Color your days and nights in your home

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.