Understanding color psychology helps home makers choose colors for home decorating.

Color affects human beings every day of their lives, even during their very earliest childhood. In fact, studies have shown that babies respond more readily to bright, primary colors than to pastel colors.

The favorite color of most preschool children, up to the age of five, is bright red. Young children, between five and ten years old, show a preference for bright yellow. Adult women generally prefer blue-based colors, whereas men tend to prefer yellow-based tints.

Even education levels and the degree of sophistication seem to affect people’s color preferences. In general, highly educated and sophisticated people favor complex colors, while those with less education and lower income favor low intensity, simple colors.

Ethnic Traditions Affect Color Preferences

Our personal history also has a significant influence on our color preferences, and using heritage colors has been proven to make people feel more contented by making them feel more connected to their ancestry.

Colors and Climates

Climate affects color preferences, too, and people respond differently to various colors, depending upon the climatic conditions in which they live. For example, Scandinavians have a preference for light yellows, bright whites, and sky blues, in contrast to their long, dark winter nights. San Franciscans, who live in an area that is often foggy and overcast, generally aren’t fond of gray, but gray is a popular color among people in Miami.

Historic Colors

Color preferences have also changed over the course of history. In the mid-1800s, very bright colors were popular, but they were replaced by more subdued tertiary colors such as muddy reds, greens, browns, blues, pinks, and ambers in the 1870s and 1880s. The darkest shades could be found in dining rooms.

Pastel and cream colors came back into fashion in the 1890s, and were popular during the latter part of Queen Victoria’s reign. But as fashions changed and furniture began to become more ornate, heavier, and more elaborate, room colors also began to change, becoming richer and darker, although Victorian bedrooms remained light and cheerful.

Color affects human beings in many ways, on both the conscious and subconscious levels, every day of our lives, and a thorough understanding of the effects of color is very important when making interior design decisions for the home.

(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Interior Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, newsletters, and blog, see http://www.joytothehome.com/

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The Feng shui decorating style of design has become increasingly popular and somewhat trendy in the past decade, with millions of Americans embracing its less-is-more, our-energy-is-our-soul-is-our-mind-is-our-mood-is-our-life philosophy.

While that is a simplified definition, at the heart of Feng shui decorating is simplicity and a conscious attempt to embrace the subconscious in a space.

Pronounced “fung shway,” (literally means “wind, water”) it is the Chinese practice of positioning objects, especially graves, buildings, and furniture, based on a belief in patterns of yin and yang and the flow of chi that have positive and negative effects.

It is an ancient rule in Chinese philosophy that spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to patterns of yin and yang and the flow of energy is crucial to mental, physical and spiritual health and well-being. The favorable or unfavorable effects are taken into consideration in designing and sitting furniture and rooms in a home. The practice has been embraced by countless designers in the States. A lot of this is driven by a new-found American appreciation for oriental art, food, and decoration.

Simplify! Simplify! Simplify!

While harnessing your chi and getting in touch with the yin to your yang is not simply a matter of painting a room red, there are some basic tenants of feng shui decorating that, when applied, have made millions happier, and, they would argue, healthier.

*Clear the clutter. Get rid of everything that is useless, evokes negative feelings or responses, or serves no purpose. The goal here is, as Thoreau said, Simplify! Simplify! Simplify!

*Pay attention to the energy in your room. No, this does not mean stare at the light or put a fork in a socket, this means be cognizant of the feelings evoked by items, different areas in the room, different furniture positions, and different lighting. Having positive energy flow is crucial. If something is having a positive or soothing effect in a certain place, leave it.

*Clean the room from top to bottom. And that means everything; walls, windows, doors, closets, baseboards, heating elements, fixtureseverything.

*In the bedroom, where feng sui is most commonly applied, bed placement is very important. Make sure your bed is placed to provide greatest visibility to your doorway and also provide a feeling of protection and safety. If this is not possible, a mirror on the wall opposite the bed can reflect the negative energy. Your bedroom is your haven, a place of safety and serenity.

*Sleeping areas should not be too dark. Reds, light greens and blues and yellows are positive colors that have beneficial effects on the mind and spirit.

*Avoid overusing whites, which, according to feng shui, deliver “cold energy.” If white is unavoidable, flowers, plants and splashes of well-placed color can counteract.

While feng shui decorating is most commonly applied in the home, many have embraced it in the workplace and are using the same principles to guide the layout of their desks and offices. When applied, feng shui decorating in the workplace encourages productivity, better work, and, ultimately, financial and professional success.

© 2005, Kathy Burns-Millyard, Visit The Do It Yourself Home Decorating Network - http://www.diyhomedecorating.com - for wonderful home decorating tips, decorating styles, pictures, photos and more.

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A mirror placed in a room can create an illusion of having more space then there actually is. It is a good trick to create a sense of space that is as old as the mirror itself. Interior decorators use mirrors to good effect when creating space for small rooms.

Mirrors come in many shapes and sizes. While most mirrors are made of glass with a silver layer to create the reflection, tin mirrors are made from, well, tin. Tin is highly reflective when polished and becomes even more so when combined with silver to form an alloy.

When choosing a tin mirror, the first thing to think about outside of the mirror’s reflectivity, is the shape. Since tin is much easier to work with than glass, tin mirrors come in lots of different, and sometime exotic, shapes. Think of where you want to hang the tin mirror so that you can pick one out that complement the design of its immediate surroundings.

Tin mirrors also sometimes come in different shades of colors. Take note of the color of the tin mirror so that it doesn’t clash with your overall decoration theme.

If you know of a store that specializes in selling mirrors, then that would be the place to go to get yourself a tin mirror. These specialty stores sometimes offer customers the chance to purchase customized tin mirrors. If this option is made available to you, then you have the luxury of designing the size, shape and finish of your tin mirror.

Hanging a tin mirror is the same hanging any other mirror. Make sure your anchor point on the wall is properly secured before hanging your mirror. Being made of metal, the tin mirror might not break into a thousand pieces if it falls, but the fall can leave permanent dents on the tin mirror that would be hard to fix.
Tabletop tin mirrors would make a good gift for newlyweds. With decorated or even handcrafted borders, the tin mirrors would offer something different and unique. Some tabletop tin mirrors even double-up as picture frames where you stick in your favorite photo in the space where the mirror is.

Want to learn more about Tin?, feel free to visit us at: www.about-tin.info/Articles/Faux_Tin_Ceiling.php

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