Calm Paint Colours for Your Living Room

Selecting calm colours for living room interiors is often challenging. You have to think like an interior designer to pull off a calming space well, with living rooms coming with a wide range of factors that influence colour choice. 

In order to create a calming space, the colours on your walls need to instantly put you at ease. However, they also need to take into account changing light conditions throughout the day, your existing decor, not to mention all the ways you actually use your lounge. 

Calming colours should help create a relaxing space, but they also need to be versatile. An off-white is an obvious choice, providing the most flexibility. However, soft grey hues can be a great contemporary option, while pale pinks can bring added warmth. 

In the case of a larger room, you’ll probably end up using several key shades. Along with selecting a complementary arrangement, each one needs to be conducive to that calming energy you’re trying to capture. 

Why Choose a Calming Paint Colour for Your Living Room?

There’s a reason why we spend so long selecting the right colour for our bedrooms. A soft shade helps put us at ease, letting us switch off and de-stress. Once you’re home from the office, you’ll probably spend most of your evening in the living room before retiring to bed. It therefore makes complete sense that you’d want to feel calm in a room enriched with a soothing palette. 

Most interior design trends point to warm undertones when decorating living rooms with calming colour palettes. Usually enriched with notes of pink, red or earthy notes, they’re a great idea for living room spaces. Those warm hints take on a gorgeous depth when exposed to artificial light, granting your living room walls even more character come the evening. 

Our Favourite Shades to Use in Your Living Room for a Calming Vibe

Looking to add some calm to a living room with a new colour palette? We’ve singled out some of our most serene shades for you to think about. 

A gorgeous neutral that works beautifully alongside soft green or cooling blues, Spa X442 is one of our favourite hues. As it’s so light, it’s ideal for large living rooms or open-plan spaces that are more accustomed to a whitewashed finish with matt emulsion. 

As this minty shade has some understated blue qualities, it’s fair to assume this colour would leave a space feeling a tad cold. However, the minty tone produces a fresh and zest feel, rather than something that’s going to make a room feel chillier. You can easily bring additional colours to your living room scheme. Other soft shades work well, but a more pronounced hue is a good idea if you want to create focus or add distinct zones to a larger living room. 

Understated greys and warm whites are a perfect addition to bedroom colour schemes. If you’re searching for the ideal grey to build a palette around, take a look at Cashmere X485. An elegant neutral you can use in place of your usual taupes, tans or beiges. 

When you need to bring thanks to basics but want to leave a luxurious twist, this neutral paint colour is the way to go. It’s light and inviting, with a texture that looks smooth to the touch. It works well with complementary grey shades, while taupes and soft browns also sit well alongside it. Use darker browns or earthy hues for a more dramatic colour complement. For a timeless living room look, add nothing more than a simple finish in semi-gloss white.

If you’re in the mood for warm neutrals, try a chic peach taupe like Maiden X420. An irresistible addition to the range, this sophisticated peach taupe sits nicely alongside other cosmetic hues. It’s more vibrant than a standard soft pink but boasts more depth and intensity than a traditional taupe or soft cream. 

Any of these colours can be used alongside it however if you want to try tonal decorating. More dramatic room makeovers can be achieved by using darker shades like rich eggplant, refined rose taupe or intense jewel tones. 

Flannel J446 is a beautiful botanical, allowing you to transform your lounge into a serene sanctuary, an escape from modern life. The beauty of the natural world is captured perfectly here, with welcome grey undertones bringing this paint colour its magnificent misty quality. Build a palette with other hazy shades, like light jade and sage green. For more dramatic interiors, use richer hues like forest green. 

You can even start to bring in other uplifting colours or anything witty yellow undertones. More refined spaces will benefit from experimenting with earthy accents, but be careful not to detract from the misty appeal of this paint colour. Because of its misty esthetic and grey undertones, this shade will look particularly at home as part of a contemporary palette. If you’ve mastered modern colour pairings, you’ll find plenty of potential here. 

Jade V449 is another gorgeous green that deserves a special mention. It’s a bit more saturated than some of its mistier counterparts, but this premium paint colour achieves a hazy aesthetic. You can bring botanical character to your living room with ease. Even if you’re only using this in small doses, the mood-enhancing benefits of green will be noticed. 

Decorating a smaller room? Dark green is out, but this one can work rather nicely. If you want to avoid using green as an all-wall colour, think carefully about where you’re going to use it. Does one dark corner need freshening up? Make sure you’re prioritising those spots that receive no natural light and lack anything close to an outside view. Unconvinced about the versatility of green? This stunning hue is all the evidence you need that green plays well with its colour wheel counterparts. When putting together your dream scheme, you can take your pick from a huge range of shades. 

Many people avoid using either colour group in living rooms, with both considered cooler tones. However, it’s hard to deny the uplifting potential of this illuminating blue-grey hue. Rather than cool down a room, this paint colour brings vibrancy to it. It’ll freshen up stale-looking living rooms after just a couple of coats. What’s more, it’s light enough that it will reflect light incredibly effectively. 

If you find you actually like the renewed vibe that this colour provides, you can stop your decorating adventure there. If you decide your space is still missing something, play around with warmer shades when adding colour accents and accessories.

Traditional turquoise has long been used in living rooms, but the flagship shade isn't exactly synonymous with calm and serenity. This muted version of the colour provides you with a beautiful alternative. Arguably closer to an apple green or pastel, this toned-down turquoise can serve as a stylish backdrop for any living room. 

It might be muted, but this turquoise has a lot of depth to it and is far richer than many of the neutrals people tend to use when lacking any inspiration. It also makes great use of natural light, ensuring your living room shines during the daytime hours.