It takes a bold individual to paint their walls black. Most people tend to shy away from darker walls -- and for good reason. Striking the right balance between dark and light can be difficult, and not all spaces can support this design move.
If you are considering going dark the first thing to evaluate is the amount of natural light the room receives. If it's low on natural light, dark walls are a risky idea. High ceilings are an added bonus, and will prevent the darker walls from making the room look squat. Gray and black are great for accent walls, and for highlighting collections or framed artwork.
tweick I love the antique mirrors on the dark wall. Choosing the dark paint color can be a real challenge. Can anyone tell me the paint line/color name or number? :)
InterDesign Studio I love this Benjamin Moore paint color that was used for the accent wall in my client's living rm. Before, it was all beige and the light beige fireplace mantle was lost. Now the mantle is more prominant and artwork really pops on a dark background color.
Jan J I like the DeVargas bedroom better dark. While both ways look great, the light walls make it seem less dramatic. It helped me with my thoughts of changing out the dark brown walls in my master bedroom. Thanks.
Diane Trosper While I am not working in my master right now I have been thinking bout which way to go, chocolate walls with a lot of creams and white or turquoise walls with lots of creams and whites. This settles it, even though the room is small, it has great natural light.... I am going dark!! I want it to be more romantic and cozy then light and airy.
detchison @tweick Lowes, Valspar, Mark Twain Gray Brick 4005-2c. An awesome black/gray with no blue or green tones. I have this in my bedroom and also on a living room wall. I have tried dark browns in the past and have found that they always tend to have too much red in them for me.
Try the sample size or just go for it! After all it's just paint!
kimb Last Spring my daughter and I redid her living room with Sherlock Holmes book pages and Charcoal paint. We were going for a modern day "English library. We love how it turned out. We still have a few things we want to add to the room (industrial bookshelves and some art work). We will probably tweak it a bit while I am there this trip.
deodand The walls in my living room that face the windows are grey, almost black. This keeps these walls from bouncing a lot of light onto my TV screen.
Michelle I am considering a dark grey (Benjamin Moore Amherst Grey to be exact) and I am too chicken. Building the courage up after reading this though!
Niche Interiors I say go for the Amherst Grey! What can be gained without a little risk? :) Plus, you have nice windows and plenty of light. Good luck.
Linda McMahon As a teen in the 70s I convinced my mother to paint my bedroom walls black. I had psychadelic black and white wallpaper on an accent wall. And my furniture, curtains and bedspread were fire engine red. It was a very cool room!
Michelle I DID IT! WEll sort of?! Amherst was a little too dark for me, but the next color down (Chelsea) was perfect! LOOK! Keep in mind the room is not down... I am going all white with the accessories and still need to redo the floors and add molding, but you get the idea :)
http://deuxmaison.blogspot.com/2010/12/benjamin-moore-amherst-grey-update.html
She's always switching it up :)
accented with creams and pale pinks it so romantic!
Try the sample size or just go for it! After all it's just paint!
Good Luck!
Here is the link http://kimborup.blogspot.com/2010/04/candices-living-room-project.html
http://deuxmaison.blogspot.com/2010/12/benjamin-moore-amherst-grey-update.html