Trendy dark paint: a cautionary tale.

[QuentinQuarantino]

1. Be very sure about the colour before you commit.

1. Paint for the house you actually have and not the house you have in your idle daydreams!

Am currently on coat number FOUR of matt white emulsion trying to cover up F&B Brinjal. Everything hurts and I'm convinced you can still see the darker colour .

It made my loft bedroom feel enclosed and depressing rather than the vintage-y and chic I had pictured. Don't know WHAT I was thinking 🤷🤦.

My DM has popped in to check on the cat and water the plants, and says our bedroom looks amazing, so here's hoping we agree!

Oh god I did this years ago in our kitchen. Entirely in dark navy blue including the ceiling, door and base boards. It was like walking into a cave and was so oppressive. Like you OP lots and lots of coats of white paint!

@QuentinQuarantino

Empress That green is stunning 😍 And cupboards are less imposing than all four walls tbf!

I slept in DD's room last night and have just been in to my room with the morning sun coming in and I absolutely love it 🥰. The white looks so clean and calming and zen and the room looks SO much bigger. No regrets at all.

TooMinty No I'm not in Manchester, just up the M62 a bit!

I used to live in Prestwich and your bedroom looked really similar 😊

I'm still going to go with brinjal - and if I really regret it then at least I now know the tip about grey paint, thanks PigletJohn!

I've just finished painting my new office with Dulux Denim Drift which is a fairly dark blue. I used to have a very dark red living/dining room it is basement, so dark anyway. Loved it for a long time but went back to a light colour in the end.

Pictured is new office in Denim Drift.

@EmpressoftheMundane we've just redecorated our lounge in studio green F&B which looks very similar to that colour. I really like it

@CatherineCawood I like the look of your new office. The crisp white windo looks good against the dark blue.

@thirstyformore Thank you for the encouragement!

I've been fancying Denim Drift for my kitchen.

Bet it's lovely in your office. Dreamy.

My friend once popped out for the afternoon and came home to discover that her teenage daughter had painted her room entirely in gloss black. It took her about three days to admit that she didn't like it, and considerably longer to paint over it!

@GingerBeverage

It's expensive but Zinsser paint is brilliant for covering dark colours. I'd say you could save 2 coats with it.

Very true.

Amazing stuff. It will cover anything, I covered wallpaper with that and some joint compound and once painted you could never tell there was paper under there. Two years later and it is still holding.

I painted our large sitting room (including ceiling) a Paint and Paper Library black colour. It was quite cosy in the winter. In the summer it was depressing.

So 9 months later I repainted it a soft white. It took 45 litres of paint

@RustyLeesBogBrush Which one of their paints did you use?

I love my desk green room, btw.

I remember a colour out a few years ago called "Opium Den". It was the darkest (I think) Maroon. Would have looked great in a bedroom, not so good in a dining room in the morning light I guess. Luckily, I am not allowed to touch the paint. It is done by contractors so boring magnolia it is.

I am with the OP and thank you for the cautionary tale. If only the same had been said in the 70s about Artex or pebble dash!

I was prepared to hate it as I like everything bright & white, however, after seeing your photo, I like it! I think it worked.

I painted my youngest son's room in bright turquoise at his request. My eldest swapped rooms with him and I knew that eldest ds would find it too bright. While he was at uni I painted it duck egg blue. I swear I did 3 layers and the turquoise can still be seen through it on a bright day. I should have painted a layer of white first!

I love dark colours but it does depend on the
light/room.

Massive risk was our lounge, went from white to F&B Down Pipe but I love it! We have white shutters and white wooden floor and it makes it so much warmer in there.

Bathroom is Hague Blue but with white tiles below.

About to pain DS’s room in Vardo which is a teal colour. Bit of a risk but fingers crossed. I don’t think I can do any more dark blue/grey in my house. I do have a white kitchen!

I think there's a reason why dark walks are often broken up by a collage of frames prints. The white mount of the print, or metallic reflective frames serve to bounce light.

Just resurrecting this thread and laughing. I came across it whilst googling 'what primer to use to cover dark navy walls' 😂
OP - we have a really modest 1950's mid-terrace with not particularly high ceilings and although like the lovely dark navy in our not massive bedroom, the house doesn't suit it! We don't have a high ceiling-ed victorian house to pull it off.

Anyway, looks like I'll be shelling out for Zinniser, going for it on white paint to cover the blue or manifesting my love for the colour and leaving it!