We are moving into a new home in June. We are new home owners and are thrilled!

Most rooms in the house need a paint job. Someone who painted their did an AWFUL job! They made a mess of it. Luckily with paint you can just paint over it.

The living room's paint job is not that bad at all. We thought about keeping it the color that it is. But it is a smaller living room, and the walls are dark burgundy. And our furniture is dark brown leather.

I love the look of light but bright colors, and natural colors. I am not sure if we can pull that off with dark brown furniture and burgundy walls! And the carpet is a light tan color. We might replace the carpet in there, but probably not because it looked like it was new!

Do you think I should paint my living room walls? Any color suggestions that would look great against our furniture and have a clean, natural, sunny look? I love lots of natural light.
Also what about curtain colors? And rugs?
We are one a budget, but I have seen people make an awesome looking living room for cheap!

Here is something that might assist you. Also you can upload a picture of the room and see it under different colors. It's a good site for testing without putting any paint on the walls.

Ref:

https://www.sherwin-williams.com/visualizer/

I've got exactly that. Mahogony furniture; light or leather furniture and a light oak floor with a light oriental rug.

The ceiling is white and the trim is white. The walls are a very light yellow and it looks nice. Might be difficult to provide a pic at this time. Too many issues to deal with.

Thanks you two! But I have no pictures, and next Monday we are planning on painting. So no pictures between now and then. I might wait if I cannot decided, and start on another room.
Pretty well every room in the house needs painted!

I did just realize that I can take a picture of my couch right now against the wall in the house I am living in now. And see what color looks good with the brown couch on the sherwin williams site!

I was suggesting me providing a picture.

I was suggesting me providing a picture.

I can only give you a picture of the couch in the house I am in now. Will that work?

i can only give you a picture of the couch in the house i am in now. will that work?

Also on that site there are sample rooms too. You don't HAVE to have a picture its just there if you want to put one in.

Is it going to be really hard to paint a light color over that dark burgundy?

The yellow doesn't look quite right in this picture. It's a deeper yellow in real life.

is it going to be really hard to paint a light color over that dark burgundy?

Not if you use a sealer primer first so it helps it from bleeding through. The problem will come with the color you choose. One can cause more problems then another.

Remember to was the walls with TSP and water. Add bleach if any signs of mold.

Redi-patch from Home Depot (red and black can) works great for patching drywall.

Thank you! What is TSP?

Its other name is trisodiumphosphate. TSP. Very powerful at removing grease from walls and leaves no residue. You can use it to strip paint also on a limited basis. Also another tip is that if your washing walls start at the bottom to prevent staining.

Tri-Sodium Phosphate. Comes in a powder available at hardware stores. It's not to be used to clean UNLESS repainting.

Use TSP first. After you patch (redi-patch) and sand the holes wipe with damp cloth (tack cloth) to pick up all the sanding dust before painting.

A word to the wise if you haven't painted before.

1. Ceiling first (no taping required) Extra paint on walls won't matter. (2nd coat if necessary)

2. Trim SECOND. Yes SECOND. Again extra paint on the baseboard wall and the wall next to the window trim won't matter. 2nd trim coat.

Use painters tape for the moulding to floor. Newspaper in a pinch. Special paper if your in a hurry.

Remove trim tape before it has a chance to completely dry.

3. Make SURE the trim is dry before doing the walls.

Now, you can tape the top part of the moulding (wide tape) and believe it or not use Post-it tape for the windows. You can re-use it a couple of times (switch sides). Again, pull off early.
Touch up with a 1/4" artists brush.

There is a cute little pad tool for painting where the walls, inclusive) and ceilings and walls meet. It saves a LOT of work.

Thanks! What is a tack cloth?
Also, how do you paint the ceiling and not have paint dripping on the carpet? Or will it not drip if I use the proper amount of paint on the roller?

Its best to use drop cloths. And if you have a popcorn ceiling then use a sprayer.

A damp rag will work as a tack cloth for drywall. See it has a name: Tack cloth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tack_cloth) In this case you don't want the oils.

It will pick up the dust and not spread it around.

Drop cloths are very thin inexpensive plastic sheets. They cover furniture. Not the greatest for floor.

A damp rag will work as a tack cloth for drywall. See it has a name: Tack cloth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tack_cloth) In this case you don't want the oils.

It will pick up the dust and not spread it around.

Drop cloths are very thin inexpensive plastic sheets. they cover furniture. Not the greatest for floor.

I hve never used plastic ones as most are too thin. I always use canvas ones. And you can use them over and over. But they are not cheap either.

Thanks for the input.
If the ceiling doesn't seem to need painted would it be okay not to paint it? Or would the duller white ceiling, with the new bright white trim paint look bad?

People do usually paint the trim white don't they? I am thinking of doing a light yellow wall, and white trim. Maybe some sort of accent wall, but I am not really sure.

Ceiling paint usually is a flat white. Generally, you want the trim to stand out so it typically gets a gloss finish. The walls semi-gloss because you don't want reflections.