The Best Colors to Paint Your Living Room Walls (2024)

In House Beautiful's 2023 Whole Home, Arianne Bellizaire gave the entryway a more modern sensibility by using two shades of blue paint (Farrow & Ball Hague Blue and Oval Room Blue) to simultaneously enhance and ground the damask wallcovering.

Tour the Entire Home

Isabel Ladd doused the walls of the 2023 Whole Home owner's suite in Shallot to energize the space. "Pink and red can get a little preppy," Ladd says. "The olive trim balances with a touch of weird, which I love."

Tour the Entire Home

To celebrate this home's historic architecture, Caitlin Wilson chose complementary colors that enhanced the living room's molding and felt feminine: (walls) and Wimborne White (trim). The finished room is pink on pink with a bit of blue and a hint of green.

Tour the Entire Home

Hema Persad, CEO of Sagrada Studios, doused this salon in ; "broke apart" a circular sectional, fire-pit-style, to encourage conversation; and added brass interior shutters for that wanderlust vibe.

Tour the Entire Home

Claire Staszak of Centered by Design hoped to embrace a plein air lifestyle indoors in our 2023 Whole Home's sunroom. She pulled down the trellises, repainted them in , then reinstalled them. A tasseled valance—reminiscent of Parisian café awnings—along with a marble bistro table and all-weather draperies in a Morris & Co. stripe deliver European ambiance in practical style.

Tour the Entire Home

In British tastemaker Lucinda Chambers' London home, she makes the boldest moves work—nonchalantly recalling when she painted her sitting room primary red and yellow based on her youngest son's suggestion that it match his Lego bricks. For a bold, energetic red, try Clare Sriracha.

Tour the Entire Home

In a Cape Cod–style home for a couple of empty nesters, Lauren Nelson painted the living room walls in Farrow & Ball Dove Tale—a warm gray with purple undertones. It keeps the atmosphere neutral yet inviting.

Tour the Entire Home

A soft white paint with a slight gray cast can easily make your living room a spot you want to spend all day in. Take it from Sharon Rembaum, who dressed this living room with textured pieces in a neutral color palette to boost its overall coziness.

Tour the Entire Home

Garrow Kedigan used Benjamin Moore Lakeside Cabin on the walls of this cozy corner. The faded cerulean blue acts as a soft backdrop to the rich orange and gold decor and dark gray sofa.

Tour the Entire Home

Reminiscent of the outdoors and luxurious spas, sage green can instantly make your living room feel welcoming. In this speakeasy-inspired room by Brooklinteriors, Art Deco, eastern, and bohemian elements blend together against walls painted in Clare Dirty Martini for an opulent but casual atmosphere.

Tour the Entire Home

Lively yellow walls can instantly brighten up your living room—whether you have big windows or small openings for natural light. In this room by Taylor Anne Interiors, Farrow & Ball Citron adds energy to the tropical yet modern space.

Tour the Entire Home

Set a moody yet cozy scene by painting your living room walls and ceiling a soft shade of ebony. For Sean Anderson's client, comfort and function in the living room were crucial for entertaining. So he painted the room in Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore and layered items that told the homeowner's story for a welcoming atmosphere.

Tour the Entire Home

Designed by Melanie Turner, this living room's walls are painted in Sherwin-Williams Windswept Canyon. The furniture is united by a common color way that pairs nicely with the paint.

Tour the Entire Home

Frost blue walls—painted in Benjamin Moore Philipsburg Blue, to be exact—offer the right amount of softness in this room by Jenny Wolf. Gold-framed art and a textured rug add warmth.

Tour the Entire Home

"It's a vibrant happy blue while not being too overwhelming," says Rudy Saunders of the color on the walls of his studio apartment on the Upper East Side of New York City. It's Fine Paints of Europe Jefferson Blue from the Dorothy Draper paint collection.

Tour the Entire Home

Krsnaa Mehta aimed for a salon-like feel in the heart of his India home. The sangria-and-blue palette of the living room achieves the inviting look that's best suited for entertaining.

Tour the Entire Home

This sunny living room by Thomas Callaway exudes warmth despite the grand size and ceiling height. Callaway broke the room into zones to enhance intimacy, used soft buttery glaze on the walls to give the room a golden glow, and layered rich yet mellow fabrics.

Tour the Entire Home

Cecilia Casagrande chose rich jewel tones for her own Boston Colonial's living room. The paint color——straddles modern and traditional styles and is perfect for a historic home. She also mixed contemporary elements with more traditional ones to play with that juxtaposition of old and new.

Tour the Entire Home

Dark black walls and lots of warm gold and caramel tones make this living room by Ariene Bethea super cozy but also formal and regal—the ideal balance if your living room doubles as the family room. She used Sherwin-Williams Tricorn Black.

Tour the Entire Home