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Paint living room Lighting

Brighten this west facing Living Room!

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

Looking for advice on this room.

Facing West

Facing South East

Some details that might help:

This room will primarily be used in the evenings.
On the westside of the home (window facing west) and is shaded by trees in the backyard.
What color would look good in this room? We are not fond of yellows - want to go cooler on the color, but prefer something with higher LRV (maybe even an off-white or light neutral) to brighten this room up.
We will eventually replace the floors with medium toned hardwoods to match the kitchen on the other side of the fireplace.
We have a sectional with a left facing chaise and it is in the color Gypsy Green. (see pics below for sectional and color)
The light in the center of the room is not pleasing to us, would like to change that - not sure I want a ceiling fan.
Overall, the room is poorly lit, so any advice on lighting would help!
Definitely not as fond of the warmer incandescent lighting as I used to be, but don't want things to be too cool and harsh either. Any temperature recommendations for lighting?

Thanks in advance!

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Comment (1)

Nancy Ingram
2 years ago
So all of what you are talking about doing will help. Recessed lighting with dimmers would be the first recommendation. If you can’t do them, then get a large diameter, low profile drum shade light with a diffuser so you don’t have exposed bulbs. Wall washer light(s) on the fireplace and possibly the tv wall unit again if you can go into the ceiling. If you can’t do that, then add some under mount lights to the wall unit shelves. Amazon has some nice ones with a remote that are battery operated. Wall sconces on the wall between kitchen and family room or over the fireplace. I’d rather see a nice art piece over the fireplace which you can light up with a battery operated light from Amazon. A light background area rug with some green in it. Light throw pillows since the sectional is going dark. Use taller table lamps which will provide more light. I’d ditch the drapes and valances. Maybe just side panels with a light background and some green. I’d also put a graphic wall covering in the alcove. For paint, I’d go with a white with a green or gray undertone. Here’s a not so great mock-up lol.
Samia Dockery thanked Nancy Ingram
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Consider posting some photos so we can see the room! We love to see lots of photos! :) Try opening a free account at Photobucket (or another site) and create an album of photos -- then post them here. At Photobucket -- just touch each photo with your cursor -- and click on the HTML code. COPY and then come back and PASTE in each photo. There are several ways to truly brighten a space. Paint the walls in white; add brighter fabric to a seating area; hang some larger mirrors -- and of course -- add lamps all around the room to create much warmer brighter pools of light. Of course -- adding sparkle with silver items too! Here's a great site with LOTS of inspiration photos. Just click on one of the larger photos at the beginning --and then check out the rest! Just some thoughts -- hope you don't mind! Jan at Rosemary Cottage Here is a link that might be useful: Phoebe Howard designer website
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A soft green would work nicely. I would recommend spending an hour looking at paint chips/strips. After you have narrowed your choices down to no more than five colors, then get some samples (a lot of people like Samplize). If you have some objects that you would like to work with, that is always helpful. The first time I did a room, the best advice I got was from the designer at the furniture store. I had already selected a hardwood floor, and a sofa, chairs, and some pillows. She suggested the lightest color in the pillow. I still love that color 15 years later. Paint is one of the easiest things to change if you "make a mistake". You don't need to agonize about the "perfect shade of" whatever color, just get something that looks good. You have the most choices with paint, so if you have other things that you want to add to the room, identify those things first. Because you have some many choices with paint, it will seem overwhelming, but you've already narrowed it down to trying green, so that is a big step! You'll do great!
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