Top 5 Tips for Choosing the Right Sofa Colour for Your Living Room

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Colours can say a lot about a room. Whether we know it or not, our subconscious tries to find familiarity when we enter a space for the first time. If your favourite colour is blue, for example, your mind will gravitate to the blue in a room.

Once that familiar colour gets noticed, you might not feel as anxious or out of place. “That is how powerful colour can be,” says Mary Lee Smyth, the interior designer at La-Z-Boy Kingston.

Living room paint colours can help evoke a mood or tone in a space. The more colours you have, the more layers your room will create. But you must know which colours go with what to help create a cohesive theme or a complete living room.

This includes your furniture colour. Believe it or not, sofa colours are an important factor since it is one of the bigger items in your room.

At La-Z-Boy Ottawa and Kingston, we have plenty of sofa covers to choose from that can create a cohesive colour palette for your room. You can go for a tan leather sofa or something simple like a beige colour sofa.

This article will list 5 tips to consider when picking sofa colouring for your living room and how it can complete the look you’re trying to go for.

In This Article…

1. The Psychology of Colour in a Room
2. Think About the Mood
3. Be Conscious of Other Living Room Colours
4. Review the Size of Your Space
5. Playing Around with Durability
6. Test Out Different Colours

The Psychology of Colour in a Room

Before we get to our tips, it is important to understand why we put certain living room paint colours in a room and what they might mean to us.

Colours are a powerful tool for any design project. According to Mary Lee, the colour we use in any room will help determine the room's tone and what kind of energy you’re looking for. “When we see something for the first time, sometimes we take it at face value and see what we perceive,” she says.

Since colours have existed since the beginning of time, we all have preconceived notions of what colour means. It’s why sayings like “feeling blue” or “seeing red” are common.

While living room paint colours can convey specific moods or tones, they can also hold personal meaning. Perhaps you have a favourite colour to incorporate into your home design, even if it doesn't necessarily align with traditional colour associations.

1. Think About the Mood

When picking out furniture for a living room, people try to find a comfortable and relaxing piece. Whether it’s a recliner or a stationary piece of furniture, the primary use for it typically is to unwind after a long day at work. 

That being said, the comfort level in a room can go hand-in-hand, depending on your personality, what you do for a living and other exterior factors. “People are looking to recharge in a space that they know will allow that,” says Mary Lee.

You may want either calm or active colours, depending on your personality. These colours will hopefully motivate you to spend time in your living room and encourage activities such as cleaning, hosting guests, or even simple hobbies you love. 

If you're looking to create a calm and inviting space, a soft blue colour sofa, a green colour sofa, or even a beige colour sofa can help with that. Neutral colours are also good and can include anything from grey, brown, black and white.

However, if you’re looking for something more active in your space, sofa colours like red, orange and yellow can create a cheerful and energetic room.

2. Be Conscious of Living Room Paint Colours

If you’re reading this article, you’re probably looking for a new sofa, but you’re unsure which colour will look good in your room. If you’re struggling with finding a sofa colour, consider what you already have in your living room.

What we mean by this is colour coordination is important when keeping the balance in your living room. Always stay conscious about the furniture in your room and what colours they are incorporating into the space.

If you add a colour that doesn’t fit the theme, you might throw off the room's balance. For example, Mary Lee says that adding colours opposite to the colour wheel could create a busy and overwhelming space.

For example, if you’re thinking of getting a traditional black sofa, you’ll need a space that matches a classy black sofa living room colour scheme.

3. Review the Size of Your Space

Size is an important factor to consider when determining not only the right measurements for your living room furniture but also the right sofa colours.

Depending on the size of your room, certain sofa colours can either make your room feel more open or more enclosed. 

For certain rooms, this might not matter as much. In open concept areas, your sofa colour can be almost any shade you wish. But, if your living room is small, you may want to avoid something like a classy black sofa living room colour scheme. 

Darker colours might risk making your room look smaller than it already is. Instead, a light beige sofa colour will allow your space to appear more spacious.

Another neat trick for opening up your room, according to Mary Lee, is adding a mirror to the space. “Mirrors like to trick our brains into thinking a room looks bigger than it actually is.”. So, if room size is not on your side, visually trick yourself and your houseguests.

4. Playing Around with Durability

Similar to playing around with different sofa colours, testing different kinds of textures and durability is also important. Like colours, different materials and textures in a room can create depth and emphasize a theme.

For example, if you are trying to achieve a cozy and warm tone, a light fabric can emphasize a minimalist theme. However, if you desire a more industrial look with dark tones, a tan colour leather sofa could pull it all together. 

Leather is not limited to just brown  There is a variety of coloured La-Z-Boy leather sofas that portray a wide spectrum of themes. For example, beige leathers are a great choice if you’re looking to compliment a light wood coffee table and a teal wall. This can create a nice beach-inspired room.

There are also darker leather sofa colours, like burgundy, that can look good with glass and metals. This might create a sophisticated, classy room.

Leather can also be beneficial for reasons other than fabric. You can learn more about comparing leather and fabrics by checking out this article.

5. Test Out Different Sofa Colours

Testing different colours in a room can help determine what you like and dislike in your space. 

But what does that exactly mean? Well, If you’re ever unsure of what living paint colours go well with sofa covers, some furniture stores, like La-Z-Boy, offer free fabric swatches to give you a feel of what can look good in your room.

Getting different swatches and comparing them to your living room paint colours can help single out what you might be looking for. Say, you were interested in a dark colour, but then you saw that shade compared to the light colours in your existing space and thought, “oh, this might not be the right colour after all.”

Then, you try another bold colour, orange, for example, and you see how it reflects the natural lighting in your room well. You’ve now solidified which sofa cover is right for your room, making for a more confident and informed decision.

If you’re shopping at La-Z-Boy and come across our free fabric swatches, our interior designers can help you with colour coordination. To learn more about What to Expect with La-Z-Boy’s Interior Design Services, look at this article.

What's Next?

Now that you understand sofa colours on a deeper level, you can hopefully make a more clear decision to determine the right sofa colour for your living room. Popularity in colours is always changing as time goes by. To get a better idea of what is trending in the design world today, check out some Design Trends for 2023.

If you feel as though you still are not making the right decision for your room, do not worry. We can help with whatever problem you might be facing.

At La-Z-Boy Ottawa & Kingston, we offer complimentary interior design services to help create the room of your dreams. Our interior designers, along with our expert design consultants, are always eager to lend a helping hand.

If you’re interested in learning more about our La-Z-Boy sofas, check out some of these articles:

• Best Selling Sofas at La-Z-Boy
• La-Z-Boy Sofas for Small Spaces
• Best-Selling La-Z-Boy Sectional

If you want to speak to someone about sofas and home decor, visit us at any of our local Ottawa & Kingston showrooms. You can also book an appointment online before coming in.

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