Now hiring for full-time maintenance technicians.

Learn more and apply!

Color Psychology and Your Décor

Bed with a pink duvet. Image credit: Cat Common

November 2021

Color Psychology is a theory of how each color affects a person’s mood, productivity, and creativity. When a person is surrounded by calming colors like blue or green, they feel relaxed. When they’re around vibrant colors such as red or orange, they feel energetic and passionate.

When it comes to your apartment or townhome, the colors you choose all play a role in how you’ll feel in the space. You may want to create different moods in different rooms and color psychology can help you do that. Here are some common colors and the mood each can help create.

Brown is often found in nature. It can create a feeling of comfort, calm, security, and stability. If you have a cat, it’s a particularly pleasing color to them. Feelings associated with brown are stability, comfort, warmth, and safety.

  • White can be used to create a bright, clean, and refreshing room. Feelings associated with white are tranquility, trust, cleanliness, productivity, and elegance.
  • Black is often associated with formality. While it can add a sophisticated air to a room, too much black can be overpowering and depressing. Feelings associated with black are elegance, modernism, sophistication, and simplicity.
  • Grey gives a sense of formality and subtle elegance. Feelings associated with grey are style, elegance, power, and strength.
  • Yellow creates a bright, optimistic feel. A pale yellow gives a pleasant, sunshine-like feel. Bold yellows create a sense of energy. Feelings associated with yellow are joy, energy, optimism, and productivity.
  • Red can give a stimulating feel to a room. A bright red can increase our heart rates, while deeper reds can create a feel of passion. Feelings associated with red are desire, passion, energy, power, and courage.
  • Orange often creates a stimulating feel in a room, so it is typically used as a compliment to more neutral shades. Feelings associated with orange are creativity, adventure, enthusiasm, joy, and warmth.
  • Purple is a color that’s long been associated with royalty and using it can create a rich, luxurious atmosphere in a room. Feelings associated with purple are sophistication, mystery, richness, and relaxation.
  • Pink can create a bright, energetic feel, similar to red. Subtle shades of pink will give a feeling of brightness without as much energy as a vibrant pink. Feelings associated with pink are sweetness, warmth, love, romance, and glamor.
  • Blue provides a cool, calming feel. It’s been shown to lower blood pressure. Feelings associated with blue are bliss, calm, wisdom, healing, and prosperity.
  • Green is soothing to the eye and calming. Like brown, it occurs frequently in nature and can help create a relaxing atmosphere. Feelings associated with green are harmony, peace, safety, healing, and calm.