Painting an accent wall or color blocks can brighten a Black Living Room.

Black living rooms can feel dramatic, cozy or elegant, depending on how you style them. If every element of the room is black, however, they’re more likely to feel dark and overwhelming. Add some color to bring balance and energy to the space. As they say in the world of fashion, black goes with everything, so you can use any colors you like as long as they coordinate with each other.

How to Add Colors to Black Living Room

Living Room Walls

One dramatic color statement that you can make in a black room is to paint a focal wall a different color. Because of the potency of an accent wall, you can get away with a lot more black throughout the rest of the room, so if you want to keep your black furniture, curtains and accessories, a bright or saturated accent wall is a good solution. Alternatively, you can hang a series of colorful pictures around the room, or paint color blocks on more than one wall for a youthful, contemporary look.

Upholstery

Colorful curtains and furniture upholstery are a less dramatic, more traditional way to add color. Bright upholstery in a black room lightens the whole space and gives it some sweetness, while dark, rich upholstery contributes to the sense of classic grandeur that a Black Living Room can evoke. Either way, consider using shimmery fabrics to catch the light and give the room an iridescent touch. For a sophisticated look, use different fabrics for the drapes and the furniture, but make sure that they have at least one color in common.

Lighting and Accessories

For a more subtle approach to introducing color, place lamps with colored shades around the room. Whenever you turn on a light, it will fill its surroundings with a gentle glow in those colors. This by itself probably isn’t sufficient to balance a totally black room, so add colorful accessories as well, such as candles, coffee table books, throw pillows and live plants. With enough color in your decorative touches, you can get away with black walls and furniture.

Finding Balance

The amount of color that you’ll have to add depends on the size and mood of your black living room. If you want the room decorated as much in black as possible, start with the smaller things, and adds a little at a time until the room looks right. If you don’t mind using more colors, start with the statement pieces, and only add the accessories if you find yourself craving still more. If you use all of these ideas, the design statement of the black can get lost, so keep an editing eye and weed out extras that you don’t need.

Black Living Room