Color choices play an important role in our daily lives. Clothes we wear cars we drive and outdoor furniture we select. Our choice of one color over another color may have something to do with the way color makes us feel. Outdoor furniture colors reflect the natural colors we commonly find in our environment.
For this reason, color choices in outdoor parks, municipal pools and home patios have a large impact on the comfort level. Just visiting a national or local park might bring up certain feelings of joy, peace, and relaxation because of the association of fun with outdoor recreation. Also colors can make a person feel relaxed, make a person happy, and even increase one's appetite.
For example, parks have plenty of beautiful trees, grass and natural colors such as brown, green, black, even the blue sky is part of the canvas of colors. Blue brings out feelings of calm, peacefulness and stability. Blue is often used on websites and in business because it also represents reliability and loyalty. Green is also a good soothing, calming color. It represents nature, good health and cleanliness.
Some studies have suggested certain colors just relate to people in a special way.
Let’s look at some of the theories.
Yellow - Yellow portrays the comfort of sunshine and communicates happiness. People feel expansive and welcomed. Yellow improves concentration and increases metabolism. The color yellow is perfect for umbrellas, pool furniture, playground equipment and patio furniture.
Red - Red is an intense color that could signal danger, power and strength. The color red has also been shown to raise blood pressure and speed up heart rate. This color is also associated with love, sensuality and energy. Many companies and sports teams have red in their logos because it causes attention. Many times picnic tables with be ordered in red and burgundy because it is known to increase appetite, it is a good choice for outdoor dining. Checkers, Arbys, MacDonalds, and Sonic all used Red for tables.
Orange - Orange is a warm color with the energy of red and the cheerfulness of yellow. Orange brings out feelings of happiness, enthusiasm, creativity, success, and determination. Shades of orange can be a great color choice for family and living rooms. However, orange tones may feel unpleasantly hot. This color is used sparingly for outdoor furniture for its brightness.
Purple - Purple is the color of royalty, sophistication and romance. Many people have feelings of power, ambition and wisdom associated with this color. Light purple is more romantic and nostalgic while dark purple can bring out frustration and sadness. Lighter versions of purple such as lavender and lilac can be a great color choice some restaurants that want to stand out. Planet Smoothie is one such company.
Pink - Pink is a feminine color that may mean romance and bring out feelings of tranquility and passiveness. Pink is rarely used for outdoor furniture, however it will sometimes be used for logos as a contrast with black for a striking impression.
Black - Black usually sometimes relates negative feelings of dread, evil, death and mystery but can also mean power, authority, prestige and elegance. Black is a great accent color. Cities use black site amenities as it limits the appearance of dirt for trash cans and is traditional stately for street benches and trash bins. A recent visit to New York revealed black picnic tables uses at the ferries to the Statute of Liberty.
White - White usually signifies purity, goodness, cleanliness, simplicity and innocence. White creates a relaxing atmosphere. Outdoor furniture is complimented by using white furniture at swimming pools for plastic stacking chairs and white chaise lounges. White umbrellas sometimes grace the beach to provide cool shade. White Sunbrella fabric is beautiful against the white sand and blue waters of the ocean or your local community HOA swimming pool.
Brown - Brown is a natural color found in earth, wood, and stone. Brown is a warm color that represents wholesomeness and earthiness. The color brings out feelings of stability and dependability. Browns are found in wood picnic tables, brown plastic coated furniture. As fall approaches the backdrop of our national parks constantly turn shades of brown to everyone’s delight.
Green – Green is the color of life, prosperity and healthiness. Today green is a “icon” that means environmentally friendly, Eco-Friendly, Earth Friendly and the rest of the marketing terms for being responsible humans to our planet. The history of money in the US is green in color creating terms like “green backs”. Outdoor furniture is often clad in green to blend in with its surroundings. Green benches, green trash receptacles, green playground equipment are some of the most popular selections of cities for their site amenities. Color names like hunter green, dark green, grass green and forest green are very popular for various picnic table styles, market umbrellas, patio furniture and pool furniture.
These colors are so common that people can relate to many of the characteristics listed. However, there are many colors that are complimentary and have interesting uses.
Consider these:
Alice Blue Antique White Aqua Aquamarine
Azure Beige Bisque Black Blanched Almond Blue Blue Violet Burly Wood
Cadet Blue Chartreuse Coral Crimson
Cyan Dark Blue Dark Cyan Dark Golden Rod Dark Gray Dark Green
Dark Khaki Dark Magenta Dark Olive Green Dark orange Dark Orchid Dark Red Dark Salmon Dark Sea Green
Dark Slate Blue Dark Slate Gray
Dark Turquoise Dark Violet Deep Pink
Dim Gray Dodge Blue Fire Brick
Floral White Fuchsia Ghost White
Gold Golden Rod Gray Green Green Yellow Honey Dew Hot Pink Indian Red
Indigo Ivory Khaki Lavender Blush
Lawn Green Lemon Chiffon Light Cyan
Light Golden Rod Yellow Light Grey
Light Green Light Pink Light Salmon
Light Sea Green Light Sky Blue Light Slate Blue Light Slate Gray Light Steel Blue Light Yellow Lime Lime Green
Linen Magenta Maroon Medium Aqua Marine Medium Blue Medium Orchid Medium Purple Medium Sea Green
Medium Slate Blue Medium Spring Green Medium Turquoise Medium Violet Red Midnight Blue Mint Cream
Misty Rose Moccasin Navajo White
Navy Old Lace Olive Olive Drab
Orange Orange Red Orchid Pale Golden Rod Pale Green Pale Turquoise Pale Violet Red Papaya Whip
Peach Puff Peru Pink Plum Powder Blue
Purple Red Rosy Brown Royal Blue
Saddle Brown Salmon Sandy Brown
Sea Green Sea Shell Sienna Silver
Sky Blue Slate Blue Slate Gray
Snow Spring Green Tan Teal Thistle
Tomato Turquoise Violet Violet Red
Wheat White White Smoke Yellow
Yellow Green
