AT HOME: The Psychology of Color
Don't go crazy picking a wall color.
By Loraine Page
COLUMNIST
You won't know if you're going to like a color on your walls until you paint the whole room and then step back for a good look.
You'll be horrified — or you'll be in love.
In my previous house, I painted my living room and hallways lime green. I saved one living room wall for my accent color, which was magenta. Picture the color of a Starbucks dragon fruit drink. That's what I chose.
And I was in love.
For the remainder of my time in that house, about a dozen years or so, those walls made me happy every single day. I never regretted them, not even a little.
I was surprised by the continued delight that lime green and magenta gave me. I was not living in a spacious environment. This was a small ranch home where eye-catching colors might have become an irritant eventually. Yet they didn't.
I knew these combined colors, or even these colors by themselves, would not be everyone's pick for living rooms and hallways. They were far from the pastels and the neutrals. Yet I didn't care.
To test a theory I was developing, I asked an accountant I was casually dating if he could ever live with these wall colors. The answer came swiftly — “No.”
I laughed. He worked with numbers, I worked with words. He played fencing, I made collages.
If paint choices reflect personality, he would certainly not choose magenta and lime green, especially in such proximity to each other in a small house.
I turned to experts who know a thing or two about choosing the right colors for your home.
In an online article from the magazine Real Simple, I found what I was looking for. “Paint color is an expression of your personality,” stated Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute and author of Pantone: The Twentieth Century in Color. “We branch out occasionally, but most of us have a proclivity for certain shades.”
She went on to say that what you gravitate to--warm shades, cool hues, jewel tones, or neutrals — may indicate what is characteristic of your personality. These color types could reveal that you are the life of the party, you are practical, or you are seeking closeness.
It's not an easy thing to grasp who you are. It's even harder to then forge ahead with color schemes that express who you are. And also, many people do not live alone — as I do — so they feel compelled to choose colors that appease everyone.
So it's not surprising that people's go-to paint color is white. “White on a wall,” said Eiseman, “looks clean, crisp, and fresh. Plus, whites can range from warm parchment-y tones to icy hues with light blue tints.”
If you choose earthy walls — maybe griege, a blend of beige and grey — the bonus is that you can use color in your art and furniture.
If you do go with neutrals, Eiseman assesses that you most likely are even-keeled and practical — plus you don't want any part of re-painting rooms because you can't stand the color you chose.
You play it safe, as I did not. I think I just lucked out.
If you want help finding out who you are and what a person like you might gravitate to, Sherwin Williams offers a color quiz. They believe the test will reveal whether your type is Free Spirit, Trendsetter, Naturalist, Minimalist, Creative, Enthusiast, Nurturer, or Dreamer.
For me, the science of color choice says those who prefer a lot of green have a strong openness to new experiences. That sounds about right. I was open to placing magenta into the midst of all that green.
Perhaps, the quiz can add a new category: Gardener.
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