How Colour in the Home Affects Happiness

Want to boost your mood? Grab a paint roller.

When we want to improve our sense of well-being, we reach for the vitamins, hit the gym and start going to bed a little earlier (well, try to anyways; Better Call Saul is on Netflix now, soooo…). But it turns out that we should be reaching for the paint brush instead, because the colour of your environment has an incredible impact on your happiness, according to a cute (and very well-researched) new infographic from U.K. home furnishing site Dwell.To anyone who’s walked into a teenager’s black-on-black bedroom or a soothing all-white living space, the power of colour—both negative and positive—is likely no surprise. There’s science to back up those instincts: 80% of what we assimilate through the senses is visual, and studies have shown that a room’s hue can affect behaviour, whether that’s calming you down or hyping you up.So the next time you need to mix things up, consult this list of how behaviour and colour palette intertwine. Want to sleep better? Paint that bedroom a dreamy blue. Need to boost your metabolism? Give that kitchen a coat of sunshine yellow. Check out the full chart below for colour trivia and recommendations for hues that optimize your well-being—no vitamins required.