When you’re deciding on an interior design scheme, matching your walls to your furniture is critical. The paint on your walls complements your furniture, helping create the right feel in the room. It’s also easier to change the color of your walls than the color of your furniture.
Furniture that’s made of dark wood or is stained dark tends to project a sense of richness and hominess. So, you’ll want paint colors that will help set that tone when someone walks into the room.
We looked into what colors you should put on your wall to match your dark wood furniture, and discovered that it’s more about tone than raw color. There are so many shades to choose from and we picked out a few for this article to help you understand what to look for.
In This Article We'll Discuss
What paint colors go with dark wood furniture?
Fortunately, there are a lot of different colors that you can use to accentuate dark wood furniture. Since it conveys a sense of richness and warmth, you’ll want to avoid colors that are too cool.
We often use cool colors in spaces like kitchens and bathrooms since they can make a smaller space feel larger. Bright blues, greens, and light purples are examples of cool colors.
Warm colors tend to be a little more calming and lean heavily on darker tones. They make rooms feel a more enclosed, but in a gentle way. We tend to decorate with warm colors in larger rooms where people spend more time, like bedrooms and living rooms. Dark reds, oranges, and soft yellows are examples of warm colors.
When it comes to matching paint with furniture, you can leave those basic definitions behind. Instead, we’re going to focus on shades that won’t clash with your furniture.
White
Direct contrast always works when it comes to highlighting the color and design of your furniture. That’s why white paint goes so well with dark wood furniture. We recommend avoiding bright white, as it can be too distracting, especially in sunny rooms
Instead, you might want to use an off-white to tone down the brightness of your paint. Eggshell and ivory are both nice, calm tones.
Red
Along with orange and yellow, red is generally considered one of the warmest colors. Most reds will work with dark furniture.
However, you do need to be careful because not all reds will go well with dark furniture. Carnation red might work, but it may come off as a little too vibrant for the aesthetic.
A darker red would work better. But, if you’re painting a whole room’s walls, you might want to avoid blood red for reasons wholly unrelated to your dark furniture. A good example is cranberry red, which reminds people of autumn.
Orange
Orange is another color that has a lot of shades that will go well with dark furniture. However, you still don’t want to assume that all oranges will work great.
Marigold, for instance, is a very vibrant, bright orange that might conflict with staid, low-key dark furniture. You might want to avoid that tone altogether.
Tangerine is a good option is because it has both light and dark tones. Also, it’s just shiny enough to bring out the richness of your dark furniture, but not so bright that it will outshine it.
Yellow
Yellow is the last of the traditional warm colors and it’s pretty versatile when it comes to dark furniture. It’s hard to make a bad match because even a bright yellow is a good contrast for dark furniture.
That said, painting your walls lemon yellow might create a color overload. It’s like pure white, but with a little bit of color thrown in. For rooms like a living room or a bedroom, it may make the room appear too large.
Mustard is a good, standard yellow tone. It’s bright enough to contrast most dark furniture, but not so bright that it will blind your visitors.
Green
Although green is traditionally thought to be a cool color, it has elements of yellow in it. So, you should be able to find a tone that will match dark furniture.
We recommend steering clear of shades like emerald. It’s too strong a color and doesn’t complement dark furniture at all.
Forest green, on the other hand, has some darkness to it. Depending on your furniture, it may highlight the color and potentially go well with the fabric design.
Blue
While you might think of blue shouldn’t be on this list because it’s a cool color, that isn’t the case. Some blues might provide the exact aesthetic you’re looking for purely because you expect blue to have a cool look to it.
We aren’t talking about a blue like periwinkle, which is pretty light and good for making a small space seem a little bigger.
Instead, a shade like light teal might be perfect. It’s light enough to put on walls without making a room seem like a cave. Also, it’s dark enough that it will let your dark furniture shine.
Purple
Like green, purple has some elements of a warm color— red. So, while it’s traditionally a cool color, you can still find a tone that will work with dark furniture.
You don’t want to go with something like deep purple because it lacks the chocolatey quality that a deeper red would have. It would likely clash with your furniture and ruin your color scheme.
Bright purple, however, will add some light to your room without overpowering your dark furniture.
Conclusion
Dark furniture is usually associated with warm colors. We tend to put dark furniture in rooms with warm colors because warm colors bring out the color and design of the furniture.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you can only use warm colors in those rooms. In fact, there are a lot of different shades you could use. For example, a richer yellow might work while a darker blue might feel too dark.
We hope you found this article helpful and that you can find the right color for your walls to complement your dark furniture. If you did, we’d love to hear about it in the comments. You’re also invited to share this article on your social media networks.