To paint my living room… magnolia 🥸

[Ikeasucks]

Painter comes Monday and i need to decide the colour for my largish, long and and fairly dark living room. Keeping it light and currently is antique cream (Crown) which i‘ve quite liked. Have used nutmeg white (Dulux) through a lot of the house and am considering that for the living room. Then magnolia just came to mind - are there any lovers of magnolia?

basically looking for a light colour - suggestions welcome - i do like a touch of stone or very light touch of mink

Give me Magnolia over grey every time. My lounge is Dulux Orchid White from a few years back. It's a warm, fresh cream. But could easily be named Magnolia! If your room is at all north facing, having a colour with a hint of yellow or red will stop it feeling too cold.

Crown Ivory Cream.

I agree. Hate grey so much.

Our walls are a mixture of Dulux Vanilla White and Dulux Caramel Latte from years ago and I still love them now ❤️

I prefer to have pale neutral walls that I can hang vibrant paintings on. I also agree that if magnolia was renamed Duchess Cream or Cool Ivory people would quite happily plaster it all over their walls.

There's a massive difference on an actual wall

Go for it. Don't go greige or anything that sucks the warm cosy feeling out your home

Having finally got out of married quarters this is the one colour I would never have!

Are army quarters really shit then?

I once had green sofas, green carpets and green curtains. But slightly different clashing shades of green.

The shame is that the houses could have a lot of potential... they are just poorly maintained and decorated .

I don’t like yellowish neutrals, could not have that on my walls, it screams 80s and 90s in a bad way. But I agree that many greys give a dated feeling too.

I’m still looking for the perfect neutral that isn’t white. Like a white with just the tiniest tinge of brown. No yellow, no grey, no pink. A clean white that isn’t stark white but also isn’t a creamy yellow or muddy pink or the dreaded ubiquitous grey.

I put chip paper up in one of my flats because the walls were in a bit of a state (rented flat so the walls were not my responsibility) and painted it magnolia. Big mistake. It was like living in a tin of rice pudding.

@Theeora take a look at Dulux Quartz Flint (it comes in five shades, I'd go for the palest/second palest option). It's a very pretty bluish toned grey.

... I agree about Egyptian cotton - it can seem very dark in a room that gets little natural light. The substrate also makes quite a difference (although that's the case with most paint in any case)!

what like army green? Thats so bizarre

Well it depends on your tastes and your decor. Magnolia was so popular in older generations that it tends to be something people want to remove and renovate now so it takes special styling to remove that outdated aesthetic. Magnolia can look cheap and basic when combined with average furnishings for example. It’s your house and your choice though.

All rooms are magnolia, even in the single accommodation. you can paint but have to return it to magnolia when you leave hence why most just put up with it. I was so excited to decorate our forever home with colour. I just find magnolia bland and boring.

I once went to a friends house where her lounge had the afternoon sun streaming in, and the walls were a wonderful warm colour.

I asked her the paint shade. It was magnolia

You gotta love a bit of magnolia 👍

Ugh no this is a lilacy grey!

Now Wimborne White - I love that, it’s the colour of of a pot of double cream

Cornforth white is definitely grey!

Turns out I'm ahead of the curve as most rooms in my house are Dulux Nutmeg (personally I don't like the undertone of magnolia) with a feature wall a different colour. And there was me thinking my interior design style was a bit dated 😁

I feel vindicated reading this as I’m ridiculed by certain family members for my love of magnolia.
I live in a house where every room except the bathroom is painted magnolia and all the ceilings, skirting boards and doors are white.
Occasionally I’ll buy a couple of tester pots to see if another colour appeals but I’ve not been tempted yet

Sorry guys, actually had thought I hadn’t posted this thread. Decided to go with nutmeg white 😂

When I moved into my house, the whole place was magnolia. But it didn't look fresh or tidy, it looked stained and dirty. Basically, as if it had been decorated in the 90s and not touched since.

I've spent ages researching different colour options and what has stuck with me most is how different light can change a colour. If you do go with a neutral magnolia/cream colour, look at the direction of the light. If you're in a south-facing room, it will likely look bright and airy. If you're in a north facing room with little natural light, it will look a lot more dingy.

I found it really interesting to compare colour samples to see how the light does change it dramatically.

My fav neutral is Ammonite by F&b (colour matched) - it looks almost white in my south facing room but a lot darker in my north facing room.