Paint Colour advice

[Comefromaway]

I have a large living room with wood & glass double doors that open into what used to be a dining room but we will turn into a library.

The doors fold right back flat to create one large room if you have a party or something.

The living room has a feature wall painted Craig & Rose French Turquiose (the wall with the doors on) the other three walls are painted Craig & Rose Morris Blue. The paintwork & fireplace is white.

My dilemma is the adjoining room. I wanted to go quite traditional with a burgundy/maroon but am concerned it will clash with the living room and maybe I should go more neutral or a complimentary shade of blue.

Had to google the colours but the French Turquoise looks a lot like F&B Vardo.. F&B themselves have their Radicchio (a deep red) as a complementary colour to Vardo so I'd get some sample pots and have a play around. Arabian Red or Medici Crimson in the C&R range might work.

If you don't like the combination after all when you try it, how about a more muted colour in the red range, taking it down to a warm pink like C&R Wedgwood Lilac or Venetian Red? I'm basing this on the online images only though as not used C&R colours in real life! And obviously you don't have to use the same paint brand, just giving examples from them for ease of reference.

I like to use the paint colour visualisers before I change anything - you just load a picture of the room on and pick colours. I find it really helpful to see what a similar colour would look like before I decide. Sometimes it's really surprising how good or bad it might look.

C & R used to have a colour called Osborne maroon which was complimentary to French Turquoise apparently but it’s now discontinued.

Vardo is brighter than French Turquoise.

Some pictures

I think the same principles apply - a deep green-blue matched with a similar depth colour on the red/pink spectrum would look lovely.

Given that the predominant colour in your blue room is the paler colour, I'd actually use that as a guide to your choice in the adjoining room not the darker one. Your eye takes in both the lighter colour and the room beyond from the position of your photo. How much time will you spend looking square into the room through the French doors and the darker blue?

I'd also paint the skirting and wooden door frame to match your walls, will give a more soothing flow to the eye (currently broken by the two frames of the white paintwork and brown wood door). Then find your rosy red in a similar depth of colour to the marine blue. It's hard to pick one from the colour card photo but experiment with sample pots of a few different shades to find the one you like, then paint all the woodwork on the other side of the door the same colour too (trick with doors in different colours either side is hinge edge same colour as side that opens in, handle edge same as colour opening in). Also paint the furthest French doors in the other room, and the radiator. Are you keeping the pink curtains?

The fireplace in the living room is also painted the same white as the skirting. It was a bodge job when we moved in and painting it was a solution to having to replace it entirely.

The French doors in the other room are upvc conservatory doors.

The curtains are what the previous owners left in, they are faded and need replacing.

The wooden doors are a bit marked etc and will probably be replaced at some point. We are wondering whether to paint them or not but we are currently debating between painted or oak coffee table.

I think I tested every available shade of teal until I found one I liked. F & B, C & R, Dulux, you name it, I have the tester pot!

Deciding between these.

Both those coffee tables are nice @Comefromaway, go with your instincts on that.

Even if your fireplace is white I still say paint the skirtings and doors the same colour as your walls, much more modern as well as restful on the eye. Even if you replace the doors in time, having them painted will make them more liveable for now. Shame about the UPVC doors in the other room but def paint the radiator and woodwork in there where you can. How about soft green-blue curtains in there to tie back in with the front room?

It’s a vast improvement on this.

It really is!!