Ask Joshua - What paint color will help brighten up my dark room?
Hi Joshua,
Recently, I moved into my new home and I’m having a hard time deciding on the paint color for the living room. The previous owner painted living room walls black. It’s absolutely terrible because we don’t get good natural lighting and I want to make the room feel much lighter and brighter. In case it helps for you to know, our furniture is caramel leather mixed with mid century modern accent chair, coffee table, and side table. I’d appreciate any help you can give. Thank you!
Sophia - Portland, Oregon
Boho chic style living room with white walls. Image created using AI via Canva
Hi Sophia,
I definitely can understand that the lack of natural lighting in addition to black walls is not giving you the vibe you want in your living room. Because of the natural lighting situation, I’d recommend painting a white or off white to brighten it up as much as possible. I’ve picked out three different white paint tones for you below.
Before you go ahead and paint all the walls in your space, I’d recommend doing the following. With each of the different tones you like, test each on a couple different walls. Once dry, look at them during different times of the day; morning, noon, afternoon, and after dark with both natural and artificial lighting. Testing the paint in this way will give you a truer sense of the mood each will evoke and what works best for your room. It may surprise you how much of a difference there can be between whites. This will also give you a sense of coverage over that black, how many coats you may need, and how much paint to buy.
Good luck! :)
Joshua
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