What colour should I repaint my home? Ask a psychologist

By Geoff Beattie, Professor of Psychology, Edge Hill University

I knew there would be an argument. The room had gone eerily quiet. “Isn’t it about time,” my partner began, “that we freshened this place up a little?”

There was a long pause as she glanced around the white walls of our kitchen – which, I’ll admit, do have a little bit of paint chipping off them. Then she dropped a glossy magazine on the table – World of Interiors, I think. I was trying not to look.

My partner is passionate about colours and knows the names of all the different shades. I don’t – but I am a psychologist, and that gives me some skin in this colour game too.

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