How To Decide On Living Room Paint Colors

by Scarlett
(Houston, Texas)

Paint is the secret weapon in every decorator's arsenal; a few dollars' worth of inexpensive paint can completely transform a living room.

However, many home decorators, especially first-timers, are apprehensive about choosing paint colors for their living rooms. This is understandable, since a living room is typically the place where guests first see your home, and where the family may gather each evening for activities. A wrong choice in paint colors can make it seem as if the room is closing in on you, and that's not the mood you want to create in a space that's supposed to welcome and comfort people.

Here are a few tips to help ease anxieties about living room paint colors.

First, consider some of the colors around the home. Is your home on a coast, near mountains, in a desert or in the middle of a forest? The colors of nature that you see outside your windows can give you solid clues about interior colors that will harmonize with your environment.

Next, think carefully about those color concepts you may have learned in school art class. Lighter shades make things look larger, while darker shades make them appear smaller. This is true of everything that has color, including a living room. Suppose you have a really big living room, such as some of the "great room" styles that were popular in home design years ago. If you feel small or overwhelmed when you step into the room, then a darker color on the walls may help to humanize the space. Conversely, if the living room is about the size of a postage stamp, definitely think in terms of lighter shades.

In general, neutral tones tend to work best in most average homes. Not only do they give a room an open, airy feeling, neutral colors on the walls tend to add to the home's resale value. A neutral palette means a homebuyer can move in and decorate the home without having to repaint everything; unless they want to repaint, of course.

What's more, neutral colors in the living room make it easier to change the decor when it's time to refurbishment. Say for example that you like to change the living room decor according to the seasons. Neutral colors on the walls means you can change from the pastel colors of spring/summer to the jewel tones of fall/winter without a big painting job.

Just because you're opting for a neutral palette in lighter shades doesn't mean you're doomed to pastels, however. Nor does a neutral palette mean boring old beige on the all the walls. Think of colors such as ivory, cream and tan that are warmed by a golden undertone. Gold itself in light shades can be a more neutral background, along with green and gray.

Finally, there's the traditional way of choosing living room paint colors: Match the walls to a dominant shade in your furnishings. The best way to do this is to bring home lots of paint samples from the store, and hold them up in front of a window to get a sense of how they'll look in natural light. Compare them to your upholstery and draperies to see if they clash. Once you reach the color combination that makes you go "Ahh!" you'll have selected the paint colors for your living room.

Scarlett is a design author for House Of Area Rugs; stop by for contemporary rugs and jute rugs.