Painting living room is the starting point for living
room remodeling. First, choose a living room color scheme and choose
paint colors for walls, doors, trims, accessories and accents. Living
room paint colors should be chosen based on the largest piece of
furniture that dominates the room, the focal point of the room, the size
of the room, the height of its ceiling, the amount of light that it
gets, the uses the room will be put to and most importantly, the feel
you want in your room. Once the living room paint colors are decided,
pay attention to the living room paint finishes. Paint finish can also
alter the feel of your living room.
Flat or matte paint finish with no shine is best for walls that have
minor surface imperfections. These days they have good stain resistance
too. Eggshell or velvet finishes with a soft glow are best for living
room walls and look elegant and sophisticated. They are easier to clean
too. Satin or semi-gloss paint finishes are best for doors and trims and
highlighting architectural details. You may also use gloss finish for
door, trims and specialty areas according to your choice. The sheen of
the walls and the smoothness of the texture in semi-gloss and gloss
paints make them easy to clean and scrub. For families with small
children, you may want to use washable wall paints that are very easy to
wipe and clean.
For living room walls, it is best to use latex or water based paint
that dries up quickly and can be washed using soap and water but it is
better to use oil-based alkyd paint for doors and windows as it
penetrated wood better does not stick when the doors and windows are
shut for longer periods of time, especially during winters. To calculate
the amount of paint you will need for you living room, measure the
perimeter of the living room walls by adding up their widths and the
multiply it with the height of wall from floor to ceiling. Subtract the
area of open areas from it such as doors, windows and archways to known
the wall area that needs to be painted. Some paint types and colors may
need more than one coat so take the number of coats you need to cover
the walls into account too. Usually, a gallon of flat paint color covers
400 square feet but you may take paint manufacturer's instructions as
your guideline.
The entrance foyer, family room and the living room are heavy traffic
areas and are the first places of your house that is seen by your
guests. Hence, they define the first impression about you and your
personality in your guest's mind. Experiment with colors and patterns to
create a stylish and great looking living room to make the right
statement. Make sure that you maintain the harmony and visual flow and
take into account the rooms visible from your living room. If you
practically live in your living room, you may prefer to have glazed,
marbleized or textured walls as they do not look dirty or show up finger
marks so easily. This can be easily achieved using faux painting
techniques that are so popular as living room painting ideas these days.
You may want to add height to the living room without breaking the
monochromatic look of the room by using dark color alternating with
lighter shade of the same color or glazed version of the same paint
color to create stripes on the walls. Instead of flat paint finish,
choose pastel colors and it is advisable to use chocolate brown or very
dark colors in satin or semi-gloss finish, so that they don't look drab
and dreary. You may add faux crackle finish to your living room wall by
first painting it with dark color and then with lighter color. Thus,
when the paint crackles, the darker color from beneath gives an
interesting look to the living room walls. If you are using faux
painting techniques, choose the right kind of paint. Faux dragging
technique may not be able to use latex paint as it dries too quickly.
You may also want to add interesting murals to your living room walls to
cheer up the room a little.
