Colour

How to choose a colour for a north-facing room

Cool light makes greys look cold. Warmer colours fix it.

Written by

Ellie Hartley

A north-facing sitting room painted a warm soft colour

North light is cool and even. Paints with a grey or blue base look flat and chilly in it. Pick colours with warm, yellow or red undertones, and test large samples on two walls at different times of day.

  • A tall Georgian drawing room in soft grey-green with a marble fireplace, a decorator cutting in by the skirting
  • A family kitchen with hand-painted deep green cabinets, brass handles and warm white walls
  • The same hallway after: plaster pink above the dado rail, off-black below, crisp white spindles
  • A Bath stone Georgian front door painted deep grey-green, with a fanlight and black iron railings
  • A café interior with terracotta walls, a forest green counter and bentwood chairs
  • The bedroom after: a botanical fern wallpaper behind the bed, soft grey-green walls either side
  • A 17th-century cottage room in warm ochre limewash with dark oak beams, a decorator at work
  • A Victorian bay-fronted Bath stone house with a mustard-yellow front door and grey-white bay

Create a free website with Framer, the website builder loved by startups, designers and agencies.