How to connect open plan spaces with paint

last month

We have an open plan kitchen-diner-living room however our living area is towards the back in its own ‘nook’. The room is west facing with big sliding doors along the back so we get a lot of light in the dining area but the living room is a bit darker.

Any ideas on paint colours to help the room flow would be great. The living area is painted F&B pigeon currently and the rest of the room is little Greene slaked lime. Wondering if a feature wall would be better along the wall with fireplace and radiator with a darker colour.

Featured Answer

Sonia

28 days ago

Looking at your pictures again, the area is lovely and the Pigeon looks very in keeping. By all means change it if you wish “a change is as good as a rest”, but it sure looks good as it is!

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Comments (10)

Isla Cherry
last month
The best way to do this is to choose two colours in a similar range with maybe a couple of shade variations. If you look at the F&B colour card you will see the strongest colour at the bottom and it gets lighter with additional pigments towards the top. Pigeon is about midway with 3 lighter variations above it. Do you want to keep the Pigeon? I think a feature wall would tie the two rooms together. Do they need to be? The boxout for the steel creates quite a natural delineation and even if they were painted the same colour the light levels would make them look completely different. I like the moodier room with the Pigeon very much.
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Laura H
Original Author
last month
Thanks for your comment. I’m not 100% on pigeon - I think if it was a room on its own it would work better but feel like it does need some connection. I’ll post the floorplan - our kitchen is a dove grey gloss with dark blue splash back. I was thinking of F&B down pipe on the fireplace wall and wall in dining area to tie this in but it’s a good comment about the lighting being totally different
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Isla Cherry
last month
I have used downpipe before and it is really dark. The sunnier dining room side will look like a different shade completely. I think I would make the living room tie in with the kitchen and have the dining room its own light bright space. Do choose similar shades though. If you go with downpipe than look for a grey shaded white or something similar to tie back to it. Your current colours look good together. Try Scallop or Stirabout with Downpipe. They are both a bit warmer than the Slaked Lime.
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Sonia
last month
Pigeon is one of those colours promoted as a mid green, but in fact it’s actually quite dark, especially in rooms with little natural light. However, I can just about see windows so light isn’t a problem, is that so? Slaked Lime comes in different shades, so you could look at mid or deep as an option? Or look at Portland Stone which is a shade or two darker. First pic is Portland Stone.
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Laura H
Original Author
last month
Thanks - the rest of the walls are actually slaked lime mid but a colour matched version so maybe on the lighter side. Pigeon is definitely quite dark in the living area. We do have large windows in the room so the full space is quite light in the summer. Not much light reaches the living area in the darker months.

Not sure if a feature wall would be best for the fireplace wall to create a focus and then everywhere else in a warmer neural
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Isla Cherry
last month
That's what I would do. The feature wall for the fireplace wall and then neutral everywhere else. Its just the challenge of finding the right neutral! It's going to be a big change from the Pigeon to go lighter so be prepared. I'm planning to paint over Card Room Green too, to a lighter shade.
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CWD
last month
The trick is to repeat the colours around the space. So if you were keeping the Pigeon then add a cushion with Pigeon in it to that chair - or replace that chair with a Pigeon-coloured one - doesn't have to be the exact same colour, but something tonal. And it doesn't have to be in a solid colour, could be a floral cushion with some dark green in the leafy background. The Pigeon colour could be in a piece of art, a rug, a big bowl on the table, anything really, it just needs repeated around the space - I'd take that green table lamp and put it in the dining room to start with. That applies whatever colour you choose for the walls.

I think perhaps it's too much of a contrast so toning it down to a more middle-toned colour would work better. If you go too light then it won't work either as light colours need light in order to look their best.

I think you should consider switching to a blue to speak to the kitchen backsplash and make it all look/feel more intentional. Or have a green that is a similar 'weight' to whatever blue you have in the kitchen so it balances it. If Pigeon is this colour already, then maybe it's just a case of sprinkling the blue and the Pigeon around the space more to tie it altogether - perhaps a rug in the dining area with both the blue and the Pigeon in it, as well as the colour of the neutral walls and woodwork (and a tiny bit of grey to speak to the kitchen, but only a tiny bit).

I personally don't like feature walls in a different colour, I feel like it's lazy and only really works in a room where the architecture supports that - usually meaning the architecture is so lovely it could be painted any colour and still look good!
CFS Interiors
29 days ago
Your space looks lovely! The contrast between F&B Pigeon and Slaked Lime is already quite striking, but I can see why you’re thinking about ways to enhance the flow. Since your living area is tucked into a nook and gets less light, a feature wall in a deeper, richer shade could work beautifully.

Alternatively, if you want to keep things more cohesive, you could extend Pigeon into more of the space, maybe bringing it onto the dining area wall for better visual connection. Another option is to use soft furnishings rugs, cushions, and artwork to tie the two zones together through color repetition.
Laura H
Original Author
29 days ago
Thanks so much for the comments! I do love the pigeon however agree that it does look a bit random at the moment as isn’t connecting to anything else in the room. Thinking we will go with a feature wall with blue tones to tie back to the kitchen - then add more green/ blues around the dining room to tie it all in ☺️

How to connect open plan spaces with paint

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