Which Paint Colors are Right for This Great Room?

by Mike
(Tyngsboro, MA)

Dilemma:

We are selecting paint colors for our new great room. It is 22x22 and has cathedral ceilings.

We want to make the wall at the far end of the room an accent wall - this is where our TV will be mounted as well.

The ceiling is already white. The walls are just primed.

Here is a list of the colors we like (from Pittsburgh Paints):

• Silver Charm
• Antique Silver
• Elephant Gray
• Gibraltar Gray
• Oswego Tea
• Slate Pebble
• Dover Gray

Which of the colors will be right for this room?

Critique:

Mike, hello and to start off, let me tell you that yours is a classic example of how NOT to choose paint colors! :)

Based on the photo and information you gave me, any of the colors from your list will look great on the walls... until your furnish and decorate the room.

The most important point to remember when picking paint colors is that it's not about whether your paint color will look good on the walls. It's about whether or not the paint color will look good in the context of your decor!

So please read "Planning Home Color Design" to learn the right order of doing things in a new construction home. That will save you a lot of money and frustration, I promise!

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Now, with only an empty room to go off of (and without seeing the rest of the house), here are my thoughts about the colors you have pre-selected:

Silver Charm and Slate Pebble are the only 2 colors suitable for the walls in this case. The reason is, the room doesn't get enough natural light and so doesn't lend itself well to the darker shades.

Which one you choose will depend solely on your preference (because we have nothing to coordinate it with in the room).

Silver Charm is the "dressiest" on the list - it is blue-based and on sunny days, it will look more blue than gray.

Slate Pebble has violet undertones and is warmer in comparison. This shade is more serious and masculine, but may appear taupe-ish (depending on the light).

The rest of the grays on your list are too deep to be used on all the walls - but a couple of them will work as accent colors:

Dover Gray will work in combination with Silver Charm;

Oswego Tea will look great when coupled with Slate Pebble.

And as a final tip, to pull off either of these wall color combinations, you need to keep your flooring and furniture light in color to balance out the heaviness of the darker walls, but also repeat the wall colors somewhere in your decor to unite and "marry" the whole room color scheme.

I hope this gives you some direction!