Creat illusions

Humans respond psychologically to colour.  While we associate yellow with happy faces, smiles and cheerfulness and white as neutral and restful, black is liable to depress the spirits.  By manipulating the colours in a scheme, we can change a room from a happy welcoming room into a clinical, cold room.  Think of the cosy dining room of a local cafe painted in rich colours to create a feeling of warmth and trigger a desire to eat.  Contrast this with the hallways of most hospitals, traditionally painted stark white, a neutral colour often considered clean and clinical.

When developing a colour scheme, think about what the room will be used for and the emotions you would like to encourage.  For example, restful colours in a bedroom to encourage sleeping, or bright reds and yellows in a children's rumpus room to energise and lift spirits.  Each colour scheme is appropriate in the right place.

Use colour to create an illusion.  Colour can highlight the good features of a room or space and camouflage defects because different colours affect the way we view a room.

Warm colours, such as red and apricot tend to advance and make the walls seem closer.  If the room is large,  its dimensions seem decreased.  Warm colours look their best in a not so bright room with southern light, so that the bright effect of the sunny colours is not too overbearing.  They are also ideal for large, uninviting rooms you want to make more initmate and welcoming.

Blues and greens can introduce a cool mood into a room.  The level of coolness will depend on the intensity of the colours.  Cool colours may also be used to change the appearance of a room, puching back walls and furnishings and making the room appear more spacious.  They look best in a room with a sunny exposure, where the colours counteract some of the strength of the direct sun and are ideal for small, narrow rooms that you want to seem more spacious.  They should be avoided in shaded rooms.

The way you combine colours can also significantly alter your perception of a room.

For example...

Make a room look wider by painting the floor and ceiling in a similar colour and the walls in a lighter colour.

To give the feeling of airiness and space, paint the walls to match the floor and use pale, cool colours.

A warm, deep colour on short end walls with a lighter colour on the adjoining longer walls will help make a long, narrow room appear more evenly proportioned.