The thinking surrounding colors is usually known as color psychology; it is the relationship between how people think and the colors they perceive. While much of the color psychology is overblown, there is a distinct connection between people’s moods and the colors around them. For example, many fast food companies have employed psychologists to advise them on which colors will make people most likely to buy more food. While the research is not conclusive, there is some evidence that this psychology is effective. The same is true of painting the exterior of your home this summer. If you are looking to paint your home this summer, you need to pick a color that evokes the right mood.
What Are You Painting?
The first decision is what you are going to paint. If you are painting your entire house, you’ll have different considerations than if you’re just painting the porch. If you are just painting the ceiling of the porch and not the whole house, you might choose different colors as well. Finally, you need to determine if you are going to paint everything one color, or if you want different areas to be painted different colors.
Pick Complementary Colors
One common idea is to pick colors that complement each other. You should also consider how often you will be cleaning the exterior of your house. If you paint your house white, it will show dirt much faster than a darker color. If that’s fine with you, go with white. However, if you don’t want to have to clean your house every few weeks, you should choose a more muted color. Even something like off-white will hide dirt much better than pure white. Furthermore, you can always evoke white by adding some white trim or accents. Adding white trim or accents will give you the brightness of white with much less hassle.
Others like to choose colors that complement each other for the trim and the actual body of the house. The house itself can be a muted color, and the trim can be something much brighter. There are many different ways to choose complementary colors. You should also consider your surroundings.
Consider Your Surroundings
Your home does not have to match the other homes around you, but you should at least consider whether you want it to stand out or not. Also, you should consider the types of trees and flowers around your house. If you have a lot of flowering trees and bushes near your home, you might not want to paint your home as bright of a color. Alternately, if you want to create even more color, you could paint it a color that matches the flowers that grow around your house. In the same way that you choose complementary colors of paint, you should consider choosing a color or colors that complement your surroundings as well.
Lastly, it is very popular in certain parts of the United States to paint the ceiling of your porch or patio a sky blue color. This tradition has the effect of creating more light on your porch and enhancing the feeling of the bright blue sky. This is something you may want to consider as well.
