Three Mood-boosting Schemes to Feel Good About

Walls & Woodwork: Templeton Pink No. 303 & Bamboozle No. 304 both in Dead Flat®  

Painting by Tom Hammick

Your home is the constant backdrop to your life but it’s more than that too. The way you decorate can change your mood, making you feel energised or relaxed, inspired or focused, refreshed after a good night’s sleep or warmly welcomed home after a busy day. That’s what we mean when we talk about the positive power of colour and light. So, we asked our Brand Ambassador, the one and only Patrick O’Donnell, for three schemes to boost your mood.

‘Every room in the home should be a sanctuary, filling you with joy or calm when you enter a space, and the colour you choose can have a huge impact. With this in mind, here are three schemes to help create specific ambiences in certain rooms:

The Kitchen

The hub of the home, the rendezvous point at breakfast time, the gathering place in the evening. Consider positive and energising colours — especially yellow, the colour of creativity — for this significant space. Paint kitchen units in the oh-so-smart India Yellow in our Modern Eggshell and balance that with a unifying white everywhere else, i.e. Off White. If you have a secondary piece of free-standing furniture, such as a larder cupboard or kitchen island, bring in a strong accent colour. Tanner’s Brown or Studio Green would look super chic here.

The Living Room

Cosy and comforting all the way. This is somewhere to switch off, read a book on a squishy sofa or catch up on your favourite drama. Don’t rule out dark colours either, even for north facing spaces as they can work a treat with restricted natural light! For this scheme, we’re going light with a twist — a dark trim colour. Look to an earthy pink for your walls. Setting Plaster is just the ticket with its delicate brown notes and utterly soothing feel. Then give the room a nice counterbalance with Card Room Green on all your woodwork and a nuanced white for your ceiling but nothing too sharp. Shadow White would be a perfect balance.

The Bedroom

Rest and relaxation is the order of the day in this space and what better colour family to look to than greens. These shades exude all the positive attributes you need to unwind, especially at the mid tone level like French Gray. Then treat everything else with calming gentility, so soft whites like School House White for your woodwork and the classic Wimborne White for your ceiling.