Analysis of the psychological effects of home color schemes
When you are preparing to decorate your living space, the coordination of colors should be based on adapting to your feelings. The environment and natural colors around us are incredibly rich and diverse, and people will have different psychological and physiological reactions to various colors.
Red: Among all the colors, red most accelerates the pulse rate. Excessive exposure to red can make one feel pressured physically and mentally, leading to anxiety. Long-term exposure to red can cause fatigue, even a feeling of exhaustion. Therefore, unless there is a special situation, living rooms, bedrooms, and offices should not use too much red.
Yellow: This color was often used in ancient emperors' attire and palaces, giving an impression of nobility and charm. It can stimulate the nervous system and digestive system, making people feel bright and joyful. It also helps improve logical thinking abilities. However, excessive use of golden yellow can create a sense of instability and lead to reckless behavior. Therefore, yellow is best used with other colors for home decoration.
Green: The main tone of the forest, it symbolizes vitality, evoking thoughts of renewal, youth, health, and permanence. It also represents fairness, tranquility, intelligence, and humility. It aids digestion and soothes, promoting physical balance. It is highly beneficial for active individuals and those under mental and physical stress. Natural green helps overcome fainting fatigue and negative emotions.
Blue: It reminds one of the vast blue sea, evoking deep, grand, lasting impressions of rationality and ideals. Blue is an extremely calm color but can also evoke sadness, poverty, and indifference from a negative perspective. It alleviates tension, eases headaches, fevers, insomnia, etc., favoring internal balance, creating elegance and serenity.
Orange: Produces energy, stimulates appetite, and aids calcium absorption. It can be used in dining areas, but its intensity should be moderate; otherwise, it might lead to overexcitement and emotional discomfort.
Purple: Inhibits the motor nervous system, lymphatic system, and heart system, maintaining potassium balance, providing security.
Orange-blue: Helps muscle relaxation, reduces bleeding, lessens sensitivity to pain.
In summary, when considering room color treatment, it's essential to understand general color psychology effects and pay attention to the practical life effects of colors. This way, your room will be elegant, cozy, and beneficial to physical and mental health.
How to make a dim living room appear brighter
Many living rooms have poor lighting due to lack of windows. On rainy days, these rooms become especially gloomy, causing psychological pressure. To address this, scientific design techniques can highlight spatial dimensions, making the room appear brighter.
1) Supplement artificial light sources: Light creates fascinating layers. Adding some auxiliary light sources, especially fluorescent lights reflecting on ceilings and walls, can yield surprising results. Spotlights on artwork also produce good effects.
2) Unify color tones: North-facing living rooms should avoid dull tones that harm the overall soft and warm ambiance. Light beech veneer matte furniture, light beige flooring, glossy tiles, and light blue walls break the monotony and adjust light.
3) Increase activity space: Furniture placement may create dead zones affecting color harmony. Customizing furniture according to specific room conditions leaves more space, visually keeping the area fresh.
How to select room color schemes
Different colors give different feelings. Wall painting should choose latex paint of different colors based on needs and conditions.
White: Commonly used as it reflects light strongly, making rooms appear clean, spacious, and bright, suitable for small or dark rooms.
Pale orange: Reflects more light than it absorbs, creating warmth, joy, excitement, and comfort, ideal for winter use. A lighter shade suits all seasons.
Red: Highly stimulating, generally unsuitable for wall painting. However, very pale pink walls paired with colored bulbs create a warm atmosphere. Red interior latex paint enhances wedding rooms with celebratory vibes.
Pale blue or pale green: The former feels refreshing and open; the latter provides tranquility.
Wall color should coordinate with furniture, decor colors, and placement positions. Interior colors need not be monochromatic, but ceiling, walls, and floors should gradually transition in brightness like the natural environment: sky's light blue, fields' deep green, land's brown or dark brown.
Mastering interior space color
Lighting is the eye of a home, an indispensable element in any living space. Alongside lighting, color has increasingly gained attention from those who value lifestyle quality. Under the interplay of light and shadow, a tasteful home environment emerges.
Spatial mastery largely involves understanding space color. An individual’s lifestyle and sentiments can be reflected through their choice of space colors, revealing their understanding of life. Using materials, tones, textures, furniture types, and accessory styles for overall functional differentiation truly embodies the owner’s spatial and lifestyle requirements. For example, a beige sofa, light green and beige curtains, deep black speakers, and slightly antique lighting imbue the entire space with unique charm.
Small corners expressing sentiment
Every house has awkward, cramped corners. Proper handling can turn them into highlights, showcasing the owner’s sentiments. Extending originally narrow windows using glass and steel bars, two materials that emphasize individuality, creates a translucent decorative shelf. Sunlight refracts through the glass edges onto rounded vases, illuminating crystal balls and simple dried flowers. Everything becomes like an anonymous listener, fully conveying the owner’s sentiments and personality, lifting one’s mood within this small space. Introducing passionate, elegant dark red silk curtains adds poetic beauty, transforming the once confined space into one of unrestrained expression.
Creating unique scenery
Creating spatial scenery involves selecting and connecting processes to achieve optimal results.
Upon entering, a bar-shaped glass screen connects to the ceiling while holding a simply designed glass vase with vibrant contents, serving as a finishing touch. Professional color theory follows:
1. Color and zoning
Understanding overall and sectional design is crucial for color configuration. Typically, functional distinctions are made based on independent roles:
① Walls (main, secondary, regular, accent)
② Ceilings (main, secondary, accent)
③ Floors (main, secondary, accent)
④ Furniture, partitions (base, emphasis, accent)
⑤ Attachments (base, emphasis, accent)
⑥ Lamps, lampshades (main, accent)
Color isn't a flat surface or point but a three-dimensional visual presentation within a region. When configuring colors, follow an overall plan and divide sections accordingly for harmonious results.
2. Color and texture
Different materials convey varying sensations—softness, grandeur, brilliance, coldness, smoothness, etc. Thus, material-based color planning is necessary beyond mere swatch matching. For instance, felt shoes' soft green differs significantly from shiny painted green. Creating a texture sample or color list helps clients better understand.
3. Color and surface finish
Any material's surface can be smooth or textured, affecting color performance differently. Non-smooth divisions reduce color saturation, enhancing atmospheric richness through natural or artificial segmentation.
4. Color and lighting
Natural and artificial lighting differ greatly in color expression due to variations in fixtures and intensity. Natural lighting impacts designs based on size and direction, requiring consideration of time, venue, and lighting-related color effects and changes.
5. Color definition
Colors as points, lines, surfaces, or bodies affect overall design differently. Point colors highlight and accentuate, line and surface colors symbolize and guide, large surface colors form part of body colors. Defining colors involves individually enclosing them for overall configuration, with body colors forming the basic backdrop. Emphasizing line guidance, breakthroughs, and independent surface color effects is key.
6. Color application lifespan
Each material has a certain surface quality lifespan related to decoration material color and usage duration. Designs require estimated lifespans, such as exhibitions, restaurants, offices, stores, residences, each having different durations. Factors like fading or brightening over time influence material color selection across the entire usage period.
7. Color and functional application
Considering different user distributions and timeframes is crucial for overall color planning. Functional applications include:
① Users
② Timeframe
People and time form two dynamic axes with constant changes. Design colors must consider organic users and their temporal sensations. For example, overly vibrant colors activate spaces but may cause discomfort with prolonged exposure. Short-duration, high-traffic events benefit from contrasting colors, inappropriate for residential or office settings.
8. Color and movement
Moving color objects are non-directional colored points, including:
① Moving people and behaviors
② Moving animals
③ Periodically or non-periodically replaced items like paintings, plants, carpets, decorations
④ Changing lighting and fixtures
Moving colors are significant in overall color planning. Mismatched fixed and moving colors result in flawed designs, especially important for frequently used yet short-stay home designs.
9. Color and psychology
As discussed, colors significantly impact users and environments. Understanding user needs and correcting psychological biases leads to good color planning. Hospitals traditionally use white, which under fluorescent lighting makes patients and staff appear pallid, severe, emotionless, and isolated. Incorporating coordinating colors can provide comfort and vitality. Improper outdoor color extensions (signage, building exteriors, gardens) can cause visual pollution, harming environmental harmony and aesthetics. Avoid personal mistakes that pollute and uglify urban landscapes.
10. Color and form
Fixed-form designs should match pre-selected forms for color planning. For example, French designs often use white and beige as base colors, Chinese designs emphasize red wood tones for traditional contrasts, modern designs incorporate metallic gray and transparent glass.
11. Color and shape
Indoor shapes can be geometric or irregular, each having basic spirit and characteristics. Consider color treatment methods (contrast, harmony, unity, rhythm), combining basic shapes with color plans to express desired design senses.
12. Color and atmosphere
Design atmospheres express ideals, and colors act as exterior coatings. Understanding color properties and design expressions enhances atmospheric representation. Grasping color-induced atmospheres requires thorough knowledge of color characteristics for effective use.
13. Color and space
Space itself is a unit or group. Space advantages can be enhanced by color properties, and disadvantages corrected or concealed. Small spaces expand with bright colors, large spaces segment with different color systems for harmony, narrow spaces widen with color combinations, low spaces elevate with color.
14. Color and acoustics
Sound enhances color variation, making fixed colors seem alive. Acoustic enhancements include natural sounds (rain, wind, water) and artificial ones (waterfalls, audio equipment, bells). Acoustic design considerations are essential in color planning.
15. Color and outdoor extension
For penetrable or semi-transparent surfaces, consider outdoor scenery color extensions and indoor color coordination, especially large transparent or semi-transparent surfaces (glass, acrylic). Balcony color coordination with indoor colors exemplifies this concept. Outdoor scenery colors support indoor space colors, so outdoor extensions must not be overlooked.
16. Color and maintenance
Material colors degrade with material deterioration, making maintenance and upkeep crucial. Material selection during decoration should prioritize maintainability based on user capabilities. Bright, light colors are harder to maintain, while darker, muted tones are more durable and easier to care for. Color selection should consider function, users, and timeframe.
17. Designed color and experiential color
Color planning combines designer judgment with client input for final decisions. Before finalizing, experience similar cases for color testing using material samples for accurate assessment. Attaching small material samples to actual planes creates the best color list for testing. Finally, prepare a 12-color circular palette for hue perception and understand material textures and colors with design skills for ease of use. Avoid arbitrary self-color matching, considering client needs and other relevant factors, especially unchangeable materials.
Home decoration color combination principles
First principle: Spatial color combinations should not exceed three colors, excluding white and black.
Second principle: Gold and silver can complement any color, but gold does not include yellow, and silver does not include gray.
Third principle: Without designer guidance, the optimal home color gradation is: light walls, medium floors, dark furniture.
Fourth principle: Kitchens should avoid warm tones except yellow hues.
Fifth principle: Never use dark green tiles.
Sixth principle: Avoid placing materials of different textures but identical color systems together, as half the chances of error increase.
Seventh principle: For a lively, modern home atmosphere, avoid floral patterns (plants excluded), opting for plain designs.
Eighth principle: Ceiling colors must be lighter than or equal to wall colors. If walls are dark, ceilings must be light. Ceiling color systems are either white or wall-matching.
Ninth principle: Non-sealed connected spaces must use the same color scheme; sealed spaces can vary.
Explanation: In general interior design, colors are limited to three within a space. This isn't absolute, as professional designers understand deeper color relationships and may use more than three, usually adding one or two extra colors.
Definition of limiting three colors:
1) Three colors refer to the same relatively sealed space, including ceilings, walls, floors, and furniture. Living rooms and master bedrooms can have independent color systems, but if the living room and dining room are connected, they are considered one space.
2) White, black, gray, gold, and silver are excluded from the three-color limit, but gold and silver generally cannot coexist in the same space.
3) Patterns are judged by their dominant colors. Squinting helps identify the main tone. Large pattern blocks count as separate colors.
Interior decoration emphasizes color uniformity
Color is vital in interior decoration, being the most resonant visual language symbol. During holidays, visiting friends and colleagues reveals that despite lavish renovations costing much money, some homes feel visually uncomfortable due to lack of color uniformity.
The importance of color consistency
Color design consistency plays a transformative or inventive role in establishing a particular style, offering visual differences and artistic enjoyment, creating a "refreshing" impression. Studies show that upon entering a space, 75% of first impressions come from color sensations before recognizing shapes. Thus, color is an indispensable factor in interior design, understanding the functions of different colors and people's requests being crucial.
Color influences human emotions, energy, and psychology directly or indirectly due to its physical properties, i.e., different wavelengths. Colors reflect on the brain through vision, causing feelings of darkness, coldness, warmth, lightness, heaviness, distance, proximity, and psychological effects like excitement, sorrow, tension, relaxation, irritability, calmness. For example, cream conveys cuteness, innocence, sincerity; yellow and orange evoke relaxation and liveliness; red excites, conveying boldness and strength; pink exudes romanticism; rose and lilac create elegant, mysterious, beautiful atmospheres; green symbolizes vitality, youth, hope, spring renewal; deep brown and olive represent stability and composure; blue induces relaxation and coolness; white creates a cold, solemn, pure atmosphere.
Applying these concepts in interior decoration, color functions satisfy visual enjoyment, regulate psychological emotions, adjust indoor light intensity, modulate space size and distance, and reflect people's living habits.
Color selection
Color expressiveness is rich, with different families preferring distinct indoor atmospheres based on varied tastes. Differences in profession, status, education, experience, age, gender, and habits create diverse aesthetic preferences, resulting in unique indoor environments. Despite this, color selection in interior decoration follows certain rules.
Overall effect rule: Unified conception of ceiling, wall, and floor directions; unified layout of living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, balcony; unified arrangement of furniture, decor quantity and placement. Establish a dominant color tone, subordinating other elements to it.
Color emotion rule: Different colors evoke different psychological responses, so consider emotional factors when choosing colors for interiors and decor. For instance, black is typically used as an accent color, as large areas of black might be emotionally unacceptable and uncomfortable.
Demand difference rule: People of different professions, interests, and ages have varied color preferences for their rooms. For example, seniors prefer stable color schemes, cool tones benefiting their health; youths suit contrasting colors representing modernity and fast-paced lifestyles; children favor bright pastel blues and pinks; athletes benefit from calming blues and greens; soldiers can use vibrant colors to offset military monotony; weak individuals may enjoy cheerful orange and warm greens.
While color beautification follows general rules, it shouldn't be rigidly applied without considering personal character and room specifics. These colors mainly apply to large-scale room decorations like bedding, fabrics, and curtains.
Color selection for different parts of the home
Personal preferences, hobbies, and room purposes are critical in selecting colors. Room color design should combine individuality with functionality. Given color's significant physiological and psychological regulatory effects impacting daily life, work, and study, selecting colors based on room functions is crucial. However, uniformly coloring the entire home without considering specific areas, personalities, and color temperature, brightness, weight, and distance sensations is discouraged.
Experiences in color combination for home decoration
Color combination is the first factor in clothing and home decoration. Initially planning an overall color scheme determines the renovation tone and furniture/decoration selections. Harmonious color usage allows greater freedom in decorating your home.
Scheme One: Black + White + Gray = Eternal Classic
Black and white create strong visual impact, softened by recent trends in gray, reducing visual conflict and creating a new characteristic. Spaces with these three colors exude a cold modern futuristic feel, fostering rationality, order, and professionalism. Recent "Zen" styles feature raw colors, emphasizing environmental protection, using colorless methods to express natural textures like hemp, silk, and coconut fiber, embodying modern rustic simplicity.
Scheme Two: Silver Blue + Dunhuang Orange = Modern + Traditional
Combining blue and orange systems merges modern and traditional elements, creating surreal and retro visual sensations. Originally contrasting colors, subtle adjustments in saturation give these hues new life.
Scheme Three: Blue + White = Romantic Warmth
Most people hesitate to use bold colors at home, opting for safe whites. Combining white with blue avoids hospital-like sterility, reminiscent of Greek islands where all houses are white, with white lime-coated ceilings, floors, and streets creating a pristine atmosphere. However, the sky is light blue, and the sea deep blue, highlighting white's purity and coolness. This combination evokes freedom and connection to nature, expanding living spaces like the open sea.
To achieve this Mediterranean style, restrict furnishings, decorations, and curtains to a single color system for a cohesive look. Those longing for blue skies and seas find white and blue the perfect home combination.
Scheme Four: Yellow + Green = Joy of New Life
For young people's living spaces, pairing light yellow with light purple or green works well. Light yellow is fresh and vibrant, symbolizing the joy of new life, ideal for homes with babies.
If green calms the mind, it balances yellow's liveliness, stabilizing the space. This combination suits young couples perfectly.
Monochrome, dual-tone, and tri-tone color combination techniques
1. Single pure color combinations
Pure color designs are understated but careful color selection is crucial. Regardless of the color system, heavy or highly saturated colors in large areas can feel oppressive and uncomfortable (except for display or small spaces). Generally, light and moderately saturated colors are used as the main tones.
Typical color schemes include:
1) Office: White, beige, light beige, light coffee, gray.
2) Living room: Off-white, light beige, light blue, pale green, olive green, lemon yellow.
3) Dining room: Off-white, light beige, pale green, coffee, lemon yellow, orange-yellow.
4) Kitchen: Off-white, light beige, coffee, lemon yellow, orange-yellow.
5) Bathroom/toilet: White, beige, black, gray, green, red.
6) Parent's room: Coffee, beige, earth yellow, green.
7) Boy's room: Green, yellow, beige, orange-yellow, brown, blue.
8) Girl's room: Pink, red, burgundy, white, beige, brown, orange-red, orange-yellow.
9) Master bedroom: Pink, burgundy, light red, light beige, blue, light green, white, beige.
10) Study: Green, light beige, white, blue.
11) Exercise room: Blue, green, orange-yellow, off-white.
12) Restaurant/hotel: White, black, red, blue, green, orange-yellow, light beige, purple.
13) Showroom: White, beige, black, gray, red, blue, purple.
14) Clothing store: White, red, orange-yellow, black, light beige, green, brown.
2. Dual-color combinations
Though consisting of two main colors, each should constitute at least 30% of the scheme. Dual-color combinations are lively and striking.
1) Softer combinations: White + Yellow, White + Beige, Green + Blue, White + Gray, Gray + Black.
2) Sharper combinations: White + Black, Red + Black, White + Red, White + Purple, White + Blue, White + Green, Yellow + Blue.
3) Deeper combinations: Brown + Black, Brown + Red, Blue + Black, Blue + Dark Green.
4) Livelier combinations: Green + Yellow, Orange-yellow + Green, Red + Yellow, White + Yellow, White + Red, Purple + Red.
5) Atmosphere-enhancing combinations: Black + White, Gray + White, Black + Red, Gold + Black, Gold + Red, Blue + Transparent, Silver + Red, Silver + Green.
6) Traditional combinations: White + Brown, Brown + Red, Earth Yellow + Red, Yellow + Coffee.
7) Fresher combinations: Blue + White, Green + White, Green + Yellow, Gray + Green.
8) Warmer combinations: Pink + Red, Purple + Red, Orange + Red.
9) More unified combinations: White + Beige, Gray + White, Beige + Yellow, Red + Purple, Green + Blue.
3. Tri-color combinations
Each color should constitute at least