How Color and Temperature Influence One Another

When redecorating your home, one of your chief concerns is color scheme. Which wall colors go with which accents? What hues go best with your general aesthetic? What colors will help you lower your energy bills?

Oh, you didn’t know about that last one? Well, let’s take a look at the temperature effects that different colors can have on your home, and how to use them.

How Color Affects Temperature

As a rule, darker colors absorb the light, while lighter colors reflect it. This also extends to heat. If you have a room that gets a lot of sunlight, painting it a darker color can help it retain heat and keep it warm, while a lighter color will reflect the heat away, making it cooler.

Of course, not all the temperature effects of color come from light absorption. There’s also a psychological aspect. A room done in shades or red or orange calls up images of fire, the desert, and things that are hot. We’re more likely to feel warm subconsciously when we’re in it. Blues, on the other hand, remind us of water, while greens make us think of the grass or the forest, which makes us feel cooler.

Color, Temperature, and Your Decor

These color tips are particularly useful tip to keep in mind if your home heats or cools unevenly. If you want to make a cold room warmer, or a hot room cooler, you could invest in a whole new HVAC system, or you could choose a different color scheme.

But what if you have a room that’s too hot in summer and too cold in winter? Repainting it every six months would be impractical. However, you can cool or warm it using colorful accents. Add some light green throw pillows and a baby blue covering to the sofa in July to give it a cooler feel. Put down an area rug with dark red or brown hues in December to warm things up.

To learn about other temperature effects in your home, contact us at CCAC. We proudly serve Corpus Christi’s heating and cooling needs.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Corpus Christi, Texas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about your HVAC system, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 361-678-2495.