Decorating Color Schemes for a Small Lounge

Get living room decorating ideas. We decorated our living room in welcoming red and green. See photos and find out more...

Well, after a lot of thought, and an equally large amount of 'doing' we've completed our new decorating color scheme for our lounge.

Our lounge is only very small, about 12ft square (4m x4m), but we are lucky as we have old wooden beams, wooden floor boards, a gorgeous wood-burning stove and look out onto plants and trees.

We did not want to lose the old-fashioned and cottagey nature of our living room, as we do live in an old, historic cottage, after all, but did want to bring a more cosy and contemporary look into our living space.

We really wanted to use some color in here too, after years of playing it safe with neutrals and pale colors to enhance the space - usually recommended for decorating small rooms.

I thought the room would be able to take more color, and the added color would also set off our books and belongings nicely, as well as making an atractive feature of the brick fireplace.

After a whole rainbow of tester pots on the walls, we eventually decided on a decorating color scheme of green and red. The cool tones in the green should keep the walls from appearing too dark and imposing, while the yellow tones make it lovely bright and light - so keeping the feeling of space we were anxious to retain.

We chose a mid-tone, warm, calming green and painted the whole room in this color.

This was one of our most effective living room decorating ideas - especially for decorating small rooms.

I chose a bright, pillar box red as the accent in my decorating color scheme to decorate the living room. Red is the 'complementary' color to green (opposite on the color wheel), so gives a strong and dynamic look - very eye-catching.

We found some bargain red curtains for the window and door, and completed the decorating color scheme around the room with cushions, and other accessories such as speakers, a record player and lamp.

These warm red tones are picked up and echoed in the warm wood tones of furniture, brickwork and flooring, around the room.

As we had filled the shelves either side of the fireplace with books, we wanted to draw attention back to the real focal point of the room - the cosy fireplace.

We did this by choosing a paler wallpaper for the fireplace itself. This has metallic gold tones, so shimmers in the light, and reflects more light into the room. It also has paler green tones, too, picking up the green of the main color scheme.

We also re-arranged the room, to make the most of the space. We rarely use the front door, which leads straight into the lounge, so permitted a book shelf to jut right up to it, for more convenience for us. It could be easily moved should we ever need to.

We are both extremely pleased with our new look for our lounge. I love the contrast between red and green, and am already quite surprised by how light and bright the room feels (even compared to the bright white walls we had previously!)

We've already had friends round who have admired the color scheme for decorating our living room, and I really think that this time we've found a look we'll love for years!

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