• Green living rooms often feel restful and welcoming.Luxury club room image by Maro...? Markovi?? from Fotolia.com
  
  The living room is one of the busiest rooms in most homes, so it's important for it to feel friendly and welcoming. Unfortunately, out-of-date color schemes and scuffed carpet can make the living room feel unappealing. The good news is that new paint and carpet can bring a dull old living room back to life. Pay attention to your color scheme, and your old living room can feel just like new.
  
  

Light Neutrals

• Living rooms with strong decorative elements, such as brightly colored artwork, do well with neutral paint and carpet. Bold colors can overpower the paintings and other objects that are the intended focus of the room. HGTV recommends white as a background color for living rooms with art on the walls. Browns, tans and grays provide an earthy, homey feeling without drowning out more important decorative elements.
  
  

Dark Tones

• Traditionally, living rooms are painted and carpeted in lighter colors, but dark tones work well. Strong saturated wall and carpet colors combine well with lighter furniture and draperies to make a bold statement. Provide adequate lighting in living rooms with dark walls since this type of color scheme can make a room feel smaller. Black is a very strong tone, so use it with care. When in doubt, choose something a little less bold; dark grays and unsaturated blues make a very similar statement but are less overwhelming.
  
  

Cool Tones

• Blues and greens in a living room create a breezy, relaxing feeling. Depending on the tone you choose, a cool-toned living room can feel comfortable and classic or modern and sophisticated. Consider using varied shades of a single color to provide interest without mixing things up too much, or use bright blue and green notes on trim to break up expanses of duller colors.
  
  

Warm Colors

• Yellows can make a living room feel cheerful and bright, while red, especially when used in moderation, liven things up. Warm tones can feel very strong, so consider using faded versions such as coral or gold ocher. Alternatively, paint one accent wall with a very strong tone such as red, orange or yellow, and decorate the rest of the room using neutrals or weaker shades of the color. Avoid painting all the walls with a bold warm tone, especially if you have matching carpet; the result may drive guests out of the room.