The Color Advantage

Lots of people are overwhelmed by the flood of color options available in the paint aisle of their local home-improvement store. The sea of paint chips that stare back at them from the displays can be overwhelming.

Neuroscience can help people distressed by all those color choices. Studies make it clear that colors can:

• Relax or energize. To make it more likely that people will feel relaxed in a space, make sure it features colors that are not very saturated but relatively light—colors like pale sage greens, subtle blues, or dusty oranges are soothing to look at. To rev people up, say in an exercise area or a laundry room (not many of us want to spend extra time with laundry), feature colors that are saturated but not too light, like Kelly greens or sapphire blues.
• Influence how brains work. Seeing the color green has been linked to enhanced creative thinking, so it’s probably a good choice for a painting studio, writer’s nook, or home office. Looking at the color red has been tied to degraded analytical performance, so it’s a good idea to keep it out of home offices, study areas, etc.
• “Boost” strength. We get a burst of strength from seeing the color red, so it’s probably the best color for a wall you’ll look at while weightlifting or doing something similar.
• Drive opinions. Across the planet, people’s favorite colors are shades of blue, so if you’re selecting colors for someone else or plan to sell your home soon, select them. We also link the color blue to trustworthiness, dependability, and competence, so it can be a good color for the wall that’s behind you during Zoom sessions. The least-liked colors worldwide are yellow and yellow-green, so be wary of using those hues in the same situations.
• Cause people to seem friendlier. People seen in front of warm walls are thought to be friendlier. In some situations, sending that sort of positive signal can be desirable and important.
• Feel more optimistic. Women who are looking at surfaces that are pink feel a little more optimistic than those who aren’t.
• Increase appetite. Looking at warm colors can make us feel hungry, which can be a good or bad thing. If you’re always trying to get kids to eat, a breakfast nook painted a warm color may be in order.
• Influence how large a space seems. Lighter colors make walls seem a little further away than they actually are, while darker colors create the impression that they’re slightly closer—so if you’re painting a room that would be a little more pleasant if it seemed to be a different size, choose accordingly.
• Change perceptions of temperature. Warm colors on walls make a space seem physically warmer, and cool colors make it seem to have a cooler air temperature. Using a warm color on a sun porch that’s drenched in lots of tropical sunlight is probably not a good idea; try a cooler shade instead.
• Affect movement through a space. We’re drawn to warm colors, so adding them to the far wall of a long hallway can make it more likely that we’ll travel toward the end of that corridor.

Use science to select surface colors that increase the likelihood of the situations you envision for your home—whether that’s upbeat family dinners, artistic achievements, or something else entirely.