All about Room Colors and how it affects your Mood

The colors you use for the rooms within your home need to bring out your personality. We may not think a lot about room color, but it affects our lives daily. Room color can influence your mood and thoughts. Infact, color affects people in many ways, depending upon age, gender, ethnic background or the local weather and climatic conditions. Certain colors or a group of colors tend to get a similar reaction from most people.

You can make your home beautiful and comfortable for you to live in by choosing the colors that reflects your likes and personality. The trick is to blend colors from the wide range and make a pleasing combination. Choosing colors for your home is one of the most challenging decisions to make.

Color has the power to change the shape and size of your furnishings likewise the size of the room too. You can make a wiser choice by understanding the basic info on colors and its affects.

Choosing Room Colors wisely

Colors have great influence on our moods. Each color has a psychological value. The feelings that colors can reveal is from peace to anger. If such colors are painted in larger areas it can have an adverse affect on the individual.

Fabric, carpeting, furniture and tiles are available in a limited range of colors than paint, so choose them first and then decide on your paint color. Once you find something you like, limit the number of colors in a room to no more than three or four. Too many colors can make a room look busy or cluttered. Paint is fairly inexpensive and can transform a room more quickly than anything else, therefore you can afford to experiment a little. Choose room colors wisely.

Room Colors and their Effects

Colors behave in three basic ways: active, passive, and neutral. You can match every room’s colors to your personal desires with ease, to match your taste and to the room’s purpose. Light colors are expansive and airy, making rooms seem larger and brighter. Dark colors are sophisticated and warm; they give large rooms a more intimate appearance. Now let’s find out more about colors and what they can do to a room:

Red color: Red raises a room’s energy levels. Red has been shown to raise blood pressure, speed respiration and heart rate. Painting living room or dining room red, it will draw people together and stimulate conversation. In an entryway, it creates a strong first impression. It is a good choice when you want to stir up excitement, particularly at night. Red, the most intense, pumps the adrenaline like no other shade.

Yellow color: Yellow captures the joy of sunshine and communicates happiness. It is perfect for kitchens, dining rooms, and bathrooms, where happy colors are energizing and uplifting. In halls, entries, and small spaces, yellow color will make the room look larger welcoming. Even though yellow although is a cheery color, it is not a good choice to use in main color schemes when it comes to designing a room. Studies show that people are more likely to lose their temper in a yellow interior. Babies also seem to cry more in a yellow room. In large amounts, this color tends to create feelings of frustration and anger in people.

Blue color: Blue color brings down blood pressure and slow respiration and heart rate.That is why it is considered calming, relaxing and serene, and it is often recommended for bedrooms and bathrooms. Ensure the room painted blue receives ample of sunlight. Balance the room with warm colors for furnishings and fabrics. Blue is known to have a calming effect when used as the main color of a room. Go for softer shades of blue. Dark blue has the opposite effect, evoking feelings of sadness. So refrain from using darker blues in your main color scheme. Stay with the lighter shades of blue to give you and your loved ones a calm effect.

Green color: Green is considered the most restful color for the eye. Combining the refreshing quality of blue and the cheerfulness of yellow, green is suited for almost any room on the house. In the kitchen, green cools things down; in a family room or living room, it encourages individuals to unwind, chill out but has enough warmth to promote comfort and togetherness. Green also has a calming effect when used as a main color for decorating. It is believed to relieve stress by helping people relax. Also believed to help with fertility, making it a great choice for the bedroom.

Purple color: Purple in its darkest values ( for eg: Brinjal) is rich, dramatic, and sophisticated. It is associated with luxury as well as creativity, and as an accent or secondary color, it gives a scheme depth. Lighter versions of purple, such as lavender and lilac, bring the same restful quality to bedrooms as blue does, but without the risk of feeling chilly.

Also read: What is the Best time to Paint your Home

Orange color: Orange is an energetic color that evokes excitement, enthusiasm. While not a good idea for a living room or for bedrooms, this color is great for an exercise room. It will bring out all the emotions that you need released during your fitness routine. In ancient cultures orange was believed to heal the lungs and increase energy levels.

Neutrals colors (black, gray, white, and brown) are basic to the decorator’s tool kit. All neutral schemes fall in and out of fashion, but their virtue lies in their flexibility.  Add color to make surroundings lively; subtract it to calm things down. Black is best used in small doses as an accent. Indeed, some experts maintain that every room needs a touch of black to ground the color scheme and give it depth. To make the job easier, you can rely on the interior designer’s most important color tool: the color wheel.

Color Effects on Walls and Ceiling

Ceilings occupies almost one-sixth of the space in a room, and in general people paint a coat of white paint. For decades white color has been considered the safest and best choice for ceilings.

The general rule followed for ceilings is: ceilings that are painted lighter than the walls feel higher, while those that are painted darker than the walls feel lower. Lower means the room looks smaller and can even give a cozy and intimate feeling. Dark walls make a room seem smaller, and light walls make a room seem larger.

To summarize these general guidelines will be an eye opener for you when you are planning to paint your house and are in search for a paint color. But remember, that color choice is a very personal matter. You are the one who has to live with your new paint color, so choose a color that suits you, your family and your lifestyle.

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Tips for Winter Wear Clothes Care and Storage

Winter days are here again…It is time to start using winter clothes, sweaters, scarves, jackets, shawls and other accessories. A little pre-work will help you to use fresh smelling winter wear. Winter wear clothes need to be handled with care to maintain the texture, warmth and comfort. Wool coats should be dry cleaned at the beginning and at the end of the season.

Most important rule to adhere before cleaning your winter clothes is to look at the label and follow the instructions.

Most of the woolen clothes are recommended for dry cleaning. Basic reason being that wool fibers will swell if washed in water, which can distort the shape of the sweater.

But if the label indicates that you can wash your woolen garment, follow these home care tips to clean sweaters:

• Use a mild, neutral detergent and ensure it is thoroughly dissolved in cold water.
• Soak for 5 to 10 mins, then gently swish the sweater around in the water and rinse using cold water until it runs clear of soap.
• Do not wring the sweater with your hands or dry it in the dryer of washing machine.
• The best method is to lay the sweater out on a white towel and gently blot the excess water away. Leave the sweater on the towel / bed sheet on a flat surface and let it dry in a well-ventilated area.
• Slow drying is recommended because high heat can causes unnecessary wear and tear
• If you observe wrinkles after hand washing, use an iron for pressing. If you need to press cashmere sweaters, place a clean towel or bed sheet between the sweater and iron to prevent the heat harming the garment.

Remove light stains on wool:

Remove light stains on wool by blotting (not rubbing!) with cold water or club soda using absorbent cloths or paper towel.

Cleaning coats:

Cleaning coats and jackets depends on your environment. If you are placed in a busy area then clean coats twice in a month. Dust and dirt particles can get into the weave of the coat and will wear the fabric down like sandpaper

Cleaning scarves and shawls:

Anything that is close to the body needs to be cleaned more. Preferably consider hand-washing your wool scarf or shawl once a month to keep it in tip-top shape. If  the scarf material is delicate consider dry cleaning.

Cleaning accessories-gloves and mittens:

Fabric gloves can be washed but the process tends to distort the shape. Leather gloves are more durable than fabric gloves and can usually be wiped clean with a damp cloth when dirty.

Storing winter items isn’t always the same as in other seasons:

• Allow all wearable items, including footwear, one day’s rest between wearings.
• Do not store near direct light or heat.
• Make sure items are completely dry before storing to prevent damaging mildew

Winter clothes storage tips:

Clean your clothing prior to storing: Pack your clothes only after washing them-wet or dry wash. This will help repel pests and reduces stains that would be set in if left on the clothing for the storage duration. The biggest risk If you do not wash prior to storage is that you will be greeted by moths, beetles, ants and cockroaches once winter season begins.

Identify a suitable container to hold your winter clothing: Large Polythene bag is an inexpensive option but they can get punctured leaving it open to dust and pests. Similarly storing in cardboard boxes also gives a moist smell after the rains. Plastic boxes are the ideal option to keep away pests and moisture. You can also store in luggage bags for good storage over a long duration.

Keep clothing fresh : Add a few moth balls and ensure pests stay away and help protect your winter clothes in storage.

Store like items into the same container: To make unpacking the containers easier next year, place all your sweaters in one container and all your woolen accessories in another. Continue through your winter wardrobe in such a fashion until everything has been put away.

Stack winter clothes in appropriate storage place: After season is over find the perfect place to store your winter clothing. You can slide the storage container-bags under a bed such that it does not block the path.

A storage unit, attic, closet floor, shelf are also places to consider. If you do not have anywhere else to put your boxes or containers, or if you are in need of a small table somewhere in your home, you can stack a few containers on top of each other and drape a cloth over them, creating a homemade table.

Right storage will help access winter clothes next season. Please add a comment and, if you like the post, feel free to share it with your friends. You can also visit our facebook page and Google plus page for more insight on other articles.

Also read:

Preserving Clothes from Pests Using Neem Leaves

How to remove candle wax and bubble gum stuck on clothes

How to Remove Grease Stains on Jeans

15 Tips to Manage Space and make your home look larger