Summer is the time of to redesign and renovate your home, so what mood do you want to create? There are lots of possibilities for the type mood you are looking for and what elements of decor you can use to achieve it. Inspiration comes from an uplifting feeling that can be produced in your home by matching color with scented candles that highlight the feelings that color inspires.
Whether we realize it or not, color is big sensory stimulant. Without getting into color theory there are few basic examples of how colors work to create the mood of your environment. The color blue is often associated with cold and calm, as well. Many people describe a cooling sensation when being in a blue room for a period of time, or can also experience a feeling of relaxation. Usually the information on a scented candles label will give a description of the therapeutic or mood elements of the scent.
Depending on the season, blue can have a slightly different affect. In the winter, you are more likely to have a cold sensation in a blue room, and during the summer when it’s hot, it may have a pleasing cooling affect. So if you live in the North East, you may want to explore some warmer colors to balance with the weather, but in Florida it may be just the thing to combat the heat.
OK, we get the idea of how color can affect the mood of the room and what effect it may have on the occupants. For now let’s focus on warm/cozy and cool/refreshing as the moods we want to achieve. With the picture of the bright and refreshing blue children’s room above, there is a very summer quality happening. Yellow is categorized as a warm color as opposed to blue, and it goes well with the opposing color, because it can be associated with the sun and further compliment the summer atmosphere. The yellow and blue used here creates a nice balance of mood.
Scents can stimulate your mood almost instantaneously. For a refreshing an invigorating scent, orange and lemon scents can illicit an extremely positive mood. Orange stimulates a sense of well-being and clarity. Similar citrus scents, like lemon and lime also are favorable for creating a refreshing room. One of favorite refreshing scents is peach, and peach cobbler is great for the warmer/cozier moods.
Speaking of warm and cozy, let’s say you live in a colder climate, and you want to warm up the room with some deeper colors and a bit of warm spiced scents to increase the comfort level. Apple cinnamon is a reminder of fall and the holidays. I think of Thanks Giving in particular, a time of gathering in the family home and the beginning of the warm spiced aromas of the cooling season. Deep mahogany, maroon, brown suede, copper, and bronze hues are great ways to create a warm and cozy mood; they each work individually, or different hues can also work nicely together.
There are some delicious scented candle combinations that would accent a room like the one above quite nicely. Candy corn, which has a sweet vanilla aroma, would be nice. Check out blueberry muffin, banana nut bread, or even butter rum; these may induce you to eat a candle, though. These tastes and colors together make me want to be in front of a fireplace with a coffee and good book, and that’s the point.
No matter what your tastes or needs are, use your instincts to make your mood match the decor. Find what combinations inspire the feeling you are looking for by starting with the scented candles. Chances are your sense of smell will guide you in your search for a matching color. Smells are very stimulating, and you can always test out a hundred different candles, but you can’t paint your room a hundred times, or at least you wouldn’t want to.
You made a great point, Lisa. Nowadays, interior designing is intended to stimulate each of the senses we have, and what better way to do it than with scented candles? Scented candles don’t only engage the sense of smell; their appearance can also appeal to our sight. And of course, scented candles can induce a wide range of feelings, depending on the type of candles being used.
ReplyDeleteGuy Mailloux