Colour meaning is a challenging decision in interior architecture during the design process; however, specific meanings within different interior types have not yet been investigated. This study explored colour meaning in the context of residential interior types (eg, bedroom) under controlled conditions using 42 Munsell colours varying in hues, value, and chroma levels, with 14 adjectives (eg, comfortable, pleasant). The results demonstrate that some colours convey the same meanings (eg, vulgar) regardless of type of room; however, others (eg, beautiful) tend to require more complicated and sophisticated colour applications in different residential interiors. The study findings proved that colour meaning in RITs can be affected by all colour attributes. All colours that are named orange and red are selected for both negative and positive meanings. Colours that are named purple are selected less and only for negative connotations. The findings present an overall colour meaning guide for these residential interior types, which will be beneficial for decision makers (interior architects, designers, users) and colour researchers.

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Warmth perception is a physical, emotional, semantic, and sensorial bond between people and their environments. Although the effects of single colors have been explored, there has been no research on how paired colors affect warmth perception in interiors. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to investigate these effects of colors and color pairs. Each model was assessed by 32 participants, totaling 96 different participants assessed the color models (Red, White, Green, and their pairs) under controlled conditions, both on a seven-point semantic differential scale and through open-ended questions. The results show that both single colors and paired colors affect warmth perception in interiors. White, Green, and Red are warmer than each other, respectively. Red appears to increase and White appears to decrease the warmth perception of their pairs in interiors. Another important finding of the study is that there is no effect of color location in paired colors.

This article investigates the free associations of materials and colors in the context of interior architecture. Materials and colors rarely appear alone in interiors; therefore, in the scope of this study, the researchers explored material pairs and color pairs in addition to single materials and single colors. To elicit free associations from these interior design elements, 192 randomly selected volunteers participated in an experiment using a group of material (fabric, timber, plasterboard) and color (red, green, white) models under controlled conditions. The results contribute to an increased understanding of the associations between the concepts of materials and colors in interiors. While, each model was associated with sensory descriptors, only some models were associated with symbolic or affective descriptors. Single materials were related to different descriptors in interiors on their own, but when they were paired they were associated with fewer affective descriptors. The results showed that color pairs were always associated with all types of descriptors with an exception of red and green color pair, which was not mentioned with affective descriptors. The study findings are expected to be beneficial for interior architects, architects, product designers and researchers who want to shape and investigate a user's experience of interiors.

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