3 min readPsychologists have long studied how color affects our mood. While certain hues can leave us feeling melancholy or perhaps a little hostile, others can help us feel calmer, more comfortable, and even happier.
You can’t control every color you encounter, but your home is one place where you can use color psychology to your advantage. Designers are pros at putting this principle into practice, and these are a few of their go-to color combinations for creating a home that feels especially pleasant to live in.
Rosy Pink and Fresh Green
One of designer Birdie Fortescue's favorite sources of inspiration for an uplifting color palette is a soft pink rosebush.
"The pink brings softness and warmth while the green adds balance and a connection to the outdoors," she says. "A plaster pink is especially lovely, as it has a softness that feels warm without being overtly decorative, and paired with a mossy or sage green, the scheme feels cheerful yet calm."
According to her, a pink and green color combination is incredibly versatile. It's a combination that can be as gentle or as playful as you like, depending on how muted you go and whether you apply them as accents or on a large scale.
Butter Yellow and Cool Gray
When designer McKenzie Milhousen of By George Collective is working in a room that traditionally doesn't get much sunlight, such as a bathroom or library, she likes to emulate it with color.
"What could be more cheerful than butter yellow?" she says. "It's the happiest shade I know.”
Milhousen says that one way to amplify the cheerfulness is to contrast it against a cool tone, like a gray or soft blue. In this recent project, she paired a butter yellow vanity with marble that shows off gray veining.
Asparagus Green and Teal
There are some colors that make you happy because they energize you, and there are others that have the same effect because they put you at ease. Sarah and Rebecca Goesling of Goesling Group love asparagus green because it actually does both, thanks to its combination of both cool and warm undertones.
"Asparagus green will pack a punch in a small space like a powder room or bar, but will also create impact in larger rooms like a primary bedroom," Sarah says.
To further lean into the calming and refreshing feel, she loves complementing this hue with teal.
Cool Green and Purple
According to Carly Moeller, founder and principal designer of Unpatterned, there's nothing quite like a color palette that captures the pleasant feeling of sitting in a blooming garden. In this sitting room, she chose to envelop the walls in green wallpaper and use purple as a secondary statement color.
"The combination of nature-found green along with the somewhat polarizing purple can create a cheerful effect, especially in the lighter tones," she says. "This is achieved by balancing a color found in nature with one that is less so."
Mandarin Orange and Lush Green
If you're looking for a color palette that exudes energy and optimism, Fortescue says to look no further than orange and green.
"The orange brings warmth and playfulness while the lush greens ground the scheme, so it feels rooted in nature rather than loud," she says. "It works beautifully in any room of the house, whether that's lifting the look of a dining table through a statement runner and colorful candles, or bringing a living room to life through layered cushions in these joyful tones. However you introduce it, this combination makes a space feel like a celebration."
Ocean Blue and Sandy Pink
While certain shades of blue can read as a bit sad, Moeller says that's not the case for a brighter blue that evokes the ocean. And if you want to conjure the feeling of being on the beach (without going full-on coastal), she recommends pairing it with a sandy pink.
"This is a particularly cheerful pair because of the combination of cool, water-based blues with a warm pink," she says. "The two together provide balance and the perfect combination of earthiness and youth to be cheery."
