Sometimes, it's crazy how the simple fact of entering a room is enough to calm us down... or on the contrary, to get on our nerves. Could it be the fault of the furniture? Decoration? A mere coincidence? Well, not really. The culprit would rather be to look for the side of the walls, more precisely of the color of these. The Australian paint brand Taubmans wanted to address the issue by teaming up with Liminal VR, a virtual reality specialist, as well as psychologists and neurologists, all in collaboration with the Florey Institute for Research in Neuroscience and Mental Health (based in Melbourne). The goal:to highlight the connection between the color of a room and the emotions that people feel in this room.
Thus, 745 participants took part in the game and agreed to enter, via virtual reality headsets, three different rooms (a living room, a waiting room and an empty room), whose walls were "painted" with five different colors. Following their virtual visit, they were asked to describe their emotions and rate whether they liked the color of the walls that had been shown to them. Verdict:pastel shades such as lilac, water green or light blue tend to soothe people, while bright colors such as orange, pink or yellow give energy. What about dark colors? Rooms often appear smaller, which can feel like a cocoon…but for some people, dark colors are associated with sadness. If this is the case, we reserve them for rooms where we spend little time, such as an entrance, a hallway or a bathroom. However, whatever the color chosen, keep in mind that it can be applied only to a wall or integrated into a pattern, which limits its impact on mood.
