Skip to content

Home decorators painting a brighter picture for dark interior paints

Far from gloomy, experts say darker paints create a cozy, more welcoming room
web1_20240221080236-65d5fce7954882723e06252bjpeg
This image provided by frenchCalifornia shows a living room. A San Francisco home done by interiors firm frenchCalifornia, features this stylish space painted in Backdrop’s Lobby Scene, a dark, warm purple-red that was inspired by Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and the color of the lobby boy’s uniform. (frenchCalifornia/Douglas Friedman via AP)

Dark hues have a bad rap as gloomy and depressing. More likely, they’re bringing home the good vibes, all year long.

One weekend when I had the house to myself, I painted our family room Benjamin Moore’s Kendall Charcoal, a deep, earthy gray.

I waited till I had two days alone to do it because it looked pretty shocking when I got started on the trim and rolled the walls.

Support local journalism today

Join thousands of other like-minded readers and sign up below to gain immediate & unlimited access to our news for the next 30 days – plus start receiving our newsletters.

Sign Up with google Sign Up with facebook

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Reset your password

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

A link has been emailed to you - check your inbox.



Don't have an account? Click here to sign up