50-ish, if you find one at 45 or so that you like don't discount it just because of the LRV number. Unless there are standards/color specs involved, LRV is more like a loosey-goosey guideline, not a formula or prescription to follow.
And, yes, colors with a higher LRV number have better odds of delivering the light and airy atmosphere you're after vs. darker colors.
A dramatically shifting paint color has more to do with its own metameric tendencies vs. the quality of light. A rule of thumb is if your color stays consistent in appearance when viewed in fluorescent and incandescent lighting, it will *probably* be consistent in any light source.
More about north light:
North exposure is not direct rays of sunlight. Very different from south light beaming into your kitchen almost all day long, or the morning sun bursting through your east facing bedroom windows at the break of day.
North light isn’t necessarily reflecting or bouncing off of something else to get inside the space, it’s just that when your windows face north you don’t have actual, direct beams of light entering fenestration.
North light is the most balanced from a spectral distribution perspective, it has a nice, even collection of all the wavelengths though it tends to be heavier in the blue range. Because it’s a balanced bundle of wavelengths and also because it is not a direct beaming, or spot-light effect of natural light, north facing rooms are ideal for any kind of artistic work environment.
The pronounced blue of north light is a factoid that's been blown way out of proportion. Blogosphere has taken that one single aspect of north light and made a huge deal out of it - I guess because it makes a good 'sound bite' or something. I dunno. But it's kind of a dumb thing to hyper-focus on.
Heavy in blue doesn't mean it's gray. Doesn't necessarily mean it's cool either.
North light is simply indirect light that's balanced over the visible spectrum as a whole but with a pronounced bump of blue.
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interesting fabric combos
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