Enhance Your Life with Color

Did you just paint your living room wall Coral Red and now you can't relax in that room? Is Impulsive Purple your favorite color but on your bedroom wall it feels dark and oppressive? If you are afraid to paint anything on your walls other than Builder Beige or Neutral White, then help is on the way. Why not determine the ambiance or the mood you want to create first in your home then choose the color to reflect that? The end result will be a place you love and want to spend time in.

Two things occur when color is applied to large areas like a wall or ceiling. First, the color intensifies, and secondly, the color's mood dominates the room. It's a common mistake to choose colors based on personal tastes rather than on the feeling or mood you want to create. Consider the personality of a color and the energy it contains before applying to your interior.

Recall an experience of walking into someone's home and instantly feeling warmth, welcome and comfort, even before a word is spoken. You are responding to the universal, yet silent, language of color. Whether you are conscious of it or not, the influence of color splashes your daily life. Color surrounds and defines the world.

Each color family has a history and a personality of its own that influence your feelings and your mood. Yellow, for example, is associated with the sun and represents optimism, sunshine, and happiness. A great place to use the color Yellow is in cramped, dark spaces such as hallways. The luminous glow of Yellow will draw you in and through this space while lifting your energy and your feelings. Since colors are the catalyst for feelings, the combination of different hues in your interior will stimulate or relax your senses, shape your feelings, and effect your relations with others. Color is the single most important design element in creating spaces you love.

To choose colors for your interior, your inspiration can come from places you have traveled or from memories that bring you happiness. Why not recall images from these memories and use the colors of those places to infuse magic into your home? Nature provides a beautiful backdrop of colors and sensations to enliven living spaces. Picture the warming shades of a sunset or the relaxed, inviting beachfront mixed in a room where you want to be soothed and inspired. Conversely, vibrant, energetic Caribbean colors can stir up a fusion of coral, turquoise blues, and sunny yellows in a room.

Create the ambiance of your living space by defining function and intention. Be clear in your mind of the room's purpose. Understand how you use a space and articulate how you want to feel and interact with others. Your focus will assist you with color choices that reflect your personal needs for an environment while supporting and nurturing you on a subconscious level. You may desire a living room where friends and family sit down and enjoy themselves, socialize and entertain. By introducing warm and energetic hues of earth tones with highlights of Red, Orange, and Yellow, you will create a welcoming feeling as well as achieve the desired function of the space.

Color is a powerful presence in your life. Embrace its ability to enhance your comfort and reflect your lifestyle. Choose colors to reflect how you want to live and feel everyday of your life, and you will live more abundantly while surrounding yourself with things you love. Use color to create new intentions, live colorfully!

Originally published: July 2004, Wisconsin Woman Magazine, page 30, "Enhance Your Life With Color," Publisher Pat O'Gara