I need some help/tips on painting and decorating my living room.?

Question

We are painting our living room but I am trying to decide how would be best. The carpet and furniture are pretty close to the same color- off white/ cream. There is also a thick "chair rail" about 1/3 of the way up the wall. This and the other woodwork in the room (doorways and beams across the ceiling) are a dark brown wood, almost black. I don't know if I can paint that.

I was thinking a blue for the room... at first I was thinking blue on the bottom and leaving the white above the chair rail. Now I'm not so sure.

ANY ideas you have are welcome! Thanks!

Those are pretty much the only colors- and the walls are off white but again we are looking at painting them. The coffee tables are a medium shade of brown wood.

Answer 1

I like the idea of blue on the bottom. What other colors are in the room? Painting the wood work will be tricky. If it is stained wood, you have to wash it, sand it, etc.

Answer 2

Yes you can paint the trim , just get a product called "Cover Stain " A white and gold can with the kilz products , kilz is OK but it will take too many coats , the cover stain does have a strong odor , and is oil base , Something that will do better with low odor , is a product made by Cabot stains , it is called Problem Solver , it is oil base as well , but is low odor ,and dries very quick ( with in an hour or two depending on room temp. ) you can finish it with Latex Paint , use Quality paint , Do not use Lowes or Home Depot , go to Sherwin Williams or somewhere like that , The paint from discount stores are thinned down with ammonia , and vinyl which causes the strong odor , and requires more coats , quality paints have more acrylic content which means it will cover better plus be more durable with less odor.

If you paint the woodwork , sand it , and rub it with your hand , when it is smooth , dust it off good , this will cut down dust and dirt particals out of the paint , and give you a much smoother finish , prime it with the cover stain or problem solver , sand it again , lightly , touch up with primer if after sanding the primer coat everywhere you see the wood , especially the edges , paint one coat to seal , very lightly sand , clean away the dust with cheesecloth , then apply your finish coat , you will love the smooth finish if you do this right . It looks so much better , When my crew paints , I rub over the finished surface with panty hose , if the hose gets a snag or a run , they are fired , I do not allow rough finished surfaces , it looks cheap like that

Same with the walls , sand , dust off walls , and base boards , apply first coat , lightly sand , and remove dust , and apply finish coat , If you use a eggshell or semi gloss on the walls ,and have to patch nail holes , sand patching smooth , you can tell by feeling the place as you sand , use flat paint and apply it over the patching ( joint compound ) do two coats of the flat before you paint , if not it will show flat spots on the walls , any paint with a shine must be applied evenly , and do not stop rolling in the middle of the wall , roll on the paint top to bottom , you can start in the middle but do not stop , and do the entire wall if you apply wet paint beside a place that has dried it will show , it may be best to just use flat wall paint if you do not know what you are doing ...

Answer 3

I think blue would look good with the dark wood. Something like "stream" by Sherwin Williams. And if you wanted to paint different colors above/below the chair rail, then I would suggest "rarified air."
http://sherlink.sherwin.com/swapp/color_visualizer/index.jsp

Personally, I would not paint over your wood trim. Someone did that in the house that I bought & I think it's such a shame. I would *love* to restore it back to it's natural state, but stripping & sanding off all of the white paint is very time-consuming labor-intensive chore. You might consider sanding & restaining your wood trim instead. YMMV.

Answer 4

Paint the upper half of the walls a rich cream color. Paint the lower half of the walls a cinnamon color that has a hint of brown in it. You can keep the trim work the dark brown color. I would definitely go with a rich color on the lower half of the walls to inject some color into the room. Some other color ideas for the lower half are a rich navy blue, or a deep hunter green, or a deep burnt pumpkin color. Don't be afraid of rich color...it will make your room spectacular.

Answer 5

1] if blue sounds good to you, go for it
2] paint top half cream
3] get drapes in the blue [ or match paint to drapes ]
4] buy or make throw pillows in blues, creams, in different textures or colors
5] add frames for art in similar colors and materials - oak/walnut, brass/chrome, or colored enamel
6] add plants