Home Decor

Color Psychology: What Your Home’s Colors Mean

5 min read

Whether you’re doing a simple touch-up or refreshing your entire home’s color scheme, the colors you choose will change the character of your home. Want a more friendly exterior? Yellow siding is cheery. Upgrading to something more stately is as simple as a black door with white siding. While it’s true that the shape and style of a home can also impact your home’s character, there’s very little that alters it as much as a simple color change. 

Why is this the case? To learn more about how we relate to colors and how that impacts our perception of colors inside and outside our homes, read on. 

What is Color Psychology?

Just about everyone has a favorite color, but there’s more to it than that. Different colors can have different effects on your mood with only their presence. You’ll see this a lot in marketing—many restaurants use red and yellow in their branding because of their links to an increase in appetite! Similarly, tech companies may use blue for its association with wisdom. 

Using colors in this way is color psychology. Scientists are inconclusive on any actual effects, since little research has been performed on the psychological effects color may have on the human mind. Most of what is known and generally accepted falls into marketing uses like the above as opposed to scientific rigor. 

What we do know about how color affects us is that it’s a deeply personal and often cultural experience. For example, while white is associated with purity in Western culture, many Eastern cultures use it to symbolize absence and mourning. With that in mind, two different households may view a home largely decorated in white in very different ways!   

How Can Different Colors Impact You?

There are plenty of ways to perceive colors, but there are some generally agreed-upon meanings for different colors. Using these meanings can help best represent you and your family’s personality throughout your home, or even just help to put you in a better frame of mind while you’re at home. 

Your Home’s Color Meanings

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Yellow

Sunny and energetic, yellow packs an intense punch of color. But yellow is a complicated color with both positive and negative associations. 

While cheery, yellow is also the most fatiguing on the eye since it’s the most visible color on the wavelength spectrum. With that in mind, you may want to avoid using it in bedrooms or bathrooms unless you’re the sort of person who leaps out of bed to take on the world in the morning. That being said, it makes for a wonderful kitchen or living room color due to its warmth. 

Blue

Blue is versatile. The chill of the ocean at night or the calm blue of a cloudless sky present very different mental perspectives. Generally, blue is a peaceful color that promotes wisdom, stability and a calm frame of mind. This makes it a perfect color for your bedroom or study. 

There is a reason the phrase “feeling blue” took off, though. Blue is also associated with sadness. You’ll often see blue paired with other colors like white and yellow as a way to combat this association. 

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White

White highlights the presence or absence of other colors, since on a visual level it’s the absence of color itself. Minimalist enthusiasts are generally the only ones who use pure white as the dominant color in their homes. More often, you’ll find it paired with just about every other color all throughout the home. It’s a clean color, but on its own this can lean toward seeming sterile. That being said, white is a popular choice for home exteriors due to its clean, fresh appearance. 

black wall with vintage chair and plants

Black

White’s opposite, black absorbs all light in the color spectrum. It’s a bold, divisive color. For some, black is the epitome of style. Take the little black dress, for example. There’s a reason black was the color chosen for this classic style: it’s elegant and spare, with no need for excess. Black and white are popular together because of the eye-catching contrast. 

Black has plenty of negative connotations as well, with some seeing it as a superstitiously dark color. Its association with fear and death have left a lasting mark on black’s reputation. If you choose to use black in your home, smaller doses like a dining table or your front door go over smoothly. 

green living room with white sofa and plants

Green

Evoking lush forests, green has long been associated with nature, growth and living things. You’ll find it used quite often as a soothing mint accent color in hospitals. Cool colors like blues and greens are soothing on the eyes, making this another great choice for your bedroom or as an accent in outdoor spaces.

Beyond this, green is also a motivating color that can promote optimism and creativity and even good luck and feelings of hope. It does have a few negative associations—”green with envy” comes to mind. 

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Red

The most dramatic color in the visual spectrum, red draws the eye and brings up strong emotions. Red’s association with love, passion and fury make it, much like black, a divisive color, with plenty of positive and negative traits. It’s an aggressive, excitable color that can even increase your heart rate just by looking at it. 

Its eye-catching intensity makes red a wonderful choice for a front door. Plenty of people love red and use it throughout their home, but we’d recommend steering clear of red in spaces where you crave relaxation. 

Change Up Your Colors with Window World of Huntsville

Ready to present your true colors to the world? With us, you’ll have a huge selection of high-quality window, door and vinyl siding colors to choose from in popular contemporary color palettes. Get in touch with us today for a free quote! 

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