What Room Colors Should I Use?

Best Room Colors?  I am often asked what is the best color to paint different rooms in my house?  While a lot of it has to do with personal preference there can be a bit of science to it as well.

The good news is painting a room is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to transform the look of a room.  Colors act in three basic ways; active, passive, and neutral.  You can easily match every rooms colors to your tastes and rooms functionality.  Lighter colors make a room seem light and airy, and ultimately appear larger.  Darker colors are sophisticated and warm, making a room appear more intimate.

Living rooms work well with warm colors like reds, oranges and yellows, and earth tones like brown and beige. The warm and earth tones are thought to promote conversation. “These are colors that encourage people to sit around and talk,” says Kate Smith, a color consultant in Lorton, Va. “You feel the warmth, the connection with other people.”

Warm colors work well in kitchens. If you are trying to diet you might want to avoid reds as it can increase the appetite. Since many kitchen appliances are void of much color you might want to consider adding vibrant splashes of color.

With its appetite increasing properties red is becoming a more and more popular color for dining rooms. The warm colors also encourage conversation.  If painting all the walls red is to much for you, try just painting one wall as an accent wall, to achieve the same effect.

Cool colors work great in bedrooms for their relaxing properties. Blues, greens, and lavenders can be great choices here. The darker the hue the more pronounced the calming effect is believed to be.

Whites and warm colors have long been popular choices in bathrooms in large part because they are associated with cleanliness and purity. If you are looking for more of a retreat, blues and greens and turquoises give a sense of being clean and fresh — and relaxation.  When using this technique, it is though the darker the hue the more pronounced the effect.

Green is often used as a good color for the home office where productivity is the name of the game. Green is often considered the color of concentration, this could help you get your work done faster.  Because of this it’s one of the best colors to be surrounded by for long periods of time.

Yellow inspires optimism and is a great color for a sunroom.  You can also add yellow to a foyer or entryway for a little shot of optimism as you walk out the door.

If you have a dedicated workout room in your house, bright vibrant colors are good.  One caution for red in a workout room, is the color may overdo the sensation of feeling hot. Conversely a relaxing blue-green combination can add a cooling sensation to extend your workout.  Orange is a color that is thought to improve lung function, and increase energy levels, so this is also a great color to add to your workout room.

The ceiling represents one sixth of the space in a room, but is often overlooked, or just given a basic coat of white.  While you generally want to avoid dark colors on the ceiling, as it makes the ceiling feel lower, you can add a light color complementary to your wall color.

These are just a few suggestions, but ultimately the color choices are yours, you and your family are the ones who get to enjoy your newly painted room.

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