What colour to paint my otherwise neutral living room?

[Miaou]

It's very neutral atm. When we got the house the wallpaper was falling off the walls, so we peeled it off - to reveal bright orange . So we whacked a coat of magnolia over the top for now!

However we have a beige carpet, pale brown suite, and pale wood tables etc. Curtains are chocolate brown. We are thinking of a fairly pale colour as anything too strong would be overpowering, plus the room is not the brightest in terms of sun. And want something classic rather than "trendy".

A friend suggested doing a couple of "accent" walls and then leaving the two main walls magnolia - but I still wouldn't know what colour! Any suggestions?

Duck egg/pale blue?

Depends if you want to go down the colour route or not really or are happy with the neutral spectrum! You could do a couple of walls in a taupe colour (like a milky coffee) just to break up the magnolia a bit and will also add some warmth. OR, if you want an actual colour then a duck egg blue feature wall with the colours you already have would look lovely and you could have a couple of duck egg blue cushions to tie it all in? Try the Dulux website where you pick a room and add a wall colour in so you can try and judge the balance !! FWIW Im still surrounded by builders magnolia nearly 2 years after moving in but i have lots of paint charts

That sounds really nice! However dh was not keen at all on the idea of blue . Might get some paint charts out though and try to get him to rethink!

cleaninglady, I've just painted my kitchen yellow (was magnolia) and it looks so much better - I hadn't realised just how depressed the magnolia makes me feel!!

The taupe would look nice - of course Im biased as thats what I have You do need to be careful with blue especially in a room with not much sunlight as can look cold! I'm afraid the builders magnolia look isnt doing it for me anymore it looks so dirty!!! I buy zillions of interiors magazines each month but never actually put any ideas into practice really

Pale blue and brown are a lovely combination.

Khaki walls with white woodwoork and doors is also a good look.

A warm red would be nice. Paint fireplace wall this colour. Add red cushions to sofa, etc. Don't go overboard with the strong colour because it can be oppressive, especially in darkish room.