Need advice on decorating spare rooms

[Pennies]

I have got two spare bedrooms that I want to decorate. They are both either side of a corridor and are almost identical in size and layout. One is brighter than the other due to the way that the house faces.

When decorating them should I go for:

a) matching colours (i.e. both blue but slightly different shades of blue)

b) contrasting colours (I'm thinking blue in one room and red in the other)

c) complimentary colours (I'm thinking blue in one room and soft greens in the other)

BTW when I say blue / red / green I'm not talking block colour schemes just accents, highlights and options for curtain / wallpaper patterns.

The main bedroom is neutrals and DDs room is pukey pinky purply (bleugh) so I wanted something to be a bit different to that.

Any help much appreciated.

[ramonaquimby]

how fab to have 2 spare rooms! I wouldn't have contrasting colours - bit matchy matchy. Blues and greens sounds nice. Although not sure about green in a bedroom?

[shootfromthehip]

Complimentary colours IMO. A nice duck egg blue in one and a sagey green in the other for example- would go with your neutrals too. Oh what fun- I have no cash to decorate but I do love it.

[Pennies]

I know, we're very lucky however to date they've just been dumping grounds and I want to try and harness the chaos and turn them into something altogether more welcoming!

WRT green I was thinking a soft sage green with cream.

For reds I was again thinking a warm cream base with red / gold / orange pattern and accessories.

[Pennies]

SFTH - yes duck egg blue was what I was thinking and am in a quandary as to whether to have it with white furniture (a la New England look) or a rich dark wood.

The bed in the other room is a beautiful warm oak so that was why I was drawn to warmer shades in there. I can see that having contrasting colours might be a bit pukesome tho.

[ramonaquimby]

Duck egg and white might look a bit cold I think. Is there carpet on the floor or boards?

[Pennies]

There is really horrible hard carpet on the floor. Not sure if the budget allows for new carpet. I'm guessing that if it did I'd probably go for a neutral carpet. Or cream but it gets so dirty though doesn't it.

Good point about it looking a bit cold, although pics in those magazines it always looks lovely, but then there's warm sun streaming through the windows rather than the bleak drizzles that drips outside on days like today.

[Pennies]

Here's a duck egg blue (or is it actually a sage, hmmmm) and white combo... Blue or green?

[Pennies]

Doh! Try again