Color your days and nights in your home

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Do you have sleepless nights? Do you feel uneasy after 15 minutes working in the study? Do you get restless while in the living room? Do you feel that your home is not the place you are longing for after a long day at the office?

There may be various reasons for your discomfort, and they may include the colors of your rooms.

We are surrounded with colors every day yet we know very little about them. Many believe that color also affects human lives simply because we do not just see it but also feel it and sense it. With its intangible effect, colors can alter mood and even affect people's well-being.

Renowned fashion designer Harry Dharsono said that colors, both in fashion design and interior design, exert a psychological impact on the users.

"When carefully chosen, color can make the wearers or house owners look healthy, happy and fresh and so enhance their appearance," he said during a seminar jointly held by the Indonesian Society of Interior Designers (HDII) and Danapaints.

Color is subjective and it has different effects on different people. In general, however, red is associated with power, energy and challenge, while blue is calming and can help lower heart rate and respiration. Orange is the color of joy, confidence and helps improve appetite and reduce tiredness.

In fashion, color trends change constantly, but those for interior design will stay in popularity for about a two-year period. In this regard, it is important to fully understand the lifestyle and the personality of the house owners before choosing from the palette of color.

"The interior designer should know their clients well and 'their colors'. Their choice of a particular space has to match the client's personality and the function or activities that would be accommodated in that specific room," Harry said.

HDII's vice chairman Donni Desyandono concurred that colors contribute to the lifestyle of home owners.

"The colors of the interior have a long-time effect on clients' personality, so hobbies, work habits and way of living are among the 'necessary' information for the interior designer."

Colors can completely change the mood of a room or the entire house.

Prudent use of color can transform a cold, bland looking bedroom into a soothing resting place, or an unwelcoming living room can be altered into a warm and comfortable place for family and friends.

Using the right color, Donni added, can also play a trick on the eyes.

"It can create the impression that a small room looks larger than its actual size or it can be used to help conceal the extra space of a large house," he said.

Personal preference guides our choices of color. But in general, to make a room feel cooler you need colors with shorter wavelengths, like blue and green tones, while colors with longer wavelengths, like red, yellow or orange, radiate warmth.

Donni also advised owners of small houses to use light colors so the rooms would look bright and spacious, while strong colors can be used as an accent on a section or for a not-so-dominant wall.

The living room, which creates the first impression to guests, can have predominantly neutral colors but the use of other colors helps avoid monotony and at the same time adds a touch of style to the room.

"Avoid monotone-colored rooms as much as possible because it can be boring. Playing with colors is fun, and use different hues for borders to give an interesting accent to the room," Donni said.

He added that furniture, carpets, floor, indoor plants, curtain, paintings and other artwork were also interior elements that give color to the room, so it is advisable to choose color combinations that go together well.

Another trick is to balance a cool room with the warm colors from other interior elements for accents, or vice versa,

Donni also explained that bright colored objects or rooms would prompt children to learn more about color. But he cautioned parents against providing hyperactive children with bright colored items or have their bedroom painted in bright colors because it might exacerbate their condition.

The use of contrasting colors, however, is not always negative.

"Some people may find a room with contrasting colors providing something like an internal conflict, which helps increase their working spirit," Harry explained.

Last but not least is the important use of proper lighting since light affects people just as much as colors.

"Paint and light are colors," said Harry.

Like color, proper lighting -- from both natural and artificial lights -- is also an important interior element.

While exposure to natural sunlight is preferred, the use of artificial light with a combination of general and decorative lighting helps enhance the theme of the interior and create a desirable atmosphere in a room.

"A room with cold white walls can receive a little warmth from yellow-toned lighting to create balance," Donni explained.