Funcolors advice is right. I'm certainly not an expert at selecting colors - but I can tell you what I did wrong. My son's bedroom only has one window and it faces north and also is shaded by the garage roof. After removing 2 layers of wallpaper only to discover that the bottom Holly Hobby paper had been glued onto unpainted, unprimed drywall (argh!) I painted the room white.

I thought it would brighten the room. Nope. The white merely looked depressingly gray. He also had a gray rug. Then we let my son select his own color and he picked Ralph Lauren Hunting Coat red. It was stunning. What a gorgeous color. It was so rich that it didn't make the room look dark. But it was unforgiving - if you brushed against it you left a mark.

After he left home my DD decided to paint the room Moonshine (Lowe's Olympic) and that worked great. Forgive my description here - I know it sounds like Mrs. Blandings - but it's a warm color, creamy yellow without a hint of strong, daffodil colors. Both the rich red and soft cream worked in that room.

First -- please consider posting photos .... so we can be more helpful! :)

Next -- think of warm cozy rooms -- lots of different lighting options (table lamps, standing lamps); artworks of all sorts and kinds -- plus lots of accessories with "texture" -- books, plants, textiles and fabrics, baskets or woven area rugs etc.

For colors ideas-- think of visual cues -- coffee with cream; hot tea; dark rich pumpkin, claret wine; warm forest green with brillant leaves; thick clotted cream and biscuits (see? - even a neutral image can be very warm and cozy! :)

Just some thoughts ... hope this helps! :)

Omigoodness, teacats. All I can think of is a cup of tea, a lil something for a snack and a nap. I want a room that fits that description pronto!

marie cate - amazing how white can be challenging, sometimes more challenging, than a color/color. Hunting Coat red is one of my favorite reds ever. Mixed in Aura matte is rather awesome because it won't burnish.

Nothing could give the feel of warmth better than a burgundy. red, wine, or a combination of any of those colors. A brown with a slightly red hue could also a warm cozy feeling. ;o)

Does this help? Run your cursor over "explore colors"(far right)and click on "interior". A bunch of warm colors should pop up.

Here is a link that might be useful: warm colors

We painted our north facing living room Behr's Brick Red and it is beautiful.

We went for very saturated colors in our north-facing rooms--Sherwin Williams Underseas in the dining room (a delicious blue-green), and circa yesterday, Benjamin Moore Kingsport Gray in our living room. We like the feeling of coziness, and our bungalow seems to want rich colors/tones.

Previously, the living room was Sherwin Williams Roycroft Red, which was a fabulous changeable red. It had slight elements of brown, and terra cotta, too, so it wasn't a straight "red" (which I really dislike on walls).

Really, though, your choice will depend on what the light looks like in your rooms. My north-facing rooms have a bright, almost bluish light to them, which completely ruins any pale colors. My friend's north facing rooms have a cold, pale gray light. Completely different.

Nancy & other pro- red people - Red! I love red....one of those dim rooms is the dining room and red would be rich & wonderful....I was avoiding it because it be dark.

Funcolors, great instruction to point me to the clearer shades....I do tend toward the muddier colors so I will remember your advice. This is the part of color selection that I was not figuring out. Was looking at Ben Moore colors today and came home with the overly muted complex greige samples.

Patty cakes - the Sherwin Williams website was tons of fun! I kept thinking to watch out for muddy colors.

Teacats - what marvelous visualizations of warming, cheery, cozy things...therefore color. There are no photos at this time. We have torn out the front of our dim dark house and it is being rebuilt. HooRay!!!!

Mairecate-you are so right.....white was a depressing dim noncolor in our living room before....made it worse! Thought it was my fault...couldn't even pick out a white that was right.

Xantippe - now that is a worry - different types of North light!

Everyone of you had colored pearls of wisdom for me. Your feedback is tremondously appreciated. Thank you.

We have a dark master bedroom. North windows with roof overhang. We painted SW Icicle which has slight blue undertones. I love it! Makes the room look very fresh and cool - clean.

We also used SW Torque White on the hall way and kitchen. Love it. Appears like a creamy white without any yellow. Again, both these areas have little or no light.

Our biggest mistake was painting the living/dining room BM Shaker Beige. It appears like a muddy, gold/green depending on the time of day. I had used it in our previous house and loved it. But we had bright rooms which we lack now.

I am amazed at how different color looks in dark rooms. Even our furniture looks drab.

Jane

I am having such a problem with this too. We have a north facing room but with a wall of windows. You would think that would be enough light, but everything just falls flat in there.
I thought I had settled on Ashen Green around this area, but would that be considered muddy? Why is this so hard!!
Thanks for the Torque white. I'm going to look at that. The darkness in the corners seems to make things go peach. Not what I was hoping for either.

Do you want to hear about my "color laboratory" saga in a north facing laundry room that has one large north facing window and one glass, northeast facing door? I wanted a Swedish blue, maybe tending slightly toward the periwinkel arena paint color. I tried all the Farrow and Ball blues, some of the Ellen Kennon blues, some of the Sherwin-Williams blues. The exterior around the room was also full of tall pine and post oak trees, so a green cast fell over all colors. Then, to top it off, we have multipaned, gas-filled windows, and I've never been sure exactly how that affects interior color (Does anyone know?). Note, the cabinets in that room are white birch stained with Sherwin-Williams Jamboree jade, courtesy of DH, who got a wild hair during the build. It turns out I love them. Talk about a color that stands up to the dulling, deadening, dour effects of my northern light! And the fabrics in there are Tully stripe in Spa and Sunbrella Dupioni in Paradise, with Sapphire welting. Most blues that I tried turned out dead. Cook's Blue, which always looked perfect to me in books, magazines, samples, and so forth, turned a deadened blue-gray. That was emblematic of my experience with blues. I ended up with Farrow and Ball Blue Ground in the main part of the laundry room, Teresa's Green in the windowless mudroom/hall, and Pale Powder on the entire ceiling. The Pale Powder looks like a light gray, except immediately next to the windows, where it occasionally takes on a faintly turquoise cast. Very pretty, but not often apparent. I enter that room first thing in the morning to get my dogs dressed for walkies, and it's immediately inspiring--like diving into a pool. It glows. I love being in that room, even though it is unlike anything else in the house. The "take home lesson" of my experimentation was embrace the green, don't fight it. Use blues that are warm, not grayed. Use clear colors, not muted. I veer towards Farrow and Ball because it does not give me a headache and I enjoy the texture and chalky look of it. The only wall that has another brand on it is a small wall above the boot bench: Ellen Kennon Giverny Blue. This gets a bit of a harsh edge on it in the afternoon, but it's very nice paint and I am leaving it there for the time being. I am in Central Texas where there has been a killer drought and a prohibition against watering, until recently. During the worst of it, we lost many trees. Heartbreaking. We lost the ones outside the laundry room, and all the walls changed dramatically! The colors became clearer and brighter. The ceiling still reminds me of a Caribbean sky at the start of a gathering storm, though, trees or no trees. Are you bored yet?

Bored? Funny, very funny. This *is* the Garden Web after all. I read it twice. ;)

kitchendetective, I would love to see some pictures. Pretty please? :)

This whole discussion is very interesting to me: Our kitchen has north and east-facing windows and therefore presents a big big challenge. The colors of fixed things, i.e., cabinets, floor, a stone wall, beams, all courtesy of previous owners, and north and east light have made it so difficult to think about the walls and trim that need painting. I'm hoping to learn something here!

I live in a north facing condo. Before I moved in I painted over the neutral beige (it was everywhere and made the space lifeless) with a soft green and pale blue (not a grey blue). Better but wasn't working so after a little reno I changed up the colour blocking (I blew it the first time and stopped my two colours on outside corners). Now the blue in the foyer runs into the living area and I changed the wall around the kitchen that was blue in the foyer and pale green in the living area to white. Boom - so much better. Colour blocking\placement and contrast can make a difference.

Red and beige are from the bedroom and ND002 didn't pan out:

I've lost most of my photo files, but this is a pretty good version of how the Pale Powder ceiling looks against the Blue Ground walls and the Jamboree Jade cabinets. This is the wall across from the North-facing window, during the day, with iPhone flash, but no other artificial light.

This shows Giverny Blue meeting Teresa's Green and the Pale Powder ceiling. I do not know why it rotated.

This is what you can do with all your left over sample pots: paint a faux backsplash for the cat landing pad. ;

(Cabbage White, Off Black, EK Cornflower, Drawing Room Blue, Folly Green, Arsenic, Pitch Blue, and Cook's Blue. LOL.)

kitchendetective, your photos didn't come through. Would love to see them. Try again,

Jane

This was a terrific thread - learned so much here from everyone.

Thank you

My kitchen and living area are both north facing. I painted my kitchen a deep peacock blue and my living a clear gray. However, I feel the gray works very nicely because nearly all of my furniture and accessories are very warm. I live in a very hot and humid climate, so I've used warm paints sparingly.

Here are some pics. Hopefully this gives you an idea of a direction for your room...either toward or away!

Alex9179.. what color is that deep blue in your kitchen?

hi everyone,I need some help in picking some paint colors.I have painted my kitchen a grey and well it seems to work ok .Ihave a dinning and living room off the kitchen and would like to paint it a green,the only problem is that there is not much natural light.when you start going down towards the bedrooms it gets worse,the den has 1 window and the same with each bedroom.The bedroom that i spend alot of time is presently a tobacco color it is just ugly.my bathroom is bright yellow ,i guess because someone thought it would be a cheerful color.here i have the same problem not enough light ...north facing.I also live in a mobile and the walls are painted panell board so i do not want to necessarily see the lines from the boards.I like green but people say it is cold.Can anyone give me some advice for a combination of paint colors that may solve my problem thank you

Dorothy go ahead and ask your question in a new thread.

Personally, I think the more saturated colors that have some warmth are nicest for north-facing rooms.

thanks for the colors but none of them i particularly liked.The colors seemed so bold and my space in each room is smaller than most.I like green but am not fond of blue and some of the color choices do you have any other ideas?

I wanted off white in my NW facing dark bedroom, posted many times here about it. Everything I read on designer blogs white will look gray unless there is a yellow undertone. The samples I used of off whites without the warmth of some yellow just didn't do anything for the room. I wanted to warm up the room and everything I read said you have have counter the blue gray light with some yellow or darker more vivid colors. I have plenty of Windows but no sun until a very short time in late afternoon from the west, so a dark grayish room.

Then I read Candice Olson who addressed this problem. One of her all time top 5 colors and favorite neutrally is BM Niveous.. A warm off white with yellow undertones, and more warmth than the very light off whites. The minute I saw the sample up I knew it was THE color. A very warm off white with enough color to contrast beautifully with white trim and no gray, but not a real yellow in any way. My artwork and accessories provide color in the room and Niveous is a perfect neutral in a north or west room. You have to try it to see how beautiful it is.

I used SW Creamy and in another room BM Windham Cream.

I painted a small north facing room and adjoining hallway BM Capitol White. That white looks fantastic, it it also the same color I painted my south facing kitchen. I plan to paint my north facing guest room that has one small window, the same white. I highly recommend it!

But, what are some examples of "clear" neutral colors that might also have some depth? I need serious help on this, PLEASE!!! Our LR is the one I need to choose a paint color for very soon - before year end. I had chosen Blonde, but then I saw yellow might not go well with the beige and brown brick fireplace. Not sure Blonde is considered clear or muddy. I have blue and taupe furniture, a medium brown wood tone floor (no gold or red) and a red and blue darkish rug. We cannot afford new furniture and the floor was just stained and finished. Came out a bit darker than I wanted. Since I haven't picked up the rug yet I might be able to switch it out for something lighter in color. So, the rug and the walls are the only things I can change to brighten things up.

I'm going SW Creamy for all my trim as I think almost anything goes with it. Chose Diverse Beige for the bedrooms. Would that one turn "muddy" in a northern room?

Get your rug first and post back with some pictures. In the meantime, here's an infographic about how we can use a rug to inform paint color choices. http://thelandofcolor.com/colorgraphicalhow-to-pull-colors-from-a-rug/

SW Creamy is indeed a creamy off white, it's not a crisp white. Just make sure your trim color harmonizes nicely with the beige and brown brick fireplace. If you're using one trim color throughout the house, you should also consider cabinetry.

The way we determine if a color is clear or muted is by evaluating its chroma. Chroma or chromaticity is how gray a color looks when compared to a neutral gray of the same value. Chroma answers the question, “How concentrated is a color compared to a neutral gray of the same value?” Commonly used words to convey chroma are: depth, vivid, pure, saturated, intense.

Blonde has a fair amount of chroma - it's not a chromatic gray or muddy color.

Diverse Beige is not as chromatic as Blonde. It is grayer, muddier. SW White Flour harmonizes better with Diverse Beige than Creamy does. If you need an all over white for trim, etc. Pure White would look nice.

Just be sure to get samples and test in the space.

In my den which has a north facing window, I decided to go dark and did Ralph Lauren scholar green. It's very masculine and tranquil in there. I guess I don't follow the rules.

Thanks Lori for the explanation of chromatic! Do any beiges, or tans come to mind to consider? I have a picture of the rug. No worries with the Diverse Beige in the bedrooms as we've tested there and it's fine in those areas.

Take a look at SW Universal Khaki.

I am in a dilemma...I'm building a north facing house and I have red orangeish leather couches. When I looked on the color wheel I found by best bet was a green tone carpet. So now I am looking at a paint color and finding that white is difficult in a north facing room but I don't want my room to look khaki and green. I would like a warm look that also dosen't appear yellow and green. So I thought white, would Benjamin Moore Simply White work?

I am having problems choosing trimmings for two windows and 2 door facing in my dining room. The walls are painted a cream color! I have cherry
color furniture in my dinning room!

I would like to know what color trimming would go best for windows and door facing in my dinning room! The walls are a cream color and furniture
a dark cherry color! Need advice, thank you!

I have written for advice twice! Waiting for answer
thank you