The most important things at a glance:
- Colors influence our mental and physical well-being and we reveal how you can improve this
- With a balanced color scheme you can create peace and relaxation
Red, blue, green or purple?
Whether consciously or not, colours say a lot about us. From the choice of our clothes to our own four walls The colours we use to show ourselves are an expression of our deepest feelings and subconscious sensations. There is even a science about our relationship to the colours that surround us: the so-called color psychology .
What is color psychology?
As the name suggests, color psychology deals with the psychological effects and effects of individual colors on our mental well-being , our emotions and our way of seeing the world. Simply put, the perception of certain colors creates certain mental patterns or even chemical reactions like that release of dopamine and thus influences our well-being or even our actions. This idea has far-reaching implications for psychology, but also for advertising, entertainment and very private decisions like our interior design.
And often these decisions and reactions are completely unconscious. For example, if we see a yellow-black striped insect fly past us, we give way instinctively It could be a bee, wasp or hornet, whose stings (although usually not life-threatening) painful Such warning signals are subconsciously and instinctively and are also triggered when the insect is not a bee or wasp. We humans have had this instinct for thousands of years integrated into our thinking and in many cases even across countries and cultures. To take the colour of bees as an example, danger signs and barriers often designed with a mix of yellow and black to attract our attention and alert our senses to potential danger.
But colors also have more subtle and very complex effects on our psyche that go beyond the mere recognition of danger. Some colors make us happy, sad or relax. since Goethe's Theory of Colors People are actively concerned with the effects of different colors on our mood. The color red is still present in our minds from the days of hunting and gathering. Red berries and fruits were necessary for survival and gave us a stimulus signal for tasty and sugary food. Today, restaurants and food brands use the color red to get our attention and stimulate our appetite. Examples from America include Five Guys, Campbells, Trader Joe's and Chick-fil-A.
Other colors can even influence our quality level. Green stands for renewal and growth. There are more than 100 shades of green, and artists use them to represent nature and especially spring. Green is considered environmentally friendly, fresh and healthy. The greener salads and peas are, the healthier we think they are. And we are also more relaxed. This is how we explain the saying "everything is in the green zone". Interestingly, shades of green are associated with wealth in America. Understandable, because we America fans know that US dollar bills are green (greenback).
Colors can also temperature sensation We even differentiate between so-called "warm" colors (like red and orange) and “cold” colors , such as blue. Here, too, the reason probably lies in evolution. The attention-enhancing effect of signal colors such as red etc. also boosts our body, as we are in the so-called "Fight-or-Flight" mode The body prepares itself to act quickly in an emergency, which, for example, increases the heart rate and tenses the muscles. This literally creates heat in our system, similar to shivering in cold weather.
Rest & Relaxation – The Color Psychology of Your Own 4 Walls
Of course, we want to feel at home above all calm and relax and not be constantly agitated or on alert. For this purpose, color psychology provides us with a whole range of great colors with which we can transform our home into an oasis of calm and peace:
Pink
Pink is a pleasant color for most people and conveys a feeling of Security and compassion . For this reason, pink is also a popular color choice for children's clothing. By mixing it with white, pink aggressive qualities of red are weakened . Pink retains the "warm" qualities of red, but still creates a calm and relaxed atmosphere.
Pink that deviates too strongly into red could put us back into danger mode. So if you want to relax, you should hold back on red accents or alternatively rather on reddish-brown colors change direction. Pink is problematic. It has even more erotic and stimulating undertones than red. For highlights, it is better to use lighter complementary colors, e.g. White or light shades of grey . But it is important a balance and not to integrate too many “cold” colors into the already bright pink.
What may surprise many: Pink and rose used to be primarily colors for boys and men , instead of being associated with femininity as they are today. Before they were defined as pink and rose relatively recently, these colors were actually just forms of red, the as a signal color rather masculine qualities Blue, on the other hand, was a calming, subtle color reserved for women and girls. This actually changed only in the 1940s .
Blue
Blue is a very attractive and calming color . In contrast to red, it relaxes us and allows us to breathe. Blue gives us a feeling of Security, trust and stability , which is why banks and many institutions such as the police use this colour. Mixtures with grey and green also have a very calming effect and are, for example, perfect for the bedroom . Some studies in countries such as Scotland and Japan even suggest that blue light in street lighting reduces crime and suicide rates, probably because, unlike the warm orange/yellow light of most street lamps, it does not activate our fight-or-flight reflex, which makes us irritable or even aggressive.
So let’s make the right choices: a light blue or cyan as the base color and set a warmer blue with some red warm highlights. These colors can be due to the red contained generate attention and are therefore used in web design for buttons and links to encourage users to click. So if you want to put a piece of furniture or something similar in the spotlight, this is a good option.
If you use a warm blue as a base color, lighter blue and cyan are also suitable. light grays, cream colors and white as accents. Even a Contrast with Orange can make a big visual impression, but here we take into account that orange is again a warning and signal color.
Did you know: Many ancient cultures probably did not have our current concept of the color blue. Although many ancient civilizations have words specifically for the color cyan, the color blue is actually mentioned extremely rarely in old texts and writings. Of course, people knew the color back then, but they had usually does not have its own name . Descriptions of sea and rain, for example, often call the colour a form of black or even copper-colored , because copper tarnishes green/turquoise and even blue under certain influences.
Brown
Brown can also can have a very calming effect if used discreetly and with not too many highlights. Brown is a relatively neutral color , because in nature, similar to green, it is very dominant and common and therefore for us already Part of our natural environment . Brown has always been a guarantee for Security and peace , whether as the color of the cave walls or the later stone and wooden buildings of civilized man. We are simply used to being surrounded by brown and so a brown environment calms us more than unnaturally bright colors.
For the main color you should rather light and subtle brown tones Stone and rock are not deep brown or amber in color. These more intense tones with shades of red and orange are more suitable for attractively placed accents.
Green
Strangely enough, green is a rare color in our living rooms and bedrooms. In other places, such as doctor's offices, green is often used in waiting rooms because, like blue and brown, it has a very calming effect has on us. Especially cooler green tones such as mint or mixtures with blue and grey convey a feeling of calm .
Stronger tones, however, especially those containing red and orange, can quickly make us tense again, all thanks to evolution. Green is also found in nature as universal as brown , but a thicket of plants (with the green of chlorophyll and the light red of carotenoids ) did not necessarily give our ancestors a feeling of security, unlike the cozy cave, but also the potential danger hidden predators. For dark accents, you should therefore use such green tones sparingly or just Alternatives such as dark gray If you want to set highlights, white, cream and light gray tones are a good choice.
Yellow
We associate yellow with the sun and it is therefore a positive and energetic color that animates and motivates us. Yellow also increases our Attention and concentration . Yellow is therefore particularly suitable for rooms such as Work rooms , where we are primarily concerned with productivity rather than relaxation. However, in order to avoid overstimulating our attention, we should subtle colors and pastel tones A bright yellow is suitable with its strong signaling effect more for logos and many companies take advantage of this property by enhancing this effect with blue contrasts or red as an additional signal color.
If you use a subtle yellow as a base colour, you can
brown tones as contrast
If you like it particularly colorful, you can also play with orange, green and blue-gray accents, but you should pay attention to a balance here so that the room does not suddenly appear too warm or too cold.
Purple
At the end it gets exotic again. Purple and violet are colors that are probably not found in most households. However, these colors also have a very calming effect, similar to blue. Culturally, we associate these colors with luxury and nobility and thus also with an accompanying feeling of security .
For further quiet notes, accents of cream and light gray White should be excluded depending on the darkness of the base color, as this can create a very high contrast with pastel tones, which counteracts the calming effect.
If you want to be really daring, you can also combine purple and violet with their natural contrasting color yellow. To avoid strong contrast, yellow tones with a slight red component that are already turning orange. However, due to the signaling effect, one should proceed with extreme caution here.
The luxurious character of these colours is no coincidence. For a very long time, purple and violet were the most most difficult color pigments to produce and therefore extremely expensive and reserved mainly for the nobility. They were mostly mixed from purple, which in turn was only harvesting of certain sea snails and was therefore completely unsuitable for the mass market until the invention of synthetic pigments. This is also the reason why violet the rarest color on national flags worldwide. Today, only 2 countries have flags with this color: Dominica and Nicaragua, both countries that only designed their flags in the early and mid-20th century.
Ready, set, go!
Anyone who has these new insights do it yourself and want to transform your own four walls into a cozy oasis of peace and relaxation for the winter and beyond, we have American Heritage something very special:
- Old Fashioned Milk Paint in many great colors
The Milk Paint is considered powder delivered and is particularly suitable for great Texture effects . The advantages of milk paint over traditional chalk paints are many and not just the better environmental compatibility. With over 30 different great American colors, you are sure to find the right color. Alternatively, you can also mix many beautiful colors.
If you want to know more about the History and Benefits of Milk Paints If you want to learn more about the colours and get some tips on how to use them, we recommend our Blog on the topic :
