Brighten Your Living Room with Paint

If your living room feels closer to a cave than a warm, bright room where you look forward to gathering with friends and family, paint can make all the difference. Paint can change the shape, size, and feel of a room and you can create the perfect space to relax and enjoy company, read a book, or play games. No matter what your living room needs, paint can provide the solution and transform it into the room that you want it to be.

Brighten the Room with White Paint

Painting your living room white will brighten it and open up the space. If the room is small and has little natural light, it may feel even smaller than it is. You want to paint your walls and ceiling white because it’s a non-hue that doesn’t absorb any color. White will reflect any light back to the other surfaces in the room and make it brighter and more open.

The trick is to remember that there are many shades of white. Each shade may look white but they can have varying hues of blue, yellow, red, or green. If you hold the paint swatch up to a sheet of white paper, you will see the difference. White paint can be warm-toned, cool-toned, or sterile. The cool tones (with a bluish tint) will make the space seem larger and the ceilings seem higher. A warm tone (reddish or yellowish hue) will make the room feel more inviting. Sterile white is really for hospitals or art galleries.

Once you know whether you are looking to brighten your space by making it feel larger or by adding warmth, you will know which tone of white to choose. All in all, white is a quick and easy way to give instant brightness to a room.

Brighten the Room with Color

Sometimes a room is dark because there is little natural light. In this case, you want to use color, not white. White gains its brightness from its ability to reflect natural light so if there is none, white can become quite dull.

The ideal color family for a dark room is warm-toned neutrals. You should stay with medium tones because dark colors will make the room seem smaller. You don’t need to use light colors either. You should focus on brighter colors that will add light to the room.

Powder blue and lavender are both great colors to brighten up a room. Light blues create the feeling of the outdoors and lavender is naturally soothing. Keep in mind that lavender doesn’t have to be feminine; there are many different shades, and you can find one that is neutral.

Yellow is a wonderful color to brighten up a room. Yellow reminds everyone of the sun and it brings warmth into any space. You can accent the yellow walls with white trim and the room will instantly feel warm and bright. Similarly, orange can brighten up your living room. Lean towards warmer shades of orange, such as pumpkin or apricot. This color will work especially well if the living room has natural wood floors or accents.