Dark paint - regrets?

[Flockameanie]

Has anyone regretting painting a living room a dark colour? We’re about to take the plunge and I’m having a wobble! I want it to be a cosy, enveloping feel in that room (which will mostly be used in the evenings) but I’m worried it’ll end up feeling gloomy. Lots of windows (triple aspect - south, north, east)

Yes and no. I don’t regret a bold deep colour but slightly wish I’d chosen a deep red or ochre rather than what we have which is a dark grey-green. It’s a N facing room and could do with a warmer colour. The dark will be a nightmare to paint over though!

I've just painted my bedroom a deep warm purple and I love it.
I was going to paint the ceiling too but felt it would have been too dark so I went with a Wickes Chalk White which perfectly accents the colour of the walls.
The colour itself is Don't Look Down on Valspar. It's gorgeous.
I would upload a pic but on photos it looks brown. It's really not.

No regrets at all. Looking at repainting mine, currently f and b railings, as it needs a refresh. Will be sticking with dark, just need to decide between a dirty olive or a clay brown. It will still be dark, either way.

I love a dark living room. We spend our evenings in the living room, and daytimes spread across the house, so dark works for us.

Go for it.
We've got olive green.
If you are worried you could do one or two walls first then decide whether to stop there or keep going.

I haven't regretted the room I painted dark, it's so cosy. I do regret rooms I've painted light, and wish I'd gone dark in those too!

I regularly paint mine. I had a full dark blue sitting room (inc ceiling) which I loved but my DP moaned about so much so painted over it in an olive green. I used two coats of little greene and the navy was gone.

I also have a dark plum bedroom. Again I also painted the ceiling but that was too much, so ended up painting it a beigey colour later to reflect the light.

I've got mid tones throughout the rest of the house.

So, in summary, I wouldn't paint the ceiling a dark colour if the walls are also dark, as it's too much (although I'm in a victorian terrace so it's never very light anyway).

We've only got dark paint in our bathrooms, and we have painted the ceilings to match but in a small bathroom there's not much wall so it needed the dark ceiling to balance the light ceramic ware and tiles. A sitting room I'd probably paint the ceiling a light but complementary colour.

No regrets at all.

I have F&B pitch blue colour on all four walls, floors to ceiling in my tiny box room and I love it.

Everyone told me that I'd regret it. I don't.

The deep pigment means every mark shows up which can be a pain but its worth it for how amazing it looks.

But I didn't use actual F&B paint, just a colour match - my decorator refuses to use F&B paint or paper because of the poor quality.

Hi OP

Different colours suit differ property - depends on what you want = how much light - what you mix the darker colours with etc

If you buy a dark made to order paint or ready-made, you can add white colour to lighten to your taste

What looks good in one home may not suit another or the person/s

Great, thank you all! Just the reassurance I needed. It's a really beautiful colour and I think it will look great. I've just never had the balls to really go for colour before on the walls.

And yes, ceiling is in a complementary light/neutral

No regrets at all my living room is painted dark almost bottle green, it looks stunning, the room is south facing so can take it. One thing you need to do is not panic when you first start painting as it will be a shock and you will want to paint it magnolia within 5 minutes of it going up on the wall! The full stunning effect comes together when you re dress the room so stick with the process and don’t wimp out!

Terracotta red, we love it. It’s the coldest rm in the house if the heating is off, so the warm colour is start in the right direction

I once painted my kitchen units and walls in dark grey (F&B) after seeing photos on Instagram where it looked amazing. Nope, not amazing in my kitchen, which now has white walls and pale blue units.

I’d say if you’ve got the light, go for it. You can always balance it out a bit by having light coloured carpet or flooring, furniture and curtains.
Get good paint though if you’re going dark, it does make a difference to the depth of tone. After years of doing the Johnstones colour match thing, I’m coming back round to using genuine F&B, little green etc for stronger colours as the pigment does really make a subtle difference imo.

Wise words. I will hold my nerve!

Yup - I’m going for F&B and Little Greene. I know F&B gets a bad rap on here, but I can’t be doing with the risk of colour matching.

Oh good. We’re doing another room (more of a snug) a kind of dark orangey red.

Brother and SIL have gone for a very dark grey in their living room which is already a dark room, so I secretly don't like it but I think they do so fair enough! I would only go dark if your room is big and/or with lots of natural light

We painted our living room a very dark, deep purple with a dark stained original floorboards floor. No regrets at all. I love the cosy vibe it has. We are going to paint the ceiling dark this year as well.

@Flockameanie

DO NOT DO IT! My DD did this - dark fucking blue. Didn't look good, and really darkened the room sooooo bad. It was like a Chapel of Rest! If you wanna give it a bit of a go, just paint one wall. See how ya feel.

Oh, also, it took FOUR COATS of light coloured (polar white) paint to cover it all.

THIS was the colour she had!

@Flockameanie my whole house is painted in f and b. No idea.why it gets such a bad rep. It does always need 2 coats to really make the colours and pigments strong enough, but I love how it changes in different lights etc

The only regret I have is not doing all four walls-our longest wall is still white and it looks pony against the blue black we have on other walls. Dh overruled me-I'm thinking of waiting for him to go away for a weekend and doing the other wall!

The bad rep for F&B mainly comes from estate emulation, their original very flat and chalky finish. To be fair, although it looks stunning, it’s a massive pita to work with, marks easily, can’t be touched up and from a decorators pov it’s difficult, it has to be applied with wet edge method to get it right. I’m a semi pro decorator and it’s hard.

But the modern emulation isn’t much different to other paints to use tbh. Expensive obviously, but colour matches on strong deep tones aren’t the same ime- the original has something the colour match doesn’t have.