SCOTS have a favourite colour, according to a new survey but it's not the inspiring blue of the saltire, nor the purple of the heather.

It's - grey.

Thirty-seven percent of people questioned for the research on behalf of sofa company DFS said they would choose grey or white ahead of every other shade when decorating their living room.

Blue was least popular in Scotland with 72 per cent associating the colour with feeling uncomfortable and discontent.

Greys and whites were associated with feeling calm and clean.

The Colour Match Experiment ,which analysed more than 1000 responses, was commissioned to explore the nature of people's psychological relationship with colour and ultimately discover how colour impacts people's mood and emotions in the home.

Elsewhere, pink triumphed (in the east of England) and blue came top in the north west of England, while Londoners also liked white.

Dr David Lewis, neuroscientist at Mindlab, said: "It's clear from the results that there's a very strong correlation between certain shades and specific emotions. What that means from a psychological perspective is that people should think carefully about their colour selections when decorating, particularly in the living room where the majority of us spend most of our time at home."