[snkhan]

Hi,

I really need some ideas fairly urgently for my room. I'll be moving in to my new flat this weekend, and am really stumped on what colour I should paint the walls in my bedroom. My original intention was to paint the walls cream, with one wall a cocoa colour.

Unfortunately the landlord installed a new carpet, and the original scheme will no longer work. Here is a photo of the new carpet:



(Sorry about my shoes :? )


Someone has recommended that I colour the walls a light grey, but I'm not overly keen on that (not unless you can help me find a shade of grey that will look ok).

In terms of the furniture, I wish to purchase:

1. MALM single bed (medium brown)
2. MALM bedside table (medium brown)
3. Expedit bookcase (149cm by 149 cm in white)
4. Ramberg wardrobe
5. Solsta Olarp armchair (natural)

I am unsure whether there will be a colour clash with any of these combinations, and if so, what alternatives you would recommend (unfortunately I have to have the Ramberg as it is the largest wardrobe I can afford at present).

If you can provide sample pics, tips, or colour combinations (especially for the paint, which I'll be buying from Dulux) I'd really appreciate it.

Finally (and if is helps at all), the room receives a large amount of light during the day :-)

Cheers,



Saj

[DesignDiva]

I can't believe I am saying this, but....

I think a nice warm white would be a great choice! With the dark furniture, blue carpet and natural chair, white would add a nice crispness and modern edge. I'd paint an accent wall in the blue of the carpet and put the Expedit bookcase against it.

[snkhan]

Hi,

Thanks for the quick response! White, eh? Any particular shade? I went to the Dulux centre yesterday and they mentioned they had around 30 shades of white ...

Just so that you know, I've attached a bedroom plan:



If you have macromedia fireworks, you can open the file and move some of the furniture around. I'm having some difficulties putting the Ramberg elsewhere, as the bed will not fit in length ways across the room .

What shade of blue would you recommend for the accent wall?

[DesignDiva]

I'd paint just the right hand wall (where the bookcase will be) the same shade of blue as the carpet. Paint everything else, including the alcove, white. Navajo white is a nice warm white and pretty standard. Go to the paint store, get a chip of Navajo white and some other whites and compare them, you'll see the warmer and cooler tones. You don't want a gray-white, or a blue-white, but a nice warm (more yellow undertones) white. Cream (the actual color of heavy cream) is the yellowest I would go. Ironstone white is too yellow.

Now, I don't know whether you have Navajo white in England, but here in America every builder uses it for their default color.

If there is room, I would swap the positions of the chair and the wardrobe. The chair will be nicer in the alcove, and you won't have to worry about clearance for the doors. And if the bed would fit the long way at the window (into the alcove) I'd do that instead, and put the wardrobe at the wall to the left of the door (opposite the window wall) with the chair on the adjacent wall.

Window treatments and bedding in a combination of white, tan and navy would be very nice. I think that panel drapes with the majority in the same blue as the carpet with a small stripe of white and a large stripe of tan at the bottom would be really nice. If you're a girl, though, go with tan with blue and white flowers instead.

[snkhan]

Thanks for the clarification. I've checked Dulux's website (http://www.dulux.co.uk/) but could not locate navajo white

My original intention was to place the bed near the alcove as you suggested, but the window/wall faces towards a busy high street road (unfortunately as the flat is a conservation area we can't have the glass replaced either ). Putting the bed this way may cause problems when installing the MALM bedside table - although even now the bedside table is unlikely to fit in its current position:



I forgot to mention the heater (indicated) in red which prevents me putting the Ramberg as per your suggestion ... it is unmoveable, so this limits what can be done. I've just realised that the Ramberg has a sticky out-ty thing (I assume to hang your suits), this now jeopardises its current position in the room.

Here is a search page on 'white' on Dulux.co.uk:
Dulux whites

PS - I'm a guy
PPS - How about Royal Regatta 2 for the blue on the accent wall? Seems quite cooling and refreshing:



PPPS - How about ethel for the quilt/quilt cover?

[Cyndi_L]

Hi,

Now I might be wrong here but it would seem that since your room is rectangular and the bed is taking up a substantial amount of space directly near the door, an accent color on a long wall would make the room seem more narrow.

May I suggest making the wall behind your bed the feature wall and the rest the elusive white shade? With the window opposite the feature wall, the effect will keep things bright and not too somber.

Just an idea.

[DesignDiva]

Dark colors tend to make things recede...so I think the narrow wall would be a good candidate for a darker color. Especially with a white graphic bookcase like the Expedit in front of it.

[snkhan]

Thanks for all the responses . I think painting the 'Expedit' wall is a good idea; do you think I should paint that entire side (including the alcove) blue (as sampled above)?

My other concern is that the MALM bedside table won't fit where the bed is meant to be placed - the door, will probably damage the sides of the table :X

I might just change the scheme thus;




In which case, which wall should become the 'feature' wall?

Cheers,



Sajid

[DesignDiva]

Wherever the bookcase is should be painted blue. In your last example, that would be the door wall.

I like the second plan, although I am thinking the noise from the window and the heater might not be so peaceful.

[snkhan]

There isn't any noise from the heater, or much noise during the evening from outside. However it's the mornings which I'll be dreading! I guess I can move the furniture around once everthing has been painted, and I may go with your recommendation of painting the 'Door' wall blue. Did you like the blue shade in the thumbnail below?

If I can, I'll try to take a panoramic photo of the room (and note the dimensions) tomorrow, so that you can get a better feeling of the room.

Sajid