Hi! My husband and I just purchased our first home. It's a townhouse. We're trying 2 decide what color to paint our living room/dining room. It's a combination room. It's a little small. Can you tell me what colors would help to make the room look bigger? Is it better to stick with one color or would doing multiple colors also help to make it look bigger. Thanks!
-Kristy
P.S. This is a really great website, I'm glas I found it!!

 

Hi! thanks for your question & welcome to the website!

for optimum visual space expansion, use one light cool color on all the walls. breaking up the space with different colors, using warm colors, or dark colors, will make the space seem smaller.

however........that said, is bigger really better? making your space seem it's biggest shouldn't be your main goal. personally, i'd focus more on making your space warm, inviting & well-decorated. that doesn't have to mean small & cavelike! just use colors you like and keep them on the lighter side. colors in the gold family are great for creating warm spaces, but still keeps them feeling spacious, and brings out the beauty in most wood tones. if you like cool colors, sagey green is a good choice.

color choice will also depend on how much light the room gets, which direction the windows are facing, and how high your ceilings are. more importantly, though, is what colors you have in the furnishings you have to work with. and what mood and/or style you're wanting to create.

maybe if you tell us a little more about your space, we can help narrow down your seemingly limitless choices for you!!

 

Posted by Krs45888 (as a New Thread, but moved here, as it's a reply to this thread):

Hi again. You're right Annette, the possibilities seem endless, I am so lost. We have a combination living room/dining room. I can't remember the exact size, I want 2 say it was somewhere around 20X19?? The only light it has is a patio sliding door that faces north and any lights we put up. It has standard size ceilings. We did decide on a light gray color for the carpeting. It has a light oak wood trim on the baseboards. Do gold colors go with gray? I seen a lot of rooms where they paint the four walls two differnt colors, with the colors matching the opposite walls. The colors are in the same family. Does that do anything as far as making the room appear seem smaller or bigger? Picking colors is going 2 be a huge challenge because my husbands likes differ very much from mine. He loves green. I on the other hand absolutely love purple. I also like burgundy, but I think that may be too dark for the walls. HELP !! Thanks!!

Kristy

 

boy i wish i'd been able to talk to you BEFORE you decided on gray carpet! i think gray is very difficult to work with. and no, i don't think it goes well with golds or tans or even most woods, but if you've got it, we've got to work with it!

sounds like your room is almost square. painting opposite walls, or even just one accent wall, will help to make it seem more rectangular and less boxy. if it's really one big room, but you're using it as 2 separate spaces (a living room area & a dining room area), you might be able to define those areas better by painting the end walls different colors than the mutual walls that run from area to area. to keep it from getting crazy, paint the mutual walls a neutral color, maybe a slightly lighter or darker gray than your carpet. then paint the end wall in the dining area a different color, and the end wall in the living area a different color. that would be really pretty.

do you have any furniture yet, to work around? if not, green & purple can be very nice together - like a sage & lavendar. if you can get a sofa & draperies & maybe an area rug for under your dining table to all coordinate with those colors, you'd be on your way! and you could accent with a deep plum.

P.S. if you want to respond to this post, go to the "Reply to this Thread" button. don't start a New Thread!!

 

Hello. We actually haven't moved in yet, we don't close for several months. It is new construction, so we can change the colors up until 2 months before. So it's not too late. We were thinking the gray because we're getting the stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, and they would put a grayish tile in the kitchen if we picked gray carpeting. We thought that would look better with the stainless steel. Plus I think my husbands and my tastes a leaning more towards cool colors. So that's also why we thought the gray would be better. Are we wrong in thinking that? W haven't gotten furniture yet. Thanks!

-Kristy

 

the gray carpet & tile will be very nice with the stainless, just not with gold walls or lots of warm wood tones.

what kind of cabinets were you planning on putting in the kitchen with all this gray & silver?

here's a thought: there are some really pretty mottled multi-colored tiles that incorporate lots of earthy tones, including grays, tans, browns, etc. - all together. maybe you could go with something like, and be better able to introduce some warmer colors more easily. that would be better than just an all-gray tile, especially if all the wood work (baseboards, trim around doors & windows, doors) in the rest of the house will be the light oak, including your kitchen cabinets.