Color Meaning and Home Decorating

Should you pay attention to color meaning when you decorate your home? The short answer is – no.

For a slightly longer answer, please read on!

For all of us humans, the sun is yellow (well, sort of), foliage is green, the sky is blue, and blood is red.


But for even the most fundamental events of our lives – birth, marriage, death – any ‘color meaning’ will depend on the culture and times you happen to live in.

In much of Europe and the USA, babies are dressed in white for their birth ceremonies, and brides marry in white.

In other parts of the world these celebrations are often very colorful, with the main persons wearing anything but white.

Similarly, the color for mourning and funerals is black in the West, but white in parts of Asia.

So What Do Colors Mean?

• which clan / social, ethnic or religious group / sports team / country you belong to


• whether you’re male or female


• whether you’re married or single


• whether you’re in mourning


• which political issues, or party, you support


• which (religious) event or holiday you’re celebrating …

… and so on.

Color meanings are a way of communicating within, and between, different groups of people.

When it comes to decorating your home, the meanings of particular colors are probably less important than their psychological effects – these really can influence your personal well-being.

For general information about the psychological effects of color, please click here. Or, click on the color names in the list below, for information about the psychological effects of that particular color.

Color Meanings, By Color

Here are some examples of color meaning. I’m a European, and no expert on the significance of colors in other parts of the world, so please do treat these ‘snippets’ with some caution.

If you find mistakes in this list, it would be lovely if you could contact me with the correct information!

White – peace, neutrality, surrender, innocence, purity, virginity, humility, winter, warmth (Laos), death (Japan, parts of China and India)

Gray – age, wisdom, neutrality, humility, dullness, subtlety, elegance, respect, stability, formality, conservatism,

Black – death and mourning, sorrow, evil, danger, formality, power, sophistication, elegance, seriousness, renunciation of worldly things and pursuits (Chassidic Jews, Christian clergy and religious orders),

Brown – earthiness, nature, reliability, autumn, poverty, simplicity, calm,

Yellow – the sun, joy, optimism, danger/hazard, wealth (gold), cowardice, avarice, dishonesty, courage (Japan), royalty/nobility (China), mourning (Egypt)

Orange – energy, fire, enthusiasm, warmth, autumn, danger/warning, renunciation and spirituality (Hindu and Buddhist orders in India, Nepal, Thailand)

Red – love, passion, blood, danger, aggression, sex, fire, ambition, anger, revolution, communism, marriage (India), luck and prosperity (China)

Pink – health, romantic love, spring, femininity, homosexuality, trust (Korea)

Purple – spirituality, enlightenment, the Passion of Christ, mystery, creativity, wisdom, wealth, nobility, mourning (Thailand, 19th-century England)

Blue – royalty, nobility, confidence, truthfulness, clarity, water & the sea, planet earth, coldness, depression, immortality (China), heaven (Iran)

Green – nature, fertility, youth, hope, health, harmony, good luck, inexperience, envy, disgrace (China), corruption (North Africa), perfect faith (Islam)

Please treat this as an ‘ideas’ list. To utilize it, you could take an existing color meaning to create a specific effect in your home; for example, to remind yourself of something good, or of a goal you want to achieve.

Or, you could create your own, private set of color meanings if that works for you. Take some colors you love, give each of them a symbolic color meaning, and ‘color code’ your environment. Have fun – don’t take this too seriously!

	Enter your search termsSubmit search form
	Web www.dreamhomedecorating.com