1. Choose green to create a relaxing and soothing environment – Have you ever wondered what colour to paint your space to be able to de-stress the minute you get home from work or to sleep better at night? You may want to consider painting your walls green, which is a colour that is found to be the most effective at enabling human beings to calm down and relax. Green plants tend to have a soothing and attractive quality, which is why people like to take walks in parks (or forests) or place various bits of greenery in their homes. The colour green also represents renewal and growth, which makes it an ideal colour for spaces where people like to go to enjoy some peace and quiet like hotels, spas or meditation centres. Our lives have become so dominated by human-made objects that we’ve lost our connection to the natural world. Having indoor plants or views of a garden or a park nearby helps restore that connection. It also helps to people to better cope with the level of daily stress that they encounter as they live in a fast-paced and ever-changing world. Painting walls in a green colour help us stay calm and relaxed and to feel more optimistic about ourselves and the world around us.
2. Choose blue to stimulate creative thinking – Blue is reported to be the favourite colour of 40% of males worldwide (women tend to favour purple and turquoise on the other hand). It is a colour most associated with strength, conservative values, and tradition. A lot of brands like to use blue exclusively on their corporate logos like tech company SAP to motor vehicle manufacturer Ford, or blue with a minor accent colour like the Royal Bank of Canada (blue and yellow) or Citibank (blue with a dash of red). It’s considered safe and trustworthy, which is why a lot of corporate executives and world leaders like to wear navy blue suits and light blue ties to convey knowledge and authority and the same time reliability & integrity. You can’t go wrong using too much blue, long considered a safe colour, which is why banks like to use them as well. That’s why many homes feature blue couches, area rugs, and decorative accessories. It’s one of those can’t-go-wrong choices. Research has shown that blue is an intellectual colour that is ideal for workplaces. Not only is it associated with calm and peaceful skies and deep blue waters, blue is also found to increase productivity, making it ideal for a room that requires a lot of thinking, like meeting rooms, research labs or design studios. Can’t decide what colour to paint your office? Blue will help to create a tranquil and let’s-get-down-to-business vibe, which is an ideal combination if you’d like to achieve focused & creative efficiency.
3. Choose red to convey energy & create a strong impact – Want to call more attention to yourself or stand out from a crowd of same-looking people? Wear a red outfit or a red piece of clothing or accessory. Red is Donald Trump’s favourite tie colour, which is no surprise given his desire to be the centre of attention in any room. There’s a reason why Ferraris are mostly red. It’s to call attention to itself. If you want to blend in, avoid wearing red. However, if you’d like to create a bold statement at work or at home, paint one wall in red. Or you could get a red area rug, some red dining chairs, or piece of art with splashes of red in it. My previous home had red dining leather chairs, a red area rug and artwork that had red accents, which gave the space a fresh jolt of energy. I’m actually a big fan of calm colours in the home but occasionally, I like to have some fun in other areas of my home (like the living and dining room) where I don’t have to sleep or do any work. That’s where I’m open to using striking colours, including red. Otherwise, it can get tiring to look at red in too-large doses. A little bit of red is good to brighten things up, but probably not too much if you want to relax or to focus on your work.
4. Choose white to create a clean and crisp space – You may already know this but white is not actually a colour. It represents the total absence of colour. That’s why it makes a nice background colour for paintings or photographs. Museums and art galleries like to use white on their walls. It enables the colour and brushstrokes on a piece of art to stand out given how clean and crisp white walls typically look. White is also associated with cleanliness and purity, which is why hospitals used to paint their walls white to reassure patients that these are places that are free of germs (for the most part, even if it isn’t always true). White is also popular for hotel bed sheets and pillow covers to tell people that they are serious about cleanliness in their rooms. Personally though, I find pure white to be a little too stark for interior spaces so I would typically spec wall colours to be white but have a grey undertone. Benjamin Moore’s Decorator White is great for complementing chocolate brown cabinets or white oak floors. And then I like to recommend Atrium White (which has pink undertones) to complement grey floors. But if clients want a relaxing place to come home to, I usually steer them towards green or blues. Even hospitals have recently moved away from the all-white-walls trend and have begun painting their walls in warm and soothing colours like so that they don’t feel like prisons.
5. Choose grey to maximize productivity – Grey is a neutral colour that can be found between white and black. It’s a colour that most people don’t really “see” enabling them to focus on the task at hand. It is the colour most associated with metal and conveys neutrality and balance which makes it an ideal office colour. It’s also a good base colour in case you are thinking of putting accent walls made of solid colours like blue, yellow, or pink, either of which perfectly complement grey. Automotive companies like BMW and Subaru use a blue and gray combination on their logos to convey solidity and quality. So if you find grey walls a little too safe and too bland you can use grey on your floors and then blue on your walls to add a bit of warmth. Places like Scandinavia or British Columbia don’t get as much sunlight as say, California, which is way gray needs to be used selectively as the abundance of rain and cloudy skies might just make your employees feel less motivated or upbeat especially during the cold winter months. So learn to use grey strategically and make sure that you don’t use a too-dark shade of grey as it can suck the energy out of room. I like to recommend Benjamin Moore’s Dove White which is probably the lightest shade of gray for homes and offices that want a neutral backdrop to work, live, or play. You’ll find that it has that nice clean and crisp almost-white look but with some hint of brown underneath to give it some warmth. It doesn’t make your eyes get tired from looking at it (intense colours like red and yellow can do that to you) and it serves as a nice background for colourful artwork (or even black & white photos0 that you can hang throughout your office or residential space.
