The concept of warm and cool home interior colours has been around since the dawn of interior design. For the most part, the colour inside your home comes down to personal preference. But, given their impact on your home’s temperature, colour should be used to your advantage to optimise the kind of living conditions you aspire to have.
Colour is one of the most important aspects of home design. Not only do we use colour to co-ordinate furnishings, we also use colour to help make a room feel cool or cosy.
Let’s look at warm and cool colours and how best to use them in your home interiors.
The difference between warm colours and cool colours
With summer around the corner, you’ll be pleased to know your home interior colours can help you stay cool. It’s all about understanding the difference between warm colours and cool colours and thinking about how best to fit them in your home.
Warm colours
Warm colours are those which tend to evoke feelings of warmth and heat. Oranges, yellows, reds or combinations of some of the warmer colours on the palate. Warm colours have a way of increasing the cosiness of a room. Particularly in bedrooms or large rooms, we use warm colours to create a more intimate environment.
Cool colours
Cool colours are typically known to calm and soothe. Lighter shades of blues, greys and greens are common cool colours used in interior design. The same way warm colours remind us of heat, cool colours do the opposite, reminding us of the sky, ice and all things cool. In home interiors, cool colours are often used to create the illusion of space, which is why they’re often used in smaller rooms.
The relationship between colour and temperature
Colour has the ability to physically make us feel warmer or cooler. It’s the associations we make with colour that influence the way they make us feel. With this in mind, it pays to consider the kind of climate you live in when choosing your home interior colours.
Homes in warmer climates are better suited to schemes where cool colours are dominant. Cool colours can help us to feel more refreshed when temperatures outside are soaring. The feeling of an open, cool space offers great relief from summer heat. You don’t have to paint the entire house in cool colours, but it’s wise to use them in shared spaces and areas that don’t get a lot of light.
In turn, warm colours are often used in cooler climates to bring more warmth to the home. It might just be a specific space that needs warmer colour, or you might choose to use them throughout your home if you experience low outdoor temperatures.
All in all, it’s fine to have a mix of warm and cool colours in your home as long as you create a good sense of balance. To achieve the right combination, do your research first or contact an interior designer.
Home interior colours affect us more than we realise
If you are currently trying to decide on paint colours, it pays to consider how your choice could influence the general feeling in your home.
Colour can evoke good feelings, alleviate stress and even improve our sleep. So how do we go about choosing the right colour for each room?
Depending on what kind of atmosphere you’re trying to create, use a colour scheme that heightens good emotions. Happy, playful, relaxed or refreshed – you’ll know what colours you associate with what feelings.
Warm colours are known to be stimulating, which is why they’re often used in rooms that see a lot of activity. Cool colours can help us to feel more relaxed and are therefore used in bathrooms and other places you go to unwind.
When it comes to home interior colours, there are a couple of important things to remember.
Firstly, you don’t need to paint your home all one colour. You can use colour to your advantage to enhance warmth and coolness, to evoke good feelings, or to create an illusion of space.
Secondly, whatever colours you decide on, make sure they balance well. You don’t want to be left with a mishmash of colour blocks that don’t flow throughout your home.
Now that summer is here, staying cool will soon become a priority.
Kick off those extra blankets, put away your winter wardrobe and think about giving your home a refreshing lick of paint.
Better still, go beyond that this summer and have a heat pump installed. Set to air conditioning mode, your home will become a cool summer haven even on the season’s hottest days.
You don’t put up with stuffy indoor temperatures this summer and a grumpy family complaining of a hot house.
Call us today to find out how we can help you choose one of our heat pump products that will best suit your space.
