Binbima slumped into the couch, it had been a pretty rough day at the office. Her boss had bashed her earlier in the office because she missed her monthly target by just one house unit. Within minutes of staring into the ceiling, her mood began to lift. Her mind drifted suddenly to research she had undertaken recently as she compiled content for their company blog. Could it really be? Could paint colour actually affect mood? She realized that without intending to that she was unconsciously “testing the hypothesis”. This was a good distraction she thought as she reached out to re-read her draft.
BLUE
She had recently changed the colour in her living room to blue. Studies show the clour blue slows down heart rate and respiration and relaxes you with its calming effect. Blue, especially the lighter versions are thus recommended for bedrooms and bathrooms as well as living rooms and family areas. Green is another go to colour if you desire softer and calmer effects. Green which is easy on the eye, promotes stress relief and can do well in almost any room and the most intriguing is that, when used in the bedroom, it promotes relaxation and guess what, fertility!
RED
Red stimulates senses rapidly, and if you require a mood that raises energies, stir up excitement and conversation, red is your go to colour. In a practical sense however, you may reconsider spraying an entire room red, as an overdose of it may not portend well when you need moments of calmness and tranquility. A full dose rather increases respiration and heart rate. It is thus advised to only paint areas like a leisure space and just one wall or section in living spaces. In the bedroom, you may want to splash the red colour at just a fraction of the wall and even position a lamp such that under the light it appears muted, spicing up intimacy.
YELLOW
Then there is yellow which also exudes positivity, cheerfulness, happiness and is a great mood lifter especially in small doses or small spaces. An overdose tends to induce loss of temper, feelings of anger and frustration and even babies tend to cry a bit more with an overflow of yellow.
ORANGE
Orange is another colour that evokes excitement and enthusiasm, while it is not advised as a main colour theme for living and bedrooms, it works just fine for leisure and exercise rooms and you may not be surprised to have seen it used in gyms and playgrounds.
BLACK AND OTHER BASE COLOURS
Black also works well when used in small doses as an accent. In fact, it is highly recommended that every room needs a touch of black as a base colour to work other theme colours around. Similarly, white which projects simplicity and cleanliness also works incredibly as a base colour; it provides a blank canvas for other effects and art while also making rooms look a bit bigger. Be it ice white to ivory white, white has the effect of covering up ugly features or cracks in walls as well.
Useful material for the blog Bibima estimated. One that could get her a few points in her boss’ book, she will make it a point to present it to her in the blue painted board room. Now that will be smart, don’t you think?
The writer is the Executive director of Yecham Property Consult
& Founder of Ghana Green Building Summit.
Email: [email protected]
Linkedin: Cyril Nii Ayitey TettehTweet
