Colour for dark bedroom with dark furniture

[angel1976]

I know there are a lot of colour experts on this thread so hoping someone will help a rather amateurish DIYer! :) DH and I currently sleep in what would be the 'spare' bedroom. Once some work is done in the loft bedroom, we will move up there but intend to keep the bed etc in the spare bedroom for guests.

The bed, bedside tables are rather dark - bed is identical to this. And we will have some other 'accompanying' dark bits of furniture in there. There is an inbuilt wardrobe, which we will keep and that's white at the moment. The bedroom itself is rather dark. Only one sash window. This is a Victorian terrrace by the way.

I was thinking of keeping the other decor simple - this light from Ikea. White gauzy type curtains for the window. So it would be rather 'balinese' or 'tropical holiday villa' type feel. The other two bedrooms one the same floor are my boys' rooms and painted a Copenhagen Blue. Any suggestions for wall colour? I'm quite keen on grey but not sure if that will make a dark room even 'colder'. Anyway, I was thinking of grey for the family bathroom on the floor so maybe I need a different colour to that for the bedroom. Also eventually I have to think of what colour to do the hallway so it will have to be something that works with the boys' rooms, bathroom and hall. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Which way does the window face?

I think grey would be fine as long as it is quite a warm grey. So for example Swedish White, Ash White or Chiltern White on the page you linked to, or F&B's Skimming Stone is similar.

You could warm it up by using some browns and reds in the accessories (eg cushions/throws on the bed, pictures, frames, rug, curtain tie backs etc. Maybe a red tassel hanging from the wardrobe door... )

I would have suggested a nice F&B grey with that colour scheme, sounds ideal for it. Love the light by the way, have liked it for ages, wouldn't go in our house though

TBH I'd avoid grey if the room is dark. We have a north facing lower ground bedroom, which doesn't get any direct sunlight, despite enormous windows. It was painted a greyish lilac colour. We've just repainted it in a much lighter colour (F&B house white) and the difference is amazing - it is so much brighter! Depending on the aspect, I actually think that proper white (house white is actually more of a very pale yellow) looks lovely with dark furniture.

Think about lighting too - there was a three bulb chanadelier thing in our room (hi.de.ous) and we took it out and replaced it with one of these from Ikea with a huge bulb (which they also sell) - it is way brighter than the three bulbs we had before.

minipie No idea which way the window faces! But it's dark mostly... I think it's also because there's a wall on one side of it (where the bathroom is), hence it doesn't ever get all the sun that could come in. Not helped by the fact that two of the walls are currently a hideous dark purple! And I like yor colour suggestiosn, was thinking of one of those options...

Sorry to sound dense, but what's a warm grey? I really like the idea of grey on walls but my MIL says grey is 'cold'.

midnight Will have a look at house white. I don't like the idea of white-white walls (too clinical for me) but it seems like I don't have much of a choice if it's a dark room to begin with?

How about the greens on this page? I like Green Oxide, considered it for the kids' room...

Thanks for all your suggestions so far!

A warm grey is one with a bit of a pink or beige undertone whereas a cool grey has more of a blue undertone. Basically if you put pink or blue next to it does it look like it's in the same "family" iyswim.

Indian White or Roman White on that page are what I would call warm greys.

Green Oxide is a nice colour but I would say definitely cool and I think it would be too dark for a dark room.

Another option is a pale cream/yellow colour - I'm a big fan of Crown's Soft Linen which is very neutral but is also warm and light.

If there's a lot of white with the curtains etc, I don't think I'd recommend House White actually - it doesn't look brilliant with pure white next to it. But there are lots of other off whites that might be nice.

Highly recommend Kevin McCloud's book Choosing Colours - full of lovely ideas and gives details of all the paint colours.

What colour do you think that wall colour is? The one I linked to earlier. It looks lovely with the bed and I think it's warm??????

Mind you, it looks green-ish but seems to complement the pink lamps rather well... sigh I am so never going to 'get' this! :)

This?

Yes I agree with you, it's a good colour and somehow manages to be both greenish and warm. (BUT that may be due to having sunlight on it...).

Yes Linnet White looks similar to the colour in that pic, as does Panel White. You could also look at Farrow & Ball Strong White here which is greeny but warm. (Leyland can colour match for cheaper).

Realistically you just have to get testers and see how it looks in the room!

A beautiful very subtle (and warm) grey is dulux wheatgrass. I can thoroughly recommend it, in my (dark) kitchen and has made it feel very light and airy.

Thanks minipie and billgrangersrisotto. I can't seem to find Dulux Wheatgrass. Do you mean Crown Wheatgrass?

I am really liking Linnet White. Was planning to change my sheets to match wall colour but I actually have two very pale green-ish sets that will set off that colour beautiful... Hmmm...

calluna is lovely, a warm heathery grey. Just used it in my north facing bedroom.

Thanks snowball! Will have a look at that too... :)