The soothing lavender of my bedroom walls brings me joy every time I see it; my mother, however, claims it invokes nothing but nausea. Colors may be in the eye of the beholder, but the practice of colorology, found in Ancient Egypt and China and still practiced holistically in some cultures today, suggests colors can actually give medical and psychological benefits.
While no scientific research has found evidence of color exposure curing diseases, colors still have associations with certain moods and feelings that homeowners may want to proliferate. Forbes found that red, yellow and blue – the primary colors – tend to be the most popular choices for rooms. In particular, warm yellows have strong associations with sunshine and happiness, making it a recommended shade for rooms where you want to feel happy.
A 2009 study in “Science” magazine, meanwhile, found that red seemingly improves cognitive ability on detail-oriented tasks, suggesting the hue is an ideal presence in the room where you complete your homework; the same study also found that blues improve creativity.
As for the kitchen, if you’re looking to eat less without stress, Johns Hopkins researchers have you covered: they discovered a specific shade of pink, known as Baker-Miller pink, that seemingly reduces both aggression and appetite. The pink in question looks like a baby pink, and they even have step-by-step instructions on how to mix it using conventional paint colors.
Finally, after a long day looking at colors, you might want to take a relaxing doze. The Sleep Foundation, an organization of sleep doctors and scientists, advises consumers to choose warm, light colors for their bedroom. However, they acknowledge that not everyone likes those types of colors, and suggest that “you pick the colors [that] most appeal to you.”
At the end of the day, color preferences and the emotions they evoke vary from person to person, so whatever you personally enjoy is the shade that’s right for you.
