Chips. Salsa. Cookies. Crackers. Donuts. Soda….Did you ever spend WAY too much money at the grocery store when you shopped while starving? Me, too. Uncontrollable urges to eat poorly trump the logic of healthy eating when you are famished in the misdst of snacks in aisle 7.

One would say this rule may apply to all avenues of shopping. Especially when shopping for products that create, dictate, change or determine your mood. Like paint color. Its ALL about mood. And so selecting a color palette when your emotions are on high alert may not be a good idea.

I recently did a color study with a group of third graders. We studied VanGogh (who was ALWAYS emotional-either high or low, but his paintings reflected his state of mind) and afterward we split the room in two. Told the one half to paint, with the 8 colors provided, a picture of your happiest day. A birthday party, a snow day, Christmas morning, etc… The other half, with the same provided colors, we told to paint a bad or sad day. Little sibling broke their brand new birthday present, their cat/dog ran away, what if the Jonas Brothers broke up?, etc.. NOT surprisingly, the children who were happy chose brighter, lighter, happier paint colors like reds, greens and yellows. Lots of trees, suns and small animals. The sad group was more inclined to use low-spirited colors like deeper tones, blues, brown, etc… Enough said, right?

I guess all I wanted to say was that when selecting a color try to do so when you are calm and not overwhelmed by the project or anything else going on. Take a run, go to the gym, sit with a good book, etc….BEFORE you color shop. Its always good to get help choosing paint color by a color consultant or designer if you start to get tense about color selection. They can be a good at being a neutral thrid party who can hear what you want without it getting too personal.

So the moral of the story? Before you grocery shop- eat. Before you type that angry e-mail- think. Before you have kids- take a vacation, you won’t be on one for a while. Before you select color- RELAX. Then try to have fun with it. After all, its just paint- the least expensive investment in redoing a room…