Paint colour inspiration (with photos)

[GingerKitCat]

Hi, I'm interested in paint colour ideas for my living room

I'm thinking of painting the walls between the picture rail and skirting as I want a bit more contrast with the white woodwork. Probably one colour as I'm not normally a fan of feature walls.

The floor is solid oak, walls currently almond white (aka cream). The doors/ceiling/woodwork has recently been painted white so I'm not looking to change those. Sofa is tan/orange leather. Room is NW facing and gets bright sun from 4pm. It receives some borrowed light from the SE facing kitchen (lots of windows) throughout the day.

I started painting the alcoves with a deeper neutral as I've done similar in my bedroom and it seems to make them recede. Happy to paint over though, I was only experimenting! I'm considering swapping the sofa to where the unit is and turning one 1x5 unit on its side to become a sideboard on hairpin legs (Ikea hack!) where the sofa currently is.

I'm not the greatest at visualising paint colours as you might've realised. I've been drawn to kingfisher colourschemes on Pinterest

I'm a bit afraid of strong colours on the walls hence neutrals

I've introduced a few orange accents and they seem not to clash too badly with the sofa/armchair which surprised me

Photos:

What about F&B's Borrowed Light? (Get them colour-matched if too pricey.) Would look good with your settee. It's colour without being overpowering.

Or Blue Ground or Vardo if want to be bolder?

Thank you, those are all great shades!

How does colour matching work? Do they magically know how to mix F&B colours (for example) or do you have to buy a F&B sample and paint it on something to take along?!

Would you agree with painting one colour all the way round? I've never painted different walls different colours within one room bar my experiment upstairs. I've seen some examples on Pinterest where they've painted one wall a stronger colour (e.g. teal) but how do you know which wall to paint?

Both Leyland and Valspar know how to colour match - they've already programmed their mixers.

I think Vardo would really set off your vases and nice things in your cabinet. As you've got picture rails, I'd go for the whole room below the picture rail in that colour. The first house I bought years ago was like that - I loved it and everyone else complimented it. I'd probably never have been bold enough to pick it myself but it looked great. You can always paint over it one day if you don't like it.

The Dulux paint Visualizer app is perfect for your dilemma. You take photos and/or videos of your room and then pick paint colours, which magically appear on your room walls 👌

Thank you Happenstance!

Last time I tried to use a visualizer app (some years ago) it was useless. Glad to hear things have improved! Off to download...

GingerKitKat
Beware. It is addictive! 😂