50 Best Living Room Paint Colors of 2024, According to Designers

Linens designer and shop owner Julia Amory thoughtfully preserved numerous features of this Southampton cottage, once curated by former owner, decorator and fashion icon Chessy Rayner. For example, Amory kept the original yellow walls, along with an iconic blue painting noting, “it’s the calling card of the house.”

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Design duo Redd Kaihoi infused this Virginia countryside estate with vibrant colors that mirror the owner’s youthful spirit. The living room walls are adorned with a dazzling peacock blue shade, which perfectly complements the regal red silk velvet sofa.

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Matthew Carter cleverly selected a dark hue for the walls of this Maine living room to enhance the natural light pouring in from the windows. He explains, “A deep color lets the walls recede and the windows expose the garden beyond.”

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Designer Lucy Doswell invited the fresh beauty of the private garden at this New York townhouse indoors in clever ways. In the family room, she lacquered the ceiling in a bright white shade as it, “brings garden light indoors and bounces it around,” she says.

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The late Mario Buatta often used color as a way to enhance a space’s architecture and create a mood. For example, the designer decorated this South Carolina living room in shades of sherbet pink as it creates an almost cooling effect to the intense sun outside.

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Benjamin Soleimani’s impressive collection of Persian rugs took the leading role in the decorating process of his Beverly Hills estate. The blue-gray walls softly pick up the subtle detailing on the living room’s rug.

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An electric turquoise ceiling sets the tone for carefree fun in the open-air drawing room at hotelier Kit Kemp’s tropical Barbados retreat. A pair of ikat-patterned (Christopher Farr) sofas provide a chic perch where guests can lounge before strolling over to the neighboring dining room.

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As an ode to Dorothy Draper, designer Garrow Kedigian painted the walls of his exuberant apartment at the Carlyle a jubilant yellow—the same shade as the yellow velvet sofas Draper picked for the hotel’s lobby. The cerulean on the bookshelves carries over from the neighboring entryway.

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In the conversational living room of this Block Island retreat, blushy pink walls create a tranquil glow reminiscent of the sunset at the beach. Decorator Miles Redd painted the room’s textured wallcovering several times before achieving the perfect pale pink—which just so happens to match the romantic floral linen (Blithfield) on the club chairs.

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While a lover of vivacious prints and bold colors, designer Ashley Whittaker knew the only way to tame the 30-foot-long living room at this Connecticut estate was to keep the walls muted and reserve the pattern play for the furnishings. Creamy Venetian plaster walls serve as a soothing backdrop for a velvet sofa (Lee Jofa) and a serene landscape photograph by Carol Greenan Bouyoucos.

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Memories of warm summer days exploring the sunlit architecture of Venice inspired designer Summer Thornton to paint her Chicago living room a delicious apricot shade. The mohair orange sofa (fringe; Samuel & Sons) and the curvy custom daybed in the bay window fill the room with a sense of whimsy.

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It was the orange and yellow tones of the antique Spanish rug that propelled designer Renvy Graves Pittman to lean into a sunset palette for her Bel Air living room. Lee Jofa chintz-covered armchairs dotted throughout the room create the perfect perch to lounge during dinner parties.

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English gentlewoman Esther Cayzer-Colvin relied on lessons she learned from her grandmother Nancy Lancaster, co-owner at Colefax and Fowler, to decorate her own personal Wiltshire estate. Cayzer-Colvin meticulously mixed together varying shades of green paint to produce a color that reminded her of cooking apples for the walls of her family room.

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“I like to utilize the entire volume of a room,” says Anthony Baratta of the living room in this Manhattan apartment, pointing to an American painting by Tomory Dodge and oversize custom floor lamp. Equally ample upholstered furnishings are clad in arresting colors and patterns, including cherry-red velvet (Pierre Frey) and the sofa’s block-printed linen (Christopher Moore). A calming blue paint helps keep everything feeling classic and grounded.

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Most of the palette and patterns for this London rowhouse decorated by Gary McBournie came from a single small antique Turkish rug. “We loved its colors and design, and Chinese, Indian, and Turkish influences,” says McBournie. “It became the starting point for everything.” Because it was too small to suit any of the spaces, McBournie re-created it as a large living room rug for the cherry-hued space.

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Designer Todd Romano’s living room in San Antonio, Texas, is a virtuoso’s guide to owning the color wheel: Taxicab yellow, pure red, and cobalt are a mighty foundation for soft pastels and nuanced naturals. A pair of Chinese baluster vases fitted as lamps bookends a custom button-tufted sofa. Central artwork, C-Ring 1, Todd & Fitch

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