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I went with a warm palette over cool tones for my living room and honestly it was a gamble
Everyone on here kept pushing those blue-grey cool palettes for small spaces because they supposedly open things up. I went the opposite way and picked a warm terracotta with a muted gold accent wall in my 10x12 living room. Cool colors always made the room feel kinda sterile to me, like a waiting room or something. The warm palette actually made the space feel cozier and bigger somehow because the light bounces off the walls differently during sunset. My friend said I was nuts and that it would close the room in, but she changed her mind when she came over last week. Has anyone else gone against the grain with color selection and had it work out better than you expected?
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ross.jessica2d ago
...and you know what, your friend was wrong. I've helped move folks into houses where they were too scared to go with anything but white or grey and the place felt like a doctor's office, not a home. If you pick the right shade of warm it can actually trick the eye. My own living room has a muted copper color on one wall and I swear it makes the afternoon light glow through the whole space. Your terracotta with gold sounds like it works the same way, especially if you've got decent natural light hitting it at the right times. The trick is not going too dark with it, you gotta keep it in that dusty sandalwood range. Sounds like you nailed it though, sometimes you just gotta trust your gut over what everyone else says.
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the_ray6d ago
Wait, hold on. Your friend actually said you were nuts for picking terracotta? That's wild to me.
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anthony1656d ago
Know a guy who painted his whole living room in terracotta last spring, @the_ray, and his neighbor literally knocked on his door to ask if he'd lost a bet. Swear to God. The guy was so proud of it too, spent weeks picking out the perfect shade and everything. But the neighbor kept going on about how it looked like a southwest gift shop exploded in there. I mean, I get it's not everyone's cup of tea, but people can be so weirdly aggressive about paint colors. My buddy ended up keeping it for a solid eight months before he finally caved and repainted. Now he just tells people the first attempt was an "accent wall experiment gone rogue." His wife still brings it up at parties.
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rowan_thomas2d ago
@ross.jessica nailed it about the light bouncing. You picked the exact right friend to listen to. My kitchen is a warm ochre and people thought I was insane until they saw how it catches that late afternoon glow. Your terracotta with gold sounds like it does exactly what mine does - makes the whole room feel like a hug instead of a dentist visit. Sometimes the gut call is the right call, period.
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