I need to re-decorate living room and need a little help with the decision of colour.  At the moment 3 walls are white and wall with coal fire is a heather colour. (which I love by the way) But apart from the 3' high tide marks from the dogs, the coaldust from fire is unreal (just started to wash a wall and have made a real mess) :( I didnt realise just how grubby the walls are. I need colour to match or contrast. Floor is very light beech wood, sofa's are cream leather, curtains and everything else is white. No other furniture in room, dont have coffee tables etc. Large fireplace is very pale grey/lavendar/heather similar colour to washed slate. Ceiling is about 20' so could go quite dark, just not sure if I could live with it. Any budding interior decorators out there :D :D :D

Get domething for the bottom half of walls to match the tide mark :D

How about an aubergine colour or chocolate.  I love interior design and would quite happily decorate everyday.

Michelle :)

I love decorating but my usual colours are pastels.  I did paint the kitchen Aubergine 2 years ago and 3 months later re-painted a pale mint green.   Its not really a problem with the dogs, the small patch they rub against is easily cleaned, its the coal dust.  I had not realised just how much it had built up. The walls look white, well off white, but when washing them I realised they are absolutely covered in this fine dust. 

That would be muddy brown then :D :D

We had are living room decorated in cream and chocolate.laminate floor chocolate rugs creme curtains cream walls (washable paint) main wall in a lovely chocolate brown( looks lovely with the fire lit)cream leather sofa with chocolate furry throws and big chocolate fluffy cusions.Its so much easier to keep clean now.Iused to have it terracotta with cream rugs and throws but i was forever washing the throws and rugs.Ihavent had to wash new ones yet and its been decorated for three months now .Got only one big problem now my bullmastiff pup seams to think its fun to run and jump on the sofa and attack my fluffy cusions (definatley got something against them).:D

Maysea, thats sounds really good, I do like the browns, and would fit in nicely with floor and sofas. Sounds warm and welcoming as well.  Looks like a trip to Homebase is the order of the day. :D :D

Interior design, that "just like a magazine look", colour co-ordinating I'm your girl :P 

Seriously (OK, not the right little face but don't know a "sober" smiley, surprisingly :D ) can't remember whether it's Crown or Dulux but one of them do a lovely colour called "Country Beige" - it's a definite warm colour but not strong or intense, tones really well with neutrals and naturals and would look great with how you've described your fireplace.  Huge bonus is that it doesn't show up doggy marks much either :D   We have very high ceilings and generally pick roughly two or three shades darker than the wall colourings which gives the illusion of the ceiling being slightly lower - hence warms the room - without bringing it down too much and being oppressive ;)

I'm not ALL bad :)
Teri  

Thanks Teri, will definately have a look at the Browns/Taupes/Beige theme.The house was pretty derelict when I got it 3.5 years ago and have now done all the rooms, yes its taken that long :) But I did make a big mistake with the livingroom. I love my fireplace, I built it myself and really is the central attraction of the room. So everything has to fit in with it, and those colours sound ideal. Many thanks
You are quite sweet really :D :) ;)

This is a great colour BTW. But above all you MUST put a coat of varnish over so those doggie tide marks just wipe off. We had our living room ragged and the professional decorator recommended it - what a genius a 'delicate' paint finish has lasted longer than any other in the house. If you dont want it too shiny choose a matt varnish. Only takes a few minutes extra and makes the paint last probably 4 times as long and easier to wash!

Hi Bluebell,

Excellent tip about the varnish :P   It's amazing how easily *washable paint* comes off with a brillo pad :D   (just kidding, not THAT dumb ;) ) but the varnish certainly sounds like a great idea for any walls in high traffic areas (which in our house is every wall - floor to ceiling :rolleyes: )

Regards, Teri

Believe it or not the place our paint suffers most is where the cats slide off of the windowsill, they leave skid marks down the wall. But soon solved with a bit of elbow grease and Mr Muscle (unless they had their claws out )

ALSO HAVE YOU SEEN THE TEXTURED PAINT AT B&Q THEY DO A SUEDE EFFECT ONE.IT REALY DOES LOOK LIKE SUEDE QUITE EXPENSIVE THOUGH.

Kay crown do a lovely emulsion it is called  Liqueur,the colour of baileys,we have done our lounge in this ,i always think white is best for ceilings.
Sheila.

Oh thats sounds good too Shiela.  Daughter no 2 coming down from Edinburgh next week as she is on holiday, so we will be doing the paint buying then. Told her about the beige/taupe/brown theme and she seems to think it will blend well with floor/fireplace/sofas.

What an excellent idea Bluebell, thanks. :D

just doing my lounge as was totally ashamed of it.Where I work the lady has the most wonderful lounge and it set me off.Its totally minimalistic and as mentioned she has the Liquer paint on the walls.I forgot the name of it and bought Cappuchino which is similar.Love this type of colour theme.Leather settee and wonderful wooden blinds and a few nice feature ornaments.I must never let her round mine however as it would be embarassing if she saw Id pinched her ideas!

I have the suede effect paint in my bathroom I think its Fawn suede by Crown.  Homebase do some good paint colours that are washable.  Dont know how they would stand up to a brillo pad though :D :D :D.

Michelle

Johnstones do a lovely creamy colour called County Cream - not too pale :)  it goes really well with browns and tans/ naturals and its cheap enough to buy an extra tin just to refresh the fireplace wall ;) :)