The colours we use when painting buildings, both commercial and residential, exterior and interior, have a lot to do with the affects that the different paint colours have on our moods. Different paint colours can affect our feelings toward the environment we are in, having a profound effect on the activities we perform within buildings. 

We’re going to break down some of the more prominent different paint colours used on the interior and exterior of buildings nowadays, and how this may affect the people living or working within these buildings. 

White

White is by far the most popular paint colour for a building’s interior spaces. White evokes a feeling of cleanliness and purity that no other colour can portray. White is not only used in homes, but can also be found in hospitals and businesses. White also works well alongside other colours as it is very neutral and helps create a sense of openness and airiness. It can seem very cold if used in excess, however. 

  • White is often blended with warmer tones such as yellow in order to create creams, khakis and lighter yellow tones. While still conveying a slight sense of cleanliness, the yellow tones make the surrounds a lot warmer and homely.

Clean and serene in white

Green 

One of the least popular paint colours is now gaining in popularity. It is important to note that green can help reduce anxiety, while promoting productivity. For this reason it is being found more often in office spaces. It works well when converted into a pastel colour to make it seem more modern. 

Another boon is that green evokes a sense of nature, which is also a great way of making the office space seem a little more friendly. Unfortunately, green isn’t the easiest colour to manage when trying to fuse it with other colours in a room, and neither does it bode well on the exterior of a building. 

Natural green tones

Yellow

Yellow creates a sense of high energy. This is what makes it such a popular colours within office spaces as an accent, or within rooms of the home such as the kitchen. The strong connection with the concept of ‘joyousness’ also helps maintain a positive mood. 

  • Natural rock tones and khakis are closely aligned to the colour yellow. The warmer brown tones help knock the effects of the incredibly high energy conveyed in the colour yellow, while still maintaining the positive emotion of ‘joy’. This is the reason (apart from the saving of costs) why many businesses and residential complexes continue to use face-brick, sand textured or rock textured finishes. 

Yellow-induced joy!

Black 

Black is slowly becoming one of the more prominent colours for finishing within the professional office spaces. This is because there is no other colour that translates ‘professionalism’ and ‘exclusivity’ quite like black, or alternatively very dark natural finishes such as dark marble. 

While black can be a daunting colour for use indoors as it makes spaces seem smaller and imposing, it is now being used extensively on the exterior of buildings within the professional and commercial sectors. This helps make buildings seem ‘snazzy’ and can create the intriguing notion of secrecy. 

Professionalism defined

Blue 

As he most popular of the primary colours, blue must be used carefully when used to colour the interior and exterior of buildings. While it also assists with the creation of a ‘clean’ environment, the colour blue can be made to feel cold and impersonal when used heavyhandedly. Blue is the most serene of the colours though, and is found to be particularly useful in pastel tones for bedrooms in homes, or toilets and living areas in offices. 

Calm tranquility

Red

When used as something more than just an accent, red can come off as looking tacky. Red is a very strong colour used to emphasize love and passion, which is why it is so prominently used within adult stores (so we’ve heard). 

However, as an accent, red can signal creativity or cuisine, which is why it isn’t unheard of when used by creative agencies or restaurants. It is also very eye-catching, which is why some of the braver businesses and homeowners use it for the exterior of their buildings. 

Creative passion

There are many thousands of different paint colours, each translating a different emotion and mood to people who share the building’s space. To convey each colours’ benefits would require many hundreds of hours of extensive research. But, we feel that having a general notion as to what emotions, moods and feelings each primary colour tone achieves, is all that’s important. 

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