When you’ve finally made the decision to paint your home, the preliminary feeling of excitement in the decision often has a tendency to turn into a very strong feeling of being overwhelmed. While unfortunate, but true, the reason behind this is simple: picking a paint color is a major decision.

The color of the room has the capacity to completely determine whether the room is even used. If you don’t like it and don’t feel at home or comfortable in said room, you will not likely live in it. It determines how you feel in the room, how you act in the room, and even whether or not you are productive in the room (and when we’re talking home office color, this matters!).

So, let’s break this down in a helpful matter that gets more into the mood of choosing a paint color, rather than the science behind things like matte versus glossy and what brand scrubs clean better than another brand.

What Tone are You Going For?

Depending upon what mood you want to set, the color you choose will be crucial. Follow this basic guide to determine which color might be matching the way you feel:

Stimulating/Exciting/Warm: Red. Red is cozy and red is passionate. You’ll likely feel jazzed up when in a red room, so be careful, while the cozy aspect might appeal to you for your bedroom, it can also make you feel restless and unable to sleep.

Calming/Harmonious: Green. Inspire a connection to nature and an overall calming feeling with green, a very friendly color. Can supposedly improve your reading ability (might be great for a child’s bedroom!). Truly suitable for almost any room.

Cheering/Feminine: Of course: pink! Pink is young and invigorating and very feminine. Usually best associated with a young girl’s room.

Calming/Reassuring: Blue. If you want to feel peaceful and secure, blue is your color.

Yellow: We’ll break this one up because its difficult to categorize yellow. A bright yellow is happy and invigorating, and some shades of pale yellow can be the same, even cheering and uplifting. A deep yellow has the capacity to be intense and passionate. But beware, some yellows can bring you down if they look tarnished or dirty.

What Purpose is the Room Serving?

Never forget to look into what you’ll be doing in the room. Working? Cooking? Sleeping? Then think about the colors you typically associate with those. In my mind, pale blue goes with sleeping, a crisp white with cooking and a muted tan with working. But in your mind, that may be completely different. While it’s true that colors can stimulate certain feelings and emotions, colors are also very personal and the end result of what you like with what activity will always be specific to you and you alone. If red makes you think faster and work harder, it might be the very best option for your new home office!

What Does the New Color Need to Work With?

Finally, whether we think we have a blank canvas or not, we typically don’t. Is their built in heater fixture? How about a hanging chandelier that it must work with? Will you always be able to see into this room from your living room sofa if the door is open? Consider what objects are permanent fixtures in the room, as well as what kind of flow you’re creating from one room to the next. You may think that it won’t bother you to have a bright red office just off of your mellow living room if you always keep the door closed, but chances are the frustration of keeping the door closed will not be worth it, nor will the lack of spaciousness and open-ness that will be created.

Ultimately, the new color of a room should leave you feeling content. Content with a good night’s sleep, content with work completed successfully or even simple contentment with feeling at home and safe and secure. Don’t let yourself get carried away with the measuring and the paint tape and the rollers and all the effort or the complication between white and white 1 and white 2. Go with your gut and go with your heart!