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20 Family Room Color Ideas

Light gray family room

Amy Leferink of Interior Impressions

Family rooms are synonymous with the term household hub. Often used interchangeably with the term living room, a lot goes down in these warm and welcoming spaces. This area is a place for socializing, family recreation, and often for quiet relaxation, so it's understandable if you're set on nailing the perfect color scheme. The family room must meet the needs of various purposes and multiple people, all while feeling more comfortable than a more formal living room. These days, many homes only have one living space or blend these names together, so we'll refer to these terms synonymously.

Whether you're opting for bolder color schemes, two-color combinations, classic neutrals, or anything in between, your family room paint color can match the function and feel of your space. We've gathered 20 different ideas to help you choose the best color for your family room walls. The Spruce's Paint Calculator can help you determine how much paint you'll need to get started.

  • 01 of 20

    Cozy White

    Warm white living room

    Becca Interiors

    White is hard to beat when it comes to family room paint colors. It's a basic hue that presents infinite opportunities. Any accent color will work with white as its backdrop and almost every design style out there will find a tone of white that fits perfectly, whether it's a cozier boho cream or a modern bright white. Selecting this color also makes it easier to switch up the look of a family room every now and then or tweak it for fun as trends arise.

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  • 02 of 20

    Cool, Bright White

    Bright white living room

    Leclair Decor

    Yes, there is a big difference between warm and cool white—but it's harder to see when there aren't two rooms you can use to compare. White is a clever hue as the undertones can largely influence the final effect. It can appear warm and cozy (like above), but it's also a great pick when used in rooms with cooler schemes, like this space. Grays and cool neutrals appeal to decorators with modern tastes, and a colder white is perfect for setting the tone.

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  • 03 of 20

    Light Pink

    Light pink living room

    Calimia Home

    A slightly more saturated step away from white is light pink. It may not be the most common color palette to swatch on your walls, but in the right tone it provides the perfect near-neutral. With the addition of red, pink takes off the edge that a cool white often brings to a place. Family rooms looking to stay modern and fresh yet still warm and inviting may want to venture into this color family.

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  • 04 of 20

    Bold Red

    Red den family room

    LA Weddings & Interiors

    Though red is a fiery and bold color, it feels fitting for a room that's meant to be warm and inviting. Deeper shades of red can be the spicy kick a room needs and allows for the rest of the space to remain neutral—or gives you the chance to play with unique accent colors, such as this space shows. Red is a great choice for smaller family rooms as it provides the comfort and coziness of a dark tone like navy or black, but doesn't make it feel cramped.

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  • 05 of 20

    Taupe

    Taupe family room color

    Erin Williamson Design

    Not quite pink but not quite beige, taupe is a fun happy medium that doesn't exit the realm of neutrals but adds a little more color than a cream or gray. Though more traditional living rooms may gravitate to the concreteness of a taupe, cottagecore fans and even Scandi lovers may really appreciate what this color can do for their family rooms, too.

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  • 06 of 20

    Beige

    Beige family room

    Morse Design

    Beige and its hyper-trendy cousin greige have been long-running popular picks for family rooms. The warm undertone from a room this color helps define the shape and allows lighter-colored furniture to stand out rather than blend in. Beige is perfect for warmer color schemes, and the chillier greige is ideal if you want to work in cooler blues or purples. Traditional, transitional, and contemporary family rooms work well with this shade, but don't sleep on using it in modern farmhouse or cottage-inspired homes either.

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  • 07 of 20

    Brown and Beige

    Brown family room

    KJ Design & Mortar Styling

    A chocolate brown or muddy beige will always deliver when it comes to making your family room feel cozy. Throw in plenty of pillows and blankets, as this living room has done, and your space will tick all the boxes needed for creating an area to gather, socialize, and watch movies. Depending on whether you're leaning towards warmer or cooler tones, you'll be able to find a shade that works with either.

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  • 08 of 20

    Warm Tan

    Warm tan living room

    Beauty Is Abundant

    As mentioned, nothing cozies up a space quite like a warm tan, beige, or brown. This design feels soft and welcoming with a few bold accents for contrast. While many family room color ideas use bold, definite hues or something soft and quiet, this space provides the best of both worlds. It still stands out amongst the white and light gray living rooms of the world thanks to the shade chosen and the graphic, colorful artwork on the wall. At the same time, tan is a neutral and brings with it the expected grounding and sophisticated atmosphere.

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  • 09 of 20

    Cream and Yellow

    Cream, yellow, and white family room

    Kateryna Gonchar / Instagram

    Admittedly, yellow isn't the most popular wall color, but in its lighter versions, it's a perfectly creamy and cozy shade to include in your family room. Whether it's rolled onto every wall or used as a color for cabinets, it provides that soft, warm glow that many other colors can't. Minimalists who are craving a change from the classic white or pale gray may find this to be a substitute that fits the bill. Pair it with chocolate brown accents or even with a few splashes of light blue to make it stand out.

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  • 10 of 20

    Light Green

    Light green living room

    Michelle Boudreau Design

    Granted, it takes a certain amount of fortitude to apply a bright shade of green to your family room walls—but family rooms don't have to be neutral. The right light and bright hue of green can uplift an area and even cater to furniture and accents in near-complementary colors. The pops of orange in this living room show just how easy it is to make a more tranquil color one that's playful and modern.

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  • 11 of 20

    Earthy Green

    Green living room

    Brexton Cole Interiors

    For something a little more grounded, try deepening the shade ever so slightly. Mossy greens are gorgeous backdrops for gold accents and brown furniture. Earthy textures look perfectly suited in family rooms when walls are this color, too. Boho style or eclectic spaces will also find that a middle-ground green is a nice pick over more classic neutrals.

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  • 12 of 20

    Two-Toned

    Teal living room

    Casa Watkins Living

    A darker shade of teal may be just the color needed to make a living room shine. If you prefer your family room to feel open and airy rather than cozy, you probably know that deeper tones often do the latter. That doesn't mean they can't be used. When working with jewel-toned shades such as teal, incorporating lighter hues can keep the room feeling light and airy. As this space shows, a two-toned palette—along with bright yellow curtains and a light-colored rug—all make it feel spacious.

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  • 13 of 20

    Deep Teal

    Deep teal living room

    Design by Ryann Miller of Style by Emily Henderson / Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp

    Providing the earthiness of a dark green but the softness that comes with a blue, it's not worth skipping over deep teal when you're testing out paint swatches. Complement it with rusty oranges or tans to make the whole space come alive (this is also a much gentler take on the complementary orange and blue palette). And, as this room perfectly points out, it's a dreamy color for making your collection of books pop.

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  • 14 of 20

    Light Blue

    Light blue family room

    Dazey Den

    This light and airy color scheme is all held together by the sky blue paint on these walls. It's also a premium example of working with two contrasting colors. The different shades of blue and pink that serve as accents make this living room appear unique but cohesive overall. While the selection of the two paint colors needs to be made carefully, don't be scared to experiment. Colors that are closely related or commonly seen together in nature will lend a room a relaxed, but alert feeling.

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  • 15 of 20

    Navy Blue

    Navy blue walls in living room

    Michelle Berwick Design

    For something a touch moodier and more elevated, try navy blue on the walls of your family room. It's not as dramatic as black per se, but it provides that same stillness. When you pick out the right light fixtures and pair it with neutral furniture, a blue this dark won't overcrowd the space either. Be sure to try multiple shades on the wall to see how it looks throughout the day—some may appear grayer while others take on a royal blue tinge.

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  • 16 of 20

    Deep Purple

    Purply gray family room

    Tyler Karu

    Royal purple, lavender, lilac, mauve—there are many shades of purple out there to choose from. For a sophisticated option that feels more playful than charcoal but still elevated, why not try a deeper tone? A paint color or wallpaper that straddles the line between purple in gray is ideal. In some lighting, it'll appear more purple and in others, charcoal, giving a unique look all throughout the day. It's an easy color to get behind when you see just how well it pairs with olive green, as seen above.

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  • 17 of 20

    Classic Gray

    Gray modern living room

    Twelve15 Design Studio

    Falling under the category of timeless living room colors alongside white and beige is gray. It's an excellent color for homeowners and renters that are aiming for a cooler tone in their space. Though it's a good pick for trendier styles and modern tastes, it won't ever go out of style—no matter how many times you reconsider your couch shape or change out the wall art. Like white, it's best to swatch and try shades in person to ensure you get the tone you're after. Gray is a chameleon in the color world, too.

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  • 18 of 20

    Charcoal Gray

    Charcoal gray family room

    Rikki Snyder

    Perhaps you're searching for a shade with a little more depth. In that case, don't overlook charcoal gray. Yes, it's still in the family of famed neutrals, but its more serious tone feels bolder than its paler counterparts. It's a shade that feels slightly magical as it's typically cooler in tone but still creates a warmth in coziness that radiates from the walls. As this family room shows, plants and accent colors are given the spotlight when gray stands in the background.

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  • 19 of 20

    Black and White

    Black and white living room

    Louis Duncan-He Designs

    Nothing punctuates a room like a black-and-white color scheme. These opposites expertly harmonize with one another and leave room for other colors to jump off the wall or appear in the form of an accent chair or rug. While the idea of painting your whole living space all-black (or all-white) might make you nervous, a balancing act of the two is the perfect happy medium so neither color will overwhelm you or the room itself.

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  • 20 of 20

    Neutral Textures

    Wood texture living room

    Rikki Snyder

    If standard colors aren't sparking any inspiration, it might be worth turning to wallpaper, paneling, or paints with textured finishes. These provide a unique look that can't really be created with a plain color. You can go all out with a maximalist printed wallpaper or keep minimal styles front and center with a subtle print or four-dimensional paint. Beadboard and wainscoting can add additional oomph, too.