Paint colours for a large rectangle living room

10 years ago

We have a large living room that we are just about to paint. We have ideas but I'm no designer and could use some advice. Firstly some info about the room:

- one floor below ground level with a window and access to outside steps on one side (facing west)

- two floors above ground level on the other with a Juliette balcony and window (facing east)

- Long and narrow 7m / 4m approx

- Direct sunlight from the east in the morning, a little less from the west in the evening. Has a staircase running down into the room then another under it running to the floor below.

- has a working fire (north facing wall)

- Bare floorboards that we need to decide how we fix up i.e. sand them, paint them etc.

We are thinking about going with Farrow and Ball (or a copy of it) Drawing Room Blue on the south and west facing walls, and the chimney breast on the north facing wall. The rest of the room will be a white of some sort (but what I don't know!).

We have an eclectic mix of antiques, Chinese furniture, a sofa, chaise lounge, armchairs, my father in law's art, a huge cow hide rug. I was planning on accenting with neon e.g. cushions, throws and maybe painting the coffee table.My concern is clutter and it being too dark with the antiques.

How does the proposed paint colours sound? Is this madness? What would you do with a space with so much potential.

All comments welcome!

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Comments (4)

Tems
10 years ago
Charming and yes lots of potential.

I'm inclined to say paint all the walls white of some sort, without accent walls, including chimney breast, and cover a lot of the wall space with art in a sort of deliberately haphazard way(lose the shelves).

If possible sand and lacquer the floors do not paint them.

Im not entirely sure what neon colors would accomplish here...
emmarene9
10 years ago
I like the color but I fear it is too dark. You have to ask yourself how important is light to you.

There is nothing cohesive here. I see four upholstered pieces. Each a different color and texture. You need design help.
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curlybex
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
I think I'd do the floors first hun. And I second Tems saying sand and lacquer. If you choose the right colour it will pull in the antiques. Unless you've stacks more dust generating building work going on - then leave the floor till it's all done.

You can pull the different upholstery together without re-upholstering for now by unifying with one natural colour/tone cushions on all of them, and curtains/blinds, perhaps.

Gallery wall of all the pics would look fab.

I'd also keep wall colours very light but warm to start. You have a lot of naturals in there (cowhide rug, chaise longue, lampshades, trunk, furniture) so DO have a colour base to leap off. I worked out the colour range that worked for me by watching Houzz, and saving the pics of the rooms I liked as I also was clueless. I eventually saw a pattern of colours (for furniture, floors and walls) that I was continually drawn to. I think I had about 6 or 7 testers in the colour range that I had identified (I used a F&B tester sheet coupled w Houzz pics that I'd saved, marked the colours I liked, took it to B&Q and matched it up as best I could with cheaper testers, blobbed them on the walls and watched for a couple of weeks).

So far as the different lights the room gets through the day goes, my sitting room is the same. I painted tester squares of all my fave colours on walls at each end of the room and watched them through the day. I found some looked AWFUL in evening light, and marvellous in morning light, and vice versa. Couldn't use them. I found a couple that worked well in all lights.

You can zone the room using the furniture. The room is maybe big enough for two sitting areas - one around the TV, one nearer the french doors? Maybe clear the access to the French doors?

It might also work quite well if all the fitted wood (stairs, window/door frames/fitted shelves) was the same - ie either painted white, or kept wood colour. Keep the walls a light warmer colour, off white, not white. Just a bit of a brain dump. :-)
iheni
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks all. A couple of responses:

- @Tems We have a lot of wall space for art so we have a gallery already which is great.

- @emmarene it is dark but we plan on having down lighting on the wall and lots of lamps to light up the room. The furniture will eventually be upholstered in a lighter color (for the armchairs). Also a lot of excess furniture will be removed from the room. We're doing the whole house so it's a dumping ground at the moment.

- @curlybex (hi!) Floors will come last as we have lot's of other stuff going on but either way they will be lighter. The two long walls are already gallery walls with one wall also using Ribba shelving to put pictures on so we can mix and match. We've lived with color testers for a while now and I've moved on to painting large pieces of cardboard in our preferred colours so I can test it in different places and against different furniture.

The room is already zoned with sitting and TV area around the fireplace with the rug in front. The end with the french doors is desk, reading and play areas for my little one. Access to the french doors will be cleared once we can move furniture back into the rest of the house (which is also being renovated and decorated).

We're looking at a warmer white for the other walls and doors etc (Wimborne F&B).

And yes, we have a dulux store who matches F&B colours which makes a huge difference.

Have to say, on a gloomy day like this I am questioning the blue but I don't think I could live with all white walls. Ah decisions, decisions...