We are living in a time when solid single colour accent walls have slightly gone out of fashion. And solid accent walls painted a single colour are rarely to be seen. Most examples of accent walls are wallpapers, Wainscoting, or designs on walls with wooden batons. Rarely will you find a singularly painted wall inside a room without anything to go with it? Albeit, the other forms of accents also have a dominating colour.
Most times these colours are used to fill the gaps in the colour scheme of the room. A cool room is made warmer with warm colours such as reds and yellows. A dark room is made lighter with tints of the colour of your choice.
Every colour has a meaning. In interior design, branding and advertising, in flower gifting, in human behaviour, in Vastu and feng shui, and in psychology.
So how do you choose what colour to go for?
Colours impact our moods, they influence us and evoke emotions in us. Every colour has an effect on interior design because they impact the mood of the resident. But they are, after all, colours. And they cannot do much more than affect us. They cannot invoke a certain emotion. They can only enhance it.
Why is it that red is the colour of love and danger? Green for prosperity and jealousy? Blue for serenity and depression.
Colours cannot alter or invoke a mood or emotion in you. But they can enhance it. If you’re in love, red will make you passionate and romantic, but if you’re angry, it can change the anger into enragement. Blue is a calming colour unless you're sad. In that case, it might push you to depression.
The good thing is we don't live in rooms which are dominated by a singular colour, right!?
These rooms look brilliant, as an art stage, a competition submission, or a project. But to live in? Not so much right. Luckily for us, most homes look like this.
Read on to know what meaning different colours hold in interior design!
YELLOW
Yellow is an invigorating colour, abuzz with energy and happiness. The lighter tints of yellow are associated with joy and intellect, optimism, warmth, and laughter. Too much yellow or too dark a shade of it can cause the room to look sickly or make people quick to anger.
The colour of sunshine is used in interior design sparingly. It promotes hunger and therefore is often used in kitchens, dining rooms, and restaurants. it makes or a great accent colour in the living toom or the passageways!
RED
This colour has always been associated with danger, death and anger. But it is also the colour of love and passion. The meaning of the colour and the emotion it evokes change with the shade or the tint of the colour. The lighter shades are romantic, joyous, sexual, and passionate. While the darker spectrum is associated with vigour, harvest, leadership, courage, as well as malice and wrath.
Red is a very invigorating colour for the home. It can add warmth to a cold room. it adds energy to the home and is known to increase appetite, and is therefore well used in kitchens, dining rooms, and restaurants.
PINK
Pink is a sweet colour of compassion and love. It can be warm, nurturing, and feminine. Overdoing it can make it cringy, sappy and overly sweet very fast.
It makes for a great accent in a bedroom, or any place you want a lively atmosphere.
PURPLE
Purple can be used to evoke a range of emotions and create multiple themes with different values. The dark shades are dramatic, rich, royal, and sophisticated. They are associated with luxury. The lighter tints like lavender are more relaxing.
You can add drama and create a chic room with shades of purple. The lighter shades make for a great bedroom. The darker ones can be used to make a statement and a strong first impression.
BLUE
This colour is the most popular, primary colour, and is popularly associated with meditative mind state. Blue is showcases trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence and intelligence. It is known to actively calm the person by slowing metabolism and bringing the heart rate down and lowers blood pressure. The lighter colours are considered calming, tranquil, peaceful, while the darker ones are associated with knowledge, power, strength, and integrity.
But juxtaposing it with the other colours is important otherwise it can come across as cold and chilly.
GREEN
Green sits right in the middle of the colour spectrum, the wavelength being the easiest for the eye to perceive. It is associated with nature and life. It is an extremely versatile colour that can add drama, indicate greed and ambition, and also be peaceful, fertile and tranquil, based on the shade you choose.
Adding green in every room with plants is a no brainer to add life to the home. Having said that you can use this colour in every room in various combinations to add drama and character.
WHITE, BLACK AND NEUTRALS
The neutrals like blacks and browns and whites form the blank canvas on which an interior designer builds the entire space. These are indispensable shades that can add drama or take it away to increase subtlety, or make a statement!
