What colour (or shade) to go with horrible purple carpet?

[twolittleboysonetiredmum]

As title says, our stairs and hallway have a horrible dark purple carpet (not chosen by us). Walls have a white dado rail, mid purple underneath and a black currant yogurt colour on top. I really hate the colour purple generally. We are planning on repainting in a mth or so. Dado has to stay sadly (not an original feature, hangover from 1980s trend I think) and woodwork etc will all be repainted white for ease. What would you go for on walls? I debated a light grey but maybe too cold. It's a fairly light stairwell but for dark upstairs hallway. Would you do two different shades on top and bottom?

I think a light grey could work. Some have purplish hues which could work very well for you and might warm the colour up a little.

I think that's one thing putting me off a grey is the fact it looks a bit purple against the carpet..if that makes sense? As I hate purple. But then a brown shaded white would look awful wouldnt it?

I'd go with white or cream.

Is there absolutely no chance of changing the carpet soonish, then you could paint whatever colour you want, even if it clashes now, and then choose a carpet to go with the paint when you can?

Or pull the carpet up and have bare floors until you can recarpet, if the paint colour you would choose would really be unbearable with the purple carpet?

I'd change the carpet if I hated it that bad

We really can't afford to replace it. I've debated pulling it up but we've 3 under 5 and it'd be a nightmare with them slipping on it I thinj

Why does the dado rail have to stay? When I moved into my flat the woman who owned it before us had put up a faux dado rail around the whole flat, even in the wardrobes

We just ripped it all off.

I would re-paint everywhere white until such time as you can replace the carpet.

There's a bar/restaurant in King's Cross called Plum & Spilt Milk, which is named after the colours of the Flying Scotsman restaurant car. To be honest, the spilt milk looks more like a grey putty colour to me, but they work well together.

I've got a purple carpet so kind of feel your pain! I agree that grey looks best with it. I have a colour called Perfectly Taupe that is a grey with lilacy, browny tones. It kind of neutralises the purple, if that makes sense. I think a contrasting colour like white would only make the purple look even purpler!

I have lots of silver too. Looks nice with purple I think so anyway.

Ah ok. We just had ours done for £280 including underlay and wool carpet but of course that might still be too much and therefore doesn't help!

The other colour you could go with, even though I know you'll still hate the purple, is make it a bit opulent and go for a goldy colour. I'm not talking sparkly/shiny gold of course. Or would wall paper be an option instead of paint, then you could possibly get something white with a grey or silvery pattern through it, to draw attention away from the carpet/brighten the upstairs etc.

We have a grey and beige/cream tartan carpet, dark taupe walls, white paintwork in our bedroom and have livened things up with a few heather/purple touches. It's sort of Scottish and works.

Some great ideas thanks. I think taking the dado rail off would open a whole can of worms. Both sides of it are painted lining paper so there would be a gap where it's been. And god knows what the plaster would be like under there! I'm thinking perfectly taupe or similar with a white might work well for now and will hopefully complement whatever carpet we can afford in a year or so

Some inspiration from Pinterest ...

Ooh thanks, I like the middle picture. Our stairs need painting actually so might be worth thinking about

I think if you go for light colours (like white, cream, grey or greige), you won't go far wrong.

Grey. And if you can't remove the dado, paint it the same colour as the wall to minimise it's impact.

What downward said - paint above, below and the dado all the same colour - maybe a warm/deep grey if the carpet is a deep purple

Good idea re dado rail and similar colours. I was thinking today that all white would be good but will that make it seem more purple?! I worry grey might be cold? Or can you get a warm grey?!

There's only one way to know for sure whether it looks OK and that's to buy a full tin of the paint and paint and large area of the wall.

Tester pots help, but you never know for sure until you paint it for real.