By CAROLINE ANN RANOIA

Recently, I have been trying to decide what color to paint my living room. Since I bought my house in 2001 my bedroom has been painted 3 times, the dining room 2 times, the foyer 4 times, my living room just once. A bright white, which I have been ok with until I read an article about mood and colors.

Without realizing it color can have a profound effect on how we feel both mentally and physically suggest Dr. Morton Walker, in his book “The Power of Color”. Further he explains that the ancient Egyptians as well as the Native American Indians used color and colored light to heal. Reading more, I realized that there is an emotional association that humans tend to have with certain colors. If you are trying to choose a color to paint a particular room, you may want to keep these factors in mind.

I have a tendency to go towards a soft pastel palette, like soft periwinkle, smooth robin’s egg blue, a quiet yellow, a silky sage green and a muted pink, it is just me, but what does it suggest?

Blue represents peace, tranquility, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, loyalty, sky, water, cold, technology, and depression. Blue can "slow the pulse rate, lower body temperature, and reduce appetite." Blue is considered a business color because it reflects reliability. In China, blue is associated with immortality.In Colombia, blue is associated with soap. For Hindus blue is the color of Krishna.
For the Jews, blue symbolizes holiness.In the Middle East blue is a protective color. But the most interesting of facts about blue is it is often considered to be the safest global color. Three of my cars have been navy blue, and they were all of my best car choices-always loyal, never broke down, I was always confident in those cars.

Black is the absence of light and therefore, of color. It represents power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, evil, anonymity, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger, underground, good technical color, mourning and death.

In speech we say "Don't let a black cat cross your path", "Black Market" or "Black Monday". In college when I was studying color and design, my professor made a profound statement and said; “you should always add a touch of black to any room because it adds depth”. She was right, even if it is the smallest item, black connects color.

Green, one of most-often cited favorite colors. It represents nature, environment, health, good luck, renewal, youth, vigor, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy, misfortune. "Its cool quality soothes, calms, and has great healing powers." It is often worn in operating rooms by surgeons. In China, green hats mean a man's wife is cheating on him. YIKES! In France studies have indicated green is not a good color choice for packaging either. In India green is the color of Islam.

In Ireland green has religious significance (Catholic). In some tropical countries green is associated with danger. Green was never one of my favorite colors, but I have to say, my dining room is painted a pretty silver sage color and it never gets old.

Orange not one of my favorite colors, orange is a combination of yellow and red. Orange is considered a warm color like red, but to a lesser extent; orange expresses energy, probably why I am not into it. A good quality of orange is that it has luminous qualities and has been used for attention-getting purposes, such as on caution signs. Orange brings up memories of fall leaves, pumpkins and Halloween. It symbolizes balance, warmth, enthusiasm, vibrancy, flamboyancy, and is demanding of attention.

Purple reminds me of sunsets on my porch. It represents royalty, spirituality, nobility, ceremony, mystery, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment. Purple is considered an exotic color. Purple dye was made from the mucous gland of a snail. It required thousands of snails to yield 1 gram of dye causing it to be a color only nobles could afford. Today purple is a trendy color targeting creative types. (maybe why I use a lot of it in my pastel drawings).

Red, ah red, as in the red, red rose. It is the color that we pay the most attention to. It is the warmest and most energic color in the spectrum.

We associate red with love, valentines, danger, desire, speed, strength, violence, anger, emergency exit signs, stop signs and blood.

Red can evoke a fight-or-flight response, raise blood pressure and make the heart beat faster. I don’t think the color red would be a good color of choice for psychiatric wards, prisons or a hospital. In China red symbolizes celebration and luck, used in many cultural ceremonies that range from funerals to weddings. In India red is the color of purity (used in wedding outfits).

Yellow the color of my kitchen, represents joy, happiness, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, gold, philosophy, dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal, spirituality and inspiration. Think about the yellow rose, it is a symbol of friendship, less passionate or less threatening than red ones.

In Asia yellow is sacred, and imperial.

White is what we see when all colors come together in perfect balance.

It represents reverence, purity, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, birth, winter, snow, good, sterility, and marriage.

We use white in figures of speech like "pure as the driven snow" or "a white lie." We associate white with the good guy in old western movies.

In Japan, white carnations signify death. In eastern cultures white symbolizes coldness and sterility.

Second thought, I will keep the living room white for a few more months. To me it represents a place where I can perfect my balancing act. It is simple and clean. On a bright sunny summer day it is pure. On a cold, grey, gloomy winter morning, it is peaceful. I think I’ll stick with the innocents of white.