“Color is one of the most pervasive qualities around us. Artists and interior designers have long understood how color can dramatically affect mood, feelings, and emotions.” -Kendra Van Wagner

What about a deeper significance of the effect of color (or lack of color) on the physical human condition? Now we’re talking about Chromatherapy: using color to heal.

It’s a holistic practice dating back to the civilizations of Atlantis and Mu. Were you to ask the ancient mystics from China, India or Egypt about the healing power of color they’d tell you there’s something to it. Pointing to the seven chakras in the human body, deficiencies were identified and therapeutic colors engaged to bring the whole being into balance.

As a colorist, sensitive to the nuances and combinations of colors this is something of an innate sensibility. Obvious to you and me that the following category generalizations would ring true:

Red, Orange, Yellow: Energizing, warm
Blue, Green, Violet: Calming, cool

But there’s much more to it. Holistic beliefs, past and present, run much deeper and investigate the influence of color on the healing of mind, body and spirit. For example:

Red is thought to stimulate and boost physical energy, strengthen willpower, increase circulation and clear congestion.

Orange is thought to encourage joy, socializing and optimism, which is why it’s considered useful for depression or sadness. 

Yellow is associated with the intellect and mental processes and is uplifting, stimulating the nerves and purifying the body.

Green is a color that’s thought to encourage emotional stability, purity and calmness.

Blue is thought to enhance verbal expression and communication, artistic expression and willpower.

Indigo is said to encourage greater intuition and strengthen the lymph system, immune system and help purify and cleanse the body.

Purple is thought to encourage spirituality, intuition, wisdom, mental strength and focus.

As with all things, TOO much of a good thing can have detrimental effects. For example:

Too much red may over stimulate and possibly promote anger or aggressiveness.
Too much orange is thought to lead to tiredness, pessimism and confusion.
Too much yellow is believed to lead to poor concentration and hyperactivity.
Too much purple is thought to promote pride and arrogance.

Where is my belief system in all this? From what I’ve studied, practiced, and witnessed the effect of hue, tone, and intensity of color can indeed adjust mood, attitude, perception and behavior. These adjustments, in turn, factor into and tip the scales when it comes to our comfort, energy levels, and general well-being.

Written by: Kelle Boyd | Landsview Interior Design | Seattle, WA | (206) 938-4796

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It’s been my experience that both men and women do find Turquoise appealing in interiors and in fashion. Turquoise just seems to pep up everything around it. If you wake up feeling a little funky, slip on a sexy Turquoise tee and see how things shape up. Works for me.

If you’d like a color consultation with an excellent Interior Designer around Greater Seattle I can recommend Kelle Boyd of Landsview Interior Design.

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Example. A piece of furniture designed by Marijn van der Poll. It’s a substantial stainless steel cube. http://www.droog.com/products/studio-work/do-hit-chair It’s very shiny and blingy. It comes packaged with a large hammer mallet thingy. And it’ll cost you nearly $10,000. When you receive your shiny cube, you use the hammer to smash the hell out of it. Hopefully your smashing has some strategy behind it because you’re going to be sitting in whatever you end up with and it’s not like you can undo any of it. The idea is you co-create your swank new chair.

Ok, seriously, who the heck is spending 10 grand on this?

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Recently I helped a friend relocate her mom from a hospice facility to an adult family home. Her mom made a profound, unexpected recovery in the beauty-filled surroundings of the hospice center and my friend wanted to create a similar environment at the adult family home. Her mom’s previous residence was larger but gloomy, so we brainstormed a bright, cheerful Nantucket seaside theme and found new coordinating furniture on craigslist. There was no time to paint so coordinating fabrics were chosen for pretty window and wall treatments which my friend sewed. These simple accessories tied together the colors of the walls, carpeting, and furniture and helped the room feel finished.

Often there are restrictions regarding how far you can go with redesign in these types of situations. Working with existing resources of wall color and floor covering, the tools of my trade were boiled down to the essences of color, texture, pattern and placement. Guided by a small budget to make a Fresh, Calming, and Pretty environment, we succeeded in creating a lovely 12′ x 12′ living space. Friends and family visit more often and stay longer because this new environment feels good.

Her mom is still adjusting to all the changes. A new address, a smaller room, new people, a teetering awareness and denial of declining health and mobility, loss of control, and she’s afraid. Being in a pretty environment supports her mental health.

There’s a Navajo blessing “May you walk in beauty.” Beauty is both a path you travel and what surrounds you on the path. Beauty can transform a room, and a heart. And aren’t both “interior” design?

This experience led my friend and I to talk about providing this interior design and selective color integration service to other seniors and their families.

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