How to Choose Colors to Set a Mood

Color can go a long way toward setting the mood and energy level in a room. Here are some suggestions for using color for your desired effect.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Interior Paints
• Wallpaper
• Color Wheels

1. Use bright, warm colors - such as coral or apple green - to impart a feeling of coziness in a family room. These colors can warm up a cool room that has limited natural light.

2. Add cheer with yellow. It can lift your spirits in, say, a kitchen or laundry room.

3. Think red when you want to invigorate your environment, perhaps in an office.

4. Let cool colors such as sage green and sky blue wrap you in a calm ambience, as in a bedroom. These colors can chill a room, so they're best used when there's plenty of sunlight as a balance.

5. To destress, think neutrals such as pale gray, taupe and beige, which exert a restful influence. They work well in a library, media room or family room.

6. Set a young, playful mood with primary colors. They're great in children's rooms or playrooms.

7. Paint walls dark, rich colors such as deep taupe, brick red, slate gray or sapphire blue to set a formal, sophisticated tone and add a sense of drama. A formal dining or living room is a candidate for these deep colors.

8. Avoid bright white, which tends to be very stark and unsettling, evoking a sterile operating-room atmosphere. In most environments, a white with a touch of rose, ivory or gray is more comforting.

Tips & Warnings

• To temper your wall color choices, select furniture and accessories that inject needed visual contrast. The brick-red walls of a foyer, for instance, can be balanced with an antique-white console table; golden-yellow accessories will add a spark in a sky-blue bedroom; and a beige sofa will tone down a room painted coral.
• Remember that cool colors recede, making a room seem larger, and warm colors advance, making a room seem smaller.