Living Room Painting Ideas: 6 Best Looks from a Designer

Whether you’re blessed with huge ceilings and bay windows or a cosy space ankle-deep in children’s toys, painting your living room is a daunting decision, because it’s the room where you spend most of your evenings and everyone who visits sees it. So here are the living room painting ideas I actually rate after sixteen years of designing homes, plus the two questions to answer before you open a single tester pot.

First question: which way does the room face?

A south facing living room gets strong, clear light that warms everything in it. Balance it with cooler tones, blues, greens, violets, and if you’re going grey or white, pick one with a cool undertone, because a warm colour in warm light can tip into overpowering.

North facing rooms work the opposite way: less light, cooler light. Warm shades, yellows, pinks, golds, earn their keep in there. And if that’s your room, I’ve written a whole guide to how to decorate a north facing room including the eye science that changes which colours work.

Second question: when do you actually use the room?

If your living room only really comes alive in the evenings, you’re decorating for lamplight, not daylight, and that changes everything (more on dark, cosy schemes below). If it’s the all-day family room, the colour has to survive both.

The colours that keep working

Forget chasing the trend of the month. The living room colours I come back to, year after year: earthy neutrals (taupe, mushroom, warm stone), deep greens, navy (teamed with muted greys and greens rather than stark white), terracotta and plaster pink as the warm accents, and deep charcoal where drama is wanted. If navy’s calling you, I’ve pulled together 10 navy + grey living room ideas that show it done ten different ways.
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Should I paint all four walls of my living room the same colour?

Not necessarily, although in a more traditional space one colour everywhere looks incredibly chic. If you want something with more of an idea behind it, keep reading.

Here are 6 creative living room painting ideas…

ALL ONE COLOUR

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When I say one colour, I mean everything: walls, skirting boards, fireplace, ceiling. It’s a visually incredible statement, it makes larger rooms feel instantly cosier, and it’s braver than a feature wall and better. If you’re going to commit, commit.

HALF PAINTED WALLS

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Paint the lower half of the wall in a darker shade and you create the illusion of higher ceilings, and, as Kate Watson-Smyth cleverly showed in her Wembley show flat, you can camouflage the TV while you’re at it. Maximum effect, minimum paint.

DEEP, DARK WALLS

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Back to the “when do you use it” question. If you’re only in there on an evening, snuggled on the sofa, a deep navy, forest green, charcoal or plum costs you almost no useful light and buys you a proper snug. A fire going, lamps placed low, dark moody walls, there’s no better room on a winter’s evening. My honest guides to Hague Blue and Railings are where I’d start the shortlist.

THE STATEMENT WALL

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Want bold without painting the whole room? One bold wall, ideally a large windowless one, in a colour that packs a punch, then echo the shade in cushions, a rug or accessories so it belongs to the room instead of standing there alone.

TONAL

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Varying shades of the same colour, layered with plenty of texture and a mix of finishes, matte, gloss, metallics, glass, to add interest. This one moved from designer circles to the mainstream because it works: depth without contrast, calm without flatness.

THE WHITE CANVAS

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Buy your sofa and your flooring first, and add the paint last. Paint is the cheapest mistake in the room; a wrong-colour sofa is not. Work the room around the big-ticket pieces and the paint decision gets easier and safer at the same time. I’ve watched this one rule save more living rooms than any colour trend ever has.

And whatever the trend or the idea, always follow your heart. It’s your room.