Soothing Colors for Babies

Today's guest post comes from Kelly Berg, IIDA, IACC-NA, an interior designer, color consultant, and style expert. Her website is Arte Styling. Kelly is a woman of many talents - from set decorating for TV and film, to recipe development, to event decorating, to residential and commercial design work. She recently rediscovered her passion for color and become a member of the IACC- NA.

Soothing Colors for Babies

I recently received my new Baby & Child catalog from Restoration Hardware. Cute, but where is the color? I was hoping to see some great new color palettes - maybe some punchy tangerine? Shimmering turquoise? Apple green?
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Instead I got “cloud” (a pale sky blue), “petal” (a soft pink), “silver sage” (a soft grey-green), and “bisque” (a creamy neutral.) Not bad colors, but couldn’t Restoration Hardware have come up with something a little more original? Sure, they brought in a very sophisticated chocolate-y brown to change things up, but aren’t these still the same baby colors we’ve been seeing for years and years? Am I the only one a little bored with the colors in this “new” collection of baby goods?
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Restoration Hardware says it’s a soothing color palette for your little ones. But is it really soothing? Do we really know that pastel pinks and blues create a soothing environment for infants?


I was curious what sort of information was out there regarding the topic, so I did a little google search on “soothing colors for babies.” And, surprise, surprise - everyone seems to want “soothing” colors for baby. According to popular opinion (nothing scientific), “soothing” colors are pastels- soft yellows, blues, pinks and greens. Here are a few other babies’ rooms that celebrate pastel colors:
Again - not bad design or bad colors. They have sort of a “soothing” feel, right?

I continued googling and and uncovered recent research published in Wired magazine, suggesting that adults may not even see color the same as infants, making it even more difficult for us to determine what colors may or may not be “soothing” for babies.
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Another recent study from the Smith Kettelwell Eye Research Institute reports that
“Infants' color vision is not likely to be as rich and sensitive as adult color vision since the receptors and nerves in the eye that are most sensitive to color (again, in the fovea) are not yet mature. Thus, infants may not be able to distinguish very subtle color differences (like distinguishing between red and reddish-orange, or between very subtle pastel colors).”(source)

So all the “soothing” pastel colors we think are perfect for baby may not even be differentiated by an infants’ eye? Perhaps more vibrant nursery designs might be more interesting for baby?

What do you think? Do you like Restoration Hardware’s new Baby and Child catalog? Which nursery designs do you think might be better for babies? Is “soothing” really what babies need? Or is it better to add a bit more stimulation using more saturated colors?