How to brighten up my living/ dining room.

my home faces north with a covered porch.how can I lighten up the rooms with paint, and not be too bright? I don't use curtains due to allergies. These colors are from previous owners.
I love bright colors, but the green with green furniture is too much For my husband.
I want peaceful colors in my dining room.
  13 answers
  • Alyssa Alyssa on Aug 07, 2017

    Choose a color that not only looks lighter on the paint chip, but also has a high LRV (light reflectance value). LRV ranges from zero (a matte black that reflects no light) to 100 (the purest white that bounces all the light back at you). Check the LRV of any color you're considering to make sure it will make the most of the light sources in the room. With your wood floors and furniture, a light gray-green like Benjamin Moore's "Pearl Gray" (LRV 74.85) would probably look great.

  • C. D. Scallan C. D. Scallan on Aug 07, 2017

    Consider grays with blue undertones or light green . Pick up lots of paint chips and tape them to the wall . Leave them there for a day or two so that you can see what they look like in different light .

  • Johnavallance82 Johnavallance82 on Aug 07, 2017

    Warm cream Buttermilk might be the way to go along with cheery summer colours for cushions and or Throws.

  • A butter yellow would look nice too, but you must like yellow and can be a tricky color to paint to get just right. I am with hubby, green on green is a bit much for me too. For the dining room, I like a really pale sky blue, but if your rooms flow together that may not be the best to go with existing living room furniture. When I paint, I gather up a bunch of paint chips from the paint store and use painters tape to place on wall. Then start eliminating. When down to 3 or 4 colors then I purchase sample sizes,paint patches on walls, then decide. The paint in the store never looks the same as at your home, lighting conditions are completely different.

  • Suzette Suzette on Aug 07, 2017

    Hi Patricia, Here's a link with lots of soothing pretty ideas. https://www.google.com/search?q=soothing+semi+bright+colors+for+a+northern+facing+home&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiP4cuA1cXVAhWLMyYKHeeAAg0QsAQIJw&biw=1600&bih=794

    I noticed most all of your furniture is dark. You may also want to try and lighten up the rooms with some color. Maybe some bright throw pillows for you sofa and dining room chairs. Mirrors allow you to play with light, letting it bounce off the natural light from your windows. Also some colorful decorative accents may help to make the rooms feel lighter and brighter and more inviting. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/238972323950658254/?lp=true


    Have fun!

  • Fiddledd224 Fiddledd224 on Aug 07, 2017

    With the furniture I see here I would paint the walls a light, smoky gray with bright white trim. And punch it up with bright "dusty" neutral accessories, like dusty rose, dusty or sea foam green, banana yellow or salmon. It will be gorgeous!

  • Michele Pappagallo Michele Pappagallo on Aug 07, 2017

    I would definitely go with a lighter color...possibly even an off-white, buttermilk or butter yellow...very pale. I would use a paint with a bit of sheen to help reflect light around the room. Also...consider replacing or recovering your throw pillows with fabric that has a bit more color and brightness. With lighter, more neutral walls, your accessories could pull in nice pops of color that will add brightness and interest for a fairly inexpensive price.

  • Diana Deiley Diana Deiley on Aug 07, 2017

    I'd like to suggest a wonderful color: Oyster Pearl by Valspar in a satin finish. It really is a great neutral wall color. It will brighten up your room. Also, if you paint your ceilings in Clark Kensington's Designer White in semi gloss it will also reflect natural light from the windows. Is it possible to hang white sheer panels over the windows? If so, hang them 4" down from the ceiling to the floor to create height in your wonderful room. White lamp shades and brighter bulbs will also bring in light.... AND a mirror! Best of luck.

  • B. Enne B. Enne on Aug 07, 2017

    North facing rooms are difficult. I'm having the same problem with a bathroom colour.

    All good suggestions above, but just remember that blue or any cooler colour will look more cold in a North facing room. Alyssa made some really valid points.

    When looking at a paint strip, I would tend to go one colour lighter on the strip, than I wanted. If I like a cool tone, I look at the next strip over, going towards warmer tones. That usually ends up looking the same on the wall, as the first colour I chose.

    I was lucky enough to borrow a paint deck from SW. We had decided on Aloof Gray. We had seen it at different times of the day, and it seemed like a good fit. I checked in the middle of the night, and thought: "Yuck hospital green". We chose Repose Gray, which is very similar, but a little less "meh" at certains times of day.


  • Barb Barb on Aug 07, 2017

    Stunning home and I choose a yellow being your sofa is dark and your white trim it will really make it pop and look brighter. I also choose a wood cornice window treatment. I'm guessing from where you took the photo of the livingroom that if you had the sofa facing towards the fire place and two chairs facing each other one each side of the fireplace with a accent rug under your trunk coffee table. Add throw pillows in yellows blues. Here are some photos for your project, also the fireplace wall you could do accent colored wall, just a thought😎

  • Tamara Campbell-Pore Tamara Campbell-Pore on Aug 07, 2017

    I don't know much about the color. I am struggling with that dilemma myself. But what I would do is take my camera out on a bright sunny afternoon and take some awesome picture of the outdoors with sun and hang them in the rooms. With a brighter paint color, that may help

  • Patricia Dannenberg Patricia Dannenberg on Aug 08, 2017

    I'm going with a silver blue and variation of it in the other rooms .


    Thanks for the help .