North Facing Living room - paint advice
Markos Asimakopoulos
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Hello,
we are plastering and soon painting our main living room. It is north facing and can be a little dark. We are looking to paint the back wall (wall with stained glass windows) stiffkey blue to match the blue in the stained glass. For the rest of the arch and remaining walls we are looking for a white colour that matches stiffkey blue. We would like the white to be warm and soft , recognising the room is north facing.
Any ideas and suggestions are welcome, thank you.
Forgot to mention, we also have navy blue Sofas to fit around the colour scheme
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Wumi
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoI’d go for a simple brilliant white. Try just painting the wall blue and the recess in white. The white will help to bounce around light coming through from the windows.
Shoddy example
Markos Asimakopoulos
2 years agoRelated Discussions
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Comments (37)Hi Evie. The reason I've been slow to post photos is because my house is very much still a building site and work in very slow progress. I have flung paint on walls a relief from 1927 plaster and peeling wallpaper that went up decades ago. I haven't hung pictures yet as the walls are so hard - picture hooks break - and the friend who is going to do the task hasn't yet been. So, none of these photos will persuade you to use colour - the walls are bleak. But I'm posting them in the right spirit. As for feature walls, I have never liked them. For info, Kate Watson-Smyth said, in a recent post, that they are "so ova". I associate them with the 1970s, which is when I believe they first emerged. I like all over colour; I find it much less intrusive than one wall that stands out awkwardly. As for my furniture, it's mostly interim - on loan as I had nothing after chucking out my two sofas which I bitterly regret. Anyway, with all those embarrassing provisos, here we go. Terracotta sitting room: Caravan by Paper & Paint Library (it's not a current colour; my local independent paint shop keeps records of previous colours and identified it for me); it goes up to the picture rail; I haven't yet found the colour I want above it and on the ceiling; the picture rail, window frames, doors and door frames will all be Caravan, too; the room is really bitty (four doors, jutting out bits, fussy door and windows into the garden, a big fireplace, original tiles around the fire area that I wanted to complement but tone down, and a busy stained glass window) and needs blanket coverage to make it seem less busy. .Green bedroom: Sanderson Laurel below the picture rail; Goblin Green above it and on the ceiling; picture rail and all other woodwork not yet painted; I might do them in a linen colour to tie in with the bed frame though I hate the bed frame and am desperate for a new one. You can see that I'm work in progress by the undealt-with and unpainted grille covering the hole where the fireplace was. Hideous and offensive; longing to put it right. Lots of pictures/paintings to be hung all over. Blue bedroom: This blue is a bit flat but it was only after painting it that I discovered the colour I really want - Abigail Ahern's Bowery Blue which despite being intense has a real lift to it giving it life and vibrancy. The ceiling in here is the wrong blue (bought in haste); I will use a lighter blue. The unhung painting on the right (sorry it's not more visible) is so much more vibrant against this blue than it was against the pale yellow of the wall it was hung on in my previous home. I will have mirrors above the bedhead and a gallery wall opposite plus a mirror near the small window to throw a bit more light in this seriously dark bedroom (dismally dark before I painted it interestingly dark). Bronze shower room: Impossible to photograph this as it's a tiny room; the tiles in the shower area are subtly jazzy and moody. I love having it open (I grew up in India where all showers were in the middle of the room so I've never understood the closed-in box version or the fiddly over the bath option). The bronze tiles are much richer in colour than the photo conveys; the walls are Sanderson Brick Light which looks pale and peculiar in this photo; it is a lot more interesting than on the paint card and picks up on colours streaking through the tiles; it's not such a stark contrast as the photo conveys. That's it. The bedroom that will be a mustardy yellow isn't painted yet so I can't show the walls in there. And, again, apologies for the really unsophisticated furniture and mismatched upholstery, etc. Lots still to be done!...See MoreNorth facing living room colour
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Comments (6)You shouldn’t need to repost - you can edit it (on a pc webpage) and I’d add it to design dilemma as that’s where I think a lot of people follow We used dusk in the valley by valspar for this room, as with the glow from the lamp/copper on the inside of the light it gives a warm glow from the light as well... depends whether you use it more during the day or in the evening. It’s an east facing room but because of the dormer and being a small window it’s not the brightest...See MoreMarkos Asimakopoulos
2 years agominnie101
2 years agoPersonally I’d either do the lighter colour in the alcove or dark all over that wall, dark in the inglenook looks as if it isn’t invited to the party (IMO).
Markos Asimakopoulos
2 years agoJust wanted to thank everyone. After all we just did the fireplace wall and We are very pleased with the result !
PROHiiGuru
2 years ago
CWD