Every day we are bombarded with so many different colors. From the glow of a neon sign to the reflection of a construction worker’s vest, we constantly draw meaning from an entire spectrum of hues as we make our way through the world. When it comes to choosing a paint color, that meaning often gets boiled down to personal taste and how a certain selection makes us feel. While a lot of a color’s emotional impact depends on the individual, there are commonly accepted conventions for given hues and their effects on a space.

The Basics
In traditional color theory, all colors are made up of the three primary colors: red, yellow and blue. By mixing these colors you get all the other colors of the rainbow, including what we call secondary and tertiary colors. These colors are often arranged in the color wheel to show how each relates to the other, which is an incredibly useful tool for deciding which hues complement others. The wheel is separated into warm colors (reds, oranges and yellows) and cool colors (blues, greens and purples), which is a great place to start when deciding what color to choose for painting a room or even your home’s exterior. Warm colors tend to give energy to a space or invigorate those in it, while cool colors evoke a sense of calm and relaxation.

Hues, Tints, Shades and Tone
Obviously, the seven colors of ROYGBIV aren’t the only options when picking out paint. A color’s shade, tint or tone will shift as you add black, white or grey to a basic hue. Adding black to a hue will increase its tint, giving a whole array of options for that particular hue. In the same way, adding white will increase its tint and adding grey increases the tone. Colors that play with tint, shade or tone can alter the feeling a certain hue evokes in its basic form, giving it a darker more serious tint or creating a more subtle soft shade.

The Feeling
Emotions are a difficult thing to quantify objectively. Everyone experiences the world differently and colors mean different things across culture, geography and even from person to person. That being said within one culture certain colors tend to evoke specific feelings and will play a role in choosing a paint hue. For example, in Western Europe and America, red is associated with hunger, often used in dining rooms to stimulate people’s appetites. Yellow’s bright and cheery energy can bring a youthful feeling to a room and lighten the mood of any space. Blue may be the pinnacle of the cool side of the color wheel, which is typically attributed to a calming, peaceful effect.
The secondary colors tend to evoke combinations of the feelings their primary roots give off. Orange can blend the lightheartedness of yellow with the mature, serious energy of red. The royal connotations of purple mix the calm wisdom of blue with the powerful boldness of red. And finally, green’s even-keeled, yet lively association with nature and life is the perfect intersection of yellow’s spirit and blue’s serenity. Tweaking the shade, tint or tone of any color will let you play with the intensity or subtly of the feeling any given hue emits in a space.

Making a Space Your Own
While each color has an accepted quality associated with its emotional effect, everyone’s experience of color is unique. Your life experiences and preferences in other areas will change the way you relate to any color. Therefore, the most important piece to the puzzle when choosing a paint for a room, multiple rooms or even your entire home’s exterior is to make it your own. While the ideas outlined here are a good starting point, it’s important to express your personality through the colors you choose and the mood you want to set for your living spaces.

Though some people have an idea of what they’re looking for colorwise, our team of professional painters can help you through the process.
“Our expert crew has decades of combined experience and are more than happy to work through your color journey with you!” says Daniel Payne, founder and owner of Widespread Solutions.
Get in touch with us today and we’ll bring you samples and swatches to narrow down your decisions and get your space feeling like a reflection of your unique personality.