5 Tips for Choosing Colors That Create Mood

Before painting the living room, kitchen, entry or any other room in your home, the first consideration should be how you want to feel in the space. Although the colors you choose are a direct reflection of your personality, they are also a trigger for moods and feelings. We’ve provided several tips on how to find inspiration for a color palette that fits how you want your home to feel.

Formal Beginnings
Color Inspiration: Choose colors for the more formal areas of your home, like the dining room, living room and entryway, first. You can then pull colors or tones from this palette to use in other rooms.

Try It: Red. Use warm tones to encourage conversation and strengthen connections between people in these spaces. Red, for example, draws people together in the living room, whets appetites in the dining room and creates a strong first impression in an entryway.

Pay Attention to Patterns
Color Inspiration: You can also find inspiration for color by pulling from a pattern that already exists in a space, such as a rug, couch or piece of art.

Try It: For kitchens and bathroom, consider a sunny yellow that communicates happiness and creates energy. In small spaces like hallways, yellow can also feel expansive and welcoming.

Consult the Color Wheel
Color Inspiration: If you are starting with a clean slate, consider choosing colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. Blue and green, for instance, is a classic casual pairing that works best in informal or private spaces.

Try It: If red is the most stimulating color, blue is its opposite, known to reduce blood pressure and slow heart rates. Create a serene bedroom or spa-like bathroom by choosing blue or another cool color, like lilac.

Check Your Closet
Color Inspiration: You most likely choose your clothes based on colors you are drawn to and that are flattering on you. The rooms of your home are no different. For example, if you choose jeans over everything else, consider a navy sofa that you can accessorize with pillows for pops of color.  

Try It: Considered the most restful color for the eye, green is suitable for almost any room in the house. In the kitchen, it cools things down; in a living room, it encourages unwinding while promoting comfort and togetherness. Green is also the color of concentration, which makes it a great choice for an office or homework nook.

Stay Neutral
Color Inspiration: Because they can be paired with any other color, neutrals like beige, gray, white and brown are classic choices that work with any personal style.

Try It: Today’s trendiest neutral, gray, can appear either warm or cool and therefore pairs equally well with pastels or bold colors. Simply add color to liven up a neutral room, or subtract it to create calm. Neutral white is a popular choice for the bathroom, because it connotes cleanliness and purity.

Although magazines and websites can provide color inspiration, don’t get too bogged down in trends that come and go. What makes a home beautiful and harmonious are the people who live there. When you choose colors that reflect these personalities, you can’t go wrong.