Psychological Effects
of the Color White

Use the psychological effects of the color white to create a crisp, clean feel for your home.

Here's a link if you'd like some general information about Color Psychology.

(To read about the effects of other colors, please go to the links at the bottom of this page.)


Utilizing the effects of the color white is not as straightforward as it seems – around the globe, people associate very different things with this color.

If you live in a Western society, you’ll probably find that white is a ‘clean’,
pristine color.

"So what's Snowhite got to do with it?"

The color white might remind you of weddings, of clouds dotted over an April sky, of fresh snow, simplicity and other nice things (maybe also of TV commercials featuring happy people and their washing machines).


If you are from China or Japan, the color white is more likely to make you think of death and mourning. You probably wouldn’t want to surround yourself with it in your home.

Whereas, if you lived in northern India, you’d be happy to paint your walls white, while your traditional wedding colors would be glorious red and gold.


In Western interior design, the color white is used to create an airy, pure, clear, serene feel for a home. On floor, walls and furniture, the color white can make a room feel larger than it is and add a crisp freshness to an interior design scheme.


To take advantage of the psychological effects of the color white, you don’t always need a lot of it. Just accents, for example window and door frames painted in white, cream or ivory, can lift the look of a room.


On its own, pure brilliant white can look sterile or high-maintenance, depending on the interior style you choose. The secret here is to layer up tints (from chalky white to ivory) and textures to soften the look of a room and make it more inviting.


If you don’t want a lot of color around you but wouldn’t like to live in an all-white environment either, you can always use white color in combination with other neutrals. Gray, brown and black work beautifully with white; you’ll find more information on this in the chapter on Neutral Color Schemes.


For information on the psychological effects of other colors, please click any of the following links:
Gray, Black, Brown
Yellow, Orange, Red, Pink
Purple, Blue, Green.

Click here for some general information about Color Psychology.



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