Color Dictionary for the Best Color to Paint Your Bedroom

Color psychology for a GREAT night’s sleep

We live in color, dream in color and surround ourselves with colors that we’re attracted to.

What’s your favorite color? How do you incorporate favorite hues from your everyday life into your bedroom? When decorating and choosing bedroom wall paint? Colors you select for your home, and especially your bedroom, can have a profound effect on your emotions and energies – even sleep. Take your bedroom design and decor for example, a calm, relaxing environment can lead to a great night’s sleep and deliver rejuvenating energy when you wake up.

But what color should you paint your bedroom? Let’s take a slide down the rainbow and find out!

Is red the best color to paint my bedroom?

Red is strong, bold and emotionally intense. It’s the color of passion and love. Painting your bedroom red can make you feel awake and alert – a great morning energizer. At night, dim the lights to deepen the reds, which may stir your passions for the other “S” thing you do in bed. Did you know that red is often used in restaurants to stimulate appetite?

Red represents: Fire, blood, war, danger, strength, power, determination, passion, desire, love, energy and courage.

Facts about the color red:

• Increases respiration rate
• Raises blood pressure
• Enhances metabolism
• Used as a warning color such as stop sign
• Used in advertising to evoke erotic feelings (red lips, red light district, red nails)
• Associated with energy- promotes energy drinks, games, cars, sports activity, and highly physical activity.

Variations: light red, pink, dark red, brown, reddish-brown

What about painting my bedroom blue?

Blue is calming and is the most recommended bedroom color because it promotes relaxation and tranquility. While it’s good for sleep, it’s definitely not good for appetite as it’s sometimes associated with mold. Good news for a soothing sleep environment though.

Blue represents: Sky, sea, stability, peacefulness, tranquil, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, truth, and trust.

Facts about the color blue:

• Soothes the mind and promotes physical relaxation
• Slows human metabolism and suppresses appetite
• Helps reduce blood pressure and heart rate
• Studies show people are more productive in blue rooms
• Weight lifters can lift heavier weights in blue gyms

Variations: light blue, dark blue

Is green the right color to paint my bedroom?

Green is the easiest color to take in and the most popular color to paint rooms in the home. Think about how much we’re surrounded by greens in nature and the calming sensation it can provide when we want to take in natural landscapes and get a break from the hustle and bustle of the city. If you’re looking for sleep oasis, green is your best bedroom color choice.

Green represents: Nature, calmness, freshness, relaxing, growth, fertility, safety, money, and endurance.

Facts about the color green:

• Improves vision
• Easiest color on the human eye
• Most popular decorating color
• People waiting to appear on TV often relax beforehand in “green rooms”
• Green means GO!

Variations: Dark green, yellow-green, aqua, olive green.

Should I paint my bedroom yellow?

Yellow is another bold color that evokes a strong emotional response. But yellow can also be soft and soothing or dark and brooding, depending on your hue of choice. It’s a great color to paint your kitchen and is often associated with food. Yellow is an attention-getter and the main reason we see taxi’s sporting the vibrant color. Yellow in the bedroom is best in smaller accents.

Yellow represents: Optimism, joy, happiness, intellect, energy and cheerfulness.

Facts about the color yellow:

• Stimulates mental activity and enhances concentration
• Generates muscle energy
• Evokes pleasant and cheerful feelings
• Babies cry more and adults lose their tempers more in yellow rooms
• Most difficult color for the eyes to take in
• Speeds metabolism
• Used to issue warnings (slow down on a street light)
• Attention-getter
• Associated with food

Variations: Dull yellow, light yellow

How will white paint look in my bedroom?

White is a crisp clean color that reminds us of purity. It’s a sign of a clean and sterile environment such as hospitals – or a beautifully dressed hotel bed. White can be a symbol of new beginnings and wiping the slate clean and is often referred to as a lack of color. For bedrooms, white can be your blank canvas from which you add color – or you can use a variety of whites to create a soothing, monochromatic sleep environment.

White represents: Light, goodness, innocence, purity, safely, simplicity.

Facts about the color white:

• Associated with successful beginnings
• Light and neutral, goes with everything
• Connected to low-fat food
• Represents cleanliness

What about painting my bedroom black?

Black is a confident, classic fashion color that’s used most in accents when decorating. It exudes secrecy and the unknown, providing an air of mystery. Black is also a color that covers up imperfections, making things look sleek and polished. Hence the little black dress that hangs in most women’s closets. In your bedroom, use black to balance other colors and give depth to your space.

Black represents: Authority, power, elegance, formality, death, evil, mystery, strength, prestige.

Facts about the color black:

• Associated with villains and/or enticing mystery
• Considered the most stylish and timeless color

Is orange a good color to paint my bedroom?

Orange is a bright and vibrant color that can evoke a sensation of warmth and heat. A great color if you are looking to create a tropical, refreshing sleep space. Orange is the free spirit on the color wheel, spurring creativity and intuition. In your bedroom, use darker hues to balance the wildly creative qualities of orange with its sleep-enhancing capabilities.

Orange represents: Joy, sunshine, tropics, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, stimulation

Facts about the color orange:

• Combines energy of red and happiness of yellow
• Gives sensation of heat
• Increases oxygen supply to brain
• Invigorating effect
• Stimulates mental activity
• Stimulates appetite
• Color of fall and harvest
• Good for promoting food products and toys

Variations: Gold, dark orange, red-orange

Is purple the best color to paint my bedroom?

Purple is the color of royalty. It’s a very rare color in nature and is considered sacred and precious. In pre-historic times, our ancestors very rarely saw purple in nature, which is hard to fathom in today’s technicolor world. According to color matters, in 1900 BC, it took 12,000 shellfish to produce 1.5 grams of purple dye. No wonder purple is so closely associated with royalty and luxury. For your bedroom, accent sparingly with purple to create an air of luxury and decadence.

Purple represents: Royalty, luxury, wealth, sophistication, ambition, wisdom, dignity, independence, mystery and magic.

Facts about the color purple:

• Combines stability of blue and energy of red
• Rare in nature and can appear artificial
• Romantic color
• Boosts imagination and creativity

Variations: Light purple, dark purple

What are the best colors to paint your room for sleeping?

Based on a 2,000 participant survey conducted by Travelodge, the impact of bedroom color and average sleeping times was studied. The following sleep times were collected based on the color of room the participants slept in:

• Blue: 7 hours, 52 minutes
• Yellow: 7 hours, 40 minutes
• Green: 7 hours, 36 minutes
• Silver: 7 hours, 28 minutes
• Orange: 7 hours, 28 minutes
• Red: 6 hours, 58 minutes
• Gold: 6 hours, 43 minutes
• Grey: 6 hours, 12 minutes
• Brown: 6 hours, 5 minutes
• Purple: 5 hours, 58 minutes

If your goal is sleep, and especially great sleep, the best colors to paint your bedroom are blues, yellows and greens. We’re drawn to our favorite colors and we often want to be surrounded by what we love, but be mindful to how your favorite color may be affecting your sleep. There are plenty of rooms in your home to showcase your personality with your favorite colors and evoke the energies you want to enhance your living spaces.

What colors should you paint the other rooms in your house?

Certain colors work better in particular rooms of your home to help promote the activities that would occur your living spaces. It goes without saying that you want colors that encourage eating in your kitchen and sleeping in your bedroom.

• Living room/ foyer. Use colors that stimulate conversations, such as reds, yellows, oranges and beiges.
• Kitchen. Stimulate appetite and encourage conversations with reds, yellows and oranges.
• Dining room. Red can inspire conversation and hearten the center of your home.
• Bedroom. Sleep is essential and the best hues to help you find peace in your bedroom are blues, greens and lavender.
• Bathroom. Create a clean, calm environment with a cool white, blues, greens and turquoise.
• Work out room. Get your energy flowing, concentration on point and keep yourself motivated with bold, beautiful reds, oranges, blues, greens, yellow-greens and blue-greens.
• Office. Go green to promote concentration and improve vision.

Rest well & wake up ready to go!

Better sleep gives rise to better mornings, bringing your goals into focus and dreams within reach. Hungry for more sleep info? Dig into these posts:

• 8mattress myths debunked
• The color of noise and a good night’s sleep
• The essential guide to creating a bed(room) you’ll love sleeping in