The Calming Effect of Wallpaper

We all know that our environment can influence our mood and behavior. Because many of us spend so much time indoors, it would be hard to ignore the role interior design plays in our daily lives. Everything around us – lighting, color, patten, scale, symmetry – can have an effect on our emotions and perceptions.  

Without a doubt, most interior designers understand the importance of the psychology of space when they work on a project, whether it’s a home, office, restaurant, hospital or retail store. While users of those spaces may not be consciously aware of it, many of the designed environments they experience are intended to elicit a sense of security and comfort.

Wallpaper can have an enormous influence on how individuals feel in an interior space because it can be used on an expansive space and is available in everything from small scale prints to large patterns, with an unlimited range of colors. In this article, we explore how interior designers can use wallpaper to create a calming and healing environment.

Wallpaper Colors That Can Improve Your Mood

Everyone has a natural reaction to color. For example, the blue-green tones of the sea can make you feel calm, while a bunch of daffodils or roses can cheer you up. Color has been widely used in marketing and branding for years. Naturally, using color to affect how one feels is a technique in interior design. That’s why the choice of color in wallpaper or a wallpaper mural is so significant.   

Here is a list popular colors in interior design and the responses they provoke:

Blue: There’s a reason why blue is most people’s favorite color. It is a soothing color, representing peace and calm. It can lower blood pressure and reduce anxiety

Green and Yellow: The colors of nature and sunshine, these are emotionally positive colors. A yellow scheme can brighten up a room. Green is the color of growth and renewal, evoking a sense of balance and harmony.  

Pink: Pink is a calming color that is associated with joy, kindness, femininity and romance. It can fill a room with positive energy while relieving anxiety.     

White: While white is often considered a neutral rather than a color, it represents perfection, purity and freshness, symbolizing new beginnings.

Red: This is a high-energy, dynamic color, so it’s best used in small splashes as an accent. Red triggers emotions and tends to make people feel happy and energized.     

Orange: Orange creates a sense of positive energy. It is bright and uplifting, and promotes rejuvenation and optimism.

Wallpaper with Patterns of Nature

We’ve all heard the term “biophilia.”  It is based on the notion that humans have an inherent need to connect with nature, drawing more pleasure from it than from other stimuli. We’re hard-wired to crave all that is natural and organic based on evolutionary dependence on nature for both fulfilment and survival.

Studies conducted over the past half-century have shown that incorporating biophilic elements into interior spaces has multiple benefits on human health and well-being. As scientists learn more about how and why we respond to natural stimuli, their research can help interior designers refine and improve upon how to incorporate biophilic principles to achieve the maximum benefit. Biophilic elements offer comfort, decrease stress, elevate mood, bolster mental stimulation and increase satisfaction. The incorporation of natural imagery and materials, colors, shapes, and geometries into a design scheme has a similar effect.

Design techniques that use biophilic elements include the use of natural materials, access to natural light, a variety of vegetation, and views of landscapes. Natural patterns in an interior space can also play a big role in biophilic design. When access to nature is not an option, which is the case for so many city dwellers, we have to rely on biomorphic forms, patterns or materials to provide a natural order. They often appear as “fractals,” naturally-occurring shapes and patterns, such as snowflakes or drops of milk.

The experience of viewing nature’s fractals has a number of possible benefits, including stress reduction and combatting mental fatigue.  Because the human brain prefers geometries and patterns that don’t appear ordered into straight lines, just imagine how designers can improve their work by choosing colors and patterns that evoke naturally-occurring elements or images of nature.

And that brings us to the conclusion that wallpaper and wallpaper murals can have a positive impact on people’s mental health. A wallpaper mural depicting scenes from nature, leaves, flowers, animals and panoramic outdoor scenes will have a calming and healing effect that will make your interior design project truly shine.

Bijou specializes in creating custom wallpaper and murals for all types of environments, allowing designers to incorporate colors and patterns that will create uplifting and mood-boosting interiors. Want to learn more?  Call us today to help you create a ridiculously good looking wallpaper for whatever project you are working on.