One of our most popular decorating services is helping our clients choose colors that look spectacular in their homes – and no wonder, color can make or break a room. I hope you enjoy the following article.

How do we learn about color?

Studies show that a child as early as two years of age already shows inclination towards favorite colors. If you are a mother of young children, recognizing and supporting them in their choice of color will aid in this area of their self-development – even if their color choices are not what you would expect from a young child. This will translate to your child developing valuable confidence when dealing with color in its many aspects for the rest of their life.

What affects our choice of colors?

Geographic location
Where we live influences our tendency towards certain colors. Look at any book on interior décor that features other countries and you will immediately notice certain types of colors coming up over and over again. In general, those who live in warmer climates prefer those colors from the cooler side of the color spectrum and vice versa. The reasons are clear – cool climates are “warmed” through the use of warm reds, yellows and greens and warm climates are cooled by blues, purples and turquoise tones.

Popular Color Schemes or Decorating Styles
Decorating programs and magazines influence what people will accept and then eventually want for their own homes. For example, the once popular Santa Fe style popularized the colors of sand, sky and clay. This translated to a lot of teal and peach tones in homes of the 1980’s. In the 1990’s, green and burgundy could be seen everywhere. Yellow – gold and purple tones are popular now along with taupes, and greys for a more modern look. Orange is on the horizon – once a pariah, now about to be trendy.

HINT: Unless you have the budget and the stamina to constantly change your decorating, it might be advisable to keep your big ticket items in a neutral tone and use new colors to update your look.

Restoration of a Heritage Building
Restoring an older heritage home or simply decorating with the influence of the past requires knowledge of the color schemes that were prevalent during the era you are attempting to emulate. Research is in order here.
Georgian homes are most often associated with dull medium tones of blue and green as well as rich reds influenced by the Chinese. Victorian homes run the full gamut from their earlier more intense colors to the muddied tones of the late Victorian era – plums, browns, reds, and golds interspersed with occasional splashes of brighter color. Arts and Crafts colors favored the naturally inspired tones of green, terra cotta, greyed sky blue – all colors found in pottery of the time.

The Global Influence
The ever- shrinking world is another influence in our exposure and acceptance of color and interior décor. The more we travel, and the more the media features events from other parts of the world, the more we see how others live and become inspired by what we see. In the 1920’s King Tut’s tomb was discovered and opened. Egyptian design, its colors and motifs were suddenly the rage, and the decorating world responded.

Our Personal Color Associations
Personal preference for a color is an emotional response to the color – not a logical one. It identifies our positive or negative association with a particular color – not the color itself. There is no such thing as an “ugly” color – the color simply is. The way it is used may not be appealing to us but that is simply an opinion from that point in time. Interior decorating trends are the same – using colors that are in style simply reflects the acceptance of current opinion.

Throughout the years, certain associations with color have become common enough that they have become accepted as “truth”. Keep in mind that the following examples are western world associations:

RED:  Danger, passion, excitement, temper, anger
GREEN:   New life, nature, money, growth, passiveness
YELLOW:  enlightenment, warmth, optimism, gregariousness, sunny, cowardly
BLUE:   Loyalty, honesty, pedigreed, calmness, loneliness, depression and cold.
ORANGE:  Cheerful, exuberant, thirst quenching
VIOLET:  Royalty, dignity, creativity, religion, insanity

History also plays a great part in developing our color associations. For example, blues and purples have always been linked to royalty and pedigree (think blue blooded). This is because the dyes used to make these colors were so prohibitively expensive only the wealthy could afford them. Being attired in these colors imparted such stature on the wearer that the lower classes became legally prohibited from wearing them.

Here are a few more examples. Technically these are not colors, but we attach associations to them nevertheless.

BLACK: Mourning, death, sorrow, sophistication, power, elegance
WHITE: Virginity, sterility, innocence, cold
GREY: wisdom, penance, gloom
BEIGE: Warm, comforting, stable, boring, safe

Did you know that certain types of colors are also associated with status? Complex colors, those that are difficult to describe, appeal to the upper echelon of society and vice versa. The brighter a color is, the cheaper it is regarded. Look through interior décor and fashion magazines, on billboards, on television, at businesses and you will see very clearly who their market is by their choice of color. The auto industry is full of such examples.

As you can see, the field of color research is fascinating and often surprising. Spending some time understanding the what, why and how of using color will make your decorating choices much easier. In part 2 we will be exploring the physical characteristics of color. Have a Yellow Day!

written by Johanne Yakula

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