

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Bathroom: Black and white bathroom designs are classic and timeless.

[katyelliott.com]

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Living room: If you choose black for your walls, don’t let it be the dominating color in the room or it will end up dominating you! Minimal splashes of black is enough to balance the color scheme out.

[idealhomemagazine.co.uk]

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Dining room: Black and white will always make for classic and sophisticated decor. Mix in different color accents to liven the room up. By swapping the existing color accents with new ones will give the room an instant and affordable face-lift.

[thirteenandsouth.blogspot.com]

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Kitchen: Black can work in a kitchen if you have big windows to let in loads of natural light or a lot of lighting fixtures throughout the kitchen.

[appletreestaging.blogspot.com]

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Office: Black in the office will bring forth a sense of professionalism and authority.

[decorpad.com]

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How NOT to decorate in black: You only get a free pass to decorate your home like this if your name is Tony Soprano and yes, all those shiny surfaces are playing tricks on our eyes too.

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For more info on ‘Color & the subconscious: the effect of color on us’ – Click HERE..>>

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Pick another room color:

Color psychology: Decorating with Purple

Charnell — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:26:28 +0000

Purple has both a calm yet mysterious psychological association and deeper purples and violets associate more with power and introspection. Purple in its darkest values (e.g. eggplant), is rich, dramatic and sophisticated. It’s associated with luxury, creativity, royalty, magic and spirituality. Used as an accent (secondary) color, it gives warmth and depth to a room. If you choose a dark hue for the walls, it’s best to paint only a focus wall. Painting a whole room in dark purple will be overpowering. If you’d like to paint the whole room, rather opt for lighter shades of purple.

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Bedroom: Purple bring a restful and meditative quality to bedrooms but without the risk of appearing chilly like blue. The color violet relates to the fantasy world, and a need to escape from the practicalities of life. A sensual and dreamy purple bedroom will restore a little balance to an otherwise extremely logical and practical individual.

[designwagen.com]

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Bathroom: A purple bathroom will relax you and relieve strain. Too much violet can cause melancholy and fatigue so be careful to not overdo it.

[archiexpo.com]

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Living room: Rich purple hues (e.g. aubergine and plum) will create a cozy and inviting ambiance in the cold months. Lighter purple hues will cool the room down again.

[beautifuliving.wordpress.com]

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Dining room: Decorating your dining room in purple will make you and your guests feel like nobility.

[frugaldesigngirl.com]

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Kitchen: Purple encourage creativity. Use it in the kitchen and you might start to dream up your own cook book!

[needspark.wordpress.com]

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Office: It is associated with wealth, prosperity and rich sophistication. A good color to help fuel your ambition.

[stylehive.com]

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How NOT to decorate in Purple: Loud shades of purple does not play well with loud shades of other color combos.

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For more info on ‘Color & the subconscious: the effect of color on us’ – Click HERE..>>

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Pick another room color:

Color psychology: Decorating with Orange

Charnell — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:10:51 +0000

Orange is an intense and fiery color, but with more fun. It’s a good color for gyms or exercise rooms because it’s energy will encourage you to jump right into your fitness routine. It also offers a sense of community and tolerance. It’s a bit over stimulating for nurseries and will create too much activity or nervousness in otherwise calm babies.

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Bedroom: Bright orange is not the best color for bedrooms. It’s very intense and energetic which might give you a hard time switching off and sleeping.

[interior-design-schools-schatzi.blogspot.com]

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Bathroom: Do you prefer quick showers over long soaks in a bath? Use bright orange in the bathroom to give it a nice energetic and citrus fresh feel. The energy of the color could help speed bathroom traffic along.

[paloma81.blogspot.com]

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Living room: Orange promotes socializing. A good color for a living room then if you like to entertain. It can make a room look smaller so use orange in a room with lots of natural light.

[blog.hgtv.com]

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Dining room: Orange is perfect for social gatherings which makes it a great living room choice if you love to throw dinner parties. It also helps increase appetite, which also makes it a good dining room color.

[fourwallsandaroof.com]

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Kitchen: Orange also stimulates appetite. Keep away from the orange kitchen color scheme if you’d like to curb your eating habits.

[high-heelfootinthedoor.blogspot.com]

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Office: Because it infuses so much energy, it gives you more willpower to do more activities and errands.

[picsdigger.com]

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How NOT to decorate in Orange: It’s never a good idea to decorate everything in the room in the exact shade of a specified color. People who enter here will emerge changed forever..for the worst.

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For more info on ‘Color & the subconscious: the effect of color on us’ – Click HERE..>>

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Pick another room color:

Color psychology: Decorating with Green

Charnell — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:09:55 +0000

The color is a favorite with hospitals because it promotes healing. It’s also the easiest on the eye. Green has a calming effect when used as a main color for decorating. Green is associated with Spring and new beginnings.

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Bedroom: On a ‘primitive’ psychological level, the color green tells us that we are in a fertile, water-rich environment, above freezing temperatures, there is enough to eat and we will survive so we are safe and can relax.

[housetohome.co.uk]

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Bathroom: Green can be very soothing, and can encourage you to develop a sense of harmony and self-restoration. It helps decrease your nerves, anxiety, and worries.

[roomenvy.files.wordpress.com]

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Living room: Green is also a very refreshing and rejuvenating color – it will help you restore your energy after a long and tiring day.

[housetohome.co.uk]

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Dining room: Mix pale green with yellow and it livens up, but when combined with blue, it appears quiet and meditative.

[myhomeideas.com]

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Kitchen: Green is a nice ‘fresh’ and ‘organic’ color for the kitchen.

[stitchywitch.wordpress.com]

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Office: Green stimulate the thought process and promote feelings of balance and harmony, which is why it’s a popular color in classrooms and study areas. Green can also make people complacent or too laid back so refrain from using too much green in the office or study.

[officedesigns2010.blogspot.com]

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How NOT to decorate in Green: I like green, I really do but this green bathroom is a bit cringe-worthy. I would not want to enter this bright green room early in the morning after a particularly jolly get-together the previous night.

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For more info on ‘Color & the subconscious: the effect of color on us’ – Click HERE..>>

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Pick another room color:

http://www.fixture-world.com/blog/2010/05/color-psychology-red/

Color psychology: Decorating with Blue

Charnell — Tue, 25 May 2010 15:33:53 +0000

Blue is tranquil and peaceful, that’s why it’s often recommended for the two rooms that you tend to unwind in the most; bedrooms and bathrooms. It brings down blood pressure and slows respiration and heart rate. It has also been proven to reduce pain levels (a reason why most hospitals use blue as part of their decor color scheme).

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Bedroom: Choose warmer blues like “Periwinkle” or bright blues like “Cerulean” or “Turquoise” for your bedroom to quiet your nerves after a stressful day. Electrical or cool colors of blue, indigo and violet sedate, calm, ease inflammation, and lower blood pressure.

[thelennoxx.files.wordpress.com]

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Bathroom: If you use a cool, soft blue in a bathroom (or any other room), that receives little natural light, it can come across as unpleasantly chilly. You can also use the color blue to cool down a hot, sunny room. Dark blue tend to evoke feelings of sadness, so refrain from using it as a main color scheme.

[roomenvy.files.wordpress.com]

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Living room: The color blue has actually been shown to lower our blood pressure and heart rate. Kick off your shoes and soothe your nerves in your blue living room. Shades of lighter blue are used toe ‘expand’ the walls of a room or ‘lower’ the ceiling if it’s too high. It doesn’t work with dark blues.

[apartmenttherapy.com]

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Dining room: Blue suppresses appetite a good color for the living room then if you’d like to keep your families food intake in check. If you’re worried that you will run out of food at a party, serve the food on a dark blue table cloth.

[housetohome.co.uk]

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Kitchen: Never shop when you’re hungry because you’ll buy unnecessary and, usually, unhealthy food. If blue suppresses the appetite, a blue kitchen might help you prepare smaller and lighter meals – in other words, if you’re not that hungry, you’re not going to prepare that much food.

[porterhousedesigns.com]

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Office: If blue signals the freedom of open skies, how about brainstorming in a room painted blue. Blue enhances creativity and it’s not easy to “overheat” emotionally in a ‘cool’ environment.

[gaitainteriors.com]

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How NOT to decorate in Blue: Yeah you REALLY gotta love blue to stay in this room at the The Madonna Inn but somehow this crazy blue room doesn’t make my hairs stand on edge. We know by now that the “wrong” shade of blue could make a room seem very chilly but the conclusion is that there isn’t really such a thing as “too-much-blue”. If you don’t agree, feel free to voice your opinion.

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For more info on ‘Color & the subconscious: the effect of color on us’ – Click HERE..>>

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Pick another room color:

Color psychology: Decorating with Yellow

Charnell — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:04:38 +0000

If you ask the majority of people about the first thing that comes to mind when they think about yellow, they will generally answer that it’s a cheery and happy color. The truth is that yellow is an intense color and a force to be reckoned with, it’s also the least popular color on the spectrum. There is no gray area for yellow, people either love it or hate it. It does capture the joy of sunshine and it does communicate happiness..if supplied in small doses. The color tends to create feelings of frustration and irritability in people. Babies also seem to cry more in a yellow room (Buttery yellows will be more suitable for the walls. Avoid bright yellows).

Yellow provides a short burst of positive reinforcement, but can be disturbing after long periods of time. Used in moderation, yellow is uplifting, fresh and welcoming. It also makes for great “highlights” in any room.

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Bedroom: Pale, atmospheric tints of yellow can add a touch of ‘sunshine’ to your walls or ceiling. Saturated, intense yellows can make you feel cranky after a while so rather opt for using it as highlights in a room.

[thelennoxx.files.wordpress.com]

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Bathroom: Yellow will brighten a bathroom with no natural light and make it seem more “sunny”.

[www.houseandhome.com]

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Living room: If red is too aggressive for your taste, then yellow is a great color for creating a warm ambiance in the living room. A lighter shade can be just as dramatic as a darker one. Walking into your yellow living room will definitely lift your spirits.

[elledecor.com]

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Dining room: Yellow is an appetite stimulator. Entertaining in a yellow dining room will let the guests enjoy the food all the more.

[roomstoraveabout.files.wordpress.com]

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Kitchen: Yellow is a good color for the kitchen if that’s where you entertain the most. Just remember that because yellow stimulate the appetite so much, you might prepare more food than you need to eat.

[kitchen-interior-design.blogspot.com]

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Office: Yellow helps people become more organized and to adopt an optimistic attitude. It also stimulates mental processes, activates memory and encourages communication. Use it as highlights in the office. Paint an accent wall in a more subdued hue.

[maggymoon.files.wordpress.com]

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How NOT to decorate in Yellow: This is the perfect shade of yellow to induce a migraine.. or a coma.

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For more info on ‘Color & the subconscious: the effect of color on us’ – Click HERE..>>

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Pick another room color:

Color psychology: Decorating with Red

Charnell — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:48:51 +0000

Red has been shown to raise blood pressure, speed respiration and heart rate. It evokes action and passion and is perfect color if you tend to be a procrastinator. Too much red can make some people feel irritable.

Bedroom: It is considered too stimulating for bedrooms and can therefore cause restless sleep. Rather settle for red decor accents than painting a whole wall red. Be careful of using too many stimulating colors (like red) in a child’s bedroom. Red, especially, can over stimulate an already hyperactive child even more.

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[thenest.com]

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Bathroom: Red can make a big and chilly bathroom seem more cozy and warm.

[nabuzz.com]

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Living room: Use a warm color like red to make a very big living room seem smaller. Red in the living room will stimulate conversation.

[atticmag.com]

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Dining room: A red dining room will work up appetites. A big reason why so many fast food restaurants use the color red in conjunction with yellow – to stimulate your appetite.

[shelia bridges]

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Kitchen: Choose red for your kitchen if it’s the social heart of your home. Red stimulates appetite and conversation.

[besthomenews.com]

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Office: Red also stimulates creativity, raise energy levels and enhance performance. It should be used in moderation in the office though or it can cause blood pressures to rise. Use for an accent color in the office.

[designholeonline.com]

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How NOT to decorate in Red: If you never want a peaceful night’s sleep again, you should let fly with the decorating like this..

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For more info on ‘Color & the subconscious: the effect of color on us’ – Click HERE..>>

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Pick another room color: