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Home Decorating Design Dilemma Paint

how dark to go with paint? small, narrow office/guest room

3 years ago

Hi! So I’m about to decorate my office/guest room. It’s a small room - about 2 x 3 m, and it’s north-facing. It does have a large window though so gets a fair amount of light.

At the moment there are dark, warm brown curtains in the room that I’d like to keep, and the carpet is beige. I’m getting a white wall bed with an integrated desk. There will also be a white drop leaf table in the room, a black office chair, and a small black/brown drawer unit - see plan.

I want earth tones, so I got this bedding as inspiration. It won’t be visible most of the time but I thought it would be a good starting point. My question is, what colour to go for on the walls? I’d like to go a bit bolder than white/off-white, I quite like the shade on the picture with the bed on it, or I could use colours 1, 2 or 3 on the bedding (third picture). On all walls? Just one of them? Or two? I’m having real trouble figuring out what I should do. I don’t mind the room looking small - I don’t feel a need to make it look bigger - but I don’t want it to feel gloomy.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

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Comments (4)

Sonia
3 years ago
It really is personal taste. Some people love a cosy cocoon darker wall colour and others want light and bright. Those earthy colours really are fashionable at the moment, but sometimes they can look a bit dingy. There are a couple of Dulux shades that caught my eye - Spiced Honey and Soft Stone. If you go to the Dulux website they have inspiration pictures. They have quite a nice selection of earth tones. Whatever paint you choose, get sample pots and paint them on A4 card which you can blue tack to the walls to get a feel of the colour. Blush Pink is rather lovely too but paler.

SPICED HONEY

BLUSH PINK
Emilie Begin
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks, really appreciate your input! Reassuring to know that both light and dark work. I might just try the darker shade..!

Wondering if it might be good to make just one or two walls dark, and paint the rest in a lighter shade - or should I go all in?
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Sonia
3 years ago
Why not paint a feature wall in the darker paint, say the wall behind bed or behind desk and see what you think? Personally I like the paler stone colour or blush pink, so I would paint the one wall dark only. However it is your home so follow your heart. It’s only paint so if you hate it, it’s easy to change. 😊
Emilie Begin
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks, I think that’s what I’ll do. Apparently it might make the room look a bit more square too so fingers crossed! Thanks again for your input!

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