Help - What colour should I choose??

[Petran]

So...I'm painting the front room in F&B Pigeon (blue/Grey)
www.farrow-ball.com/en-gb/paint-colours/pigeon
and I've ordered a DFS plush sofa in this blue / teal colour
www.dfs.co.uk/plush
(Not with the different colours cushions - just the blue/teal)
So - I don't know what colour carpet to get?!
I'd like a cream carpet but will it clash?
Anyone have any ideas what would work?
Thanks : )

F&B Setting Plaster might work, but if you're going for dark and cosy, I'd say either F&B Hague Blue (a dark blue) or Dulux Black Water (a dark green).

Hard to tell without seeing the sofa and the room in real life. I'd wait until the sofa is in and paint some large sample pot swatches on big pieces of lining paper, hang them behind the sofa and look at them at different times of day, and move them about the room to see it in different lights if you're going for painting more than one wall.

You could always paint your sofa wall first, then see how it feels and paint more the same dark colour, or keep that one impactful wall and paint the other three walls a pale colour, like F&B Pink Ground No.202 or Dulux Blush Pink. They're both slightly more peachy, so would look nice with teals/greens/dark greeny-blues.

Thank you! I'm heading down to B&Q after this last Q to get some more samples mixed - top tip, they will mix to F&B colours and it's much cheaper!
So, I can see that the pink will work best, but I have 2 boys and I know they will have a small breakdown if I paint the room any shade of pink!!
However, needs must - this sofa better be worth it!
So - last question (and thank you all for your patience, this feels like the Changing Rooms edit)

Is there any chance Downpipe or French Grey would work? Or am I kidding myself?
www.farrow-ball.com/paint-colours/blue-gray?glryItm=370789876
www.farrow-ball.com/paint-colours/down-pipe

Downpipe will . I have French grey in my living room and no I don’t think it shall work.

I've got Little Greene China Clay, can't remember if it's the dark or deep one but it goes with everything. One of my sofas is dark blue and it looks good with it.

I wouldn't do down pipe OP. I think it's really cold and with the royal blue sofa and teal plus gold it's not quite right.

You have you looked up those colour recommendations? They're not really pink as such. You can sell it to your boys as more of a plaster colour or something!

The paint mixing is great, so much cheaper! If you haven't already, have them create you an account on their paint mixing system and save whatever they mix for you with the paint's name and room (eg Downpipe Living Room), then they can remix to that exact recipe if you need more.

Possibly Downpipe might work but, if you can, just get a few different samples, I don't think you'll know for sure until you see it in your own space.

For what it's worth, I have Dulux Blush Pink and it's incredibly subtle, more an off-white. You can only really tell it's pink against the white woodwork. I say go for pink and tell your boys it's 2022 😄

Sorry didn’t mean French grey, meant Blue Grey
here;
www.farrow-ball.com/paint-colours/blue-gray

😆 Yeah maybe I should do that porkpie

The problem with that blue grey and the other one is they are quite cool toned and it's not going to work alongside the sofa and your teal plus the muted gold mirror etc. it's a bit of a mish mash! The muted pinks / plasters are warmer.

And yes, I was going to say that too- boys need to get over having pink walls in this day and age!!

I think the issue is you really want green walls, which I get as I have them myself but the royal blue sofa Really limits what you can use

I think a dark navy, a deep aubergine, a pale pink or a bright white is really it.

Yes, love a green wall but I think you'd need a green which matches the intensity of the colour of your sofa, so more jewel/dark than light/sage.

Also agree that a grey like Downpipe could be too cold but it depends on your space.

This is Dulux Black Water:

I find the easiest way to choose colours for paint, carpet etc. with one fixed colour in the room is to find a printed fabric I love that contains that colour and pick out other colours from it. You can use the printed fabric in the room or not, but it can really help for inspiration! For example I was using this fabric a while back to help with a scheme based around kingfisher blue:

@Jadoube that's a great approach, noting that for future use! I sometimes take inspiration from artwork in the same way but hadn't considered fabric.

My home is quite eclectic and it all works as a whole, each room in itself also ties together because I echo colours, designs and textures within that space.

For example in my living room all my hard furniture is rougly the same colour, I have a cushion on my sofa which matches a dominant colour in a print on the opposite wall, a table lamp with a lampshade that matches the colour of a statement wall on the other side of the room for balance, a textured cream and black rug on the floor which by happy accident echoes a paint effect I did on another wall and a textured cushion I have on the sofa opposite (I said eclectic!). Overall the echoing is subtle and definitely doesn't feel overly styled, but pulls it all together without being obvious.

OP mentioned she has darkish wood/mango furniture and rustic gold picture frames and mirror, so she could add a rustic gold lampshade/decorative touches, or add some decorative bits to her room which are similar to the colour of her sofa etc, and maybe pick one other accent colour for other soft furnishing/decorative pieces.

I’m definitely too strict with colours matching exactly @PorkPieForStarters but I blame that on years of graphic design and Pantone chips!

If you still have the sofa fabric swatch can you not look at that next to paint swatches to see what works?

What aspect is the room and when do you get the most light there?

Do you want all the walls the same colour?

What about the woodwork?

As pp said what's your style? Modern, traditional, eclectic?

This is the type of look I was going for - it's true I have got stuck on having dark walls, and finding it tough to get away from that! The room colours are blue sofa, gold accents (pictures, mirrors, dark/mango wood furniture) - cushions to be decided.
I was hoping Downpipe or a dark blue may work if Pigeon won't. The Dulux dark water does look lovely too.
Anyway - I have to decide as I'm starting painting today! And I have to order the carpet today.
Appreciate all the very good advice!
Any last minute thoughts would be really appreciated!!!

I’d just say don’t worry if you don’t like the paint you can very easily change it. I’d focus on getting the carpet right!

Good point! Consensus on carpet seems to be cream/oatmeal?

I’d go for a warm natural herringbone weave for the carpet myself @Petran - something like this - much more forgiving in a lighter colour than carpet and works well with a rug!

@Petran hope the painting went well, what colour did you go for?

Love those pictures you shared of the dark greens, I have a very similar colour on one of my walls!

Oh, tip from when I was getting carpets, I was told by the salesman that if you have pets (esp cats) it's better to avoid woven styles of carpet like berber as their claws could catch/scratch and pull the weave.

I've not heard this first-hand from pet-owners though so maybe it's not as bad as he said!

This is my approach too. I mainly like to base it on curtains, e.g. William Morris prints, but also on a duvet cover in one room and floor tiles in another.

I love the sofa OP.

Oh useful to know @PorkPieForStarters, that hadn’t occurred to me!

Well...I feel bad after all the advice...but I just bit the bullet and am about to paint it pigeon, odd because I normally do as I am told when it comes to decor.
But I decided not to add another colour onto the skirting boards and just do them the same colour. Carpet is not as cream as I was going to pick - I toned it down a bit so it's more oatmeal / cream - appreciate the cat tip - my cat is a nightmare with her claws (god help the sofa when it arrives)
So finishes filling and sanding late last night - finishing the coving and ceiling this morning - starting the skirts with the pigeon this afternoon. Carpet hopefully arriving in a week (but we shall see)
Sofa arrives mid December - so I will not know until then if it all works or not. I think the last pic with the green walls really clinched it for me and gave me a bit of hope that it was at least possible. I guess it depends on how the blue sits in the light.
We shall see, but thanks to everyone who added their advice - I'm definitely going to use the tips on the rest of the house - complete wealth of knowledge here is fabulous, you should start a paid decor advice service : )