How to Choose a Paint Color for Your Living Room

Choose the best color for your living room!

Without a doubt, your home’s living room is one of the most important rooms on your property. This is where we entertain guests, hang out with friends and family, watch movies, play video games, have family night with our kids, and so much more! This is a big reason it’s so important you keep this particular area looking its best!

If you’re planning to do some interior painting in your home, there’s a good chance that your living room is a primary target. What we’d like to do today is to give you a thorough rundown of how to choose paint color for your living room that will help your home look absolutely spectacular.

Start by Simply Looking at Paint Samples

The first thing you should do when planning to paint your living room is to look at paint samples. Although there are only seven primary colors, the full color palette spectrum that’s available to you consists of millions of choices because of different elements such as hues, tones, and tints. Ask to see samples or a color wheel and make sure you test out your choices before committing them to the entire room.

Match the Color Scheme with the Furniture

There are two ways to go about this. First, if you’re already in love with your current furniture and plan to keep it, then simply match the color scheme with those particular items. Second, many homeowners decide to upgrade their furniture at the same time that they paint their living room, so you can match everything all at once. Either way you go, this is a great way to create am awesome flow throughout the room.

Select a Finish That Achieves a Good Visual

While it’s true newer flat paints have better stain resistance, most people still opt for a satin/eggshell finish for their walls because it’s easy to clean and imperfections aren’t so obvious. You may also want to paint a wall in one of these finishes and then choose semi-gloss or high-gloss for an adjacent wall to create a velvet effect. Another choice is to use flat paints on the walls and semi-gloss on the ceiling for a nice contrast.

Work in Some of Your Favorite Colors

Everyone has a favorite color or two, so why not make that a part of your living room’s color scheme? Perhaps you can use your favorite color as the room’s primary and then choose a secondary color for things like trim or other accents. This is a great way to immediately feel right at home as soon as the interior painting has been completed.

Identify and Execute the Room’s Feeling

Cool colors such as blues, greens, and whites provide a soothing feel while warm colors like red, orange, and yellow are used to denote more energy. Decide which type of emotional response you’d like to convey to household members and visitors (not to mention yourself) and consider choosing the colors accordingly. Also, keep in mind that professional designers are a little obsessed with this kind of thing, so they can certainly help you achieve the proper feeling.

Find Inspiration from the Great Outdoors

One of the most popular ways to create an awesome looking color scheme in your living room is to take inspiration from the great outdoors. This means you can choose browns and greens from the woods, blues and tans to create a beach look, or even a mixture of colors based on a mountain range or other outdoor view. Whether or not you expose the room to natural light to go with this outdoor appearance, you can create something truly spectacular.

Match the Colors to Adjacent Rooms

While some homeowners like to differentiate each room’s color palette, you also have the choice of creating a flow as you move from one room to the next. Matching the colors of your living room to its adjacent rooms is a simple way to accomplish this. However, be sure to keep in mind that the general rule of thumb is that the paint scheme in each adjacent room should be either lighter or darker.

Play Up the Room’s Architectural Details

If you really want to give your living room a certain level of “oomph,” then you should definitely concentrate on the architectural details. This is done by painting items such as doors, windows, molding, mantles, wainscot, and others. This will give you more options when it comes to a color scheme and will also add more interest to the newly colored walls.

Get Even Bolder with Multiple Colors

If you really want your living room to have a bold, dramatic appearance, this can often be achieved by using multiple colors. By mixing a few different lighter colors and/or darker colors together, the living room will have an architectural emphasis even though it doesn’t truly exist. This is often a more advanced design, but it’s one that an interior designer or paint consultant can assist you with.

Find the Room’s Color in Artwork

A common interior design strategy is to use whatever artwork is in your home to create a room’s color scheme. After all, professional artists are masters of light and color, which makes them a natural go-to resource. This is also the perfect time to choose new artwork and get everything to sync together all at once. You can be bold with this design option or be a bit subtle by choosing less pronounced colors from the artwork.

Create a Focal Point with an Accent Wall

If your room is relatively featureless, you can create a more dramatic appearance by painting one of your walls in a vivid hue while the others are more neutral. This creation of an “accent wall” has proven to be very effective in giving living rooms a contemporary edge. Another strategy is to use muted colors on the “normal” walls and then go a few shades darker with the accent wall.

Make Your Ceiling into a Fifth Wall 

When it comes to discussing a living room’s color scheme, its ceiling is usually an afterthought. Many homeowners decide to go with a traditional white because it makes the room feel airy, but that’s not your only option. You can achieve the same effect by using the same color as the walls, but with a lighter shade. This contrast can make a small living room look bigger, which is often what it’s used for.

Consult with a Professional Consultant 

If you want your living room or any other part of your home to really shine, your best option is always to use a professional interior designer or similar consultant. They are artists in their profession and can help you create the perfect visual appearance and color flow. Their experience will also help you avoid any potential faux pas when it comes to creating a wonderful look throughout your entire home.

Contact Tampa Bay Painting Co. on How to Choose Paint for Your Living Room 

Tampa Bay Painting Company can show you how to choose paint for your living room that will fit your hopes and desires perfectly. If you have any questions about our residential painting in Tampa for our commercial services, give us a call at (727) 800-5988 today.