The Best Colors for Therapy Offices

Colors for a therapy office are incredibly important. Your clients’ counseling sessions begin the moment they walk in your door. Understanding the best colors for therapy offices and making savvy choices for your therapy office decor will help ensure all clients feel welcomed in a calm and supportive environment when they are working with you.

On the surface, selecting from the best colors for therapy offices may sound like a simple task. However, when considering all of the items throughout your office you’ll need to choose colors for (such as furniture, pillows, and artwork), determining colors for a therapy office can feel overwhelming. 

For example, you may find it difficult to fully envision paint colors on their walls from a photo or a paint chip from the home supply store. 

Painting and decorating your office is an investment in your business. Therefore, it makes sense why you first wish to explore and develop an awareness of the best colors for therapy offices, based on existing studies and research.

The color or colors you choose can be a core component of influencing how you feel in the space and how your clients feel when they’re sitting on your couch. No pressure!

Luckily, research has been conducted on calming colors for your office. To help make more informed decisions, we’ll share the science-backed data below.

Considerations for choosing colors for a therapy office

First, when considering the colors for a therapy office, the first step is taking a look at your brand identity and making sure your therapy office design is aligned with that. 

Which therapeutic modalities, client populations, and practices is your work rooted in? 

Which colors and themes make you feel the most comfortable when you’re at work? 

Are you inspired by coastal scenes with ocean waves, or perhaps you are drawn to a space that is filled with thriving green plants?

The answers to these questions will help guide you through reviewing the best colors for  therapy offices and confidently selecting colors that suit your individual taste, ensure your comfort in your space, and bring your authentic therapy brand to life.

Envision your happy places. And, to have fun with this exercise, use a notebook to write down a list of 5-10 places, activities, or things that inspire or calm. 

Then, alongside your initial list, continue to list other related activities or things that come to mind. 

For example, if the beach is your happy place, and you want to thread that visualization into your therapy office decor, you might jot down: deep blue ocean, crashing white waves, sand, sun, clear blue skies.

Science-backed ideas on calming colors for a therapy office

According to guidance and research-based insights shared in an article on the American Psychological Association (APA) website, when you’re in the process of upgrading professional office decor, a light color scheme helps promote a sense of calm and relaxation. 

Consider greens and blues as calming colors for the office

A 2018 study tracked 443 students living in six buildings for an average of 13 months to assess color preference (hue and lightness) and the effects of color on and mood. The results showed a preference for blue interior walls, followed by green, violet, orange, yellow, and red. 

There’s also some research suggesting that cooler colors—blues and greens—are most relaxing to our eyes, due to the shorter wavelengths of these colors and how the cones in our eyes perceive them. 

Simply put, greens and blues colors are simply less tiring to the human eye to experience. For this reason, they rank among the best colors for therapy offices.

Once you’ve completed your brand identity exercise and determined the types of environments that inspire you—take influence from a core color (such as blue) and create a palette around it.

For example, if blue is a hue (the underlying base color) that you want to be connected throughout your space, sift through a color palette book to draw out the tones of blue and neutrals that compliment it. 

Using accent pieces to add color to your therapist office

The process of studying color palettes to select different tones, tints, and shades within your hue can be fun and creative exercise. 

When considering feng shui for therapy office design, light-toned blue promotes healing and growth while darker shades of blue enhance the feeling of calm and serenity.

Once you have your palette, take stock in the ways the best colors for therapy offices can come to life within your individual space. 

Consider how your office decor accents can make an impact on the feel of the space. 

Therapist office decorating ideas for using color in accent pieces: 

• Throw pillows on the couch can be a great way to connect a color scheme visually. 
• Photographs and artwork on the walls, so long as it’s not a visual distraction for your clients, is another accent that can help thread the color scheme together.
• If you’re adding plants—an excellent detail for creating a relaxing environment—the planters, or pots, are a fun way to incorporate color in a thoughtful way.

When you’re thinking about the bigger investments such as wall colors, couches, and rugs, consider neutral palettes that don’t clash with the core hue you’ve chosen. 

Earth tones, and even whites, can be great options for this reason.

When you opt for more neutral hues for large walls or large  pieces of art or furniture (such as your couch)you can enjoy more creative freedom  on the accent pieces without worrying about mismatched tints or tones. 

Lighting matters when it comes to therapy office decor

Natural light and lighting of the space can often be the most important part of putting together your professional office decor.

Observe how the light in your therapy office fills the space. 

Do you have a lot of natural sunlight that floods the whole room? 

Or do you have one window where you only get sunlight a few hours per day? 

When choosing your therapy office colors and decor, make sure that sunlight is hitting lighter tones to help reflect light throughout the entire room.

This is especially helpful for small therapy office design, where natural light can play a significant role in how your color scheme comes to life during your sessions. 

If your office doesn’t get much natural light, choosing darker wall tones can make the space feel too dark. Therefore, in rooms that receive less sunlight, it can be a good idea to consider a white or sand wall palette, which can make a substantial difference in the feeling you want the room to create.

The process of choosing colors for a therapy office can help you find a renewed intention within your practice, and let loose some creativity. 

And ultimately, being thoughtful when selecting from the best colors for therapy offices to determine the best color for your office can bring your individuality and authentic therapy brand to life. 

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