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Ask Cristina
What’s Your Color Personality?
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These two
pictures are from the same hacienda-style
home. For this formal yet friendly living
room, my clients chose colors in a subdued
monochromatic palette of browns and golds.
These colors express a calm and relaxed, yet
lush attitude. |
A fiesta of
color brightens this bathroom, located in a
guest suite down a hall from the more formal
living room. Don’t be afraid to change moods
throughout the house. Staying within the
hacienda concept, my clients were able to
include more than one color palette. |
Dear Cristina,
I read somewhere that the colors I like tell a lot
about my personality and that certain colors can
affect my moods. Is it true that you can you tell
what a person is like when you see the colors they
use to paint their home? Can color change the way I
feel?
—J. Vigil
It’s certainly true that color, like music, can
encourage a particular mood or express an attitude.
But don’t get carried away with the symbolic
meanings of color just yet. Often a lackluster color
scheme is the result of a lack of knowledge of the
design world, not a commentary on one’s character.
People tend to be much more sure of their taste in
music than they are of their color sense. Because of
that, many people are afraid to experiment with
color and often will choose colors for their home
that seem safe—usually, colors that they think other
people will approve of. If people chose colors with
as much confidence as they choose their music, you’d
definitely get more of a sense of who they are when
you view the results.
It’s time for a change. It’s time to ask yourself,
What is my color personality?
According to Doty Horn, director of color at
Benjamin Moore Company, “The trend is going to the
individualizing of the color palette so that the
person choosing it has a sense of ownership: ‘This
is who I am. This is my personality.’”
Just as we don’t all dance to the same tunes, colors
don’t have the exact same effect on everyone. You
may find that a color you love in one place doesn’t
work at all in another location, whether that’s
another room or another home. It’s the same thing
that happens when a favorite album or song just
doesn’t suit your mood at the moment—or when you
lose interest in it completely. As you change along
with the world around you, so does your perception
of color.
Josette Buisson, artistic director of Pittsburgh
Paints, has developed a program for Pittsburgh
Paints that links color choices to personality
tendencies. Conclusions about color, she says, “are
drawn from more subjective considerations, like the
impact of technology on our life, our self-definition,
and our relationships to one another.”
Though there is certainly scientific evidence that
people in the same culture tend to share the same
responses to certain colors, there are many
exceptions. I love vibrant reds and use them in a
variety of rooms in my home. Someone else may
experience red as over-stimulating and upsetting. So
don’t take color advice verbatim. Take a chance and
experiment. Color is one of the most inexpensive
design elements you can bring into your home. It is
also the most powerful way you can express your
personal home style.
So take time to discover which colors really grab
you—not just the colors you think you should like.
Peruse the websites of paint companies. Head to the
store and collect paint chips of any color you’re
interested in. When you have at least a few dozen
samples, you’ll start to see a trend. Often, you’ll
surprise yourself when you see which colors you like.
Follow you heart and be brave with color. Whatever
the result, when you surround yourself with your
creative choices, you will always feel energized and
interested in your world.
About Cristina
Cristina Acosta is a nationally renowned artist,
author, and design and color consultant. The author
of Paint Happy!, she is currently at work on a new
book based on her home-décor color consulting. For
more information, visit CristinaAcosta.com |
