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Home and Garden

How Colours Can Trigger Emotions and Memories for Senior Residents

 

Choosing the right colours and colour palettes is important in any interior design project. But for care homes, the colours can make a real difference in how residents feel and act.

 

Colours have a big impact on the way we feel — this goes for anyone, at any age. Seniors have a tougher time managing their emotions and remembering things than their younger counterparts. This is where choosing the right colours for your care home comes into play.

 

How Colours Impact Emotions

 

Did you know that colours can make us feel happy or sad, on edge or relaxed, even satiated or hungry? Of course, the emotions they trigger also depend on our cultural background.

 

If you care for European seniors, you can safely assume that the colours will have a similar impact on everyone in your care home.

 

Here are some examples:

 

Warm Colours

 

Colours like red, orange, or yellow are known to evoke happiness and optimism and boost energy. In other cases, though, they can also be associated with being alert or with danger. All in all, they are attention-grabbing colours, that’s why you’ll frequently find them on stop signs or various types of barriers.

 

In care home, your designer has to be very careful with them. Red, for instance, can enhance hunger, so it’s suitable in the dining room. In bathrooms or common rooms, on the other hand, it can be too aggressive — depending on how it’s combined with other colours, of course.

 

Cool Colours

 

Green, purple, and blue fall into this category. Cool colours are typically associated with calm and serenity.

 

In care homes, they are very well suited for bathrooms. You can use them in other rooms, too, but combined with other colours since they can also induce sadness and nostalgia on their own — two feelings that are already prevalent in senior residents and that you shouldn’t be enhancing.

 

You can toy with purple a lot. WSGN, a trend forecasting company, declared Orchid Flower the colour of 2022, so you can expect to see it more frequently.

 

Neutral Colours and Sadness

 

Dark and muted colours usually induce sadness. Grey is first in the sadness-inducing ranking, followed by dark blue and neutral colours like beige and brown.

 

In care homes, you should steer clear of these colours as much as possible or associate them with brighter tones to combat the sadness they induce. There is another reason to avoid colours like beige and brown: they make it difficult for seniors to remember each different room, since they can easily be confused with one another.

 

Instead of using plain beiges and browns, use them in various patterns. Patterns can also help boost memory and they are more recognisable than plain colours.

 

Colours that Boost Memory and Cognitive Functions

 

According to a study developed at the University of British Columbia, red and blue shades are the best colours to help boost memory and improve cognitive functions. While this study was focused on students, it is safe to extrapolate the data to subjects of all ages.

 

Where can you use these colours in care homes? Here are some examples:

 

  • The various shades of blue are ideal for bathrooms.

  • You can use red in the dining room to boost your residents’ appetite.

  • You can encourage the seniors to use more red and blue if they paint or do any other artistic activities.

  • Both of them can be present in the common rooms (combined with warmer colours to reduce their aggressiveness) to help residents function better when they socialise or receive their family for a visit.

  • Use red or blue around photo frames to help your residents remember which of their family members or friends are pictured.

 

 

Play with Colours and Textures

 

 

It’s not just the colours themselves that can trigger certain emotions and improve cognitive skills. The way they are associated or the textures you use can also have a great impact on your residents’ well-being.

 

For example:

 

  • Textured robes can induce instant comfort when put on once the resident gets accustomed to that exact texture.

  • Textures are also useful in your care home’s furniture or soft furnishing (like cushions and rugs) to help seniors easily remember each room or each piece of furniture.

  • Play with contrasts: a contrasting toilet seat, for instance, can be very useful. So can contrasting floor colours when moving from one room to another.

 

Need more tips on how to choose the colours of your care home? Check out our in-depth guide on choosing care home interior colours:

 

 

https://www.nicholandhill.com/blog/care-home-interior-colours