STIMULATING COLOURS.

Matamata Record, Volume VIII, Issue 597, 15 January 1925, Page 1

STIMULATING COLOURS.

My patient was irritable, excitable, and. I must say it, rather short of temper (says a writer in the Daily Express). I questioned closely. There had been no apparent reason—-hus-band, children, household —all going along smoothly as usual. “Of course, I think I may be rather upset because we have been changing the house round for the winter, and my eyes are tired sewing the new orange curtains.” “Orange!” “Oh, yes, we have had several of the rooms repapered, and my husband likes red for the winter, and I think yellow walls and orange curtains are so cheerful, don’t you?”

I saw it all like a flash. Orange, yellow, ami red! The three most stimulating colours in the world, and the very worst possible surroundings for anybody as-highly strung as my patient. We talked 'things over, and, of course, rooms cannot be unpapered once they have been done—at least, not in these days—but by careful intermingling of the soothing colours, we were able to do a great deal, and it was a much calmer woman who came to see me a few weeks later. We are so apt to chose colours haphazardly without thinking of them in relation to ourselves and to our own temperament. All the work which was done with nervous cases during the war gave us a tremendous amount of inspiration and help.

We know that red, orange, and yellow are stimulating and exciting, and while excellent for the phlegmatic, unemotional person, and excellent for most people, used as touches, in bulk they are often only harmful. We know that purple and violet colours are depressing, and again, not suitable to lie used in bulk. We know> however. that blues and greens, which after all, are the colours Nature used most of in decorating the universe, are restful and calming. A combination can be used advantageously balancing one effect against the othe'r, as, for instance, In a room with yellow walls with blue or green hangings, or in an orange and blue room.