Decorating living/dining room-any ideas for colour scheme please?

And perhaps a string of fairy lights somewhere?

I really don't like long life bulbs.

I'm not sure you can do a lot about the comparative low light in an old cottage. Just accept it really as part of the charm. Perhaps have a table lamp or two on full time?

How do you do that J52 , with the furniture? Might be something I need to consider.

You could use light reflecting paint on the walls. Could the curtains be draining the light out of the room. The fashionable chalk paint really did transform a lot of my rooms [couldn't quite believe the difference it made to be honest, but the colour of pine seems to soak up colour] but older houses usually look better with darkwood furniture. Energy saving light bulbs don't give out much light either [they have a depressing feel to them]; maybe it's the lights that you could tinker with in some way?

Why not go with your name? A soft pale apricot paint would look lovely with the dark wood.

Arranging furniture so it draws the eye outward adds a space and light feeling.

x

I'm trying to lighten my dark little cottage rooms. All the walls are white and I've got a mirror opposite each window but I still need lights on almost all the time.
Like Coolgran, I've decided to paint a brick fireplace in the kitchen (white again) but I despair of the sitting room. I have antique furniture which is dark and no, I'm not going to do fashionable chalk paint on the walnut piano.
I often think that energy-saving lightbulbs don't save much if you need umpteen in each room.
Any ideas?

Will look into that. Thanks CoolGran. We use the fire at weekends in the winter. Weekdays nights we use an electric wood effect, like you.

Google painting brick .. ... or stone fireplaces, lots of exciting examples. I was a little nervous as there is no going back once started. And it was my idea.

Please take note I have a very realistic, but electric, stove in it, so no heat.
Take advice if you use the fire. Dust etc so may need a semi sheen/eggshell paint that can be wiped.

According to this we could paint our old stone fireplace. There's a thought.

I got eggshell wood paint mixed today in B & Q. Computer will sort any shade you want.

Also went for materials to paint large red brick fireplace....primer, latex eggshell etc. As per internet.
Assistant said....why? Masonry paint is brilliant on brick fireplaces and no primer needed. They also mix masonry paint to order. We came home with a tester pot. It's fabulous. Bricks look covered in one coat, the trial area that DH has done, but will probably need a second coat after drying. So back to store for the big tin of colour mixed masonry paint. It's going to look great.

I never knew that! Thanks jingl, perhaps it might make DH less grouchy about decorating!

Well, that's handy to know - thanks jingl!

You probably have to have your paintwork colour mixed specially. They don't do a huge range of woodwork colours. But I think they can mix to match most of the wall colours.

The Dulux website gives you ideas on which colours complement your wall colours, which enhance it etc. Very useful.

No. Just whatever you use on the doors and skirting. You can get radiator paint but DH has never used it. Stays on fine. Rads must be cold when applied of course.

Actually most of my rads are the same colour as the walls. Just woodwork paint instead of the matt emulsion - or eggshell or whatever you like.

No - I meant does the paint stay on? You are talking about special radiator paint, aren't you? Or are you not?

Oh yes. We always paint the rads. (I don't think it holds the heat in!)

That's something else to add to the list, ours are beyond scruffy
I've just mentioned it to DH......met with a grunt!

Does radiator paint work? Mine are looking a bit dingy...

Or I might have Lagoon Falls for the woodwork/radiator. Oh! It's not easy.

I have today sent DH to Homebase for colour tester pots. I am pretty sure I am having Dulux Spring Rose on the walls and Dulux Desert Wind on the radiator and paintwork.

Will decide on carpet when decorating done. But it won't be loop pile.

A very pale pink is lovely in a living room. We had this colour in our previous living room and had a plain lightish sage green carpet. You then accessorize accordingly.

You can look on Houzz for ideas. I save the pictures I like on Pinterest to keep ideas in one place.

My DBH likes everything magnolia. I have just painted our bathroom in duckegg magnolia, and have used pink magnolia in the twins' bedrooms.

My living room floor is half floorboards and half concrete. I sanded the floorboards and painted the concrete with cream floor paint to look like large tiles. This has proved fairly hardwearing, except for one small patch where the paint won't stick (I did prepare very carefully), so I just paint that one 'tile' when I get fed up with the concrete showing through.

The walls are magnolia at the moment though. I have been painting some of the pine furniture with chalk paint in cream and pale blue. The room is due for a complete refurbish, but as I am hoping to extend our tiny kitchen, it is on the backburner at the moment.

I think you can have an engineered wooden floor under a concrete one. They lay a subfloor under it. Certainly strong enough for any furniture.

I have a silver grey carpet too Loopyloo but I do have a large darker grey rug in the sitting-room end and a paler grey one under the dining table. The curtains are a grey too.

The contrast to the shades of grey in my room (why do I find that worrying? ) comes from the furniture which is painted - a sort of ivory cream. The dining chairs have covers in "straw" - a soft yellow. The long, unbroken wall (with the fireplace in the sitting room end) is in a colour called "calico" if I remember rightly - another cream really but it is exactly the colour in the background of the wall paper on the sitting-room window wall and the recessed wall that makes the sitting-room wider. I do hope that makes sense. Over all the grey is contrasted by the cream through to soft yellow and soften from what could be too urban by the wall paper which breaks up all the plain colour blocks. The big thing about going for a scheme like this is I could change it easily by changing the dining-chair covers and cushion covers - all of which are doable for anyone who sews but could easily be bought too.

I'm not sure if this helps but I often pick up little bits from seeing different rooms - a mood board helps and your choice of a wallpaper in the colours you like, even if you don't intend to use it, would definitely be a start.