Does anyone fancy talking about colours to me before I go out to buy paint?

[oranges]

I live in a very magnolia home and as ds has scuffed and crashed into every wall, I want to repaint and make the place more colourful. It's a new apartment, and the living room and bedroom are both long but don't get much daylight. The back bedroom is square and gets the morning light - I use it as a study. So any ideas for colours? Oh, and I have one 2 piece wine red sofa in the living room.
I like the idea of something Dulux calls Eastern Spice.

With not much daylight it might be better sticking to pale colours, isn't Eastern Spice one the Dulux 'deep' colours and a bit orange?

or am I misremembering?

There are different shares of it, yes. and I was going for the lighter shade. But what's the alternative to cream?

Why not paint 3 walls white and then one wall in a "feature" colour - this way it is quite light but you still get to use colour.

pearly pink, very very pale. Farrow and Ball colour - think it's shell but I will go and look it up. Saw it on an edwardian terrace in the hall and stairs and thought it was bright and sophisticated, good depth of colour too.

How about a pale grey ?

I'm doing a living room in a greyish colour (Bleached lichen from Dulux I think) at the moment - is looking great and would go with the colour of your sofa...

wouldn't grey look a bit flat? I've got a toddler and of bright plastic toys so the place is never going to look grown up and sophisticated.

The one I'm using is quite a warm shade - maybe it's more a taupe! It's going in the room we mostly use as a playroom but I have dreams of turning it into a grown up dining room one day (like in about 20 years!)

Our lounge is in Dulux soft linen which is one shade lighter than bleached linen and still a bit magnolia-ish. I wish we had picked something with a bit more depth to it.

Have you thought of using a patterned paper, maybe on just one wall. There are some gorgeous one around.

I'll give a male response to the question.

"Yes - that looks fine dear."

Two months later.............

"I told you it wouldn't go"

I've used a very pale, creamy-green in ,my living room, with one wall darker creamy-green, and although my sofa is cream, I've got wine-red cushions. i think these colours are really restful and calm.

hhhmm, thanks eric l.

I'm off to buy paint tonight, am settling on a warm saffron yellow, but will depend on what the local b&q has in stock really. I'm guessing it will all have to be repainted in two years anyway to cover felt tip pens and finger prints, so may experiment. I am so fed up of magnolia!

ooh, and what colour should bedrooms be? I don't like blue!

We've got 3 blue bedrooms (3 boys!) and one green. I like green.....

my brother had a blue bedroom and it seemed very cold.

We have a fab colour in our bedroom BOUDOIR by Johnstone's paints. They're trade paints so a lot cheaper than Dulux and much better quality - goes on really easily, and you can touch up grubby bits. And you don't have to be trade to buy them.

It's a kind of mauvy mushroomy dusky pinky colour - changes depending on the light. V restful, goes with chocolate brown, white, deep red

We painted our lounge a lovely colour. Its a sort of pale green (looks blue in some lights) but not loud or lairy. Really peacful warm colour and goes great with cream or red (we have a red mat on the floor and it matches beautifully.) It was a homebase paint from their classic range called "silver birch"

I am an architect and my professional advice is to paint your walls Brilliant White. Get a big tub of the cheapest stuff they sell at B&Q (their own brand) in the whitest white they have. Then do your window trim (if it's an old house with frames) and your skirting board and even doors in a light gray. Use your furniture, rugs, pillows and curtains to put color into the room. They are much easier to change/rearrange than repainting the walls. Also, if you paint in a flat white, then if there are smudges etc, you can touch up fairly easily (years before paint fades so much that touch ups show).

a soft sage is nice in the bedroom with white or cream trim and ceiling.

sofia - white as opposed to cream?

and why grey for the doors etc? why not just their natural colour?

I woulsn't do White anywhere - not only does it dirty realy quickly, it looks cold, hard and depressing in our northern light. I once stayed in a 'designer' hotel in frankfurt that was all white, floor, sofas, walls, lightshades. It looked grubby in places, and shows wear and tear quicker. It waas really horrible.

I think that actually it's quite the opposite. White looks fresh and clean in your northern light (more reflection). Cream looks dingy and depressing. I would never suggest to do a whole room in white. Just the walls and then use colors for the fabrics and accessories. Darker colors on the walls show up all the imperfections in the walls. White doesn't anywhere as much.
And white is easier to clean and touch up if you do get smudges and fingerprints.
Grey gives a nice crisp look to things and can make old skirting look fresh and new. It also goes with just about everything. If the doors are already stripped and are made of an attractive timber (many of the old ones aren't as theya re designed to be painted...timber varies within a single door), then leave them natural, but if they need painting, then the same shade of grey as the trim and skirting will look great.

most of our skirting is painted white. might try grey in ds' room. never gone for white on walls before. we always have the palest colours that are virtually white. the last was apple blossom which has the tiniest hint of green. not sure i am brave enough to go for total whiteness!!