I'm stupid, need color suggestions for living room light sage, browns?

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

I'm trying to paint my living room, and I'm terrible at picking colors and decorating. Seems like every sample I get looks completely different than what I think it will so im hoping someone good at this can tell me what to do before the paint store people start to think im a crazy person. The living room is 2 stories going up into a loft area. Have navy and brown furniture. Carpet is a grayish color, I might replace it in the next couple years (I just got divorced and have substantial savings but my cash flow is tighter than im used to so im trying to avoid touching them). Has huge front windows but the room can be darkish outside of mid day because they are mostly north facing. Currently it is a very faint blue and white. I'd like to add more color but can't find much that looks good with the wood trim/floors and gray carpet was thinking more of a light sage green or sandy taupey color, or maybe doing a couple walls a bold sage green and the rest a light creamy white. Was thinking about decorating kind or rustic style with wood and metal stuff. Thanks!

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Comments (6)

PRO
HALLETT & Co.
4 years ago
You say you might replace carpet- with what? To me the current carpet (a grey blue) fights the trim (an orange brown) because they are opposite on the color wheel. The idea of sage green works well enough with the trim but will fight the carpet. I would consider long term painting the trim white so the staircase and wood floors are the feature and you have more flexibility with color.

Boy the realtor made good use of the wide angle lens...
0
Vikes84
Original Author
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
yeah i feel like thats what im running into i need warmer colors to match the wood but i feel like most of them look bad with the carpet. most of the doors in the house are natural wood so i was trying to avoid painting the trim white. i dont really like the carpet but i have several other large expenses that are more pressing and i dont really want to spend 5k+ recarpeting the upstairs right off the bat. but yeah i will in the next 2-3 years so i want something neutralish to avoid repainting again
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I'm a Sherwin-Williams color fan. It took me a good 7 months to sample a variety of tans and beiges for my last house which was a North facing house in Fort Worth. Eventually I chose Softer Tan. I also had travertine flooring and went with it perfectly. I had Dover White for my trim. This new house which is a south facing home in Raleigh we went with Kilim Beige. I'm loving it because it tends to be a little darker but with the abundant sunlight it feels cozy to me. The only way you're going to make this choice is to get all your sample colors and test in every room on several different walls and to continue eliminating them until you have maybe five. Then you get sample pots, which are not real paint because they lack some materials, but they're great samples. I then painted canvases, purchased from Michaels, and then placed them in the rooms on various walls to get an idea of what a larger paint concept would look like. Tip that I forgot- mark your canvases. Lol. This is an iterative process and not one made from online color samples. Houses great for people to give you a direction based on their experiences or use of colors in our own homes but after that it's all about testing.
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PRO
HALLETT & Co.
4 years ago
Wood doors can look great with painted trim... The one that really bothers me is the front door in that funky ecru color. I would paint it black so it is intentionally different.
0
cat_ky
4 years ago
I love the wood, and would leave it. I would pick the light sage green if that is what you like, and ignore the carpet which you plan on replacing before long anyway. All houses dont have to have white trim.
0
cawaps
4 years ago
Not stupid. Picking paint colors is always hard, and some rooms are just particularly challenging. I've seen a lot of rooms on this board, and believe me that your room qualifies as particularly challenging.

Before you tackle paint, you should improve your lighting, since it can make all the difference in choosing colors. The room IS dark (look at the difference between your photos and the realtor's professionally lit photos!), and if you aren't getting light from outside, you need to compensate with more, better interior light. I don't see any floor or table lamps in your furnishings; that's one place to start. Are the foyer pendant, ceiling fan, and dining fixture the only ceiling lights in the room? Any recessed cans? I would start with brighter LEDs in all the ceiling fixtures, and maybe tweak the color temperature (though I think your problem is more that you don't have enough lumens than about color temperature).

Can you address the carpet on the stairs without tackling the carpet in the upstairs? I was just looking at DIY stair carpet removal and refresh with paint. It's a lot of work. (https://www.remodelaholic.com/under-100-carpeted-stair-to-wooden-tread-makeover-diy/).

I wouldn't paint the wood trim.

My sympathies on your divorce. Regardless of the circumstances, the process is difficult and disruptive and expensive.
0
Tony Stevens
4 years ago
I support the lighting suggestions from Cawaps above. A suggestion that you might consider is painting the ceiling only a traditional ceiling white and leave the walls as is. Should save you a few bucks and make some noticeable changes to the room.

I'm stupid, need color suggestions for living room light sage, browns?

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HALLETT & Co.

Vikes84
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I'm stupid, need color suggestions for living room light sage, browns?

Comments (6)

HALLETT & Co.

Vikes84Original Author

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HALLETT & Co.

cat_ky

cawaps

Tony Stevens

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Vikes84
Original Author