Do I dare go over to the dark side?

[sluj]

I am usually an off white, nervous kind of decorator but I have been doing some building work and have a new snug/tv room/den to decorate and I am wondering about being brave and using some dark paint.

Here's what I have -
Square room about 9 feet each wall
Central door on one wall facing central full length window opposite.
South facing so very bright
No carpet as yet but will be neutral
Mid grey sofa to go on the one wall
(Horrible) Ikea unit takes up all of the other wall for tv and storage. Birch colour (I know). Has to stay for now.

I have three F and B samples on the wall - hague blue, downpipe and some Ichsomething blue (v dark).

Do I dare to paint some of the walls with the dark colours? Maybe combining with old white on other walls?

I feel like I need a bit of encouragement to give it a go but maybe its a daft idea altogether.

What do you all think?

I second painting the birch cabinets.

We had a south facing dining room in our last house and all walls but one (which was in a tonal wallpaper) were in F&B downpipe, it wasn’t at all dark and oppressive as the room got so much light. I second a pp’s suggestion of looking at Abigail Aherns style. I’m not a fan of white woodwork to contrast with a dark colouring the walls, and I would paint the unit in the same colour as the walls, then you can add colour with inexpensive accessories, cushions, vases, rugs etc.

Loving the dark interiors at the moment! Mustard/great/ teal accessories look good with navy..also metallic accessories are great to bounce light off if you’re worrying.

Craig and Rose paint goes on a million times better than F&B.

Still wavering, especially now the sun has come out.
Has anyone had success with F B or does everyone agree it's not good?

Go for it! I can only say though that (having done a lot of painting recently) F&B paint was hopeless (awful coverage, patchy, had to do multiple coats, much grumpiness) compared with Little Greene.

I've used dark stuff and it was fine (Charleston Grey or something like that), but the pale one Ammonite) has not fared well. The Craig and Rose is so much better and a good bit cheaper. Little Greene looks great and gets rave reviews but it's not convenient for me and seemed v expensive.

Here's the room, you can see it's not huge hence why it is going to be known as The Snug.
Still think dark is right for this room?

Yes! Have you considered a claret? I love f & b paints, but I have to agree, the darker the colour, the more you will tear your hair out trying to get proper coverage.

Yes make it dark it will suit the room

But do all the walls dark for sure

We’re getting the house done with F&B atm, I know there are issues with it for many but I still love the colours

I have tenacious teal in my bedroom and love it, do have high ceilings and it is white above picture rail though

I'd definitely do dark all over in that room, but if you chicken out of dark dark, a strong colour would work. Ds1 chose this shade dulux Nordic sky) for his room which is very IKEA indeed and it looks incredibly smart. It was all brilliant white, previously and quite unpleasant to be in, as it has a big south facing window but feels quite cosy, now.

Yeah, I've got Nordic Sky in my hall and one wall in my living room - it is really a very nice colour.

I've used Inchyra blue on the lower half of the walls in 3yo DD1's room (upper half is a very pale pink). It's set off with bright pink accessories and white woodwork and furniture. The room is a large single bedroom, and the F&B looks fab. I wish I'd had the courage to whole room in the colour!

Go dark. We have many dark rooms. I love it.

To echo what others are saying DONT USE F&B PAINT, GET IT MIXED.
Go to your local trade place and get them to colour match in Dulux trade. You’ll most likely find that they will know the equivalent colour number for all the F & B colours anyway.
If you have a Kent Blaxill near you then they have 25% off mixed colours for April.

Sorry but I think dark walls look awful, musty and cave like. It makes rooms look smaller and I think the room you’re thinking of is too small to handle a dark colour without making it look like a shed or an outside loo.

Outside loo 😆😆😆

Being honest I think that room is a bit small for a very dark colour. However I like the strong mid tone colour idea - something like f&b India Yellow perhaps as it's warm? Or even a blush pink?

We did our smallish living room with a farrow and ball colour- stiffkey which looks great! We took the colour guide to b and q and they mixed it from their velspar range. Definitely go for blue/greens - grey has had its day unfortunately!