Warm vs. Cool Colors in Interior Decorating and Design

Deciding whether to go with a warm or cool temperature color when picking your paint colors in home design depends on many factors. When choosing colors it is important to know the type of feeling you are trying to invoke in your home. Colors have a strong effect on emotions. Do you want your home to feel vibrant and full of life, or are you seeking more of a calming sanctuary?

Cool colors are calming colors associated with cloudy, dreary days. Shades of blues, greens, violets and grays are considered cool. Unlike warm colors which tend to overpower, cool colors are much more soothing in nature, and tend to recede into the background. Cool colors are an excellent choice when you want to make a small room appear larger. Fill your room with cool colors in the summertime and enjoy a relaxing retreat.When using warm and cool colors together, know that warm colors have a tendency to overpower cool colors.

Blue: calming, cooling, serene
Green: calming, peaceful, natural
Violet: creativity, calming, spiritual
Gray: practical, restful, cooling

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Warm colors are the vibrant colors of fire and are associated with the warmth of the sun. Warm shades include reds, yellows, browns and tans. Warm colors are very vivid and exciting and have a lot of energy to them. They are known as advancing colors which feel like they are moving forward and can make walls feel like they are moving closer. Warm colors can make a strong statement when used to fill large rooms with color. Painting a whole room with warm colors makes a room feel cozier. For those not willing to fill rooms with these lively colors, use warm colors as an accent.

Red: energy, enthusiasm, strength
Orange: warmth, energy, creativity
Yellow: happiness, energy, creativity
Brown: earthy, stable, natural

Neutral colors are considered to have no color, yet these hues do have undertones of color. For example white occasionally has a tinge of yellow or blue, and black occasionally has a tinge of purple or green. White and black are considered neutral colors, and they work well as accents to tone down overpowering colors. Whites, ivories, silvers and grays are considered cool colors, while blacks, browns, beige, and golds are considered warm colors.

White: pure, clean, clarity
Black: power, sophisticated, formality

Once you have decided whether to go with a warm or cool color palette in your home design, you can begin picking your paint swatches. When picking paint swatches for your home, always take into consideration the type of lighting that exists in the room that you are designing. Different types of lighting, including incandescent, fluorescent and natural lighting, can affect color in different ways. Check your paint swatch colors in all types of lighting, at all times of day. Even something as simple as changing the types of light bulbs you use can drastically change how your color appears.

The temperature of color you choose for the rooms in your home is an important consideration when doing home design. Once you decide whether to go warm or cool in designing your home, you are on your way to creating a wonderful, comforting space that you will enjoy.