Choosing the Right Colour Scheme for Your Living Room

Painting is a job that some people dislike intensely because of the mess and the time required. However, it needn’t be that way. Using a paintsprayer can be the easiest way to achieve a smooth finish and reach those inaccessible spots in a much faster time than using a brush and/or roller. If you have any questions, visit Paintsprayer.co.uk to find out more. 

Despite the upheaval to the home, repainting can be a great way to put your individual stamp on a newly-purchased home or freshen up your old one. A living room is one of the most frequented rooms in the home and so will see a lot of wear and tear. How can you go about choosing the right colour scheme for this area? 

Factors to consider when choosing paint colours for the living room 

Your personal preferences are key to choosing the right colour palette for your living room. Apart from your personal tastes, there are other factors to consider so you don’t later regret your choice. These include: 

• Room dimensions – living rooms with higher ceilings can take darker colours while lighter-coloured paints can create an illusion of space in smaller rooms. 
• Location – rich colours like damson can give north-facing rooms warmth while rooms receiving a lot of light need cooler tones. 
• Furnishings – consider your furniture, artwork and ornaments to ensure that they match the paint and/or to accent a pre-existing colour. 
• Use of the living room – paint colour can create a different mood according to whether the room is primarily used in daytime or the evenings. 
• Style of furniture – black works well with contemporary furniture while yellows and oranges contrast well with more traditional mid-tone coloured wood. 

How can you make your living room stand out? 

Instead of painting the entire living room the same colour, you could accent a certain shade. However, you should remember to take the proportions into account. A secondary colour should never make up more than a third of the painted area while an accented wall tone should be no more than 10% otherwise it will be too dominant. 

If accenting a wall and/or the woodwork seems too adventurous, why not use tonal pairings? Using slightly different shades of the same colour can add interest to your living space without being too overpowering. 

Ceilings are traditionally painted white so painting it a pastel shade can make your living room totally unique. This colour can continue down to the level of the picture rail combined with a warmer, darker shade on the lower parts of the wall. 

Like ceilings, floorboards are often neglected. These can also be painted to give your living room a whole new look as long as you ensure that the proportions are right. 

Being such an important communal area, you should pick a colour scheme for your living room that you like rather than one to impress others. Remember that the shade you pick will impact the mood of the room and you might have to live with your choice for years.