I’ve finally done it! After living in our cosy little flat for nearly FIVE WHOLE YEARS we’ve painted our living room into a moody and dark forest green.
A project that we should have embarked on from the moment we stepped into our property. However, it takes time to decide how you want to design a space. And over the last few years of spending increasingly long durations of time at home, I knew exactly how I wanted the room to come together.
Our living room used to be a bit flat and emotionless. But somehow, now that I’ve reached my 30s, I’ve found myself falling back in love with the things that I loved so much as a teenager. Fantasy and romance books scatter throughout our home making up a cluttered, well loved and well-lived in space.
We created the perfect gallery walls. Photographs of the Scottish Highlands, trains like the Hogwarts Express and castles themselves – both real and fictional adorn the walls. Moments of autumn colours and leaves too, my favourite of the seasons.
My living room was finally curated exactly as I wanted it to be… with one exception. The wall colour.
When we moved into our flat, I didn’t love the light grey/blueish walls. But it’s always been manageable. In lieu of repainting them, towards the end of last year I had the bright idea to clean the walls instead.
Queue my husband Joe and I with buckets of soapy water attempting to wash the walls and the ceiling but only managing to spread the dust around in crazed circles like some sort of satanic summoning.
It was not great, Bob.
I thought who am I to try painting these walls myself? I was steadfastly ignoring the chaos while reasoning that “some time next year” we would try to afford painters to come in and make everything look better.
However, instead of waiting for this moment, a spring of inspiration took over my brain and body and I decided that I could in fact, paint. After a test run of a manic Saturday painting our kitchen walls black (and yes, they look incredible) – I decided that we would be in fact be painting the ceiling and living room walls ourselves.
But what colour to go for? Dark green paint, of course!
I’m sure you’ve heard from generations of a well meaning older generation that dark walls ruin a room. “It will look smaller”, they exclaim, clutching onto the pearls of yesteryear. “It will make you depressed and it will ruin your space!” But somehow, along the way, you remember that you are an adult and can go buy the damn paint so it doesn’t really matter. It’s your home after all.
So we got a few paint samples to decide.
Dark forest green paint for the walls. And a cream for the ceiling.
Except the cream colour for the ceiling turns out to be £42 per small tub so we quickly changed our mind in the store to find something else that “looks close to it”. The green paint is already £40 per small tub as well. And ugh, we’re going to need at LEAST two of those.
So we spent two days on this project. A day for clearing the living room to paint the ceiling and spent the next day coating the walls with green paint. A pro-tip is to leave at least 24-48 hours between the ceiling paint drying before tackling the walls. But I’m impatient so went for it anyways.
Here’s the thing I’m learning about my life as a DIY novice, the more you do it, the better you’ll get at it. And the beauty is, somehow I’ve realised that things don’t need to be perfect anyways. A little splotch or rogue paint here or there is no big deal. Especially when the room comes together so perfectly, a little smudge doesn’t really matter.
Here’s the before and after! ⬇️
I am absolutely in LOVE with how our new dark green living room looks. It’s always been cosy but the dark green walls amplify how cosy and warm this room feels to me.
So, are painting walls a dark paint colour a bad idea? HELL NO.
If you want to try something new and exciting with your space, go for it!
We only live once and we might as well surround ourselves with a space that feels perfect to us. And my dark academia dark paint living room makes me so incredibly happy. Please feel free to use this as your inspiration for your future dark green living room decor ideas.
So do your own thing, whether that’s dark paint or light. Whatever suits your vibe!
Happy painting!
Kelly xox