Go Kitchens

Color for library?

Looking for ideas ... my husband and I bought a new house so everything is white. We have red oak wood floors throughout our main floor, which is very open - a two-story foyer and great room, then we have a formal dining room, kitchen, and a library. From every room you can pretty much see all the other rooms. The dining room is already painted a light grayish blue. The kitchen is (most likely) going to be painted a "grass" green color. The living room will be a light beige/brown color as well as the foyer. But what to paint the library?? The room doesn't get much light, and my husband really wanted red which I shut down because I felt it didn't go with the rest of the colors of the houes and would close in the room too much. I thought about a blue-purple or violet color, but I'm not a fan of that either. I want something that is easy to change accessories. I almost thought a dark chocolate brown would look nice if we put book shelves to match and light the room well. Bookshelves to match the floors, I mean. Then if husband wanted red maybe a red rug would work.

Public Comments

1. U can paint de walls light brown and shelves dark brown
2. a burnt cinniamon would go great
3. I agree with your husband... red would be nice... maybe like a brick red
4. Well...dark chocolate brown will be even darker than the red! It is a myth that strong colors make a room look smaller...not necessarily so....a nice brick dust red would be lovely... Violets or purples just don't look well in a library and are difficult colors to "decorate" around... I also would not have the shelves "match" your floors...there needs to be some "break" in the flow of the wood color....(the same color will make the bookcases look at though they don't "stop")....It would be difficult to say for sure what would look good since we cannot see the room... (When I did interior design...I used to HATE people to come in and (using their hands) "show" me the size of their room and then asking me what would "look good"...aaccckkkkkkK! My advice to you would be to either hire an interior designer...or take your paint samples from the other rooms to the paint store..and pick out some varying shades for this room, and take them home and look at them there (the light in the store will be different than your light at home...) and look at the colors at different times of the day and evening...(they WILL look different depending on the time of day)...and NEVER take them outside in the sunlight to look at them for color blending, unless you are painting a room OUTSIDE...that amount of sunlight is RARELY in the regular home...You MUST take those samples to YOUR space... Anywho...good luck... a beautiful library can be done in an array of color palates...do what's pleasing to you...and remember, less is more...certain stripes and prints can be BOTH masculine and feminine...and reds, taupes, and navy's look classy in ANY room...
5. I think a dark brown, like "Raisin" by Sherwin Williams, would be perfect in the library. If you find that too dark for you, then maybe something in the yellow family, like "cupola yellow."