I recently painted a little office nook / home library the color Porpoise by Sherwin Williams and fell in love. It got me thinking how many times i’ve used a dark color and every time it’s been my favorite room in the house. If you’re anything like me, you want your house to feel cozy! There’s a time and place for bright whites, but something about a room with a dark and moody color makes it feel homey.
If you’re wondering how to go about adding some color into your life, I hope this post helps. One trend I love with these colors is really just going for it – painting the whole room, including the trim, the color of your choice!
Some tips:
– Light changes everything! A dark grey paint can look blue in the morning and green at night. Don’t forget to grab a paint sample and test it on each wall facing different light sources, as well as different times of the day to see how it’ll look in all light!
– Same color, different finishes. If you paint a whole room, including trim, built ins, and ceiling all one finish it will look dull, flat, and quickly done. To achieve the color saturated look (and not have it look like you dumped a can of paint everywhere) switch up the finishes! I love a satin wall with semi-gloss trim, or even high-gloss built-ins.
– Color match! On a budget? Home Depot will color match any paint for you.
Without further ado, here are some of my favorite colors i’ve personally used and how i’ve used them!
Porpoise – Sherwin Williams
This will be a repeat color for me, BUT it’s tricky. If you look at this paint swatch it looks semi brownish, almost grey. Straight out of the paint can it had a purple tint, and on this wall it has a bit of dark green. Either way, i’m in love with it in this room. I’ll just be sure to paint swatch it before painting it elsewhere.
By the way, I used eggshell for the walls and semi-gloss for the built-ins. I also really wish I would’ve continued the color to the trim to make it a bit more cohesive.
Manuscript – Behr
I love a dirty green. Something I love to do in my designs is mix the pretty and the ugly. All of the design elements in this bathroom are “pretty” and feminine with the brass, checkered floor, and polished metals. To offset all of that I chose a “dirty” green to create a juxtaposition of elements.
As you can see in these photos, this color has a broad range depending on how much light is on it.
Van Buren Brown – Benjamin Moore
Van Buren Brown was the first moody color I’ve ever chosen for an interior and I’ve gone back to it several times since. I chose this color for these cabinets because I wanted a wood cabinet feel, without actually having wood cabinets. These cabinets were in rough shape and definitely needed a coat of paint, but I wasn’t willing to get rid of the classic wood feeling in the room so I landed on this!
Undersea – Behr
This room is one I took a huge risk on and I’m glad I did. I was extremely worried with this color that the room would turn out looking like a little boys bedroom, and not refined as I was going for. I painted everything in this room – fireplace, built-ins, trim, the whole shebang; and I LOVE it. Walls are painted an eggshell finish, while trim and built-ins are a high gloss finish.
Iron Ore – Sherwin Williams
Iron Ore is my go-to charcoal black. I’ve used it in every house on one element or another. It also makes a great exterior accent color!
There you have it! As always I post more behind the scenes on my Instagram, including when I’m picking colors or other design elements. You can also choose to receive notifications when there’s a new blog post up by signing up below!
