Need advice on painting living room walls to match leather couch?

Question

We just purchased a leather couch that is a light taupe color. It has some green undetones to it. We had planned on painting the walls a shade of green, but I am afraid the green walls would make the couch look even more green. We have wood flooring that is oak. Any advice on a color to paint the walls, or maybe even two colors. Thanks :)

Thanks so much for the great advice. You all gave me some things to think about.
:)

Answer 1

Paint the wall facing the couch green, and the others yellow, or cantelope, or taupe; or paint the two walls adjacent to couch wall green, etc.

Answer 2

You're right. Green walls will bring out the green in your couch. If it's to your taste, going with browns would work. You could do a darker brown feature wall close to the couch, possibly with lighter brown/beige on the rest of them. If you go to a nice paint store where they know what they're doing, you could ask them about using a 1/4 formula of the darker paint for the lighter color. You'll end up with a lighter version and you won't have to worry about matching the dark one. It would probably be a good idea to get a quart first to test.
Taupe also has blue and red hiding in it, and tends to take on the other colors, even more so if it's a light shade.(ha! I'm gonna start being known as the "that taupe chick" pretty soon...) Be careful with off-whites as well. Some of them are
failrly green and you won't notice until you get around something that brings it out.
Stay earthy. If it's your sytle, dark brown looks amazing with powder-type blues.
Good luck!

Answer 3

Here's an idea that may work.This may cost arount $10 but it will give you an idea about what green walls will do. Many of you diy paint department have sample paints you can purchase. Find your shade and then paint a white posterboard with the green. This way you can hang it on your wall and decide if the green will be too much or not.(I'm partial to green) If not what you want, then maybe take one of your cushions or pillows of couch to your paint store and have them match it for the tone, and then have them go a shade darker or you can have them match it to a ligher shade. My daughter has a 2 tone brushed leather couch and she painted her living room the lighter shade, then the wall with the fireplace, she painted it the darker shade which isn't that dark. I loved it. It looks so warm and inviting. It's just a thought. Happy Painting!!!!!

Answer 4

Go to Behr paints here to see a virtual room where you can pick colors and see what they will look like on the wall.
http://www.behr.com/behrx/workbook/index.jsp

Also when picking a color from paint chips at the store...always go two shades lighter then the one you like on the sample.
Once on the wall the paint always looks darker when in a larger area.

To find a color that will compliment the taupe..try the artists trick of using a color wheel to find the complimentary color...usually the color opposite the color your working with.

Here's a colorwheel:
http://www.colormatters.com/colortheory.html


Personally I think a taupe couch always looks great with a warm hued paint - like a Rich "Tuscan" aged wall
in warm honey tones or if you like greens go with a warm base to it.
*** Always use colors found in nature...look at plants and see what colors nature choses to use with a taupe..you can't go wrong,
Good Luck, hope that helps :)

Answer 5

Well, I'm a guy and certainly no expert in colors, but I've always thought that Blue goes well with Red. Black gives more of Gothic feel to it, but could look good for a while. I personally like Navy Blue, but a Sky Blue might give a better contrast. The idea of painting just one wall isn't bad either, but that would give a Red, White, Blue theme that seems to get a little over used. (I'm personally a fan of the scheme though) come to think of it, Silver or maybe a Grey might not look too bad either. I'm sure whatever you choose will look great: girls just have that way with colors.

Answer 6

Red goes good with green you cant go wrong or Natural colors.

hope that helped

Answer 7

How about a nice rich burgandy color?