Colour for a very small, north facing room

[Stevie77]

Poor DS has the short straw and the smallest room, but now it needs decorating and I'm in a pickle due to its size and position.

It is approx 2.4m x 2.8m, and faces NE. It does have a very big window that is about 1.4m wide so doesn't really feel dark.

It is painted a cream shade at the moment that's probably too much on the yellow side. Can't remember the exact one, Old English Cream perhaps? Anyway, I'd like to decorate as he's getting a new, big bed and wardrobe and initially thought a warm, light grey but now I'm having real second thoughts that maybe it'll make the room feel smaller and colder. I've also not yet found a warm grey shade I like, but that's another matter. Online/Pinterest provided no inspiration and I feel even more confused than when I started!

Any advice? Do I stick with the cream or even a paler off-white to counter the size/position issue, and accessorise with colour?

How old is DS and does he have feeling on the matter?

We got a lovely warm grey. I think it’s called stone pebble from dulux.

He's 3.5 and I'm sure he'd have feeling in the matter but I'm not going to ask him! 😆

We painted our north facing bedroom Matt white with one grey wall. It's not a warm grey, it's just a grey by fluid but damned if I remember the name

Anyway it looks great. I've accepted the room is north facing and no paint will make it seem brighter.

*dulux not fluid

Elephants Breath by F and B is a warm grey. You can add yellow accessories and pale blues. White paintwork works well. It's neutral so it is a good background colour for any scheme though.

Deep rich colours. We went for a wallpaper in rich dark blue in DS north facing bedroom and it's so cosy and relaxing. Counterintuitive but really works. Have a peek at the book by Abigail Ahern. Think it's called Colour.

I think I would avoid wallpaper for s young boy. Another recommendation is Borrowed Light by F and B. As it says, it seems to add light and is a delicate pale blue which is versatile and not cold. We have used it successfully with a dark brown/soft burgundy carpet (difficult to describe the colour but it's great) and navy ikat blinds with bright yellow accessories. They bring in a touch of sunshine. Light blue ticking bed linen. This would also suit a nautical theme.

I would try either Mizzle by F&B - which is a beautiful grey-green, very soothing and calm, and changes depending on the light - or if you are feeling bold, Calke Green, also F&B.

We have north facing bedrooms and sitting room. We tried the whole pale grey thing and it was alienating and underwhelming and just meh. Still have it in our bathroom and I hate it more every time I go in there. The green makes a small room snug and cozy and kind of jungly and alluring all at once.

Thanks for the great suggestions, will check some of them out.

I've looked at Elephants Breath but thought it was quite dark, too dark for that small space.

I think you have to think about what else is in the room. A child's room will have all sorts of possessions as well as a bed and storage. If you have white furnitute, elephants Breath is fine in a smaller room. I have Mizzle in a north facing bathroom. I love it but not sure I would use it for a child's bedroom. I have used Wevet for a north facing room too. Like Borrowed Light, it reflects light.

Our bedroom is dulux polished pebble and I love it

I looked for a colour similar to Elephants Breath so we could quickly make dds room look better before moving in ( not wasting F&B money on wood chip) We got Dulux Just Walnut which is a lovely pale warm grey.

Our bathroom is NE facing and I used Borrowed Light in there. I like it, it's light blue without being cold.

Some of the cath kidston papers are cool for a child’s room. I love the cowboy print and it’s on a white or cream background so good for NE. You can sometimes get rolls on eBay - maybe not as much as you need all at once but you can salt it away bit by bit.

Quite like the look of Borrowed Light, maybe for one of the walls. Am gonna look at it in B&Q this week.

Think I've talked myself out of a grey now.

Borrowed light is really good.

I'd probably just go with PBW and accessorise with bright bed linen, pictures on the walls and other brigh kids room stuff.

Oh no, please do not used anything like Mizzle or elephants fart in a north facing room! It will be so washed out and depressing! For a 3 year old especially..
Agree 100 % with the pp who deep clear deep strong colours. You can't lighten a dingy space with pale washed out colours. Those colours need light to make them glow. I have a similarly challenging bathroom. I did it a deep jewel like marine blue and it creates a its own glow.

I did my youngest daughters west facing room in Borrowed Light and Wimborne white (both copies of F&B not the real thing) It looked so lovely that my teen daughter wanted it too. I'm not sure it's that warming but certainly light. The girls want it again for our new house.

Honestly, it really depends on your preferences but also your context -a house that faces onto red brickwork is going to have a very different colour of light to one surrounded by green trees.

Personally, I don't like light blueish colours in north-facing rooms (my house faces north and this is a mistake I've made): I think they can easily look and feel very cold because the light tends to have a bluer tinge to it, and any blue, grey, or green gets amplified - blue and grey get harder and colder as a result. It can actually be quite useful with the green, however, especially if you want to pick up greener surroundings - there is a F&B colour called James White which is a kind of greenish-tinged white that really picks works well with foliage.

I'll check out James White too, the room faces the back which is dominated by a large Sycamore.

I get your point about deep colours IfNot but using it in such a small space worries me, even if it is just on one wall.

We had dulux "light and space" paints in some rooms and they've done a really good job of reflecting and brightening otherwise cold rooms.

The only thing I've found with light & space is that the finish isn't quite as durable as other paints (I did use these about 10 years ago, though, in my last house so they may have improved the formula?) They also had a slight sheen to them, which showed up a lot of the existing imperfections in the house's walls. It was an older house, however, with walls that had seen better days - in a newly plastered room, the story would be really different!

Honestly, trust me! My bathroom is teeny but actually looks bigger now it's not (blurg)pale beige.
I wouldnt use farrow and ball, you need about 4 coats it's so thin. I recommend Little Greene if you want a low VOC paint with good colours.