The Different Properties of Coloured Bathroom Mood Lighting

Posted by Ollie Lyon on Thursday 30th May 2019, updated on Wednesday 11th May 2022

The Jury’s still out about whether or not Chromotherapy (also known as colour therapy) can actually be scientifically proven to be beneficial. Proponents claim that colours can affect our moods and our bodies ‘energy’, and the right choice of colour in a light can improve moods and even cure certain ailments. Little evidence has been found to prove the back up the latter claim, but can it still boost our moods?

It has been suggested that colour, including the colour of rooms, can induce a mood change but the effect is only temporary. Personally I’ve always thought colours to be a subjective thing, affecting people in different ways and taking into account the memories that each person has associated with that colour. One person could love red, reminding them of their mother’s red dress. Another could hate it, associating it with the colour of a room of a particularly scary relative that they hated visiting as a child.

Below I take a look at some of the most popular colours used for coloured bathroom mood lighting and the apparent properties and benefits they have.

Red

Red is said to be stimulating, dynamic and energizing. It’s a colour that’s long been thought of as one that causes strong emotions and creates feelings of excitement or intensity. This excitement also extends to the suggestion that people do things faster under red light. Red also evokes feelings of love, passion and warmth. It’s a sexy and fierce colour.

For its energising properties, red can be a colour you could try to give yourself an energising boost in the morning.

Orange

Orange also promotes feelings of excitement and energy, but tinged with enthusiasm and creativity. It’s a warm colour that is often associated with the autumn season, inspiring memories of falling leaves and the warm autumn sun.

Yellow

The problem with yellow is that it can be quite hard on the eyes. Try staring at a bright yellow wall and you’ll feel your eyes getting fatigued, much like staring at the sun. It is said to promote positivity, confidence, strength and cheeriness. On the other hand yellow can also create feelings of anger and frustration. A yellow room may cause people to be more likely to lose their temper. As such I wouldn’t exactly call it the right light for a relaxing bathroom environment. Light yellows have been shown to work bathrooms, but personally I believe that colour is more suited to the kitchen. As with all the colours mentioned here, the effect on our mood can vary depending on the intensity of the colour.

Green

Green symbolises nature; promoting feels of tranquillity, balance and harmony. Green has often been used as the colour for a room due to its calming effect. There is a theory that the term ‘green room’, used in theatres and on television, got its name to calm and sooth the actors before they went out on stage. Whatever the origin, green lighting is thought to help relieve stress – the perfect attribute for a bathroom!

Blue

Another calming and soothing colour, blue is said to evoke feelings of serenity and peace. On the other hand blue can also create feelings of sadness. Again, it all depends on the shade of the colour, but a lot of bathrooms tend to be blue precisely for its soothing qualities.

Purple

Purple is said to be full of wisdom and spirituality, and also gives feelings of royalty and wealth. My partner’s favourite colour is purple, and wearing anything that’s purple just makes her feel far better about herself. So maybe there is something in that sense of ‘feeling like royalty’.

How do you get these colours in your bathroom?

You can buy bathroom mood lighting from bathroom suppliers, lighting and home stores. The majority of them will come in the form of LED strip lights that you can install around your bathroom, but on the more expensive spectrum something like the Phillips HUE will allow you to control the colour and intensity of the lighting to your hearts degree. You can even get showerheads that change the colour of your water.

Natural Light

Although we’re largely talking about artificial bathroom lighting here it’s worth mentioning just how much a good source of natural lighting can improve the mood. Think about how glum we can feel in a darkened environment, especially during the winter months when our bodies don’t get as much natural light as they do throughout the rest of the year. A sizeable window that lets in a good amount of natural light will light up your bathroom without the need to turn on artificial lights, and having the sun beaming into the bathroom helps pep you up.

Of course, a source of natural light isn’t possible if you’ve’ve got a bathroom in the middle of your home. For those that do have windows though, make the most of them by avoiding blocking the natural light.

Everyone I asked whilst doing the research for this article seemed to have a different opinion on how a particular colour made them feel, so it’s really worth experimenting to see how a particular colour will make you feel. The colour properties above aren’t set in stone, but they are what the majority of people report feeling in reaction to coloured lighting.

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