Should I paint my front door red?

This was the most reprinted thing I ever wrote for my feng shui journal, and people still ask me. Everybody has met someone who painted their front door red and swears their life changed.

Red is a strong colour in feng shui. It belongs to the fire element, and the tradition ties it to recognition, reputation and prosperity. A fresh coat of paint on a front door, in any colour, is said to bring new energy into a house, because the front door is where energy comes in.

So red can be a very good choice. For some houses it is the wrong one.

Start with the way your door faces

Stand inside your front door, looking out, with the compass on your phone. The direction you are looking in is the direction your door faces. In compass feng shui each direction has an element, and each element has its colours.

• North: black or dark blue. Water. A good door for someone looking for a new direction or a fresh opportunity.
• East and south east: green or blue. Wood. New growth, new beginnings, vitality and health.
• South: red, pink or purple. Fire. Recognition and reputation. This is where the red door is at home.
• West and north west: white, silver, copper or gold. Metal. A door for creative work.
• North east and south west: brown or yellow. Earth. Grounding and quiet, which makes for a sleepy front door unless the rest of the reading calls for it.

Then ask what you want

The colour you choose has a great deal to do with what you want from the next few years, and after 50 that answer has usually changed. The door that suited a house full of careers and school runs may be wrong for a house you now want to be calm, or creative, or full of grandchildren on a Sunday.

The door also has to live with the rest of the house. Feng shui is about balance and harmony with what surrounds you. A colour that fights the brick is doing nobody any good.

When red is the wrong answer

There is a more detailed method called Flying Stars, which works from the compass direction of the house and the year it was built. Some houses have star combinations that red makes worse. There are also directions, different each year, where it is better to keep red away.

If you have had a full reading done on your home, follow that over anything on this page.

What I tell people

If you do not like the colour of your front door, take that seriously. It is probably not suited to what you are trying to do with your life now.

Choose the colour you keep being drawn to. Check it against the list. Paint. Then pay attention for a few months. If things begin to change for the better, you chose well. If they do not, it is one door and one tin of paint, and you can change it again.

From the archive. First written for my journal years ago, and rewritten for life after 50.