Changing the color of the room is the first thing you want to do when you move in, right? Perhaps your builder or contractor is pressuring you to make a decision when choosing colors right away. The truth is, most interior designers choose the walls and trim color last. If you think about it, your furniture, curtains and accessories are much more difficult to find within your budget and style.

If you have plans to move to a new home, think about furniture, upholstery, and collect as many fabric swatches and swatches until you find the ones you love. Many brick and mortar and online furniture stores will be happy to provide fabric samples upon request. Start your collection process at least six months before moving in or renewing. Be sure to order more than one set of samples because many fabrics can be discontinued within six months or even sooner.

Always start thinking about colors when selecting your rug. Let’s say your living room is 14 feet wide and 20 feet long, you will most likely have a rug that is at least 8 feet by 10 feet (a larger size rug is recommended). However, your rug is still the largest chunk of color that will interact with everything else in the room, so your paint colors can easily be drawn from the rug’s pattern. It always works best this way.

How your living room paint colors depend on the room layout

A closed floor plan design consists of a living room that has all four walls and a door much like an apartment or an old house. With a closed floor plan, you will have more paint options and can choose colors within different colors, from the light spectrum to the dark. The darker paint color adds excitement to a room with a closed floor plan. You can accentuate beautiful trim and other ceiling details with accent colors.

If your living room is open to the hallway and kitchen, take extra care when choosing the color. It is much better to choose a lighter paint color for an open living room adjacent to the kitchen and hallway. You can still add accent colors to certain walls as you infuse the space with darker accent walls.

Floor-to-ceiling height is one of the determining factors in choosing paint color. If the floor-to-ceiling height of the living room is 8 feet, choose a lighter ceiling paint to make the room look better. For ceilings of 9 feet or more, you can be more creative.

Windows are important in choosing your living room paint color

If you have a large number of windows in a room, you can go for a very dark color paint. What will happen is that the windows will become the highlight of the room as the dark walls recede.

Direction of the room to choose the color of the paint.

If you have north facing living room windows, choose cooler paint colors and then choose warm colors for fabrics and accessories to create balance. You can choose a nice shade of blue or green and gray.

Take pictures of your living room and post them next to the paint swatch.

The easiest way to choose the right color for your living room is to look at it through the eyes of a stranger. If you want to have a beautiful room, start by taking pictures and cutting them out on a board. This will keep you from being too personal about your space.