I have a north facing butlers pantry. It gets some light but not all of the time. I love the accessible beige by SW we chose. Here is a pic. It's in satin on the walls and flat on the ceiling.

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There was a recent discussion on a north facing room on the paint forum where color expert Lori Sawaya weighed in:

Picking a color for a north facing room

Thank you for that link GrayWings. I went to the paint site she suggested and the color is very much like the Windham Cream (BM). My furniture is all white/whitewashed in that room. Dining table, secretary that I use as a china hutch and an eterge. Colors in room are sage and reds. I feel that I need color since furniture is all whites, but the sagey colors really will make it darker.

This is an inspiration photo. My colors are similar and I like that mellow yellow color

My two cents: a room with little light will never look light and bright regardless of what color is on the wall. Embrace the coziness.

Jubilante, absolutely agree. Painting the room will not make it bright. But I want to add a color so it's not so dull and I am trying to find that right color. The yellow in my inspiration picture is nice and soothing and I think the room looks cozy. If anyone can suggest a yellow to try in a dark room, prefably SW or BM I'd be very grateful!!

I once had a room like that. Instead of thinking of a color for a dark room, perhaps you should choose a color for how it looks under the artificial light you will be using. Lots of yellows will do beautifully, but you'll be able to choose one you really like among those many. And, of course, reds would look wonderful with yellows for cozy dining, especially in the evening.

If this is a formal DR, I tend to embrace the cozy or the dramatic and go for color. I wouldn't want muddy, but I would want color. If this is a DR that serves all purposes, then I would go ligher.

My DR is east facing and beind the front porch and trees. Well filtered light for all but an hour in early mornings. I went deep blue and it's gorgeous with my mahogany furniture.

Seems like the color you are liking is more of a "celery" than a "sage." Sage is grey green, and seems like you would want a green with some yellow in it. Is celedon a word?

We have a Northfacing dining room with a large tree out front. It does get some southern light from an adjoining room, warm toned hardwood, all the trim, furniture and ceiling are painted Swiss Coffee. The walls are "Morning Zen" from HD. I like the combo. The sage color does change throughout the day but I think it looks nice. I did have HD make a gallon of 50% for a corner cabinet interior it looks almost the same inside as the walls.

Pink mountain perhaps you are right! This is not easy!!

I found a couple good articles on the subject while looking for pictures of north-facing dining roomg:

Best BM Paint Colors for a North-Facing Room--Kylie M. Interiors

My north facing paint color is depressing me--Laurel Home

Both articles make similar recommendations (like use warm tones, as some here have already posted). The Kylie M. article has the better theoretical discussion, but both have great pics of low light rooms you can use for inspiration.

Ellen Kennon Classic Cream is lighter than BM Windham Cream. Windham Cream is more yellow. To my (untrained) eye, EK Classic Cream is more similar to BM Canvas (267).

Hi, decormyhomepls

Cute screen name, btw :) I have a north facing living and dining room with 4 tall skinny windows on one wall. They happen to be in the northwest corner of the house and they're the darkest rooms in the house! When I first moved in 7 years ago, I painted these rooms Valspar's Woodrow Wilson Maize (3005-8C). The chip looked creamy but when painted on the walls, turned a pale golden yellow. I love the way it turned out. I don't have pictures to share but wanted to share my experience with you because BM Windham Cream looks very similar to the color I used. I'm not a color or paint expert, but if you want a light yellow, BM Windham Cream may give you the results you're after.

There are lots of FAB colours out there and don't be afraid to choose a darker colour for your dark room, you might be surprised! Whether you want to go lighter or darker, here's 2 articles with reference to actual paint colours...

1. Darker Paint Colours: http://www.kylieminteriors.ca/7-fabulous-dark-colours-for-a-dark-room-or-basement-sherwin-and-benjamin/
   2. Lighter Paint Colours: http://www.kylieminteriors.ca/the-best-light-paint-colours-for-a-dark-room-basement/

Within those, you'll also find some links to a few other posts re: brightening a room (decorating/lighting ideas)

Hope that helps you find your perfect colour!

~Kylie

BTW: regarding your inspiration photo. Yellows can have a variety of undertones, most commonly orange or green. The colour in that photo (based on my computer screen) leans juuuust barely to the green side ('similar' to BM Stanhope Yellow), which in a north facing room might become a bit more pronounced. For a colour idea 'similar' to that, but a bit more of a warm yellow, you can look at BM White Rock.

Hope that helps :)

I know you are asking about paint, but have you considered adding skylights to the porch to bring in extra light to the dining room?

After reading Kylie's blog, I painted our north facing dining room BM Powell Buff. Love it!

I think the really light colors can make a room looked washed out, unless your furniture and art adds a lot of color. I'd go with a medium shade. I almost painted one of my dark rooms a color called, "Sallow" which when referring to skin tone is not a good situation if you are starting to look yellow, but in this case, it was an MAB green paint color but with some yellow in it. Kinda Japanese looking. In the end, I went with a Glidden color called "Lake" which was good, but even then I had to have it darkened slightly since I wanted a color in between two paint chips on a spectrum. I'm pretty happy I went with a medium tone.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to answer my plea for help! Kylie I so appreciate the professional input. Went to BM today and took home a variety of sample colors. I bought poster board at the dollar store and will paint several colors and live with them a bit before a final decision. And I promise to come back and post a picture of the finished project.

BTW, to those mentioning skylights and adding more natural light, we do have 2 solar tubes in adjoining rooms that are open to the DR. It just happens to be a dark home, made even darker by the fact that the main living area faces the north and a porch is behind it. We even installed a front storm door and leave the front door open all day to allow more light into the house. It's a great floor plan in a great neighborhood, but just not enough natural light comes in.

I think a dark room is the best place for a really saturated color, as long as you have sufficient lighting. For my north facing dining room, we used Sherwin Williams Barn. The exact color is no longer available but it is a deep, rich red. I find that rooms with too much natural light cannot handle such a color as well.

I have a north facing guest bedroom, very dark .. I painted it a warm buttery yellow ... maybe it doesn't make it much lighter in reality ... but it looks and feels warm and comfy to me.

Pamfhatten, what color did you use? I painted a posterboard what I thought would be a warm yellowy beigy color today and I don't think it looks like the right color. Decided to also try a sample color of BM rosemary sprig tomorrow. Much easier to try these samples than painting the entire room! Hopefully I can at least narrow down whether I want green or yellow

What is the floor material? In my experience, the floor color has a huge impact in making a room feel lighter. It makes sense when you think about it. The sun is shining from above, so light bounces off the floor. A light floor material -- or at least a light colored rug on a dark floor -- would help a lot to brighten a dark room.

I don't think Rosemary Sprig will work very well in a low-light room. It has too much gray in it. try a more yellow green (green with a lot of yellow), BM Lilianna

We have no dark rooms but really enjoy this rich color in our dining room which I've "embellished" with some gold leaf decoration. I can't tell you the color since I mixed colors together until I arrived at one I liked. I'm assuming your chair rail is a light color and a rich red in warm tones might be quite stunning. Most of our home is painted in off white except for two walls in the living room which are painted a soft gray, the front entry which is actually a complete room which is a sage green and the red dining room. The colors make the house come alive.

Tbbrix, that color is very much like the "sallow" color I was considering for one of my rooms. Boy "Lilianna" sure sounds more appealing!! Ingrid I love that terra cotta-ish color with the gold leaf. You are right, it is STUNNING!

Ingrid, if I only had the nerve to paint it a bold color. My husband and daughter want me to. I went to someones home the week for a card game and her DR was a very, very dark royal blue. Rest of house was a soft apple green. Rooms all opened to each other. It really did look great. I am going off to get color swatches today from BM of recommended colors from all of you and I am going to get some reds as well. Just so out of my comfort zone!!! You never know....

My foyer is north-facing with a covered porch, and sidelights for windows, so it is also dark. I painted it BM Hepplewhite Ivory after seeing it in a friend's similar foyer, and I love it. It makes me feel like the walls are sun-kissed, not sunny yellow. My kitchen is a stronger yellow (BM, but I can't remember the name, I tried so many!) and while it's fine in the north-facing-with-porch kitchen, it would be too much for the foyer or for a formal dining room. (My DR is south-facing and currently painted what was meant to be a soft pink, but it's waaaaay too pink! Cute color but totally wrong for the space and furniture)

As someone who has a mostly dark house, you need to consider whether your real issue is one of paint color or one of lighting. When we first moved to our home, there were sconces installed. While I didn't like the actual sconces, the fact that they were sconces fit with the style of the house. However, it always looked very dark in the room (and the paint color was light). So, much as I dislike can lighting, we had it installed with a dimmer. Now my ceiling is ugly, but I can pretend that it's sunlight when it's daytime. (At night I turn it very low if I use it at all.) I also make sure I have lighting in all the corners of my room with table lamps so that I am not counting on overhead lighting.

Once you solve your lighting problem, then do as Hamalus says and pick a paint color based on the artificial light you will be using.

My living room is also north facing and I used Caen Stone by SW. It's part of their historical collection.

What kind of trim do you have?

decormyhome, just think about the fact that it's only paint and if you don't like it you can always change it. On the other hand it might give you a lift every time you see that glowing color, and your family seems to want you to try it. If something appeals to you, stepping out of your comfort zone can be a good thing. pink mountain, thank you for the compliment. I'm glad you like the look.

Decormyhomepls, you might be pleasantly surprised how well a bold color works in dim light. I always found that delicate colors grayed out in dim rooms -- looked dull and never really brightened the room as I'd hoped. But a deep color, especially paired with light furnishings or a white wainscoting or drapery, worked well. The contrasts gave an appearance of light and shadow, even if there wasn't any, so it *seemed* brighter. And please do think about a light colored rug for the floor -- I found that lightening the floor has bigger impact than lightening the wall color.

My house sounds a LOT like yours. I also leave my front door open as often as I can for natural light. My dining room is right off the entry and enjoys morning sun, after that it is always dark. I had a light color in there when we first moved in and it was gloomy! I love yellow and tried several different tones, but they all looked harsh. I got a wild hair and painted it a blue/green so dark that it's almost black. I have a large chandelier with 6 lights (on a dimmer) that provides plenty of light during meals. I'd also like some cool lamps for the buffet one day. It is still dark, but now it's moody instead of gloomy!

I've thought about trying another, lighter, color but I haven't found anything that I like better. I'm probably going to invest in a better quality paint and freshen it up and use the same paint for tiny bits of drywall in my white kitchen.

Short version, don't be afraid of rich color!

decormy ... I had to wait until I got home and looked at the can, it's BM Straw. This color sample from BM doesn't look like much, but it's very nice.

My guest bedroom ...

Pam I think that was one of the colors I brought home on those sample sheets. I'll have to give it more consideration. Thanks so much for letting me know. Your room does look nice and warm

Alex, you are making me want to get out of my comfort zone!!!

I've gotten the feeling you want green. I think we're trying to put you in a comfort zone!

Yes! Feeling like the room is cuddling you during dinner is pretty darn nice, especially when the weather isn't great or after a hectic day. Comfort doesn't always come from what you think you need to do ;)

What will be very important in your DR will be the lighting.

When I painted my dark living room cream, I did it for reasons other than wanting to lighten up the room-- because it doesn't work. In my adjoining sun room I went with a raspberry red and I sort of think it's my favorite room, though the cream is restful.

I'm staying in a place right now where the color scheme is all warm colors. I love it, especially since it is grey, gray and more grey outside. It feel cuddly warm. The colors are terra cotta, spring and olive greens, butter yellow, peach, creamy beige. I'm going to take some photos before I leave because I'm thinking about using this color scheme somewhere some day. Problem is, it is sort of a "spring" color scheme, which if you are into those color guides for flattering clothing, are not my best colors. I look best in blue hued things. Darn it!

Oh, and grass textured wallpaper, even if it is fake, might make your home feel cozier.

My mother had grass textured wallpaper back in the 60s! PinkMountain, those colors are so soothing. I decorate in sages, reds, soft yellow but like you I tend to dress in the blue hues.

I took some photos but don't know if I will ever get them posted. Plus the lighting was bad because I just shot them without any adjustments with off indoor lighting. It was an upscale old folks home where my uncle lives. The whole place appeared to have been designed by a very smart and capable decorator. Everything was color coordinated on all the floors, although each had a unique personality. But the whole thing was designed to give off a warm. cozy and upscale vibe. Problem for me using it would be that none of my things would match those colors. I have that "northwoods" color scheme going with maroon, blueberry, taupe, brown, forest green, tan, plum and sage. It'll be interesting to see how I pull off blending my mom's "spring/fall" color palette with my "winter/summer" one. I can use her colors if the intensity and tone is right. For example, I am fine with dark rust, watermelon or terra cotta but peach is death for me.

My dining room has two north-facing Windows and an east-facing window, all covered by an 8ft deep wrap around porch. My dining room is BM Stratton Blue with BM Palladian Blue ceiling. I've gotten so many compliments on the color, and our dining room really isn't large. Another color I love is BMVan Deusen Blue. I did my 9 year olds bedroom in it and also painted my powder room walls and ceiling in it... It feels so luxurious!!

Here it is at night (we had a bunch of kiddos at our housewarming, house is not decorated yet). But you can see even at night the medium, saturated color still looks good and not oppressive. I have daytime pics, just not on phone.

In our last home, our north facing living room had no windows but had an 8 foot sliding glass door that led to a 15' x 22' sunroom. It was extremely dark. I painted it sage green and that was a big mistake. I would suggest staying in the white family.

I would paint some large sample swatches of paint on the walls in that room and live with it awhile to see which you prefer.

That's a groovy picture Amber!!

Beautiful room Amber!!! Elegant and cozy!!!

Amber your room looks warm and cozy. My DR is open to the LR and my furniture is light (mostly whitewashed) kitchen is mostly open to LR and I have medium brown cabinets. Floor is wood. I added color with reds and,sagey/green The DR just didnt look good with a darker color (brought home a LOT of swatches) also bought a couple of sample cans. The woman at SW also suggested a color that I originally thought would be much too light and kind of too yellowy green. But it actually looks good on the board I painted. Its called Rice Paddy. My husband is painting this weekend so fingers crossed!!!

I pink mountain- All the kids love it!!

Aktillery- Thank you!

Decormyhomepls - Can't wait to see how it turns out!! Keep us posted please!!

I, too, used BM Straw in my very dark house (no can lighting, north facing rooms/small windows, front porch overhang, redwoods outside blocking the light, rainy coastal rural town with a high of 67 degrees during the heat of summer) and I smile every time I walk into the house. It's so cozy, but it doesn't photograph well or I'd put up photos. Please post what you finally did 1.5 years ago!