How Wallpaper Colour Can Affect a Room’s Mood

Most people have a favourite colour. However, can the colour of your interior design actually affect the moods of occupants and visitors? Is there some psychology and science to how colour affects the human psyche? Read on to learn more.

The psychology of colour

While colours affecting the human psyche may sound like a placebo, many scientific findings show that colour significantly impacts our moods and emotions.

The mechanisms that underpin human colour and vision have been well understood for most of the last century; however, it is only in the previous few decades that the separate neural-pathways for the non-visual aspects of colour have become apparent.

While it has been observed that the impact of colour on things like mood and emotional states may be short-lived, existing research has shown colour impacts people in some surprising ways.

For example:

White-coloured medications have been shown to offer greater pain relief
Red colours act as a stimulant, causing people to react with faster reflexes and force
Black uniformed players are more likely to receive penalties in competitive sports
Silver vehicles are most popular with corporate professionals and entrepreneurs as they associate silver with modern innovation

As you can see, colour can deeply affect how we perceive and feel about things, and interior design is no exception.

Choosing the right colour of paint or wallpaper for your home

The colour of paint or wallpaper you choose for your room can be influenced by what type of room you are remodelling as much as individual tastes and styles.

However, there are some rules that many professional interior designers follow when selecting the colour of a room.

For example:

Red and orange hues, having a stimulating and encouraging effect on the mind, are often used in offices, studios and creative spaces where mental performance is required.
Cool blues and aqua-green hues provide a calming effect on the psyche and are often used in places where people relax, like bathrooms, bedrooms and meditation spaces.
Nature-associated colours, like yellows, browns and greens, encourage feelings of connectivity and positivity and work well in lounge rooms and shared living spaces.
Black and white shades are often associated with functionality and cleanliness, making them popular in rooms where cleaning and sanitation regularly occur, like kitchens, laundries and toilets.

You may now also understand why signage uses colours, shapes and pictures to communicate rather than words alone.

For example, red stop signs bring a sense of danger and urgency, yellow and black safety signs indicate to proceed with attention and caution, and traffic lights inform us of traffic movement with no more than colour as a language.

However, choosing a colour for our homes is as much of an artistic expression as creating a feeling or 'vibe', and each individual will have a preference. While there are some basic colour practices in interior design, choosing a colour for a space that feels like home is most important.

Open up a new world of colour with AJ Wallpaper

If you're looking for the perfect wallpaper for your room renovation, why not browse our extensive AJ Wallpaper library online today?

With over a million quality, affordable designs and fast international shipping, you are bound to find the right colour and pattern for your home remodelling project.

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