I’m not an interior designer or even an enthusiast. Truth is, I know what I like when I see it but until then I am unable to imagine it. Creating a home isn’t something that comes naturally to me. So instead of heading to the hardware store and coming home with the things, I need to create a pre-imagined space I need flexibility. Instead of painting walls, for example, I prefer wall art that I can move around. Instead of big one-piece furniture, I prefer small mix & match type cabinets that are easily moved.
What I know I like and what never fails to make our home feel personal to me and my family are colours. While in theory, I love muted styles and minimalist designs, they don’t work for me in my home. So in order to be able to create the perfect home for us without the ability to properly imagine it; I researched colours and their meaning. It’s quite fascinating what certain colours are associated with and how they are able to influence our moods, emotions and even decision-making skills. In combination with the wall art available at Posterlounge, this knowledge and my love of colours were set to add a few nice touches to our home!
Colours and Their Meaning: The Psychology of Colour
Interior designers everywhere know that colour can influence people’s emotions, moods and thinking. This is science, our brain responds to different colours with a different hormone response – which is why certain colours generally evoke the same response in most of us. Especially when designing office spaces, hospitals or other communal areas knowing the meaning of colours and how they influence behaviours and thoughts can really help in order to make a space work.
For your home, it is important to know that while our brain usually reacts a certain way when seeing a colour, this reaction can be overwritten by personal experiences and memories. For example, blue is generally labelled as a colour of peace but if it makes you feel uneasy definitely trust your gut and not the general psychology of colours. Let’s look at each colour and its associated meanings.
Colours and Their Meaning
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Red
Red is a primary colour and is generally associated with very strong emotions like anger or love. It`s also known as the colour of passion, drama, importance, urgency and danger. Red used on its own can overwhelm quickly and even cause physical reactions such as racing heartbeat or elevated blood pressure. It is typically used to encourage, inspire action, stimulate, draw attention or create a sense of urgency.
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Blue
Blue is another primary colour and a very popular one at that. The colour of the sky and the sea is said to create a calming and peaceful environment. Blue is also often called the colour of trust, loyalty, honesty and responsibility. At home, people often use blue in the bedroom to induce a sense of calm and reduce stress. In offices and other workplaces, blue can inspire a better work ethic and higher productivity. It is a particularly popular colour in health care settings in order to create a secure, trustworthy and calm environment.
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Green
Green is the colour of nature and as a primary colour is very common in our day to day lives. It’s generally perceived as a colour renewal, peace, harmony, stability and balance. In addition to helping us relax green is also associated with feelings of encouragement and revitalisation. Ironically green is often used by non-profit organisations as well as financial institutions. In your home green is perfect for a living room or communal family space to inspire a sense of security and togetherness.
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Colours and Their Meaning: Yellow
Yellow is the colour of sunshine and stands for happiness, enthusiasm and optimism. On its own yellow usually evokes a very strong response in people. It is a stimulating colour that creates an energetic atmosphere. Since it is mainly the left side of the brain responding to yellow it is associated with quick decision-making skills and logical thinking. It is the perfect colour for fast-paced work environments, the tourist or sports industry as well as your kitchen at home.
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Orange
As a cross between red and yellow, orange is the colour of adventure, creativity, fun and motivation. Orange encourages positive communication and inspires action. In the past orange was also known as the colour of good health and fitness, which makes it the perfect choice for gyms or exercise rooms.
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Pink
Pink is another colour deriving from red. The intensity of red is mixed with the purity of white and creates a colour of playfulness, compassion, vulnerability and admiration. It is known to increase creativity and communication which is why it is popular as an accent colour in creative workspaces. Since pink is also associated with femininity it is heavily used in marketing for Women’s products!
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Purple
Red and blue make purple, a colour that combines the attributes of both colours. On one hand, purple stands for spirituality as well as imagination and encourages self-awareness. On the other hand, many people associate purple with the better things in life like luxury and royalty. It is widely used in religious and spiritual environments to inspire people and create a sense of wisdom paired with creativity.
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Colours and Their Meaning: Brown
Brown is a very solid colour. It is often associated with stability, subtle confidence as well as safety. The colour of the earth is known to ground people and to create a balanced and honest atmosphere. Naturally, it is used in agriculture as well as the legal environment. In your home brown makes a cosy and warm atmosphere in the kitchen or dining room.
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Grey
Grey is thought to be a colour of compromise, a compromise between black and white literally speaking. It is a great timeless neutral colour which encourages communication with a quiet but balanced vibe. Too much grey can sometimes create a sense of frustration or depression; which is why in homes and commercial environments it is often used as a base or in the background and in combination with brighter colours.
Using Wall Art to Create Colourful Atmosphere in Your Home
Colourful wall art to me is the perfect way of using all these beautiful colours to create that special kind of atmosphere you want in your home. It just combines colours, individual taste and of course flexibility (which to me is invaluable). There is just something about being able to change up a room within a matter of a few minutes by swapping pictures or posters.
We have been very lucky to test Posterlounge, who have recently launched their fabulous service in Ireland. Posterlounge is a small family run company based in Germany that is devoted to creating unique and high-quality wall art in their in-house production centre in Leipzig. From there they ship everywhere in Europe for very reasonable prices.
When I had the pleasure of picking prints for our home it was quite a difficult task. Their selection is huge and offers so much variety. From abstract art and motivational quotes all the way through to some cute and educational prints for kids. There is also a choice of different material for your prints. For example, canvas, acrylic or my favourite: wood! Endless variety to create truly unique and fitting looks for any home. So here is what we chose.
Muted colours for Children’s bedroom
Since blue is hailed as the ultimate colour of calm and relaxation, the walls in the bedroom of our two oldest children are painted blue. This creates a lovely chilled vibe to start with. However, since they are a few years older than their baby brother they also enjoy having their own play space in their bedroom. Which is why I wanted to get a bit of colour without adding too much intensity.
While opting for muted colours on regular material would have worked perfectly, I decided on colourful prints on wood. The grain of the wood slightly shines through the print or makes up the background colour; like in the “Rainbow Power” print and the “Rainbow Flamingo”. This offers a really lovely natural and understated feel to it which fits in perfectly with the calm atmosphere created by the blue walls.
My kids also have a poster wall, where they can hang up whatever they like. Which is a perfect place for a bit more colour and a bit more humour in form of the removable wall sticker “Dinosaurs in the Bathroom”. They are printed on fabric so it looks a bit like a canvas which gives a nice homey structure to the print as well.
Bright meaningful colours for hallway & family room
I have always been a huge fan of Disney’s The Lion King. Ever since listening to the soundtrack the concept of Hakuna Matata has just always appealed to me. So the “Hakuna Matata” print with all its colourful glory was a very natural choice for our hallway. The walls here are a lovely shade of yellow which is the perfect base colour for this print. This creates maximum positivity in one of the places in our home that we pass regularly throughout the day. In fact, it is one of the first spots we walk past in the morning and again one of the last in the evenings. Now we are beginning and ending our days with a colourful, positive and problem-free vibe. To keep the overall look as simple and easy-going as I intended I chose this to be printed on foamboard. This style has an uncomplicated feel to it without compromising on vibrancy.
The print I chose for our dining room or family room as I like to call it, is called “For each other” and just caught my eye. There is so much life, warmth and love in this motive and the colours used. To me, this just creates the perfect vibe for a room that is the backdrop to many important moments in family life. For extra vibrancy and depth, I chose an acrylic print and it has worked out better than what I could have imagined!
Mix & Match Wall Art from Posterlounge
Regardless if you are an interior goddess and really know your style. If you have an eye for what works and what doesn’t; or if you are like me and don’t really know what you like until you see it in front of you. At the end of the day, we all probably have the same goal: Creating a home with an atmosphere that feels both comfortable and stimulating as well as unique to us and the people we love.
Of course, there are many ways to achieve this from wallpaper to painting interior doors as well as updating and rearranging furniture. However, to me, the easiest and most affordable way with the biggest impact on a room is wall art. There are so many options to choose from in terms of colours and types of prints right through to the materials. With everything Posterlounge offers, you can really empathise colours and their meaning as well as the mood of a print in order to create the vibe you want in your home!
Do you use wall art in your home to create specific moods? Which are your favourite type of prints?
