shades of green
Over the years working as an interior designer, I have developed an avid interest in the psychology of colour and how the psychological attributes of a colour can contribute to the creation of an interior that not only meets the clients brief but connects with them personally providing a sense of wellbeing and happiness at the end of a project.
Working on the interior design and refurbishment of the Falcon Hotel on the Castle Ashby Estate in Northampton, the design concept was underpinned by a need to enable emotional wellbeing for prospective guests staying at the hotel. To achieve this, I looked at how I could use biophilic design principles to benefit the design work starting with perhaps the most obvious, the use of colour found in nature .
Over the course of the next few months, I will be looking at the different colours used on the project with some helpful tips on how to use them for best effect in your own spaces.
Let’s start with the colour green …
Sally Coulthard writes in her book Biophilia: You + Nature + Home that next to blue, green is considered the second most ubiquitous colour in the natural world. Colour Psychologists such as Karen Haller describe it as the colour of renewal, growth and fertility and is thought to be the colour where the eye needs little or no adjustment to see it. It is known as the colour of balance and harmony, making us feel calm and so a great colour to use in a relaxing public space or study/work environments where concentration is required.
Tips on using green in your interiors
When you want to use a lot of green, creating a tone on tone effect with different greens can be very successful giving a harmonious feel to the room. This combined with a different texture like brass hardware in a bathroom along with adding a contrast colour such as white will give you a successful result. Not surprisingly, as green is the colour of plant life, it looks great with all tones of wood and natural stone in interiors helping to create a nature inspired restful setting.
Adding white is a perfect compliment and adding black helps to ground the scheme.
There are lots of different greens, olive can be quite drab and lacking in vigour if it’s not lifted by a complimentary colour such as dark rose pink or a mustard yellow. Emerald is difficult to use successfully due to it being harsh, where as greens that have a yellow undertone such as chartreuse can add an energising accent making the whole room ‘sing’.
It’s also a colour that does not sit too well when placed close to our skin tone so avoid using green lamp shades on table lamps that are close to seating areas or green walls in bathrooms around strong lighting and mirrors.
Styling with plants, foliage and flowers often adds the pop of needed colour or texture to space and gives it that final finishing touch that makes it accessible and welcoming. A number of studies have shown that an interior filled with plants has been beneficial to peoples wellbeing by reducing psychological stress and the presence of flowers having a notable effect on creativity and mood.
One successful way to style is to create a grouping of plants in different ceramic containers or flowers in different glass bottles and showcase them in one area like the top of a console or down the centre of a dining table.
You can also create a focal point on a kitchen island using foliage leaves and a natural stone container or again group with books and beautiful objects.
