Looking for Interior Design Inspiration for Your Living Room? Start With the Right Paint Color

Repainting your living room is one of the best ways to revitalize the interior décor of your home. After all, if you’re like most homeowners, you and your family spend a lot of time in your living room, and you probably entertain guests there. It’s also the room that’s most likely to create an impression on visitors when they step through the front door, so you’ll want it to look attractive and welcoming.

Beyond that, though, the color of your living room can set the tone for the rest of your home. This is especially true in homes with open floorplans, where the living room may transition into adjoining spaces like kitchen and dining areas. This doesn’t mean that you’ll have to choose the same color for all rooms—in fact, using different colors to establish the boundaries of distinct living spaces is often a great idea. However, you’ll want the colors you select to complement each other so they create a cohesive, tasteful effect.

One of the benefits of partnering with Southern Painting when you’re ready to paint your living room is the opportunity to schedule a consultation with a paint color expert who can provide you with ideas and guide you toward options that will achieve the beautiful results you’re after. In the meantime, here are some tips that can help shape your inspiration.

How Color Sets the Stage

Choosing living room colors that suit your fancy and reflect your personal style is important, but you’ll also want to consider the ambiance created by your selections. Do your tastes lean toward warm and cozy? If so, earth tones such as beige and brown might provide the foundation for your living room color scheme. Shades of blue and gray, on the other hand, are typically considered “cool” colors, and they tend to have a soothing effect. On the opposite side of the color palette are red and yellow, which evoke energy.

Room Size Matters

Dark, bold shades like burgundy red and midnight blue may look stunning in your neighbor’s parlor. However, if your living room is small, a dark wall color can make the space feel cramped and gloomy. Generally speaking, lighter colors tend to create a feeling of more space. If you truly pine to incorporate a dark, dramatic hue in your living room color scheme, you may be able to use it on an accent wall to achieve the effect you’re after without dwarfing your living room space.

The Effects of Lighting

One of the easiest mistakes a person can make when selecting a living room paint color is overlooking the effects of lighting. A color swatch may look like the perfect shade for your interior décor when viewed under fluorescent or incandescent lights, but that same shade may appear washed-out when it’s on your living room walls and natural light floods in through your windows. Additionally, the direction your windows face can play a role in how the daylight streaming in affects the appearance of your wall color. It’s a good idea to view paint color samples at various times throughout the day and in the living room lighting you use at night, which will help you select the ideal color for your home.

We Are The Interior & Exterior Painting Experts

Southern Painting has vetted and highly skilled professional painters serving many communities throughout the Southern United States. If you live in this region and you’re planning to repaint your living room, you can’t go wrong when you team up with us! Contact us today to learn more about our color consultation services and to find out whether there’s a Southern Painting company serving your community.