Author Brian Santos

Q. I'd like my kitchen to be vibrant but want calmer hues in the bedroom. What colors are best for the different areas of my home?

Brian Santos: When selecting color for a room, keep in mind that each color has a psychological value. Review the following emotional correspondences and strive to make your design feel right as well as look right.

 

Red is warm, bold, stirring, and energetic. In its pure form it can increase heart rate and raise body temperature. Use red in rooms where activity occurs, like a family room, or where sleeping and resting is not a priority. For a deep, instense setting, use other colors sparingly in a red room. The eye is drawn to red, so it also makes an eye-catching accent color.

 

Yellow and orange are just as exciting as red, but they are more cheerful than bold, more bright than stimulating. Yellow and orange warm and enliven any room where they are used, but work especially well to brighten dark rooms. On large surfaces they are best used in light values.

 

Blue, the color of sky and water, creates fresh, cool, and restful feelings. Blue walls can make a south- or west-facing room feel cooler. Because it "recedes," blue also creates the illustion of space and distance, conjuring up emotions of haughtiness, formality, reserve, and sadness.

In spite of evoking such contradictory reactions, blue is a favorite because it is easy on the eyes and the nerves, making it an excellent choice for rooms where you want to relax or sleep.

 

Green is the dominant color in nature. It is a pleasing, organic, fresh, calming, and restful color. It is a great color for any room where you want a relaxed and fresh atmosphere.

 

Purple is lush, regal, and passionate. It is an intense and highly emotional color, partly because it straddles the line between the warm red and cool blue. This makes it a difficult color to use in interior design, and it is usually confined to the role of an accent.

 

Black and white are pure contrasts and intensifiers -- light and dark, yin and yang, all or nothing. Dramatic and elegant together, they lend sophistication in decor that is stylish and urban.