OK, figured where better to ask for help than on the dope. I am painting our family room and have no clue how to choose the right colors. Colors because one half of the room will be one color and the other half a different one. Room is roughly 25’ by 11’ with a natural divide in it with 2 doors, duct work across the ceiling and a spot where the wall juts out a couple feet so it should look nice.
1st half of the room is kind of a man cave/theatre room. Carpet is a light tan, tv is black, tv stand is oak and the theme is the Cincinnati Reds primarily. Don’t have furniture yet so that could be a bonus question.
2nd half has the same light tan carpet and nothing else really planned for the section. It will be a play room for my kids but still sports themed with the UD Flyers, WSU Raiders, OSU and Bengals playing some part in the decorating although not a dominating part of it.
So, to all the interior decorating dopers or anyone else with an opinion, what do you think would work?
The carpet is neutral, so you can really pick anything you like. I think a nice dark red accent wall would look good in the mancave half. It’d be tasteful and Cincinnati-y. Since red is such a dramatic color, you can pair it with a more neutral cream. I’m thinking something like this.
Like/agree with your suggestion for dark red wall. But instead of cream, would go with what’s shown in your picture—more of a “camel” (leather) shade.
As for the other side: why are you (the OP) projecting your sports-mindedness onto the kids? Ask them what THEY want (it may be totally different from what you think), then provide the basics you and your SO want to build on.
First of all - find your main object or source of inspiration. In your case, it could be the colors of your favorite sports team. For other people, you would find perhaps a large throw rug with several colors in it or some painting or whatever. This object becomes the focal point.
Then - stick with ONLY those colors in your focal point object. You can go darker or lighter, but let’s say your team colors are Red, Black and Yellow, you could use just a few spots of red (pillows or sofa color or maybe a small wall) and then gray or dark gray for carpet or other areas and then have bright yellow walls. The point is, you now have your color theme and stick to it. Don’t just suddenly throw in green or orange or baby blue.
Use something to visually divide the room so that the playroom doesn’t have to be so red. Ikea bookcases make great room dividers and add storage space. So would a screen or a curtain.
Go ahead and continue that shade of red into the playroom but don’t make it so dominant. Playrooms are generally lighter and very informal in look and color. What age are the kids who will play there? Maybe you want to paint large geometric forms on the wall such as cubes, cones, and pyramids on the wall or perhaps add oversized sports item outlines (soccer ball, hockey stick, volleyball net) or even outline graphics of people or animals.
All the input is very much appreciated. Thanks so much as I am clueless with type of stuff. As far as the “playroom” my kids are 11 and 10 and their play constitutes mainly of building legos or playing board games. They want a dart board in there as well although that sounds a little scary with the inability to throw very straight:).
You know what else is cool? You can buy chalkboard paint and whiteboard paint and paint your walls with it! Or squares of cork so they can hang up posters and what-not.
Absolutely get the testers from the paint place and see how the paint actually looks on your walls before buying whole gallons of it. It’s almost impossible to judge from the swatch exactly what the paint will look like – and how you’ll like it – when you put it on. Make sure you put your samples on various representative parts of the wall. Different light conditions will have a dramatic effect on the color.
Sometimes I go through a dozen different colors before I find one I’m happy with. You can end up spending a good bit on testers, but I think it’s totally worth it.
A very classic, tried and true hue of red for a wall is “ossebloed rood”. I don’t know the English word or the panthone colorwheel number. I have two adjoining walls in that hue, It was recommended to me by an interior architect I hired, it and I get compliments on it all the time.
You could get a wall decal with the same hue of red in it for the kids part of the room. And other accentis in that room, which is easy because you can paint them in a glossy paint of the same hue. That would bring the room together.
