Oh dear! More things we didn’t know about the colours we paint our houses

Sorry to keep coming back to this, but you might have seen my previous newsletter about green paint in bedrooms, and how it’s supposed to promote…well, let’s say, night-time exercise. Bad luck for the owner of this bedroom.

And as we come to Easter it struck me that all the seasonal symbols – eggs, rabbits – have the same thing in mind. I guess I am just too pure to have made the connection before.

But it got me thinking more about colours. Did you know that the colour of placebo pills makes them more or less effective? “Hot-colored” pills work better as stimulants and “cool-colored” pills – like blue – work better as depressants. In 2000, Glasgow Council installed blue street lighting in some areas and apparently crime dropped. And blue is traditionally the best colour to keep witches away – even the Egyptian Pharaohs wore blue for protection against evil.

Not surprisingly, people who are cold prefer warm colours like red and yellow, while people who are hot prefer cool colors like blue and green. Women prefer warm colours and men prefer cool colours. (See, I was right! I tried to tell the wife I have a warm personality! Did she listen?)

What has this to do with decorating, you ask? Well, we sold out of green paint so now I’m trying to come up with good sales points for all the blue we have in the store-room.

But – I’m being really serious now (it’s an effort) – we’ve distracted each other long enough from the Spring Cleaning now. My painters are equally good at applying any colour you like. If it’s time for a fresh coat of paint, give my wife Holly a call. She’ll talk to you, even if she’s not talking to me now.

All the best

Geoff Parvin