Can light wall colors brighten dark rooms
11/08/2008 11:40 AM by Gretchen Schauffler
Color can make a space feel smaller or bigger. But when it comes to painting a light color to lighten a dark room…that’s another story. I love light colors in well lit rooms where you can see the lightness of the color and the brightness of the walls. But in rooms with little or no direct light, a gray cast can quickly overshadow a light color making it anemic, sallow, and sickly.
CAN LIGHT COLORS BRIGHTEN UP A DARK ROOM?
The answer is no. A light color can never brighten up a dark room. Light and dark colors can make the space appear bigger or smaller, but they cannot make it lighter if it is a dim room. This is a common color mistake. Instead think of it this way: the amount of light in a room should be balanced with the strength of a wall color. That way you have great, colorful environments without fear of the dark. Here is how you do it!
HOW DIM IS YOUR ROOM WITH THE LIGHTS ON?
In the middle of the day, turn on all the lights in the room you are planning to paint—that will be about the brightest your room will ever be. Then decide on a scale of 1-100 percent, how bright is the room now? A 100 would be the brightest it could be: a sunroom that gets direct sunlight, with all the lights on. Or, is it very dark with no direct sun, like a basement bathroom with one dim bulb? That would be maybe 30 or 40 percent. Completely dark would be 0 percent. Just do your best to come up with a number.
NOW GIVE YOUR WALL COLOR A SATURATION NUMBER
0% is the most subtle and 100% is richest and most robust color you can find. So a zero would be a can of white paint with just the tiniest hint of lavender. 100 percent is the deepest plum. So choose a color you want to paint on the wall and give it a percentage rating. A light green like Devine Fescue would be 15 percent saturated, while a deep red like Devine Cabernet would be 80 percent?
NOW SLICE UP THE WALLS
Look at the walls and visually deduct windows, doorways, cabinets and ceiling surfaces. How much wall surface is really left to paint after you visually imagine this? Give that a rough percentage. Is there 60% paintable wall surface? 80%?
DO THE MATH
This means that if a room is “fully lit” but is truly _ “at 50% brightness”_ and the wall color has 10% saturation strength, you can assume before you go through the hassle of painting, that the light color won’t be strong enough to be seen in such dim light—let alone to lighten up the room! A color with 50 percent saturation strength would probably look better.
Then think about this: If the room’s paintable wall surfaces are 50% or less, they cannot cloak a room in darkness because the walls are not all solid. So at this point you can feel free to choose a rich, “dark” color, at maybe 80 percent saturation, without fear that you will darken the room. The math here may be a little complicated, but look at the photos below and you’ll see what I mean.
Here is a perfect example of a room with lots of beautiful wood, and indirect light. With all the lights on, in the middle of the day, the room looks to be about 45% bright. The home owner is struggling with the wall color because it seems like a light color would help the room be light. You can see there are two paint samples on the wall.
You can paint a light neutral color on the walls along with white ceilings to keep the room as bright as possible, but as you can see, the room stays pretty much the same—a little less washed out.
Others believe yellow is the answer to brighten up a dark room. You can see that the yellow does warm up the walls but again the room barely changes lightness.
After visually deducting all the windows, cabinets, and doorways, the walls are less than 40% of the room. So, based on my Devine math, I choose colors that are at least 65% saturated to contrast the wood color and paint over the small amounts of wall space. You only really have one solid wall opposite to all the windows. This wall gets the most light.
There is amazing color in the wood. Devine Color is all about WOOD! Our colors are specifically created to never overpower, but to enhance the NATURAL colors in wood. Now look and see when I add a the neutral on the ceiling to really warm up the space.
You get the picture! As you know, Devine Color has a legendary process with that lets you choose colors confidently with paint palettes that reveal perfect colors in minutes. We have lots of beautiful colors that are strong and saturated. Our Delicate and Breathable Wall Finishes add luminosity to dark colors.
To know more read: How to Use Our Paint Palettes
| Textile Help | ||
Painting Bull-nosed corners
Choosing colors for painting Powder Bathrooms
Back to Devine Blog
Gretchen –
Thank you so much for explaining why and demonstrating how a light color will not lighten a dark room! Your article really helped me understand how to pick the right colors and feel confident in my choices. My living/dining room is quite dark. The family room has quite a bit more light. The day before your article appeared on the blog, I was feeling really confused and anxious about the color choices I was about to make. I had painted several samples on the walls in both rooms. To my surprise, I liked Devine Shimmer in the family room, but not in the living room. I had expected just the opposite. What I discovered was that Shimmer looked “sallow” in the living room while it made the family room feel warm and cozy. When I saw the test patch on the living room wall, I actually described it as “sallow”—the same word you used in your article! Then I read your article and realized what was causing the color to look great in one room and terrible in another! We painted the family room in Devine Shimmer today and it looks great! I also painted Devine Shade on a wall in the living room. A few days ago I would have believed that Devine Shade would be much too dark in my dark living room. Wrong! Devine Shade is exactly the right color and will give the room the power and drama it is lacking—it looks great with the low light and my antique furniture! I can hardly wait to get the entire room painted. Thank you again—your advice makes so much sense! Beverly Wilson
— Beverly Wilson 11/14/2008 08:12 PM #
Thanks Beverly. With expertise comes responsibility and I hope that my advice leads to fearless color choices you can trust.
— gretchen Schauffler 11/15/2008 11:27 AM #
Dear Gretchen,
I took your suggestion of painting my living/dining room Devine Cocoa and made it happen! It’s just the right combination of richness and contemporary look I wanted. Devine Cocoa looks great as it moves into the Devine Paprika kitchen, and the deep rich cocoa next to the Devine Glass hallway looks delicious.
I also took a bold move and painted my dark basement music room Devine Cayenne with Devine Filbert on the ceiling and it is a cozy surround sound!
Now I’m tackling other darker rooms with limited natural light off the Devine Glass hallway. My next project is my office, where I should be inspired and creative and I’ve been thinking an orange range, but I’m concerned about over powering the Devine Glass with darker brighter colors. My question is: since Devine Glass is a lighter color and my hallway connects all the rooms, should I be targeting a certain range in your color palates so there is a harmonious flow from room to room, dark to light?
I’ve read your blog and know that each palate has color ranges light to dark. I love the colors I have so far, I’m just wondering where I should target the colors on the palettes?
I love the quality and richness of your paint line, and i’m continually satisfied with each room I paint. Thank you so much for your Devine inspiration!
Cheri
— Cheri 11/23/2008 01:25 AM #
Cheri:
I like your intuition about Devine Glass so try to continue the flow from Glass with richer greens first like Devine Georgette, Hosta or Moss. You can also continue the great neutrals you have like Devine Filbert or Sumatra on walls. Please send me pictures gretchen@devinecolor.com! We would love to post them in our gallery to inspire others. I hope to clearly impart color confidence through this blog and our paint products. I’m so glad I was able to help you achieve your color ZEN!
— gretchen Schauffler 11/23/2008 03:06 PM #
I constantly am trying to explain these concepts to customers who are afraid of color. I printed this out and put it on the table in my Design Center immediately. Thanks!
— Mike McNabb 11/26/2008 08:13 AM #
MIke:
So happy to know we are a color resource for you and your design customers. Knowing how our wall paint finishes work with light is also very helpful. I plan to blog next week about “metamerism” and talk about how light affects colors changing in a room!
— gretchen Schauffler 11/26/2008 10:11 AM #
Insightfull -I have always stuck to white ceilings!! What colour ceiling should I paint with burnt orange?
— Priscilla Labuschagne 12/17/2008 06:50 AM #
Pricilla:
If you haven’t worked with our Trend-Proof Palette, you must. It’s truly a treat. We have lots of beautiful neutrals and colors that go with burnt orange. The sky is the limit as far as creating harmony, contrast, a cool or warm environments. Our color line and paint finishes were created to give you personal color direction. What’s your burnt orange in relationship to? Can you be more specific…? We believe that in every palette page you will find perfect compliments…the questions is which ones are personal to you! We have gorgeous blues like Devine Denim, Storm, Cool, devinegreen: Shark, and Jay. We have neutrals such as Devine Cafe, Cashew, Pecan, Roast or devinegreen: Bison, Persian, or Impala.
Read How to use our Devine Palettes and use our Trend-proof Color Collection the way I suggest. The rest of the colors will speak to you out loud and show you exactly which ones are the “perfect” ones for all the walls in your home.
— gretchen Schauffler 12/17/2008 11:33 AM #