Dark colours have been steadily growing in fashion over the last few years and many of us are considering taking the plunge! But before you do here are four things that I think you should consider first:
1. What mood do you want to create?
I will always recommend that you start with a mood board to ensure that you understand the mood that you want to create. If you fancy going a darker shade then it’s good to know that is going to create a feeling of relaxation and calm.
Consider how you feel when the sun goes down on these autumnal afternoons; I want to stop, burrow down and relax! And that is probably how darker tones will make you feel in your home too.
2. What direction does your room face?
It’s always worth checking what direction your room faces because it will affect the tone of light that comes in. Generally speaking a south facing room will naturally get warmer sunny tones and a north facing room will get bluer tones.
This is good to know before you choose paint colours because it will affect the colour once it’s out of the tin. Always get tester pots (Dulux do them for about £1.56 online), and paint a large piece of white card in the colour so that you can move it around the room at different times of the day. It can also form the base of your mood board!
3. Dark colours recede
Using bright light tones will make your walls appear larger and therefore help to open a room up, however, if you want to create a cosy intimate feel, by using darker shades you will blur the lines between the walls making the corners ebb away.
This trick is also really handy if you have an unusual shaped room or a large chimney breast, you can paint it in darker colours helping it to recede backwards and blend in.
4. Consider your lighting!
Getting the lighting right in a dark painted room will bring it to life! You don’t need to flood it with light if you have carefully considered what functions will be happening in the room and what levels of lighting are required for each one.
A main general light, some task lights for reading and several mood lights to create evening ambience is a good start for a living room. Dimmer switches are also great as they can help you adjust the lighting levels to suit what is happening, the time of day or even the weather!
Pinterest is a great source of inspiration and is currently filled with beautiful dark rooms, check out my new board that I have made just for this blog: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/CatherineAMuir/interior-design-dark/
Have you braved going a darker shade? I’d love to hear how it turned out!