Auspicious Colours To Paint Your Home

If you’re one to believe in feng shui (the ancient Chinese art of geomancy) and luck, choosing colours for your new home will be more than just about pure aesthetics and interior design trends.

Even if you’re not the superstitious type, knowing how different colours affect us, their cultural associations, and the kind of energy they can confer on a space, can make choosing colours for your home a more meaningful and intentional exercise.

There’s even a science behind it – ever heard of the design advice not to paint your kitchen certain shades of green or neon because these shades tend to make food look unappetising, or to skip bright red for the bedroom because it is anything BUT calming?

Colours have power, and they can influence mood, behaviour, and even thoughts.

Psychology of colours

It’s not just hocus-pocus, really.

Psychologists have done numerous studies over the years to show how colours affect human mood and behaviour in many different fields–from sports, medicine, gaming, and advertising.

One of the pioneers in the field of colour psychology was Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Jung, who conducted numerous studies on how colour preference has an impact on individual personality and temperament.

While Jung’s colour personality theories have long since been debunked from a scientific point-of-view, his work has been further developed into forms of art therapy as a means to help with trauma and healing.

The field of advertising in particular relies heavily on colour psychology to attract attention and influence buying decisions. Colours are carefully chosen and used to create a brand identity and reach out to relevant audiences.

Taking this to the home, choosing the right colours for the various spaces according to their function can make a significant difference in your mood, well-being, thoughts, and behaviour.

Feng shui and colours

Colours in feng shui are associated with the five elements: wood, earth, fire, water, metal.

Choosing specific colours according to their elements can help provide balance to the room, or also add strength or dampen certain elements from the room.

• Wood: Associated with renewal and new beginnings. Colours that promote wood energy are lighter blues and greens.

• Fire: Associated with passion and intense energy. Colours that promote the fire element are all hues of red and fiery oranges.

• Earth: Associated with stability and self-care. Colours that promote the earth element are brown, yellows, and paler oranges.

• Water: Associated with calm and peace. Colours that promote the water element are black and dark blue.

• Metal: Associated with focus, clarity, and beauty. Colours that promote the metal element are white and metallic hues.

Here’s a quick guide to what different colours mean and where in your home they would work best!

Colours and their meanings

Colours hold significance and symbolism in many different cultures. You may be surprised to realise that many colours hold similar meanings in different cultures – red is almost universally a colour of boldness and passion, while light blue is widely understood to be a calming and relaxing colour.

1. White

White has remained a popular colour in homes over the years, never really losing its widespread and timeless appeal. It arguably looks good in any room, working well with every design trend past and present and complementing almost every other colour you use.

From an aesthetic perspective, there’s literally a shade of white for every preference. Pink-hued whites, grey-toned whites, off whites, bright whites, blueish whites, creamy whites – the list is long.

In many cultures, white is the colour of purity and new beginnings, representing cleanliness, clarity, and freshness. In feng shui, white is a colour associated with the metal element, and can be used to evoke more yang (light) energy in the yin-yang balance.

Whites are particularly useful for corridors, narrow hallways, and any space that needs enlarging. And because it’s a colour associated with focus and precision, choosing the right shade of white can be very useful for anywhere in your home where you spend a lot of time working or studying, like a home office or study.

White can be harsh, blinding, and sterile too, so pick your whites carefully. You can always pick warmer shades of white, or balance the minimalism with carefully selected accents.

2. Black

Chic, sophisticated, and mysterious, black is a colour that evokes strong feelings of power and drama. Like its white counterpart, black is also a popular home colour over the years, thanks to its versatility and classic appeal that transcends trends.

In Chinese culture, black represents the yin (dark) side of the yin-yang balance, which is associated with absorption, stillness, and darkness. Black is also the colour of the water element in feng shui, which has a calming, wise, and peaceful energy.

Using black as accents in your bedroom and study is a good idea, to attract wealth and positive vibrations to your career. Avoid painting entire rooms black, because it can be overwhelming and also shrink your space dramatically.

3. Blue

Depending on the hue of blue, it can be a colour that evokes depth and intensity (deep, dark blues), and growth and vitality (lighter blues). Regardless of what shade of blue you like, it’s one of those colours that has a calming and soothing energy to it – perhaps thanks to its close associations with the ocean and the sky.

Blue, in feng shui, is associated with either wood or water, depending on its shade. Lighter, greener shades of blue are associated with the wood element, which promotes renewal, growth, and vitality. Darker, inkier shades of blue are associated with the water element, which is related to calming and peaceful energy.

Use a soft shade of blue for the bedroom, to promote tranquility and calmness. Striking deep navy makes for wonderful accents in the home office, for its wealth and career boosting focus.

4. Green

The colour of nature in all its life-giving and rejuvenating glory, green is widely associated with growth, new life, renewal, and abundance. Aesthetically speaking, green is a colour that is extremely soothing for the eyes – there’s a reason why ophthalmologists say to look at greenery during your designated eye-breaks after every 30 minutes of close work that you do.

The colour green in feng shui is associated with the wood element, as expected. So it carries characteristics like growth, renewal, and vitality wherever it goes. It’s also a colour that harmonises its environment, which makes it a lovely shade to use as accents in many areas of the home.

Lighter shades of green promote healing and freshness, and can be achieved with drapes, blinds, wall tiles, or decor objects. It’s best used in the bedroom, living room, and bathroom. Deeper shades of green tend towards more watery characteristics of wealth and stability, and are best used in the home office or in spaces where focus is needed.

If you wish to use houseplants to incorporate green into your home (which is a very popular way to add a spark of green at home), do remember not to use live plants in the bedroom. Live plants absorb oxygen from its surroundings at night, which may affect the quality of your rest – so it’s probably best to leave live houseplants in the living room or bathroom.

5. Yellow

Bright, light, and cheerful yellow is extremely auspicious in Chinese culture. Calling to mind symbols of luxury and wealth like honey and gold, and frequently used in the palaces and as a colour of royalty, yellow today still bears many of its associations to wealth and prestige.

In feng shui, the colour yellow is deeply associated with the earth element and qualities of stability, abundance, joy, and good cheer. This makes it a great colour choice for communal areas like the living room, dining room, and kitchen, where bonds are forged through quality time spent together and meals are prepared to be shared.

It’s also a wonderful colour to use to lighten up usually darker spaces like the bathroom, adding a touch of energy to the space where you get ready to face the day.

6. Orange

Any room that requires a spark of energy and dynamism would benefit from orange accents or decor, thanks to its harmonious combination of fire (red), and earth (yellow). Lying in a happy middle ground, orange is dynamic yet mellow, stimulating yet cheerful, and vibrant yet nurturing.

Choosing specific shades of orange will shift the energy of the room more towards the fire or earth element. Bright, fiery oranges are perfect for spaces where lots of energy is required, like workout rooms or entertainment rooms. Paler, more muted shades of orange are more suitable for living rooms or playrooms for children, to introduce a more nurturing quality to the space.

7. Red

The ultimate colour to pick if you want to convey intensity of emotion, great passion, and activate wealth, red is considered one of the most auspicious and powerful colours in feng shui. Deeply associated with the fire element and all it symbolises – strength, passion, and celebration – choosing red for any of your spaces at home is a striking statement in itself and should be done so carefully.

Red is also known to be a very stimulating colour, which makes it not ideal for spaces where you want to rest and recharge properly, like the bedroom or relaxation rooms. It can also instigate and spark strong emotions like anger and aggression so you must really consider where and how you will use it in your home.

Experts recommend using red as accent walls or doors, or even as statement decor pieces like rugs, photo frames like art pieces. Another tip is to pair reds with neutral and soft tones like white or cream, to counter the boldness while reaping the dynamic benefits of red in the room.

Want to learn more about feng shui and how you can apply the basic principles of this ancient Chinese philosophy of introducing harmony into your homes when unpacking your boxes? Check out our fun guide HERE.

(PS: Even if you don’t believe in it, lots of the principles are actually based on common sense!)