Bold colors on walls?

[ms.yt]

Are they still "in"? I'm not usually really big on what's in or not, but I don't want it to look dated. We're thinking about buying a house that has stark white walls in all the rooms. I'm thinking about red for the living room with our taupe sofa, loveseat and setee and some animal print accents. I'd also like to dress the other rooms up with color, but, again, I don't want it to look dated. In my house that I moved out of when I got married, I had a array of bold colors in the house, and I loved it. My living room was yellow, my kitchen lime green, one room was deep green and another deep blue. I also had a red bathroom. I'd love some opinions before I try to sell my husband on the idea.

 

[liamsaunt]

Color on the walls is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to personalize a room. If/when you are going to sell, you could always have the walls painted back to white if you needed to.

 

[scrapquilter]

If I were just moving into the house (or living in a house without planning to sell in the very near future) and wanted to paint the walls a bright color, I wouldn't give a rats a$$ about if that was 'in' now or if it looked dated....I'd just do what I wanted and keep it as long as I like it, then change when I got tired of it.

Paint is the lease expensive and easiest way to change the look of a room, and there's no reason not to change it on a whim whenever you feel like it. If you want lime green walls with purple stripes, go for it regardless of what is 'in' or not. If you get tired of it, change it.

The only time you need to worry about this is if you are trying to sell.

 

[ms.yt]

Okay, thanks for the advice. I think if we get this house I'll definitely go with the red walls in the living room. I really like the way it looks with neutral furniture with a little bit of leopard or zebra print accents. My MIL has a zebra chair at her furniture store that I've been dying for, but it didn't work for the decor in the house we're currently living in.

 

[Serena]

Yeah, you're moving in? Make the house yours, paint it whatever you want.

 

[dismom2]

I think bold colors can look very nice in rooms. The only downside is that it can make the room look smaller, but you can pain just one of the walls a bold color, then accent the other walls with a lighter color. I watch a lot of 'home' shows, and see a lot of colorful houses and I think they look great. A lot of people have just light, neutral colors, which are nice, too, but bold can give it more character--just accessorize accordingly. I say go for it. You can always paint over it later.

 

[DawnCt1]

Bold colors definitely make a room look smaller, and if you have a change of heart, it may take 3 to 5 coats to cover those bold colors. I think that HGTV has popularized bold colors because they are dramatic on color tv. I don't think I could live with dark colors in real life. I like light and bright!

 

[Philagoofy]

Uh oh, I hear wallpaper is coming back in vogue. So in a few years, everyone on these house hunter shows will be saying "Paint, oh, we'll have to wallpaper over that".

But seriously, as everyone else said, it's your house, you decorate it the way you want.

 

[phorsenuf]

I love bold walls. This is what we did in our dining room. They were a light yellow color, which was the same as the kitchen. It's a very deep red.

 

[AshleyW]

I love bold colors on walls! Especially red. My dining room has one deep red wall, and the other 3 are a really soft tan. It really makes the room "pop" a lot more.

 

[TimeforMe]

My living room is red as well. It does tend to get a little dark sometime, but in the summer I remove the drapes and just go with the blinds (which are striped and match the drapes). It is a very warm, cozy room and everyone loves it. My furniture and carpeting are both a taupe/beige color. My dining room is also a dark green, but again I just have roman shades and it has seven windows in it so it doesn't "feel" dark at all. My bedroom is a dark (almost navy) blue with white trim. I absolutely LOVE being in my room--it truly is an oasis for me and is very calming. Now that I have "color" in every single room in our home, I can't imagine ever having just white/beige walls.

 

[Pixiedust34]

Don't worry about what's "in." It's your house. Do what suits your taste and what you like. If you want bold walls, go for it! It's only paint. You can change it later if you like.

 

[Laura]

Bold colors definitely make a room look smaller, and if you have a change of heart, it may take 3 to 5 coats to cover those bold colors. I think that HGTV has popularized bold colors because they are dramatic on color tv. I don't think I could live with dark colors in real life. I like light and bright!

We re-painted a room for our daughter's nursery. It had very bold colors on the walls and trim (it was a kid's room--two shades of deep blue on the walls, two shades of orange around the windows, bright green closet doors and yellow trim on the door and baseboard). We used one coat of primer and one coat of paint to cover it all up.

 

[DawnCt1]

We re-painted a room for our daughter's nursery. It had very bold colors on the walls and trim (it was a kid's room--two shades of deep blue on the walls, two shades of orange around the windows, bright green closet doors and yellow trim on the door and baseboard). We used one coat of primer and one coat of paint to cover it all up.

That's reassuring. We possibly may be moving next year and the houses that I have been looking at on line, (too early to actually go looking) that have bold colors and a lot of personal touches (clutter), don't show well on line.

 

[luvflorida]

Last week I posted a thread about the red walls in our living room. I'm not really a fan of them. Here's the thread with a few pics. As you can see, the walls are very red and very tall! We're still on a search for furniture for the living room. As far as other opinions, it's running about 50/50. The latest unsolicited opinion came from the driver that delivered our bottled water today. He stepped inside to give us the invoice and, bless his heart, just as he was about to leave, he turned around and told us that he loved the red walls.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2241657

 

[MushyMushy]

Phors, that's beautiful!

I hope more people will post photos. We're looking for ideas to paint our walls as well. I went into a house a few months ago that had one plum colored wall and the others were in a lighter color. I absolutely loved it, but hubby isn't going for it.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

Bold colors definitely make a room look smaller, and if you have a change of heart, it may take 3 to 5 coats to cover those bold colors. I think that HGTV has popularized bold colors because they are dramatic on color tv. I don't think I could live with dark colors in real life. I like light and bright!

We re-painted a room for our daughter's nursery. It had very bold colors on the walls and trim (it was a kid's room--two shades of deep blue on the walls, two shades of orange around the windows, bright green closet doors and yellow trim on the door and baseboard). We used one coat of primer and one coat of paint to cover it all up.

Thats what I was gonna say.. when we moved in, one of the bedroom walls was a lime green...BRIGHT. We did one coat of primer and then 2 coats of gray/blue. Primer works wonders
Also...if I can find it.. I'll show a pic of our BRIGHT blue bathroom before.. 1 coat of primer and 1 coat of beige paint.
DBF was NOT having a blue dolphin bathroom.. lol

 

[mickeyfan9194]

I decided about two years ago that I couldn't stand looking at white walls any longer, and systemically went through the house repainting each and every room. My favorites are my deep red bedroom and mocha brown family room.

I also love our living room, but don't know how to desribe that color--it's sort of a tan with a greenish tint. It looks more tan during the day with sunlight, and more "mossy green" in the evening with artificial lighting. I've had several people comment on it when they're over for the whole day. They'll stand in the room looking around, and say "I could have sworn this room was tan before." The furniture and accents are all neutral earthy colors in that room, so it works really well.

We also redid our kitchen this year, and changed from a sage green to a camel (tan/yellow) color to match out new granite countertops. I just love color!

 

[NMAmy]

Uh oh, I hear wallpaper is coming back in vogue. So in a few years, everyone on these house hunter shows will be saying "Paint, oh, we'll have to wallpaper over that".

Oh, great. Just as I'm FINALLY getting rid of all the wallpaper that totally covered our house. The very sweet previous owner apparently LOVED wallpaper.

OP--If you're just moving in, paint the walls any color you'd like. DD's room is a Nickelodeon Sponge Bob paint color--Bikini Bottom Blue. I thought I'd hate it because it's a very vibrant, dark color but I must admit I love the way her room looks.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

I decided about two years ago that I couldn't stand looking at white walls any longer, and systemically went through the house repainting each and every room. My favorites are my deep red bedroom and mocha brown family room.

I also love our living room, but don't know how to desribe that color--it's sort of a tan with a greenish tint. It looks more tan during the day with sunlight, and more "mossy green" in the evening with artificial lighting. I've had several people comment on it when they're over for the whole day. They'll stand in the room looking around, and say "I could have sworn this room was tan before." The furniture and accents are all neutral earthy colors in that room, so it works really well.

We also redid our kitchen this year, and changed from a sage green to a camel (tan/yellow) color to match out new granite countertops. I just love color!

Those all sound great! I want to see pics

To the OP... I say GO FOR IT!! We've painted soo much.. but it's such an easy fix if we change our mind... or if we ever sell and someone else wants to change it up..

Here's our 'before' bathroom... and our after color. Not so much bold, but shows the wonders primer can do.. lol
When we moved in -

and our paint job (going to paint that cabinet on wall soon)

and another light view. We also, obviously, replaced that awful mirror.. lol