Color Makes the World Go Round
Color and the effective use of color go well beyond just improving the feel of any home. I have seen doctor’s offices and medical facilities transformed through the use of inviting colors, from a space where patients who enter suffer from “white coat syndrome”, to a place where patience actually feel relaxed and comforted.
Businesses, restaurants, malls, and offices that I have consulted have all said that altering their use of color has completely changed how both employees and customers feel about their surroundings. The reported that sales, production, and the over all work environment have greatly benefited from the color changes that were made.
Color has that kind of power. From the work place to the home, color had both physical and psychological effects on us. It can make you feel better emotionally, become more uplifted, less tired, more relaxed, and in general affect your over all well being.
All of these things achieved by a simple coat of paint… that’s the “Power of Color”.
I had an Oncologist call me one day to tell me he was ready to quit medicine. He was constantly depressed, feeling that every day he had to battle the mindset that he was a bystander, continually witnessing his patients fight a life-ending disease. He strongly felt that his paucity of positive thoughts was not helping his patient’s condition. His wife suggested he give me a call, because on a previous job, I had helped add a wonderfully cheery Color to a hospital where she worked. Her experience was the Color made everyone feel good. She had seen an attitude shift in the staff and patients, and thought his office needed a change.
I went to his office and the walls were dreary, cold, gray and lots of stark white, very clinical, and perfectly matched the feelings he felt everyday as he entered the office. He was depressed and so was feeling in the space he worked in. First of all, I made him chuckle, when I told him the dead pancreas pictures, of decay, and death, had to go. The charts and warnings of illness adorned his waiting room, nothing like a good colon cancer picture to look at while you wait for the doctor. His good intention to educate only brought inevitable fear and discomfort.
He agreed to a small over haul and he saw exactly what had to go. He replaced the old pictures with new ones of his favorite two subjects, funny dogs and sailing.
Life affirming is what it is all about. Creating balance. He soared to great heights with his selections. We changed the Colors on the walls to bring a warm, comfortable, uplifting, cheery place to sit and wait for the office visit. The staff became cheerier and renewed by the changes. He felt like a new person, he loved hearing the patients giggle when they saw the dog pictures, and the chatting going in the waiting room. It was so much easier to take a happy person back into the patient rooms, they were less nervous, more open to sharing what they have going on. His job was now much easier because he changed how his patients felt just by having a more healing happy environment. He said they would even be chatty and tease him about when he was wearing socks that did not match or other things unnoticed before. The waiting room decompressed the patient so his job was made easier. He was a happier guy, and that was his wife’s favorite part.
The overwhelming message to the story is that Color can make all the difference in the experience you have in a space. We all know the feeling when we walk into our favorite restaurant, our body starts to relax and our mood shifts, we feel better. Having Colors you love at home and in the office, can bring about a mood or feeling such as a gathering and festive to cook in kitchen, or a productive, energized workspace, a calming den, or a great party living room. Color, getting the right tone, can draw in natural sunlight into a space. Even very rich strong tones can be just the perfect thing for a room. It is rarely the Color a person gets wrong. It is the tone that has to be right.
Finding the right tone of a Color, it can make all the difference in how you feel. When you learn to see and understand the power of Color, you will be on your way to finding the Colors that will work for you.
Sally’s new book, “Power of Color” is a great addition to anyone’s bookshelf. If you are remodeling, refreshing your home or just seeking how to bring a change to your home or business, then this book is a must buy. It’s simple explanations, wonderful pictures exampling color and innovative color charts will give you a new way of looking at color and the feeling it can evoke in your life. It will help you define those feelings and those define the colors that are good for you. –Dr. Rae Irvine
