Color has four qualities: hue, value, intensity and temperature. Hue is the actual name of that particular color--red, blue or yellow. These are all hues. Value has to do with the lightness or darkness of a hue, e.g., light, medium or dark. This is often determined by the amount of black in the hue. Intensity is the purity of the hue--its brightness or dullness, which is often determined by the amount of the complementary hue used to dull the chroma of the pure hue. Temperature is the warmth or coolness of a hue. The active hues of the color circle--the yellows, oranges and reds--are warm and advance toward us, while the passive hues of the color circle--the greens, blues and violets--recede and draw us toward them as they appear far away and distant.

When it comes to painting the home, the vast array of colors available often make the choices difficult. Yet the beauty of the color circle can find itself in the home through its connection to human psychology. Experts agree that the understanding of color lies somewhere between art and science. Its fuzzy borders stretch over both psychology and physics--sometimes beguilingly metaphysical, other times dry and scientific. Either way, one should never underestimate the power color has to affect the mind, body and soul.

When choosing colors for the home, most designers will have you consider the following:

• What is the room's function? 
• How much light does the room get throughout the day? Does it get more natural light or man-made light?
• What time of day is that room used most?
• What are the colors of the adjacent rooms?

Each of the above has a determining factor when selecting the right color for your room.

What is the room's function?
Generally speaking, the first floor of a two-story home or the front part of a duplex are where your family interacts socially with the world. Color psychologists tell us that hues that correspond with this activity, enhancing the warmth of social interaction, are the active colors of the color circle--the yellows, oranges and reds. Whether pastel in tone or rich and saturated, these warm, light, active hues offer a welcome backdrop to the psychological activity going on in the space.

Conversely, the passive hues of the color circle--the blues, greens and violets--offer a spectrum of hues that ask us to slow down the march of the day’s activities. These hues actually slow the pulse of the blood in our body and reduce the heart rate, making them the ideal colors to consider when painting a space of quiet refuse or contemplative escape. A bedroom, a study, a library, or a meditation room. Much depends on how you use the four qualities of color--hue, value, intensity and temperature--in finally arriving at a color that really speaks to you, but these general guidelines on color are time tested and worth considering.

How much light does the room get and at what time of day?
Color in a room is affected by the light that plays on it throughout the day. Morning light tends to be soft and tender, sometimes warm, other times cool. Midday light is often full strength and shows off the purer chroma of a hue. And as the sun recedes over the horizon, the light warms deeply to the reds in a twilight glow before finally giving way to the cool dark hues of blue and evening.

A color that looks good on a wall at one time of day may not appear so at another time of the day. The time of day that you use that room, with that particular light on it, is the time and place that you should consider what colors to look at for that room. Keep in mind that incandescent lights throw off a much warmer light than does daylight or fluorescent lighting, which tends to be cooler than natural light or the incandescent light.

What are the colors of the adjacent rooms?
The color that we perceive a room to be is influenced by the colors of the rooms around it. While most tend to prefer variety to monotony in their interior design schemes, you want to use colors discerningly. When determining how color will play in a room, consider the color of the surrounding rooms. Will the new color clash or blend in with what’s around it in the visual field. Using adjacent colors on the color circle, whether yellows moving into soft coral like reds or a soft mint green into a quiet aqua or deeper blue hue, will generally guarantee that color harmony is assured. For those wanting a more exciting room design, using hues opposite each other on the color circle, a more complementary scheme, will bring drama, energy and excitement!

 After all is said and done, it’s always good to turn to nature for advice on a color scheme for your home. She is far and away the best color designer you can work with. Nature harmonizes colors with both a delicate nuance and at other times a bold display of strong contrasting hues. Her colors change throughout the year in such a seasonal display of hues that anyone can find a color scheme for their home laid before them. Like everything else concerning color, we only have to LOOK to see the answer.
 

Lazure Custom Wall Designs 
lazure@lazure.com