Crap at picking paint colours

[Tworoads]

I think this is an odd subject even before I write it down so I don’t blame you if you want to skip it 🙈
I am trying to pick a colour for my north facing living room which looks depressing in February. I’ve got several tester pots and my living room walls look stripey! I can’t make up my mind what to do! Aggghhhhh help!
My couch is burnt orange colour. Curtains are white background with an ochre/grey pattern (small). I can’t afford to change either but the room needs some brightening up.
Ive got a few days off next week and I want to make it look spring/summer, bright and happy.

If you are still reading this, what would you choose?

Are you able to take photos of the sofa and curtains? My first instinct would be to go for a green colour with ochre/burnt orange.

Green shades

www.littlegreene.com/paint/colour/green

I like Hidey hole

www.littlegreene.com/hidey-hole

Acorn

www.littlegreene.com/acorn

Tabernacle

www.littlegreene.com/tabernacle

My first thought was a green

With that sofa and those curtains go dark grey. I’m a fan of dark colours because everything you put against them will look good. I have a NE facing living room painted dark blue . With lamps and accessories it looks great in all seasons.

Id go for a nice off white and have the sofa and curtains as accent colours. Maybe bring it all together with a rug, lampshades etc.

Like this. I find pale colours more dull and cool than rich dark colours.

Absolutely farrow and ball setting plaster. It’s a gorgeous colour and really makes the room cosy. Get it in the kitchen emulsion to make the light bounce around a little better.

Forest green

I’m useless at this as well, which is why I clicked in, but I think sage green is recognised to be a very calming colour, and it could go well with your sofa and curtains?

I'm the same! I agonise over it but ultimately I'm sure whatever you do will look nice. Too much choice can be overwhelming at times.

Green is popular and goes with most other colours.
Maybe have a play with canva and the dulux Visualizer app (even if not using dulux to give an idea)

Oh WOW!!!!!!
Thank you so much!!!!

No suggestions on colour, but STOP PUTTING TESTERS DIRECTLY ON THE WALLS!!
Paint an A4 size piece of paper then you can move it round the room to see what light does to it throughout the day

Whatever you do please don't listen to the PP's suggestion of painting a north facing room dark grey! It would feel like a prison.

I'd either play it very safe and opt for a creamy white (we've got natural calico in our north facing bedroom which works well) or sage green would be my choice with the orange sofa.

My living room faces east and north so I do get morning sun however it's quite a dark room through most of the day

I used a sage green wall paper on one wall and the others are painted in a soft tangerine orange

Lots of natural wood, couch's have warm coloured covers on them, cushions and lamps dotted round for accent lighting

I did go grey for the carpet but put a multicoloured rug in front of the log burner

I summer it's bright and cheerful and in winter cosy!

A rich, deep blue. Not dark like navy but cobalt. Like this

If you plan to sell at some point it's better to avoid dark colours as it's very much a trend at the moment and will, thankfully go out of fashion.

Lighter walls for a dark north facing room will be better. Much better.

Get the Dulux visualiser app. You can see what a paint colour would look like in your room I believe.

Although I would agree to avoid going too dark in a north facing room, decorating for a future sale means you're just renting off the future owners

Dark colours are fine . Just use warm tones. You have a very warm sofa and warm shades in the curtains. It’s about balance. I have a warm dark blue with warm mustard shades, woods and creams. Gets lots of compliments. Don’t care about future buyers, it’s only paint!

I will certainly stop painting stripes (great idea about A4 paper and visualiser).
Not selling any time soon.
Absolutely LOVE the cobalt blue (maybe in the north facing bedroom above).
Thank you. Am off to look at some of these suggestions!

@AbsolCatly what colour was the soft tangerine? I bet your room glows. Sounds lovely!!

I have a burnt orange sofa and just painted my walls with edenberry green from b&q and I love it.

@ineedafairygodmother ooh that sounds so good! I love B&Q Alberta shade too. Will take a look.
One of my walls has been Laura Ashley Pale Duck Egg Blue. It’s a beautiful smoky pale blue but it doesn’t look quite right.

I have an amber coloured sofa in a north facing lounge, and after SOOO many tasters I went for Little Greene's Slaked Lime. It's a calm neutral/warm white without being creamy. It's really lovely. The sofa and rugs are colourful so I didn't want the walls to be colourful too - easier to change the accessories as well, without clashing, later down the line.

I also agree it's best to paint A4 pieces of card first, and then paint a LARGE sample on the wall once you've narrowed down the choices.

I also used photoshop to test the exact colours I wanted..!

@Tworoads I can't remember the shade name sorry, I went through various sample cards on the valspar stand in b and q and picked the one I liked best next to the wall paper