How to Choose Therapeutic Color Schemes for Hallways and Staircases

When creating a therapeutic color scheme for your home, remember not to overlook hallways and staircases. Those areas can be large and inhibiting to decorate because of their expansive wall space and odd angles. However, careful color selection can turn hallways and staircases into refreshing, inviting spaces.

Instructions

1. Look at a hallway or staircase as an opportunity to play with color and incorporate more intense hues that may not be suitable for other areas of your home where a relaxing atmosphere is desired. Hallways and staircases are essentially passageways to other rooms of the home, so play them up as places of movement by using vibrant colors on the walls, in artwork and accessories. Use brighter colors of other hues in the home to tie in the hallway or staircase decor with the rest of the interior.

2. Understand that hallways and staircases often look vacant and uninteresting if painted entirely in white or cream. Since hallways and staircases are areas where there's a lot of movement, warm colors are a better choice. Such colors include reds, oranges and yellows, which can have an energizing effect on people.

3. Consider that floors impact a color scheme as well. Area rugs in coordinating vibrant hues can carry the energizing colors of the walls all the way down to the floor and prevent the floor from being an empty, uninteresting expanse that interrupts an otherwise lively color scheme.

4. Add a lamp to a hallway or staircase landing if space is available and there is no other source of light. Hallways and staircase landings that lack a light source can inhibit the intended effect of a therapeutic color scheme. A lamp can help create an inviting glow in an otherwise dark area, enhancing the effects of warm, vibrant colors.

Resources

• Get more information on color therapy.