Light, science & decor to balance your hormones…Raise or Lower your Ceilings with Color can make all the difference.

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first

time.”  T.S. Eliot “Little Gidding”

As designers, architects, and DIYers, we are in tune with the fact that some colors and designs are more pleasing to the eye than others. Neuro-architecture is the science that validates what we feel in our gut — that color, design, and placement have much deeper of an impact on us than surface appeal. Neuro-architecture, you could say, is Feng Shui gone “brainy”.

By exploring how aspects of architecture influence the way we live and work and relate, neuro-architecture takes Feng Shui into the scientific realm, providing right-brained proof for the ancient wisdom. Either way using this knowledge allows us to go deeper into the synergy between human and space.

Based on thousands of years of observation, Feng Shui is the Chinese art of designing spaces to affect human life; done properly a space becomes a synergistic partner in creating opportunity, harmony and health. Positioning objects, buildings, furniture, etc., is based on the flow of chi and the balance of energies, all of which have positive and negative effects on our health and ability to be effective.

Similarly, neuroarchitecture is the scientific study of the brain and its connection with design and placement. It explores how one’s environment can be a trigger for hormones that either promote happy and calm or add stress and anxiety. More than a marketing spin, Neuroarchitecture, at its most basic, looks at how we and our spaces are wired for success. (See Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture.)
There is quite a bit of research going on to investigate the connection between our minds and our habitats. Professor Joan Meyers-Levy of the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, for example, studies the effect space has on purchasing behavior, etc. Take for instance her findings that high ceilings activate sections of the right brain associated with freedom and abstract thinking. In low-ceiling-ed rooms, thought is more constrained.  [See "U of M marketing Prof perfects the science of the woo."]

Certainly from our own experiences most of us know that being in kitchen is evocative of feelings of comfort, homey-ness, and social pleasure. And, photos of cherished loved ones and treasured memories, and books that we’re fond of reading are also helpful in surrounding ourselves with love and keeping us grounded.

I can’t tell you how many times clients have said to me, “I have a beautiful Great Room with vaulted ceilings for entertaining but people always end up in my much smaller kitchen, what do I do?”  Why? One reason is intimate surroundings, another is that the food center is innately nourishing but that’s another post.

All of this applies to our next shopping trip to Ikea or your local paint dealer so we bring home the right stuff and put it in the right places.   I use this knowledge and wisdom when I design spaces because I know exactly how my designs will influence behavior, and I want to share it so that you can design your spaces to create positive benefit.
How space affects behavior: A look at Ceilings and Color

Ceiling height affects ability, mood and intimacy and is best inspire the activity to occur in that space.

According to Feng Shui, and now Neuro-architecture, high ceilings create higher order thinking, vision, ideas; low ceilings create detail thinking and task orientation. But how high is too high?  Feng Shui takes that question a step further and asks what else is influencing the space, including the people in it?  (Contact Fawn to discover your unique Feng Shui energy and how you influence your spaces and they influence you)

It is all about balance.  Design has affect on us and design misaligned with your goals could have the opposite effect creating tension, disharmony, and dis-ease.:  as the Chinese know, “The bigger the bedroom, the higher the divorce rate.”  We will innately, and unconsciously, seek to balance ourselves by moving to another space, however easily [leaving the room] or painfully [quitting the job, divorcing your spouse, etc.] it has to occur.
Too much space will create independence, lack of intimacy, inability to focus on details, we will not stay in those spaces very long, feeling too expanded and pulled out of our center (think of the expansive feeling of a symphony hall, a large library or a beautiful church).   The longer we spend in a place, the deeper the impact becomes embedded into our lives.  For instance, the large spaces of loft living were helpful to expand our sense of freedom but now the pendulum is swinging in the other direction as the new trend is to define and segment living spaces using color, area carpets, artwork and furnishings.
On the other end of that scale, too little space which will stifle us, make us sleepy, lethargic, eat more, overly detail-oriented, stunt growth opportunities, and basically “cramp our style.”
It is important to use all the rooms of your home, and with color and design we can make the rooms effective and honor our human “animal-body” wisdom to move in rhythm with our needs.
Raise (or lower) the roof!

Suggestions and tips for effectively raising or lowering your ceilings.

Raising Ceilings:

As much as you may want higher ceilings in certain rooms, it may not be in the budget to ’raise the roof.”   But to create expansion in your vision and ideas, here are effective design methods to raise your ceilings:

1. Mimic sky: paint your ceiling a soft, receding light blue/grey, like one of these colors:

• PPG Pittsburgh/Porter’s 348-2 Stratosphere
• The new PPG Atmospheric Collection ATC-62 Winter’s Breath is beautiful

2.  Fool the eye: Paint the wall and the ceiling the same color.  Our eye and brain quickly read edges to create a picture for us to recognize.  No difference in color means “no edge” to read and our brain then looks quickly for something else to define the space and create a picture for us. Don’t be afraid, just because the can says “ceiling white” doesn’t mean you have to have a ceiling that is white.

3.  Lighten Up: Add upward directed lighting by using torchiere or sconce lights.  Be careful with ‘cove’ lighting in the center of the room as this sometimes creates a cupola or light-house effect, making the perimeter of the room seem darker and drawing the center of the room too high—proportion is key here.

Lowering Ceilings:

To effectively ‘lower’ the ceiling to create intimacy, nourishment, sleep and detail awareness you can determine a height that is of ‘human scale’ [depending on how tall you are, somewhere between 8 and 9 feet will do nicely] but remember to look at the entire wall height and room because proportion is also important to perception.  You can ‘draw the line’ in a number of ways:

1.  Define “Heaven and Earth” –

• Align the window treatments and large artwork so that the upper edge effectively creates a line around the room.
• Use a color block—stop the top at the new ceiling line.

• • This is one way to get some rich color into your spaces without fully committing to an entire wall or room (once your risk it however, you will be enthralled by living with color.)
• If you have smaller artwork or pieces you love, highlight them or architectural features with a block of color that stops at the height where you would like to draw the ceiling.
• Place crown molding dropped a distance from the ceiling and paint the upper portion of the wall the same color as the ceiling. Paint the molding an accent color or the same color as the upper portion of the wall and ceiling.

2. Go dark. Painting a ceiling a very dark color will not always make it seem lower, a deep, sophisticated color like black, brown or aubergine can make it recede even further, but where you (once again) draw the line will define the ‘living space’ and it will create ambiance.

By adding Feng Shui knowledge to our design, our architectural resources expand exponentially and so does our ability to positively impact human interaction through meaningful design.

Check out the book Inquiry by Design by John Zeisel to learn more about neuroscience in architecture. It’s a fascinating read.

Fawn Chang, is a National Color and Design Consultant for PPG Pittsburgh/Porter Paints.  Interior Designer and Feng Shui Master, Fawn travels North America speaking on Color Trends in Architecture and Home Design, and Feng Shui.  Sign up for Fawn’s Newsletter and  visit her website at www.fawnchangdesigns.com

White: The Chinese consider it the color of mourning. Thus, it is not widely used. Westerners, on the other hand, see it as the color of purity, innocence, candor and openness. Using too much white in ones home could indicate a lack of clarity in one’s opinions and indicate excessive openness to different possibilities.

Blue: It represents spirituality, the ability to look within oneself, consideration and care; it is associated with consistency and loyalty. In business, it stands for reliability and consistency. Blue is related to water.

Gray: Gray days complicate life. Gray is associated with fear and depression. Also related to water, it can be used with moderation around the main door.

Black: A powerful color, black represents money and confers power. But it must be used in moderation. Because it absorbs a lot of light, it is used to balance brighter colors rather than on its own.

Green: It is used as equilibrium; it represents balance and peace. It is the color of growth, one that promotes healing and tranquility. Used in excess, it can inhibit productivity. Because of the extreme relaxation green creates it may not be conducive to the resolution of problems. Green is related to wood.

Yellow: It is related to Earth and is a color of blending which stimulates mental energy and represents wisdom. In China, it once was the color reserved for the Emperor and his descendants because it was seen as a color symbolizing control. Among other things, yellow is associated with patience and tolerance.

Orange: A creative color, it stands for joy, solidarity, mental and physical energy. Depending on tones, it is related to fire or Earth.

Chestnut: It is derived from Earth and represents predictability, stability, practicality and roots.

Purple: The Chinese consider purple even more favorable than red. It is the color of philosophers, dreamers, writers and visionaries, and is associated with high ideals, honesty, truth and love.

Pink: It stands for love and feelings and is credited with therapeutic powers against rage. It is said to quickly calm the anger of those who visualize it. It is a salutary color that reminds us of joy, happiness and romantic love. It is related to fire or Earth, depending on its intensity.

Red: It is the color of life, growth, happiness, joy, passion and virtue. It radiates energy on a wide range and stands for passionate love. Chinese wives dress in red because red brings them happiness and love. Red is related to fire.

Take some time to just zoom out for a moment and really look for a unifying color theme to all your stuff. You will usually find one.  Then, go bold!  Paint that color on the wall behind your ’stuff’ or on two walls or on all 4 walls. The focus of bold color will calm the cacophony of all the voices of your stuff and and like a melody have it singing the same harmonious tune. Use even just a ‘color block’ to define the space and corral the clutter.

Our body’s want to make sense of things around us…gestalt of looking for the whole big picture. In the same way that computers can’t make easy sense of the codes that we are asked to type in to make sure we are human and not spamming computers, that mechanism in our brain/body works to put pieces together to make a picture.  The fewer pieces, the less eye-movement and the less stress imprinted on our bodies. The best is to get rid of the excess clutter–the stuff that weighs you down–but if we pull the pieces together with the same color it has a similar result.

You may be surprised that that color you choose will often be the right one for you but here’s a quick guide:

Yellow, brown or tan will ground your energy.  Too much will make you crabby or lethargic or overly detail oriented.

Orange is a social color and firey answer to get you out into the world networking and talking.  Red will activate your spaces so make sure you know what you want to have more of (use the bagua for a guide).

Pink is a compassionate color and will make you more loving.

Blue is calm and loyal color,  Restful even when paired with white.

Black will get things flowing as it is water energy.  A little is elegant and social, emotional and flowing.  Too much would be like living next to a swamp or even Niagara Falls, you’d plunge deep into waters you may not want to know about.

Green–Thomas Jefferson painted the entry floor of Monticello, his beautiful mansion deep grass green to bring the healing energy of green into his life.  Fresh green can help you spring forward, be independent and lose weight.  Be careful to avoid “Mr. Yuk” Green in your spaces as this color can actually make you sick.

*Monticello Photo courtesy of Thomas Jefferson Foundation  http://classroom.monticello.org/teachers/gallery/image/181/Monticellos-East-Front-Portico/

In my talks around North America I tell audiences how to use color to bring joy and empowerment into their spaces, not just paint but color in any form, placed well will bring happiness to your life.

All my best, Fawn

The colors of fall and winter that you might have around you are actually keeping that winter weight exactly where it is.  Earth colors will do that:  tans, beiges, yellows and browns are all Feng Shui earth energy.  They serve to ground us, nourish us, and settle us.  But, as anyone who knows anything about Feng Shui can tell you, it’s all about balance and too much of a good thing is well, not good.

If you want some help losing weight before the summer comes, try this, paint your kitchen light blue.  Light blue is the energy of Feng Shui’s Tree element and uproots that Earth energy.  It is moving, aspirational and will help you with your vision.  Also, our bodies understand that blue food means that it is usually not edible…blue meat? No thanks.  Blue bread?…candidate for penicillin.  Except for blueberries, which are very good for us, high in vitamin C, manganese, fiber and vitamin E with only 81 calories per cup, our bodies have wisdom that surpasses our conscious brain and using color can help you use that natural bypass.

Depending on the other elements in your kitchen, you may choose a blue that is clean (white based) or muted (toned and greyed).  Two of my favorites for this purpose are:  HAC -53 Suenos (Sweet Dreams) and HAC-51 Cenote.  Another that is really pretty but a little more green (this is good Tree energy too) is Seasprite from our 2010 Grace Palette named after that svelte beauty Grace Kelly:  Seasprite  402-3.  Try it and let me know how you do.  Send me a photo of you on the white sandy beach looking beautiful you!

Check out  blueberry’s health benefits at whfoods.org (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=8 )  and the US Blueberry Council (http://www.blueberry.org/faq.htm) (who knew?)

Other tricks:

• Can’t opt for blue kitchen?  Try painting vertical stripes in your décor colors.  These can look beautiful  when you use the same color in two different sheens: one matte and one gloss.  Make them wide stripes, 9 or 16 inches (16 being a number that will bring healing energy to your space) or make them variable.  It’s a beautiful alternative way to get that tree energy extra boost to help you shed inches and pounds for a fun and slinky summer.
• Add a few tall vases or tall plants like bamboo.
• Place photos around of tall, slender people have a great time on the beach.
• Pull your tummy in every time you think of it, it will align your spine and make you feel taller and more powerful.
• Place a blue utility light bulb in your refrigerator.
• Clean out your lingerie drawer and paint it gold, blue or turquoise.   It will not only put good energy into your intimates, but wearing them all day long will help you feel like honoring yourself with healthy food.  Painting the inside of your drawers orange or peach will help to increase your changes of finding a mate…apricot color is referred to as “peach blossom love” this is not recommended for married people who want to stay married.
• Paint the inside of your closet a vibrant pink.  Pink is the color of compassion and love.  What better way to start your day than a happy dose of loving  yourself?

There are many ways you can use your spaces to help you achieve your desires and color is just one of them.  Keep smiling!

Smiling changes your physiology…stayed tuned to Voice Of Color Café to find out how and why it’s so important to keep smiling.

Sign up for Fawn’s e-newsletter to receive monthly Design and Feng Shui tips and treasures