dark room - colour inspiration please

[gutzgutz]

We moved into a new house (owned) and are slowly decorating. Next on the list is the old kitchen room (they had a large extension which houses the new kitchen) so this room is a sort of walk through/ study room which also houses the washing at times.

It 's quite dark and really not that nice (I would love to put skylights but can't afford).

So I was thinking a light grey or possibly a yellow which we can carry through to the kitchen which the room leads onto. Or Possibly pale blue?
Would grey/ blue be too dark though? The kitchen itself is south facing with a big window.

And flooring. The kitchen has tiles (again not my taste) and leads through to laminate in the dining area and carpet in the sitting room but (dining/ sitting all in one). Thinking amtico flooring to match the dining room but should I try and match the hall flooring (will eventually be wood, currently mingling purple carpet!). I'm really stuck with ideas.

Thanks and sorry for the essay.

[Lottie999]

I have also just purchased a house & I knew that I wanted to paint my walls grey ..... Well I made the trip to B&Q .... So many shades af grey AGHHHH!

After much debating I went with a shade called 'Grey Morn' by Valspar ( B&Q have a stand & mix the paint up ) The colour itself is light & airy, it's so light it could be mistaken for a pale blue shade, it's very different looking & all my visitors have commented & its attracted lots of compliments. I did both bedrooms in this colour then I went on to do my whole house in the same shade except kitchen & bathroom, it looks beautiful. I made the mistake of purchasing a mid grey for my kitchen ( small kitchen not much natural light ) the mid grey looked too dark, didn't like it ( used Dulux kitchen 'chic shadow' ) the overall effect looked very dark & depressing.

I would definitely recommend Valspar, it's £47 for 5 litres, it's not cheap but the overall effect is stunning, it covers like a dream & it looks very smooth, it really is a pleasure to use. I found that the Dulux didn't spread as well. I used the Valspar gold tin which is primer & paint in one. Usually I'm a person that likes change & I really cannot see me tiring of this shade soon. Nip into B&Q head over to the Valspar counter & there's so many greys it's overwhelming... Good luck & congratulations on purchasing your property : )

[ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba]

Let me start with that I don't like grey, sorry!

We had a dark dining room in previous house (walls on 3 sides plus it opened into conservatory so hardly any direct light) and we went with Roasted Red from Dulux . this was 9 years ago so might not be available - it was a just a bit deeper than pillar box red, kind of like ketchup colour but without the orange tinge.
It looked awesome, warm and lovely. Totally brightened up the room, and weirdly made it look bigger!

Pale, cool colours and white are big mistakes for dark areas, they end up looking dingy and dusty.
if you don't like red go with sunflower yellow, grass green or even orange or pink! Something bold and daring will totally transform it into a bright, friendly area!

[ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba]

Floors - we've just found porcelain tiles that look and feel like wood!
Many different colour finishes are available from sunbleached whitewash look through ash, pine, oak etc

We are having an extension this year and downstairs open plan kitchen-diner-living area will have underfloor heating (90 square metres!) and we had resigned to not being able to have wooden flooring.
But now we can! Hurrah! I'm ridiculously excited. We are going for aged oak. I can not wait.

Search for "wood porcelain tiles". They are just wonderful

[gutzgutz]

Oh thanks all. Decisions decisions.... Hadn't heard of wood porcelain tiles so will google. They could work for hall too.
I love original tiles in hallways but this house has had many lovely original features taken out

[ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba]

Look on Pinterest too. It will be hard not to fall in love with them!