Painting your bedroom with dark paint

“Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark, or the man afraid of the light?”

Maurice Freehill

If you want to create an instantly dramatic room, consider painting it with a dark, moody color - nothing says bold and dramatic like a stormy midnight grey or a deep metallic charcoal! Dark colors are also a natural choice for a room that needs to have some masculine energy, and the strength of that deep, masculine color can be balanced with soft creamy fabrics if it’s a ‘his and hers’ room.

Did you know that it is much easier to make a room feel finished and anchored with dark walls and light accessories? Starting with white or light walls, most people just end up adding lots of clutter trying to make the room feel ‘done.’ A room with a bold color needs very little ‘stuff’ to make it feel complete. Yet many people hesitate to paint their walls dark for fear it will make a room feel small and gloomy. The trick is to pair that dark paint with bright linens, art and even furniture; the high contrast actually makes the white seem even brighter and draws your eye to the light things in the room!

If you do choose to paint with a deep color, I offer four suggestions:

1. Consider starting with a tinted primer. Primer is less expensive and can not only mean fewer coats of the higher cost paint, but it will also even out the wall imperfections so that your finished product looks better.

2. Try a little bit more expensive paint. I frequently use Aura by Benjamin Moore when painting a dark color because it never needs more than two coats.  A dark color will highlight a bad paint job, so make sure you finish the job!

3. Choose the least amount of sheen (how shiny the paint is) you can get away with in the room. If it’s an adult’s bedroom or guest room, go flat/matte. Dark paints look best with little sheen.

4. Be generous. If you are going to do just a single coat using standard paint, don’t bother. A poor paint job looks awful - if you are going to put the time in to decorate your home, put in the extra couple of hours you need for that second, or even third, coat - it’s worth it!!!

So take a risk, and as I remind all my clients, it is only paint. It’s not really much of a risk and might just give you incredible reward!