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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

What is the first thing you see when you come home after a busy day at work? Stacked dishes around the sink or an overflowing laundry basket? How about tumbled shoes clumped in the entryway? Would you rather be greeted with a soothing wall color splashed with an eye-catching image? Take a look around your home and get a sense of its hidden messages. Pay attention to what draws you into a sense of calm. If you need to refocus your attention on the inspiring rather than the never-ending household tasks, then help is on its way. Focal points or planned points of interest in your home’s décor can create the space your eyes and mind need to rest.

Designing focal points into your living space helps to gather your attention, create a space to linger on, subtly influence your mood, and gracefully direct your eyes and body through an interior space. Furniture arrangements, paint colors, pictures, architectural features and display items all contribute elements in creating successful points of interest. How you arrange and display your personal belonging in your home directly affects your attention and immediate feelings. An item on display that stands out from a composition may captivate your interest. A contrasting color on the wall shifts your mood by drawing your focus to it. Why not purposefully design fascinating placing throughout your home to create a space that greets you with a smile and relaxes those who spend time there.

Often overlooked in daily living is the personal stuff collected over years. When a house suffers from a lack of focus, inhabitants and visitors often feel confused, overwhelmed or exhausted. By displaying numerous personal belongings or having too many areas washed in similar colors, the home becomes nondescript with a vague interior. The eye no longer has a natural focal resting place. For example, is your refrigerator door lost in a magnet collage of pictures, coupons, shopping lists, homework assignments, etc? Just by simplifying the scenery to one or two pieces, your eyes can adjust, focus and enjoy what is being displayed.

If you are feeling overwhelmed or exhausted in your home, then start simple. First reduce the number of pictures on the walls to just one or two items and refocus their placement. De-clutter the number of items on bookcases and in corners so these spaces feel lighter. Prominently display items you cherish or pictures that make you laugh as you pass by. Simplify the composition so your eye can focus and take in the beauty of the element you are highlighting. Upon entering your house, your eye’s first impression dramatically impacts how you feel.

Create a picture with a purpose in your home. Generate fascinating spaces by enhancing a unique architectural feature, offsetting the kitchen wall with a bold color, or creating a small sitting zone at your front entrance. Simply placing fresh bouquets of flowers on your tables will create a pleasing, visual interest for your eye to follow.

Focal points are powerful tools to use in your home life. Take advantage of their ability to enhance your surroundings and reflect how you want to live. Determine what appeals to your senses and let those symbols capture your attention in your home. Let your first impressions embrace you and make you feel welcome. You will live more abundantly when surrounded by the things you love.