Interior Decorating

[Phoenix]

One of the many jobs I need to do to my house is repaint, the problem is I have absolutely no idea with regards to colour schemes. My main concern is the living room, it's currently got 3 walls in magnolia and one in very pale but old granny looking textured wallpaper. The sofas are what I think you would call burgundy and the curtains very similar, carpet is a kind of drab greeney colour.

What do I do? I thought maybe paint the main wall (fireplace) a dark red and the other magnolia, or the fireplace wall and one opposite (back of room) the same. Oh it's also got a dado rail on all but one wall, scrap it or keep, paint different below it?

I'm clueless, is there a website with loads and loads of different designs or something that I can copy, one where I can base it around what colour furnishings I already have

[Robby]

White emulsion.

[Tonka]

Obviously everyone has different taste, but my opinion would be that unless you are planning on going for a period feel, I would try and ignore the rail and keep the colour above and below the same. If it's a nice wooden rail, then no need to paint the rail itself unless you feel strongly about it.

I'd keep the wall colours light and go for magnolia or white on walls and ceilings and concentrate on tying in the colours of the sofa and carpet with furnishings (cushions / rug). I like pictures on the walls, so I'm happy to have neutral coloured walls and also I get bored of the 'positive' colours. They are murder to paint over, as you have to use loads of coats regardless of what it says on the tin!! If you're feeling brave, I'd get that wallpaper off, but it's a b1tch of a job and depends on the quality of the wall beneath for painting.

Keep it as simple as possible for now and then if you decide to get keen on interior decoration in the future you'll be able to start afresh!
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[Clanger]

From the way I see it, your carpet is the largest expanse of colour in the room, so unless you are planning to change it, the rest of the room should ideally be based around it.

I would consider buying large neutral throws for both sofas, and tie together at the sides with those large pins - to stop them coming off when you sit there.

Then do as Tonka suggests, paint the walls in a neutral beige/magnolia shade, above and below the dado rail thing. If you would like to be a little adventurous, why not opt for a modern wallpaper with a pattern which matches the green in your carpet. There are some smart/modern ones out there, you could opt to have it on the chimney breast wall alone, or in the alcoves (if you have them).

Then look for cushion's to match the wallpaper, or opt for a striped pattern in colours which will match i.e. beige/grey/green/rusty red colours.

If you have wooden furniture that looks odd together (odd bits), you could paint them all white to match.
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[Phoenix]

Ok, so no wild changing rooms style suggestions, I think subconsciously I'm quite pleased as obviously the easiest option is just to paint it all magnolia rather than attempt adding colour when I have no idea what i'm doing. I would like to get rid of the wallpaper, i'm brave enough to remove it, not entirely sure I want to replace it though, I think even now it looks odd with just one wall being papered.

My furniture such as tables and stands are all being scrapped anyway as it was stuff I picked up from a car boot years ago and a mixture of again granny stuff and black ash, I will be making my first ever trip to Ikea sometime soon to see if I can replace it all.

I'll look into throws for the sofas, I've always thought of them as something for when you have dogs so am not sure but will see.

[Tonka]

For those of us that are not professional quality decorators I think simple looks best - less chance of those irritating wobbly lines that scream at you!! Taking paper off the walls is ok, you just need to make sure that it's all nice and smooth before you paint, else the bumps and lumps show! You may need to fill any holes if the wallpaper comes away with bits of plaster!!

I like this site for ideas and if you're going to buy your stuff from Ikea even better - I'm not brave enough to shop there!!

Personally, I'm not a fan of throws, as I think they always look a bit scruffy however much you try to secure them, but I have occasionally seen them work well. I'm a tad OCD so that's possibly why I have issues!!
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'The core of a man's spirit comes from new experiences'
Suzuki SV650S (Clean); Yamaha XT250 Serow (Dirty)

[Bendy]

For once it is actually true... this thread is useless without pics.

[unitybiker]

White emulsion and a pastel blue/yelloe/green .Yellow is stimulatin , green is relaxing blue is cool and cold.magnolia is the colour of acne .If there is no female nagging you to do it (wallpapering of course)then save all the trouble and paint the paper ,throw overs are ok if you have cleaning daily maintenance support droid but asthetics really do benefit from a pragmatic woman with a very limited budget .

[Annabella]

The best thing to do is find something you like and work from there. Your carpet is going to be too expensive to replace, so that's a good place to start...

So if that's a greenish colour, I'd probably go for a nice cream colour on the walls apart from one perhaps which you could paint a nice sage-green colour (calming).

Curtains can be replaced with not too much expense (I'll help you make them if you like) and a couple of cheap throws over the sofas and some nice matching cusion covers. Sorted.
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[unitybiker]

dear Annabella will you help me make some underpants for my new flat?javascript:emoticon('')