The Best Paint Colours For Your Living Room

By Chloe CrismaniFeb 19, 2020

The living room is where we hang out with our families, relax and entertain ourselves.

So choosing the best paint colour for your living room is essential to enhancing this experience. However, when presented with a paint chart as long as your arm and an endless sea of choices of colours it can be hard to choose the right colour. So, we've rounded up the most popular living room colours for you to explore.

The best living room paint colours include:

Beige wall paint ... but, reimagined.
Chalky whites.
Dusky pinks.
Gorgeous greys.
Dark wall colours such as deep chocolate brown or charcoal black.

So, keep on reading to discover why these paint colours above are the best for your living rooms.

The Top 5 most popular living room colours in 2020

No.1. Beige Wall Paint

Image: The home of Jo Wood as featured in Extraordinary Interiors In Colour by Jane Rockett & Lucy St George. Publishers Ryland Peters & Small. Photographer Catherine Gratwicke. | Paint Swatch: Cloisters

Beige is a neutral colour that's had a bit of a bad press in the last few decades. Largely, this is down to the fact that this colour is a catch-all colour that's used in rented houses and apartments and it's associated with drab, boring interiors. But, we're here to tell you that beige can be anything but boring!

In the last couple of years, we've seen the reemergence of honey-based beige wall paints that adds a warming and cocooning effect to your living room interiors. Think, Dulux's Colour of 2019, Spiced Honey, and you're on the right track.

A modern-day neutral when choosing a beige colour for your living room, opt for colours with sand or honey-based undertones and then complement the wall decor with matt blacks, natural woods and crisp whites for a modern decor scheme.

No.2. Chalky Whites

image of a white wall living room with taupe sofa and deep pile rug

Image: Rockett St George. | Paint Swatch: Chalky White

A crisp white is often a popular paint choice in the home. However, the cooling undertones of the paint can be a little impersonal. It can make your living room feel cold and unfriendly. Obviously, this poses quite the conundrum as living rooms are typically rooms in the home where we relax, entertain and have fun. So, therefore, the stark, unfriendly decor is quite the opposite of the look that we want to achieve.

The solution?! Opt for pretty whites with warming undertones. A great choice would be a chalky white with a mineral or clay vase. The chalky tones add depth to your wall paint which absorbs bare white light and creates a cosy, lived-in feeling to your sitting rooms. As part of our Paint Colour Collaboration with Craig & Rose, we have a Chalky White Paint which would be perfect for your living room. Alternatively, you can find this colour at most DIY stores and if they don't have it, don't be afraid to ask them to create the mixture!

No.3. Dusky Pink

Image: Rockett St George | Paint Swatch: Broderie

An earthy or dusky pink really hit the interior design scene in 2017 and it's here to stay.

Bang on-trend and a firm Instagram favourite, Dusky Pink is a modern-day neutral that we just can't get enough of.

But, what makes dusky pink wall paint such a good choice for living rooms?! Well, it really comes down to the fact that it's a serene and calm colour that also makes you feel safe and happy in your living spaces. What's not to love?! Furthermore, Dusky Pink is the grown-up counterpart to pinks that we often see in children's bedrooms. So the colour ignites all the fun and playfulness of traditional pinks, but with a more grown-up, edgy attitude! Our Broderie Wall Paint is a particularly great dusky pink paint if you're on the lookout for pink paint.

No.4. Gorgeous Grey

image of a grey painted living room with white sofas, green plants and a deep pile floor rug.

Image: The home of Jane Rockett as featured in Extraordinary Interiors. Publishers: Ryland Peters & Small. Photographer: Debi Treloar.

Grey wall colours have been a staple tone that we've seen in living rooms for years. And, for good reason!

A little more daring then it's cooler white and honey neutrals, gorgeous grey tones create a cosy, glamorous and dark decor scheme that's hard to contend with.

When it comes to choosing a grey wall colour for your living room our number one tip would be to stick to warming undertones. Pale or silver greys may look beautiful, but the fact is that the cooling bases of these colours could lower the mood in your living space, particularly if your living room is north, east or west-facing. To be on the safe side we recommend sticking to warmer greys with deep bronzes or browns. This will help create a cocooning effect in your living room. Ideal for a cosy night in of Netflix, snacks and cosy pyjamas.

Our Raeburn Grey Wall Paint and Ossian Grey Wall Paint are great choices if you're looking to paint your living room grey.

No.5. Daring Dark Colours

Image: The home of Lucy St George as featured in Extraordinary Interiors In Colour by Jane Rockett and Lucy St George. Publishers Ryland Peters & Small. Photographer Catherine Gratwicke. | Wall Paint Swatch: Briarwood.

Finally, our last best paint colour for your living room is daring darks.

From deep cocoa browns to super sexy dark blacks these rich tones are super sumptuous and will make your living room feel like a welcome escape from day-to-day life. In particular, the beauty about using dark wall colours in the living room is that it creates a permanent intimate atmosphere that will feel luxurious, fun and daring. It's also the perfect backdrop for your TV rooms creating a cinema-like feel in your living spaces.

So, our number one advice for using dark paint colours in your living room is to go for super-rich shades of your favourite colours. Go for the deepest of browns, navy blues and blacks to create a magical backdrop in your living room that's absolutely showstopping. Great paint choices include our Zeitgeist Dark Wall Paint, Portobello Dark Blue Wall Paint and Briarwood Deep Brown Wall Paint.