Living Room Color Schemes:
How To Make Living Room Colors Work

Living room color schemes and living room paint colors can completely change the look & feel of a room.

Below are 6½ inspiring color schemes and living room painting ideas, all shown in the same 'model' room.

For each new set of livingroom colors, 3 key elements have been changed:

1. the living room paint colors (and/or patterns) on one wall,

2. the area rug color/pattern,

3. the living room colors of the upholstery/cushions.

To skip to specific living room color schemes, use these links:

Neutrals-Plus-Blue Living Room Color Schemes

The only difference between the following two color schemes for living rooms is the color of the couch and armchairs:

You can see that our 'model room' contains several unrelated wood colors (from light brown to almost-black), so one of the challenges is to somehow pull these colors together into a unified scheme.

A large, natural-fibre area rug can do the trick, particularly if it's highly textured (rather than just adding a sheet of "flat" color to the room).

When you compare the two living room color schemes above, notice how much color space the seating takes up in the room, and what a difference it makes to the atmosphere when the seating is dark, rather than light.

At the same time, the dark blue wall color provides an elegant backdrop that helps set off any light/bright livingroom colors, making them appear lighter than they actually are.

Red/Green Living Room Color Schemes

The combination of red/rose/pink and green can inspire lovely living room painting ideas. We're so used to seeing red and green hues together in nature that we perceive tthis color combination as a happy, life-affirming match.

If you want to take the 'nature' reference further, use natural imagery in the form of wall art, wallpaper, or patterned decorating fabrics. The logical order of creating living room color schemes would look something like this:

Living Room Color Schemes That Pack A Punch

Deep cherry (or lipstick) red and dusky plum combine elegantly with cool, bluish gray and dark wood. This color scheme would be just as perfectly at home in an 18th-century French château as in a contemporary Parisian apartment.

In the above room, surrounded by a lot of white, the deep glowing living room colors dominate the space even more than they would do if the background colors were darker.

For a completely different take on deep and intense hues, check out the following set of living room colors:

Notice that we've kept the cherry red dining chairs from the previous color scheme - but this time, they're mixed in with warm, earthy, vibrant colors from early twentieth-century interiors.

This black olive/teal/brick/cherry combo is a (rather dramatic) variation of the red-green living room colors of the last section. But this room needs an injection of bright, zesty green to really come to life. Which is easy to do: two cushions were all it took ;-)

Vintage Living Room Color Schemes

Midcentury modern interiors are a goldmine for living room painting and decorating ideas. Here's just one example of a cool yellow/white/charcoal living room.

To make the look more 'vintage', find original fabrics of the period (e.g. Lucienne Day prints), mount them to display on the wall - or turn them into sofa cushions - and use them as a starting point for your living room painting ideas.

The white floor tiles and simple white walls would also make a good background for fifties-style three-primary color schemes (red, yellow, blue). If you paint the walls off-white and choose slightly muddied, mellowed 'off-primary' colors, you will end up with a beautiful vintage look for your living room.

"Watercolor" Living Room Color Schemes

This last set of living room colors is inspired by 'dream holiday' destinations that come with white empty beaches, sunshine and a clear, turquoise sea. (Seychelles, anyone?)

Under the bluish, pale daylight of the Northern Hemisphere, these living room colors can look somewhat kitschy if they're not grayed down a bit. Also, 'watery' living room colors like these are not suited for north-facing, sun-starved living rooms!

They do, however, look great against a white backdrop, in full midday sun, with added 'citrus' color accents.

That's all for this page of living room colors and living room painting ideas!