In The Design Studio: How to Choose the Right Color for Your Lifestyle

This is a sponsored post by Anna Gibson, owner of AKG Design Studio and an award-winning, certified kitchen and bathroom designer. AKG Design Studio is a boutique design firm specializing in kitchen, bathroom designs and cabinetry sales. Contact Anna at 571-989-2541 or [email protected], and follow her work on Houzz; Pinterest; Facebook and Twitter.

Colors are everywhere — clothing, cars, high-tech and, of course, your home!

From wall colors to furniture, it creates the atmosphere that changes a place from a house to a home. It’s a powerful design tool that can make the rooms in your house feel more homely with all the range of emotions from calm to dramatic, from cheerful to smart, warmth to cool and even some surprises or unexpected colors. At the same time, color also affects how we see the space, size-wise. Color can make a small room feel larger, or a spacious one to feel intimate.

Since colors are processed in the brain, we each see colors differently. According to www.colorpsychology.org: “The eye and brain can perceive more variation in warm colors than the cool ranges. The reason for this is that two-thirds of the eye’s cones interpret the longer wavelengths of lights such as reds, yellows and oranges.” This makes selecting colors a tedious and sometimes frustrating task, since there are so many colors and shades to choose from, and we can pick the differences between them.

Nonetheless, each color has a different emotional impact on us and may work in different spaces in our house. For example:

Purple: there are many researchers that show that purple has a calming effect over our mind and body, so this would be a perfect color for a bedroom to help induce sleep or for a mediation room. Be careful while selecting the right purple, as vibrant shades of purple can be stimulating and make you irritable. A great way to use purple is an accent wall in the bedroom with warm shades of lavender, or a deep purple as a backdrop for art in the family room.

White: Many people love the latest trend of white kitchens; the reason being the impact of white on our emotions. White is considered to be the color of purity, perfection and cleanliness, which makes it a great color for kitchens and bathrooms. What is better than starting your day with pure thoughts and clear energy? On the other side of the spectrum, white can be a non-committal and cold color. When you can’t make a decision, people defer to white. So whichever room you use it in, make sure to add an accent color or colors to bring energy and warmth to the room.

Gray: Gone are the days of beige. Shades of gray have taken over the interior design. While some find gray to be murky and depressing, most find it a great backdrop to other colors, making it the perfect new neutral color. The fun with gray is that you can create cold or warm variations that will work great with any other colors. Use gray to create a calming effect to a bright piece of furniture, like a deep purple couch. Add a bit of gray to the white, to create a warmer look to the room. In your kitchen, cold grays coupled with cool lighting (4100 Kelvin) will give a modern and slick look, while warm grays with warm lighting will give a cozy effect to the space.

Feeling bold and love the dramatic look for your lifestyle? Need some of the “wow” effect? Then go to the strong colors such as deep blues, black and purples. For a softer look, go with soft reds, oranges and soft yellow. Every color you select can be hot or cold, based on the depths of the paint. Just be careful with blue. They say that we see blue as an appetite suppressant, due to how few of our natural food sources are blue and the many toxic things that are shades of blue.

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