What are colour trends for living room 2025? Seriously need to update and have zero idea!

[changednameagain1234]

Please could you help?

Our living room is currently a light cream with a feature wall of wall paper that is a deeper cream with a pattern.

It really needs updating, new sofa and everything but I don’t know where to start.

It’s not a big room and has low ceiling, 1600’s house.

I like the idea of a bit of colour on the feature wall but I really have no idea what is trending or where to start.

We have a cream carpet I am keeping and a off white marble fireplace.

Please could you advise on colours or anything?!

Thanks 😊

As someone who has done a LOT of decorating and redecorating in the past few years, since well before grey became a thing then died a bit of a death again, choose colours you like and are drawn to. Don’t worry about what’s trending, just find something you’ll love living with. I loved very dark blues with jewel coloured furniture and cushions etc, but in the last couple of years am having a green and pink moment. I have a pink upstairs hallway with wallpaper, and an earthy, heritage green living room. My dining room is a colour called ‘Roman plaster’, so a deep, dusty brown/pink and my lounge will soon be a deep, muddy neutral, with a green/brown base. Sounds awful, but looks good. My bedroom will be oval room blue which is a dusty mid blue. My bathroom will be dark green tiles with marble floors and fabulous wallpaper.
On paper this all sounds fairly awful, but it means each space has its own character.
Try farrow and ball and little Greene paint company paints - they have beautiful colours and a nice finish. Be brave with it and really go for it if that’s your thing - lots of people stay neutral because they aren’t sure or are hesitant, but it’s only paint so can always be changed.
It might help if you post a picture - people can then give advice or suggestions? Is the room west facing/east/north etc?

If you have such an old house I would go to the Farrow and Ball website and see if there's any inspiration there (https://www.farrow-ball.com/eu/room-inspiration/living-room-ideas). Little Greene is also good. Take into account what direction your room is facing (south facing requires very different from north facing!). My living room is currently Inchyra Blue by Farrow and Ball, it's quite a "moody" space but that is my preference.

(You can then have the colours mixed in a cheaper paint at your local paint place).

Thank you @CuteOrangeElephant @Frrrout .

It is south facing, and a strange shape.

Alcove each side of the chimney breast wall, alcove on the left side quite small, about a meter across, alcove on the right side above 3.5 metres.

The room also has wall lights, so putting pictures on the wall is a no or it looks over crowded, but at the same time bare!

I like the idea of a sage green feature wall, but I have the green pink theme in my kitchen at the moment.

All the furniture is cream at the moment with a charcoal sofa and chair. Big fluffy cushions with pinks and mini chandelier wall lights. Sounds so tacky but it looked nice 5 years ago, dated now. I need a total new look.

Quite like the idea of oak low sideboard or something, no idea what colour sofa to get. We currently have a large four seater and a chair. This was fine when the kids were smaller but they are all teenagers now and bigger than me, so more seating needed which is going to be hard without making the room look tiny!

Can you post a picture at all?

@changednameagain1234 I agree that you should choose colours that you love, rather than what's on trend.

We're very much into colour. I don't think we've ever had a white room and the only time I painted a room grey was the hallway of a previous house - grey below the dado, bright yellow above it, back in the late 1990s!

We've moved a lot too and always owned period houses, so had lots of opportunities to try out new, interesting colours. At our last house (a 1600s mill), our living room was Farrow & Ball Olive, the hallway was F&B Inchyra Blue and the kitchen was Craig & Rose Pale Oak with F&B Oval Room Blue cabinets. The fireplace feature wall was a Liberty wallpaper in coordinating colours. We had F&B Setting Plaster in the bathroom and Little Greene (Sage and Lamp Black) in the guest room and cloaks respectively.

Since moving to our new (Georgian) cottage last year, we've discovered Edward Bulmer paint and will have his Pompadour in the kitchen (we're swapping rooms so currently the living room is Pompadour), with (probably) Jonquil cabinets. The new living room (currently the kitchen) will be Edward Bulmer Nicaragua (a deep, earthy pink).

Our bedroom is F&B De Nimes and another bedroom is F&B Yeabridge Green. The hallway will be Edward Bulmer Jonquil. We haven't decided on the other rooms yet, although wallpaper will feature it least two as I've already got it. I've been a fan of colour-drenching for years, so most rooms have joinery the same colour as the walls.

We also have a cream (linen) sofa, but no kids (or pets) at home for us, as well as an antique dusky pink and a teal velvet one. We have a mix of vintage/antique furniture and an abundance of brightly coloured cushions/rugs etc.

Choose what you love and it will all work together 😁

It depends on the style you like. Feature walls are definitely ’out’ now. I’ve just redone my living room (Victorian tce) and done the walls and ceilings in Little Greene Acorn, and all the woodwork in Little Greene Kitchen Green. I think it’s called double drenching? Paint and Paper Library do different shades of their colours so it can be fun to play with different shades in the same room.

Light blue is nice

Dusty pinks and warm pinkish beiges are in.

However, you should choose a colour you like and one that isn't fighting with the aspect.

If south facing, you might like a cooler tone or blue/ green as the light will be brighter.

My living room just been decorated with new curtains / cushions/ rug etc.. I've gone for Kingfisher jewel colours of turquoise/ blues/ greens / Ruby.

Thank you everyone, you have given me so many ideas!!

I can’t imagine the room without a feature wall, so need to get my head around that and then decide on a colour

Maybe nailing the seating brief would be a better place to start than colour - once you rule out all the sofas that are too big, over budget, impractical, uncomfortable, take too long to arrive and won’t fit through your narrow door, you might end up with something that you absolutely love – except it doesn’t come in the colour you put in your living room mood board six weeks ago?

I wish I could see your places, @Frrrout and @LibertyLily , I love the pick what you love approach and both sound amazing!

I agree forget what’s on trend, do what you like !
I have a navy blue jewel colour velvet sofa and I paired it with ochre cushions, a gold mirror, things like that

These aren’t the best photos, but show two different blue rooms I used to have, and my current green living room.
This has shown me that I need to take more photos when I get rooms decorated!

Just here to comment on your wonderful cat!

Thank you! We adore her.

I've been reading Kylie M design blog about LRV and undertones. Which explains why I used to find it so difficult matching neutrals creams with creams or certain whites. And why a pale cool colour (ie grey blue) looks wrong with a pale warm colour unless one of them goes darker.

I had a yellowy tan wall with peachy curtains and couldn't understand why they were "off" it's because the undertones clashed.

Farrow and ball has colour tones explained too. So pick a colour of your carpet for example or the woodtone of your existing furniture, or a sofa you like FIRST, anything you aren't changing then choose the paint

So plum sofa....find equivalent plum in farrow and ball paint Swatch and then follow the chart for your "neutrals" or toning colours.

A lot of pinky whites and beiges clash with greeny or yellowy undertoned colours

E paint converter is a good website too....

I've also painted a south facing room a very very pale grey green and it looks terrible because some of the immutable parts of the room (orangey pine ceiling) fight the subtlety. Whereas with white ceiling and furniture it would look alright (but the existing furniture and ceiling costs more than repainting walls)

Apparently according to Kylie and honey oak toning colours...I should have a darker mid green or a brighter white or a orange toned cream.

And pink would clash !

Just an example of issues

@Frrrout Ah, you really do love a dramatic colour - so lovely, the finished rooms look really put together and accessorising with a bengal cat is always on trend

Your cat is beautiful @Frrrout (and so are your rooms!)

Here's a couple of our rooms - present house and past, although the pinky-red room doesn't look like that currently as it's in the process of becoming a kitchen!

Join the farrow and ball fb group - just amazing for loads of examples of beautiful colours. I love soft greens at the moment and saw someone use a green called afternoon nap that was lovely. I think it was valspar, worth looking on Pinterest or google images as it looks different in various light. Setting plaster by farrow and ball is also a very popular colour (pinky colour) that can look really warm and cosy for a living room.

Oh wow, thanks for posting these. Yes, loads of colour as you said, but you really make it work - your rooms also look really put together, I love them! Hope the transformation into a kitchen is going well.

You're welcome...and thank you for the compliments! The transformation is taking place very slowly (mainly due to having to wait ages for the 40+ year old boiler to be removed/new one fitted) but hopefully will be done by Christmas.....

Ooh lovely! Im looking at a similar colour for my front door to that dark pink! Thinking dulux heritage blossom. Just need to get it past my partner! 🤣

Thank you @Frrrout! Dulux heritage blossom looks lovely - hope you manage to convince your partner!