The Color Palette: Purple Living Room Ideas and Design Tips

One thing to remember when you decorate your living room in purple is that the shade of purple you choose will really set the tone and feel of your space. Dark purple will make the living room feel secluded, cozy and romantic – but will also make it feel smaller just like in pictures (1) and (2). While light purple will make the space feel airy, bright and spacious (3).

Here are some more purple living room ideas and design notes to help you stylise your space:

Purple Walls

There are 3 options when it comes to the walls in your living room.

1. Option 1 is to paint all of the walls purple. White curtains, or window frames can help break up the solid purple walls. Or a white breadboard is another option – just like the living room in picture (4).

2. Option 2 is to have just one wall painted in purple – this will be your feature wall just like in pictures (5) and (6). Leave all the other walls neutral (white, off white, cream, or grey) and this one purple wall will really stand out and define the look of the living room.

3. Option 3 is to keep all of your walls neutral. This way you create a blank canvas of a living room, ready for splashes of purple, talked about below in Tiny Pieces. For example, if you have all white walls then having purple curtains will really pop – and set the color tone for the room, like the living room in picture (7). If you want to create the blank canvas you’ll need to take out other colors from the room – if you have a red photo frame for example, or orange pillows. This way when you decorate with purple accessorises you really build a strong color statement.

Another alternative to painting your walls purple would be to have a feature shelf. Check out the yellow shelves in my mood board here (Creative DIY Ideas for Living Room Shelves). The back of the shelves are yellow and really pop out. If you have shelves that take up a lot of space in your living room, why not paint the backdrop purple to add a colorful feature in the living room.

Tiny Pieces

You don’t really need to do much to create a purple color scheme in a living room, if you have the blank canvas I talked about earlier.

You could go with a bold purple couch like in pictures (8) and (9) – which is always a focal piece in a living room. Or something simpler would be having neutral coloured furniture like white, cream, or grey and decorating it with different shades of purple pillows and throws.

The coffee table is another piece that can be a focal point in a lot of living rooms. If you get a neutral colored coffee table, purple living room decor pieces placed on it will really stand out in the room. Like a purple candle holder, paper weight, drinking tray, or coasters.

Other decor pieces that add the right amount of purple to a living room include: an area rug, and a wall mirror like the one in picture (10).

Other Colors?

If you really want to create a solid color palette in your living room, you’ll need to focus on that color. If you want a purple styled room, then look for other colored pieces in the living room that kill the style (like a red pillow). Gotta take these out.

It is still possible to add in another color and make the whole purple look work. Once again you want to keep everything focused. So if you like the gray and purple living room style, that’s one color combination that works. Or how about adding in splashes of yellow, brown, green or black. Keep it to one other color, otherwise it will be hard to tell what is the color scheme of the room. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10