Design Question
My girlfriend and I are decorating our new apartment. We are currently shopping for new living room furniture. We both like this gray couch, which means the rest of the furniture will be mostly gray. So I want “shocking” walls. My choice is red; I thought it would make a good background for the gray living room furniture. My girlfriend wants to paint the room blue; actually more of a pastel teal. I don’t want blue of any shade and she thinks that the red would be too dark. Which is the right color we should be picking? How do we settle this so that we can both live the color choice?
Design Answer
You’re right – since you are both living in the space, you will need to agree on a color that will be pleasing to you both. In your situation, however, it’s not really an issue of which shade is right or wrong, because both the red and the blue/teal would be good candidates for matching with the furniture you have chosen.
In my opinion, what is a more important consideration is the overall effect you both would like to achieve. Since colors fall into two basic categories – warm colors (reds, lavenders, pinks) and cool colors (blues, greens) – you will want to decide which vibe would best work in the space. Because the sofa and other living room furniture is a neutral shade (gray) you won’t have to worry about matching the furniture color to the walls. The good thing about cool colors is that, unlike warm shades such as red or orange, you don’t have to worry about them overpowering the other décor elements in the room.
Since it isn’t really a matter of whether or not the wall color will or will not go with the furniture, discuss with your girlfriend the kind of mood you would like to create in your living space. If it ends up that you are still on two separate pages in terms of the exact vibe you both would like for the living room, you’ll have to do some negotiating.
Thanks for writing in. Let me know how it turns out! Send pictures! Good luck.
