Which colour for north facing lounge?

[sleepcrisis]

I've always loved F&B cornforth white, but the tester in this particular room looks dull and muddy. Not very lovely like I remember from my old house.

The room is double reception room, dual aspect, but the south facing end now leads onto kitchen extension so doesn't get much light. It's currently PBW and its still dark and gloomy. Victorian house.

I've always wanted to have the balls to go really dark in a lounge. I'm painting one of the bedrooms Hague Blue which I'm really excited about but I'm struggling to pluck up the courage to do something similar to the lounge.

What would you recommend? I like greys and hate creamy, yellower neutrals. Am considering painting the room in two different shades (separated by a wall knocked through, so like a double/triple open door way. You know what I mean.

Oh and also I can't get Fired Earth, Little Greene or anything else half decent where I live - its either Dulux or Crown Trade, anything from B&Q, or F&B.

Thanks in advance!

[ItsAllTLAsToMe]

I'm (hopefully!) about to have a north facing lounge, so I'm really interested to see what people recommend. I also don't particularly like cream / yellow neutrals, and prefer greys.

[jalopy]

I personally would steer towards warm tints as you wont be getting any direct sunlight. I think most greys and blues can look very cold in a north facing room.

I would choose something like Almond white, for an example. A neutral colour with a touch of pink. Sounds hideous but its really subtle, bright and warming.

[HousewifeFromHeaven]

I have crown duk egg classic. It's contrasted by above picture rail/ceiling white. I worried as I thought it'd be too cold but in actual fact its not at all.

[Alwayscheerful]

I can recommend Elephants Breath by Farrow and Ball for North facing rooms its a 'greige" type colour not beige and not grey similar to Laura Ashley truffle, we replaced yellowy gold walls which looked dreadful in a North facing room with oak beams. It looks stunning. Crown and Dulux trade centres will scan the colour for you and mix the paint up to match.

[Alwayscheerful]

Elephants breath is a warm colour because it has a red base.

[DewDr0p]

We've used bleached lichen 1 (Dulux, mixed to order) in a sitting room and it is a fab colour. Much better on our walls than it appears on screen (I just googled it to check I had got the right number for you)

[Pannacotta]

I've recently painted a north facing sitting room in a dark purply-brown colour and I think it looks lovely, esp at night with fairy lights on or the lights dimmed low.

We also have a victorian house, so the ceilings and skirtings are high (and painted off white) so this helps prevent it from being oppressive.
I have also used glass light fittings and a bit of sparkle in the cushions to bounce the light around.

Its a discontinued colour so cant link to it but its similar to F&B London Clay
remodelista.com/posts/antiques-vintage-almond-hartzog-gallery-in-san-francisco

[Confuseddd]

I'm having the same dilemma with a north facing lounge. The front runners are dulux desert island 6 and chalky downs 6, which is a warm neutral. Or linnet by Little Greene, or similar by Dulux if I can find one. So a pale gold or pale yellowy green. We're also going to add a lot more ambient lighting as it is gloomy in our living room. I used bleached lichen dewdrop in a north-facing room and it feels cold...

Dulux website does 3 testers for a pound.

[MildlyMonica]

marking this for future in the hope we will oe day sell our bl**dy house!

[Scuttlebug]

Embrace the darkness! If you try to add warmth or light from painting creams or neutrals in a north facing room, it will just look washed out and drab. Go for bold jewel colours instead. We painted our NF room Teal with white ceilings and woodwork. It looks dramatic at night and during the day, the colour is beautiful. You can't fight nature and light!

[sleepcrisis]

Thank for the replies.

Yes, I am inclined to embrace the darkness. Which is why I mentioned Hague Blue etc.... I love Down pipe...But I'm scared!

I ove Elephants breath, but I am inclined to think its a bit middle ground - either I should embrace the darkness completely or go really light. Maybe Something in the middle like that would look a bit drab? I'm so confused!

Pannacotta - London Clay looks good but a bit brown for me - it wouldn't go with my furniture etc. Dark wood against dark brown walls...

[Pannacotta]

WHy dont you gop with H Blue or DOwnpipe then?
Both lovely colours and would look great with wooden furniture.

It took me years to be brave enough to go for a really dark colour and I love it.

E Breath is a great colour but as you say it is a bit middle ground.

Do any of these pics make you want to go for it?
www.google.co.uk/search?q=dark+blue+walls+living+room&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=XT4QT9iuEs-UOpelkb0G&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CA8Q_AUoAQ&biw=1441&bih=656

[Pannacotta]

Btw, I should add that the brown paint is very easy to work with. I agree its not the first choice to go with dark furniture perhaps but it is a colour which goes with most others.
Our walls are a little like this
www.housetohome.co.uk/room-idea/picture/traditional-living-rooms-10-of-the-best/7#./7?&_suid=132656128218402717207755945489

[sleepcrisis]

Thos pics all make me want to go for it! I love it - but those rooms all have more natural light than mine. It's not a huge room either, it might feel even smaller? I do think though, that white woodwork, white shutters and white cupboard/shelving in the alcoves really 'pop' with a dark background and help brighten it up.

I was thinking this morning about doing the walls in pavillion grey and then the far wall (which has the window) in down pipe? But that takes me back to the issue of pavillion grey being a bit 'middle'.

hmm. If I thought it would be easy enough to just paint over it if I didn't like it then I would - but painting over down pipe would be no easy task!

[Coffeeformeplease]

We have grey walls (some Dulux shade, don't know the name, or number, it's a sort of medium grey) in the living room, up to picture rail. Above picture rail and ceiling white, chimney breast a dark red wine colour. Also white mantel in F&B Pointing, and skirting boards. Looks fabulous.
Don't be afraid to use grey, our room looks different at different times of the day, but never dull.

[Confuseddd]

Ooh, thought I'd post back to say that Little Greene Linnet looks brilliant in our north facing room.

My conclusions are that any paint you choose should have strong pigment as the north light will wash out colour. A big thumbs up to Little Greene Intelligent Matt Emulsion as well. The finish is very durable and great coverage with two coats.

[Stokey]

Mine is north-facing - long and dark wand was all painted off white we moved in - including wooden panels which go about 3ft up the wall.
We went pretty bold and did the wooden panels in F &B London Clay and the top half is F&B Babouche. It looks great! But is quite full on.

[guineapiglet]

You could make the north facing wall a feature wall if you are feeling bold enough, we had Fired Earth Cochineal on ours it was an amazing colour - buying some more for our new house goes really well with other strong colours like lapis type blues. Our other walls were neutral and we had a massive oak mirror on it - it depends if you are a red person or not - in our dining room also north facing, we had a tangerine orange colour, gorgeous, which again was a feature wall - others being neutral as well. I am definitely a red or orange person, find too much neutral very dull.

[guineapiglet]

PS you can get fired earth on line. Great paint.

[sleepcrisis]

Thanks for the comments and for coming back confuseddd. Thats good to know about Little Greene. I didn't realised thats what was the point of expensive paint - strong pigment! Thats exactly the problem we've been having with that room, the samples look so washed out.

I found a local little green stockist to my amazement and Just bought samples of Welcome Dark, French Grey and Lead colour. I am beginning t o consider the feature wall option - perhaps a dark 'down pipe' type colour on the chimney breasts and in the alcoves, basically all along that room, and the rest a light grey.

Am also worried as ceilings are quite low.

What do you lot think about painting one half of the room in a lighter colour and the other half in a really dark colour (it is a double reception room separated by a 2m-ish opening with architrave)

[sleepcrisis]

ie the most northern half go really dark and lighter in the back room (which leads to the kitchen/diner and then garden)

[Confuseddd]

I was toying with the idea of two colours Sleepcrisis, but our room doesn't have any divider so it might have looked funny. I would go for it. Are you going off grey then? Will you use colour in soft furnishings?

[sleepcrisis]

Not going off grey, it will all be grey! I think we'll go dark grey and bid grey in the two rooms. Main contenders are f&b down pipe and thenLG French grey.

As for colour, well we'll have bright (off) white wood work and cabinets in the alcoves, and fireplace, with old Victorian tiled fireplace. Lots of colourful books on the shelves. We have some quite bright (neon) prints on the wall which I think will look amazing agains v dark walls. As for soft furnishings, we have a tan leather arm chair and a mid grey (unite a warm, pinky grey) sofa. The lighter half of room will be lounge, dark half more formal, like a library/cosy snug type room. Hoping to find an old chaise lounge to reupholster for this room

Ooh am getting excited thinking about it!

[SunnyUpNorth]

We recently painted our north facing living room in F&B Oval Room Blue and I love it. I was quite nervous about venturing away from a grey/ greige bit decided to take the plunge.

It changes all the time depending on the light. We do have white panelling on the bottom half of the walls which balances it out a bit. But it has definitely made me determines to be a bit more adventurous with colour in future.

[Confuseddd]

Yes! Neon with the grey. Great idea.