Help! What is a good color to paint my basement bedroom?

Question

I've painted this room 3 times! Every color looks wrong - i think because of the dim lighting. Any suggestions for a color that looks good everywhere?

Answer 1

Since you've got "dim lighting" I'm betting it's also casting a yellow tone in the room. The first place to start is by changing your light bulbs. There are new energy efficient light bulbs that look like corkscrews. They're excellent because they put out more light, and a more natural light, than normal light bulbs. Add a pair of lamps to the room and put the curly light bulbs in all of your light sources. The color of the paint in your room will brighten instantly.

The next thing you can do is get a paint with a blue undertone. By that I mean that it's a little more "blue" than "yellow" if you hold it against another shade of the same color. By doing this, you're fooling your eye into thinking it's a truer color than the other shades that have yellow undertones. Those will tend to look dingy.

If you're hard-pressed for a good color, check out the Ralph Lauren paints at Home Depot. There's a line in there called "Island Brights" and the colors should work well for your project. There's a yellow called "Surfboard Yellow" that's got the blue-undertone I spoke of, and it's a great color for a light deprived room. The tone isn't loud and in your face, its undertone is blue (even though it's a yellow color, it's crisp and bright because of the blue) and it works well with most decors. Another great color is Light Orchid, which is a pretty lavender color that works for light deprived areas because of its crispness. Put it with a crisp white trim and you'll have a very classy room.

Answer 2

Try an off white shade such as egg shell on the ceiling of your room. This will reflect more light into the room.

When choose a color that goes with the rest of your decor. Something that looks good with your bed spread or curtains.

Speaking of curtains. Basement bedrooms often have small or no windows. However, you can "fake" larger windows with the use of large curtains. All those painted walls in your room could be part of the problem. Use curtains to cover part of them.

Use a very light hue of your color for painting the walls ... no dark colors.

If possible invest in more lighting for the room such as track lighting or extra lamps.

Answer 3

I would stay away from stripes on the wall if you plan on keeping the sofa. It would be too busy and would also make the room feel smaller. A light to medium blue-gray would be nice. It would lighten the room and compliment what you already have. A satin finish would be a good choice as long as the walls are in good shape. The shinier the finish, the more it will highlight imperfections.

Answer 4

look at the texture, contours, and oh yes if you keep painting it over it will make it look worse imo (in my opinion)

just go with whatever color you like most..and I'd like to see what your basement looks like cuz i sure as hell wouldnt paint in mine lol..

also there are different types of paint some that i know of are regular and latex...

Answer 5

Light gray with white trim. :)