Pondering

[devi]

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kent/]

Am I the only one who thinks "leave the wallpaper, it's great"?

Yes. Yes I am.

One of the walls of my living room/dining room was painted that red (or thereabouts) when I moved in, and my first order of business was to paint it safe but boring lilac. I do hate to be so influenced and tricked by colour. I feel almost as if it's some kind of weakness that I found a red wall so oppressive. Likewise, I'd like it if I could have a room in your sample Very Dark Blue, but I know my mind would be tricked into seeing it as a smaller room than it actually was. As I have also been driven mad by the blandness of a Safe But Boring Cream room, I can only recommend the Sensible Pale Blue.

One thought - you could do something I saw Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen do once, and do semi-randomly ordered and widthed stripes of the pale blue, the dark blue and maybe another blue. He did it with pink, and it allowed him to get some interesting rich colours on the wall, without them becoming oppressive.

Or, less labour intensive, how about a couple of walls in the Very Dark Blue and a couple in Sensible Pale Blue?

[denara.livejournal.com]

How about the boring cream with one wall a deep red? My old bedroom used to have the wall with the window a deep purple and the rest was off white. That way I had the color while still keeping the room bright since the sun shined on the white walls. But whatever works best with the architecture of your room...

It's also a lot easier to paint one wall. You can change the color more often if you all of a sudden enter a 'yellow' phase or a 'green and turquoise stripes' phase.

[stiofan.livejournal.com]

I'd go for the dark blue myself. Red for a bedroom I can't see being a good thing, especially if it's not as dark as the pic looks.

[tackline.livejournal.com]

Flicking through daytime TV, it appears that filling the room with a deep colour will make it dingy. But with the colour on one wall and the rest near white, you get a light room with deep colour. You also get to actually see the colour as there is a reference.

A flat I looked at on the first floor in Highbury had a wall of orange. Orange, yuck. But it looked great.

[mooism.livejournal.com]

The very dark blue is too dark.

The not-actually-this-dark red looks too dark, but maybe it isn’t.

The sensible pale blue isn’t too dark, but I don’t like the hue. It looks wrong. I can’t say why.

The safe but boring cream is safe but boring.

I say go for a safe but boring cream background, with very dark blue and not-actually-this-dark red patterned shapes in the foreground.

[juliet]

Have you seen our bedroom? (I know you've seen the living room but can't remember if you got the tour...). We have one wall approx that sort of red, & the rest off-white (Roman White, iirc), with wood floors, & it looks lovely. (lots of the rooms have that - the living-room is two greens, the kitchen has pale blue with a red stripe, & my room has light purple with one very dark purple). I think all the walls either of the dark colours would be a Bit Much, but having one wall can be really nice.

http://the.earth.li/~juliet/house.html has some photos from the painting, although nothing of the fully finished & furnished rooms (oops, must get those up...)

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

That's what I would suggest; have a "feature wall" in a fabulous strong colour, but keep the rest of the walls neutral, although I'd be inclined to go for a warmer buttery cream, rather than a very safe white-ish cream.

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

Possibly the red, out of those shown. Keeps the place looking warmer than the blue. I suppose it also depends how they match with anything you might want to hang on the walls...

33 comments in nine and a half hours - that's pretty impressive...

[twistedlilkitty.livejournal.com]

BROWN!!!!
they are meant to be kinda flowers :)

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I guess people can't resist the chance to vicariously splash paint around :)

[specialknives.livejournal.com]

I guess this means no floral wallpaper. Definitely not the pale blue. I go and stay with a friend quite often who has a dark bluey-turquoise room and it is really, really nice. Especially if you get fairy lights in those red lantern things.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Why only one colour ?

I vote: "All of the above plus various mixtures !"

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Our bedroom is a bit lighter than the sensible pale blue ('pale lavender' I think), it's very calm and relaxing. My bedroom in my old flat was turquoise, which was both relaxing (at night) and stimulating (in the morning, as it got good light). From there I would walk out into a bright yellow hallway and living room... I like colour!

Of the options there I actually like the red best. But it would depend on the floor, how the furniture is (how much of the walls do you actually see? What colours are against them?) and the size of the window. Which way does the room face?

[ksta.livejournal.com]

i like the pale blue.

[eponymousarchon.livejournal.com]

Do both - Either

Paint one or two walls in Dark red (say) with a pale red to back them up on the others. or
Paint bottom half of wall dark, top half light, with some funky hand-made border separating them or
Paint large funky squares and shapes of dark red onto light red background in an arty manner.

Job's a good 'un!

[rainsinger.livejournal.com]

I think a dark colour (too much of any rich but beautiful colour) really kills a room. So I vote for having the majority of walls in the safe-but-boring cream because light is a good good thing and painting one wall (and any door/window/arches) in the really dark blue.

This way I think the room is still airy and light but it's not boring and the deep blue wall is truly showcased.

I don't think red is a particularly good colour for a bedroom no matter how gorgeous - red is too energetic, too violent, and too lurid. Blue however, fab for reflection and deep sleep.

[darklily.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one who thinks "leave the wallpaper, it's great"?

No. No you're not.

[kauket.livejournal.com]

I like the dark blue, but it'll make your room quite dark.
I'd go for dark blue on the ceiling, and then get A to come and recreate the constellations with glow stars on your ceiling. Walls...errr the light blue I guess.

Although the mad colours of Colney Hatch Lane were all very cool.

[juggzy.livejournal.com]

Cream and blue. 'S lovely. Spesh with that bright blue that you like so much.

Film sometime this week?

Mel's moving in today - the girl we met in G&Ds. Dunno where she is, though. I should probably tidy her room. Ooooh! Would you and wibble like to come over for a Genuine Howondaland Curry?

[juggzy.livejournal.com]

wimble, FFS. I will get his name right. I am sorry, wimble, I am Scum.

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

33 comments in nine and a half hours - that's pretty impressive...

Yes, must be some sort of world record, I shouldn't wonder.

I like the effect of the wallpaper with random splotches of richly coloured paint, as per the picture...

yeah!

[iresprite.livejournal.com]

Seconded!

[parallelgirl.livejournal.com]

Red and cream!

[wimble.livejournal.com]

:)

Although maybe I should go an lurk on wibble's journal, for the confusion factor.

[lilitufire.livejournal.com]

I painted a bedroom that very dark blue as it was a south facing room and far too light in the morning for me. It worked well, very soothing and calming.