What colour should I paint my lounge?

[AntiHop]

I have a brown sofa and dark red curtains, neither of which we can afford to replace.

Current colour of walls is white. I'd like to paint the walls and get a new carpet.

House is a small Victorian terrace. We have coving and picture rails, which are also painted white.

I like the look of teal walls with white about the picture rails, but that won't go with our sofa and curtains.

Any suggestions please for the colour of the walls and carpet please?

I love teal with brown. Is there absolutely no way you can replace the curtains? Replacement curtains don't need to be expensive ones. If you could change the curtains, the teal could give the room a whole new colour scheme, and make for an exciting new look.

Can we have a photo? It sounds a bit nineties ATM

With brown and red you really need a fairly pale, neutral wall colour like cream. Not very exciting but quite classic.

Teal does go well with brown. If you like real then the curtains need to not be red. If you can't replace them could you dye them brown to match the sofa?

Whichever colour you paint it, paint the walls above the picture rail the same colour as the wall below. It emphasises the height of the ceiling and looks much more modern than having different colours above and below (that's very 1980s and not in agood way). If you fancy teal for the walls then paint the ceiling and coving a lighter version of the wall colour. Or if you feel brave go for a burnt orange. What colour are you doing the woodwork? Going all teal is the fashionable choice, going green might work as well (but maybe not with a burnt orange ceiling!).

With brown and red you really need a fairly pale, neutral wall colour like cream. Not very exciting but quite classic.

I agree with this if you're not changing your curtains. The right very light pink might work but you'd need to try out loads of testers. Might be cheaper to look for old curtains on ebay to match the new scheme.

@DontBeADodo

Can we have a photo? It sounds a bit nineties ATM

I'm too shy to put a photo! I wouldn't say it looks 90s though. Both curtains and sofa are unpatterned.

I've just painted my bedroom in Farrow and Ball light blue. It's more of a grey greeny colour depending on the light.

I have raspberry coloured curtains in there and it goes really well with those. It could go really well with red curtains and a brown sofa.

Dark green

I think a Duck Egg blue would look really smart with a brown sofa and the white woodwork. But the curtains would need to be changed. I have bought fairly cheap curtains from Dunelm for my house, all in white/off white and it really brightens a room:

www.dunelm.com/category/home-and-furniture/curtains-and-blinds/curtains/eyelet-curtains

Example of duck egg walls and a brown sofa. I think its a lovely combo, much nicer than grey on grey!

eBay do really cheap blackout curtains.

You could dye your curtains another colour or instead of repainting buy new curtains. Also try Facebook marketplace etc

The duck egg blue with brown does look nice, perhaps if you need the room to be lighter. If not then teal is lovely. As I posted earlier, re about replacing the curtains, a few other posters are saying the same. Tell me to shut up about replacing the curtains if you like, lol, but in my experience in the past, it can be a bit disappointing doing all the painting work around a particular curtain colour. I think you may end up with wall colours that you don’t like that much with trying to accommodate the red in the curtains.

I think we need photos of the sofa and curtains, no need to do room pics.
But cheaper to buy curtains than carpet, I find vintage curtains on ebay.
A nice rich velvet could work, you can pick any nice rich colour and choose a wall colour from there. Bit easier perhaps?

If not perhaps a soft olive green wall colour could work? Goes with brown and red (think autumn colours).

www.ikea.com/gb/en/rooms/living-room/gallery/personalise-your-living-room-pub78accff3

or

www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/7107311901631956/

What about Little Greene Castell Pink or Ferdinand? these are sophisticated, caramel-toned pinks which I wanted to use in a project but which didn't look right in my room. So I am hoping someone else will report that they worked out rinky-dink!

I too actually hink a caramel pinky shade would pull together the brown and red, but they can be a bugger to get the right shade,.