Paint colors for your home, inside and out
Dining room · colors from 4 paintings
Dining room paint colors work best when the walls are light and warm and one deeper color anchors the table. Each scheme here is the palette of one painting, with walls, a main color, wood, a bold piece and a textile.
Quick answer
For a dining room with dark furniture, choose warm walls such as #F2E3C1 or #E5D1C2. Use the deep olive #665527 or the coffee brown #412F21 for wood and chairs, and keep #5B5856 for one bold piece.
Each scheme is one painting's palette, split into walls, main furniture, wood, one bold piece and one textile.
From A Woman Seated on a Balustrade, Marie Denise Villers
#D4D8D9#CCAB79#8A754F#412F21#644D36Pale gray walls with a gold main color and a coffee-brown bold piece suit a dining room with dark furniture.
From Ecce Agnus Dei, Giovanni di Paolo
#DEC181#968B57#665527#A5572E#CD9948Golden walls with olive and a rust accent give a dining room a warm, candlelit feel.
From The Third Duke of Dorset's Hunter with a Groom and a Dog, George Stubbs
#F2E3C1#9C8D53#8F663E#5E5F35#574028Warm cream walls with olive green and wood-brown details make a bright dining room that works with any table.
From Mrs. Reuben Allerton (Lois Atherton), Ammi Phillips
#E5D1C2#D4BAAB#6B5440#5B5856#DDBA7FSoft blush walls with a charcoal piece and a gold textile suit a small dining room.
Pick which color goes on the walls, the big furniture and the bold piece. Floors, shadows and trim follow your choice.
The framed picture on the wall is A Woman Seated on a Balustrade.
A dining room is used mostly in the evening, so warm light colors work best. The warm candle cream #F2E3C1 at LRV 78 is the brightest wall in this set. The golden wall of the Gold Panel scheme, #DEC181 at LRV 55, is richer and suits a room with a lot of daylight.
If you prefer a softer palette, the blush #E5D1C2 at LRV 66 and the pale gray #D4D8D9 at LRV 68 are quieter options.
The deeper colors, #412F21, #665527 and #5B5856, are for the table, chairs and one bold piece. Pick one, not all three.
If you are unsure, start with the cream and bring in the deeper colors through the table, the chairs and a light fixture. That way you can change the look later without repainting.
Dark furniture, such as a walnut or espresso table, needs a light background so it does not disappear. Choose walls with an LRV above 65, for example #F2E3C1, #E5D1C2 or #D4D8D9.
Then repeat one of the dark colors somewhere else in the room. If your table is brown, the coffee brown #412F21 in a sideboard or frame will look related. If your chairs are black, the charcoal #5B5856 ties the room together.
A warm cream on the walls gives the strongest contrast with dark wood. A pale gray wall looks cooler and more formal. In either case, keep the ceiling light, so the room does not feel low.
Trim in the same cream as the wall looks calm. A slightly lighter cream gives a gentle edge. Gray walls look best with a white trim that has no yellow.
The ceiling should be the lightest surface in the room. Use the cream or a lighter version of the wall color.
For floors, wood in medium brown works with all four schemes. The wood tones in the schemes range from #6B5440 to #8F663E. A rug in the gold or blush ties the table to the walls. Brass or black fixtures suit the dark colors, and a pendant light in charcoal repeats the bold piece.
Look at the samples in the evening with the lights you normally use. Warm bulbs make the cream turn golden and the gray look warmer, while white bulbs keep them closer to the swatch.
Paint a sample at least two feet wide and place it beside your table and chairs. Check it in daylight too. A north-facing dining room makes cream look cooler, and a south-facing one makes it brighter.
If you are choosing between two options, pick the one that suits your table, because the furniture is the largest object in the room. The paint matches shown are the closest measured ones, so use them to find a color in your preferred brand, and confirm with a sample.
Warm cream, soft gold and blush are popular because they look good under evening light. The set here includes #F2E3C1, #DEC181 and #E5D1C2.
A light warm wall with an LRV above 65, such as #F2E3C1, gives the strongest contrast.
Yes, if you have good lighting. Colors with an LRV around 10, like #665527, work on one wall or on built-ins.
The colors here are measured from paintings, not from a trend list, so they do not date. Choose by the light and furniture in your room.
Matte or eggshell is common. Use a washable paint if the room is used by children.
A card with every color on this page, its LRV and the paintings it comes from. Pin it, or take it to the paint store.
Painting images: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, public domain (CC0). Colors measured by Light & Pigment. Paint names belong to their brands and matches are approximate. Colors look different on screen than on a wall, so always test a sample.
