A bright yellow nursery? Oh, for crying out loud Whether your impending bundle of joy is a carefully planned addition or a happy lockdown accident, you’ll no doubt be busy choosing names, picking out baby clothes and preparing pets and siblings for the new arrival. But have you given much thought to what colour you’ll be painting the nursery? If not, you should. According to psychologist and well-being consultant Lee Chambers, colour can affect a baby’s mood and behaviour. UK interior design specialist Homedit.com surveyed 3273 parents to find out what colours they chose for their children’s nurseries, then ran those choices past Mr Chambers.
Issue 108, NOVEMBER 2020
Here are the most popular colours and what he had to say about each: Yellow: “The wonderful colour of neutrality. A happy aura comes from a room the colour of the sun, and it can increase focus and motivation. The brighter the yellow, however, the more it stimulates frustration, and in research yellow made babies cry more than any other colour.” Pink: “A popular colour for a bedroom but not so often elsewhere, pink takes some of the benefits of red and takes the edge off the stimulation. It is calming initially and can increase compassion, but over time it can become irritating, leading to a disruptive child.” Purple: “A wise and regal colour, purple can be a great choice for something different. Combining the fire of the red with the relaxed nature of blue, it can
create a nice balance, or can be tailored towards more energy or more serenity by changing the shade. It does have an element of grown-up about it, which may take the childish edge off.” Blue: “A popular colour, blue creates a calming atmosphere that reduces stimulation and helps children to settle. It also invokes a sense of the body cooling, which helps when children fall asleep. It’s worth being mindful of the tone – too dark can become almost gloomy and uninspiring, but too pale reduces some of the benefits.” Green: “The symbolic colour of nature, and the colour we can see the most shades of. With its connotations to growth and the outdoors, it takes some of the happiness from yellow and some of the calming of blue. It promotes concentration and soothes the mind, but
it doesn’t motivate or inspire energy or communication.” Orange: “Another joyous colour not often used but very welcoming. It is the colour for inspiring communication if you want to promote chatter, but again is a colour that generates underlying anxiety that decreases children’s attention.” Red: “The highly emotive colour of energy and anger. Likely to lead to an excitable, confident child willing to push the limits. However, it is also likely to increase aggression, decrease concentration and overstimulate children.” Mr Chambers added: “Trust your intuition and you won’t go far wrong. You can bring out the value of colours by pairing darker colours with more vibrant neutral colours. With bold colours, consider utilising them through accessories and balance them with cooler colours.”
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