Making Color Choices in Your Home
Dear New Homemaker
This is my letter to you. First of all, yay! This is a big deal! You have ventured out and now you have the pleasure of decorating your home… all by yourself! Where do you start?! Trust me, I know it can be overwhelming. Just like you, I wanted to do it all!
Do you ever wonder where designers get all those gorgeous color schemes? (Hint – you don’t have to be a color scientist, just look to nature 😉)
Follow me here…
Welcome to Carol’s school of color theory. Admittedly, I’m a pretty basic person. I like to keep it simple and straightforward. Those are my inclinations on color and my thoughts on design as well. It can be confusing when you’re just starting out and you realize, “Oh good golly! I have to pick colors for my home!” Read on to enjoy my “probably not worth a nickel” color class to get you thinking. Take a minute, and maybe you can learn from my experience!
Let’s start with the color wheel…
You’ve all seen a color wheel but I’ll give you my five-second lesson. The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. These basics are then combined to make all the other colors. Combining two primary colors gives you the secondary colors of orange, green, and purple. Then, when you mix a primary and a secondary you get tertiary colors like yellow-green and blue-purple. After that, it just gets infinitely mixed, mixed, mixed, lighter and darker, to make all the beautiful colors of God in the world.
There are a few schools of thought on how colors can live together happily (in harmony) and this is applicable in your home as well. Colors next to each other on the color wheel are analogous and should play nicely together. Colors directly across from each other on the color wheel are complementary and they too should be nice to each other. The third way (and most fun) to find harmony is to look to nature. God doesn’t make mistakes and the beauty of the nature around us is an example of his glory! Boom! Look outside!
… and compare it to color in nature. No accident!
Along with nature, the human brain is a masterpiece of God. Harmony in colors brings a sense of order and balance to our minds. We have appropriate levels of visual stimulation that our brains will accept as being harmonious.
If the colors are too plain, boring, or monochromatic visually, our brain rejects it as boring and not worth our attention. If the colors are too many, too loud, or clashing, our brain will also reject that visual stimulation as chaotic and not able to be understood.
That’s why folks find it relaxing to spend time in nature. Having color harmony in your home is a balance. Really! I’ve read the science behind this!
Color also has a scientific impact on our thoughts and emotions. Blue is said to be an appetite suppressant, while reds and oranges can increase hunger. So if you are dieting, eat blue foods in a blue room
So, how important is it then that we spend time thinking about the colors in our homes? Very!
But, all of this lovely information about color is not meant to overwhelm you but to just give you food for thought. The joy of it is that it’s your home – be happy in it! Pick what makes you happy! If you need inspiration, though, just look outside. Need my tips on where to start? Gotcha. Hold tight for the next post: Home Decor 101, Carol’s way.
Happy Homemaking!
