Choose a room, and the part of the house it lies in, and this guide sets out the colours that popular Vastu suggests for that room and that direction. It keeps the modern charts apart from the classical texts, shows where the charts disagree with each other, and ends with the practical points about light and paint that matter more than any chart. Nothing is scored and nothing is predicted.
The classical position is silence
In the verses of the Brihat Samhita’s house chapter that we read, and in Acharya’s summary of the Manasara, there is no rule that says to paint a given room, or a room in a given direction, a given colour. That statement is about the sources we read: the Mayamata, the Samarangana Sutradhara and later manuals may say more, and anyone who cites one for a colour rule should name the chapter. The Manasara summary does mention colours of the ground in its soil tests, but that is a different matter, tied to the classes of society, and has nothing to do with wall paint.
So the result always has a row labelled Classical, and it always says the same thing. Everything below it is modern.
Where the modern charts come from
The usual chart rests on two older ideas that have been merged. The first is the five elements. A later scheme gives water to the north-east, fire to the south-east, earth to the south-west, air to the north-west and space to the centre, and each element has colours: blue or black for water, red or orange for fire, yellow or brown for earth, green or grey for air, white or sky blue for space. The second is the planets, each with a colour in Jyotish: the Sun orange or red, the Moon white, Mars red, Mercury green, Jupiter yellow, Venus white or pink, Saturn dark blue or black.
The planets are then tied to directions, and here the tradition disagrees with itself. One scheme, used for the nine planets around a temple or a home puja, places Mercury in the north and Jupiter in the north-east. The other, the classical directional strength used in chart reading, places Mercury and Jupiter in the east and the Moon and Venus in the north. The directions article sets out both columns. A colour chart built on one of them inherits that disagreement, which is why the tool shows the colours each scheme would give for your direction, side by side, instead of choosing.
What the tool shows
You choose a room, a direction, how bright the room is and whether you may paint. The result has these parts.
The room palette is the popular suggestion for that kind of room, taken from the room-by-room colour guide, with its practical note. The direction colours come from two modern charts that this site publishes, the one in the room-by-room guide and the one in colours as Vastu remedies, shown separately, with the disagreement that teachers record for that direction. For a corner, the element scheme is shown as well. The two planet schemes are shown for any direction, with the colours each would give.
The tool then compares the lists. It reduces each colour name to a family, so that pale yellow and light yellow both count as yellow, and tells you which families appear in both the room palette and the direction charts. If none do, it says so plainly: the chart is soft enough that this is common, and the room palette and your own taste are the better guide.
Finally it adds the colours popular guides advise caution about for that room, with the reason given, which is mostly that dark colours make a room smaller and heavier, and it adds practical advice that depends on the light you chose and on whether you rent.
How to read the result
Treat the charts as a palette to browse. A colour that appears in both the room palette and the direction charts is the easiest choice if you like it. A colour that appears only in one is no worse. Where the charts disagree with each other, they are telling you that the tradition has not settled the matter, and you are free to choose. No colour here is said to bring or prevent anything, and this site does not use fear to sell a paint.
If your walls are already a colour the charts discourage, you do not need to repaint. A throw, a rug or curtains in a preferred colour, a clean wall and a warm lamp do more than a coat of paint, and the page on remedies without demolition explains how to weigh any remedy.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Are Vastu colours in the classical texts?
We found no wall colour for any room or direction in the Brihat Samhita's house chapter or in Acharya's summary of the Manasara. The colour charts are modern, built on the link between directions, elements and planets.
↳ Why does the tool show two direction charts?
Because popular sources differ and no single chart is the standard. This site publishes two, in the room-by-room guide and in the remedies guide, and the tool shows both with the variants teachers record, so you can see how soft the charts are.
↳ Which planet scheme should I follow?
Neither is a building rule. One places the planets around a temple or puja, the other is the directional strength used in chart reading, and they agree only for Mars and Saturn. The tool shows both for your direction and does not choose between them.
↳ Do I have to repaint to follow the chart?
No. The chart is a modern convention. Cushions, curtains, a rug or a picture in a preferred colour are enough for anyone who likes the idea, and a rented home can stay as it is.
↳ Can a colour affect my luck or health?
No text we read says so, and nobody has shown that a colour matched to a compass direction changes a household's fortune. Colour changes how bright and warm a room feels, and choosing it by light and use is the sensible way.