What are the Pros and Cons of a Tan Living Room?

There are a number of different pros and cons when it comes to choosing or creating a tan living room and they should be considered carefully before someone decides on a final color palette for the room. As with any other neutral color choice, tan can be fairly soothing and relaxing visually, and the brown tone can often make it a warm and welcoming environment. It can also be easy to add accent colors or focal points against this type of palette, especially when compared to more vibrant choices. On the other hand, a tan living room can seem somewhat drab and the choice of tan may make the room feel muddy and plain.

A tan living room can be a very inviting and welcoming place, as long as the shade of tan is chosen properly and accentuated with other colors. As a neutral color, tan can be easy on the eyes and soothing, especially when someone comes home from a hard day and just wants to relax. Tan is an earth tone, usually a light shade of brown, sometimes with some gray added for extra depth, and so can feel warm and comfortable. This makes a tan living room an excellent choice for just about any home.

From a design standpoint, a tan living room can be a great choice for someone looking to create a dramatic touch of color or focal point. Choosing wall colors and furniture of similar shades of tan can create a perfect canvas on which to add a strong accent color. Red cushions on a couch, a purple or blue vase, a work of art on the way with vibrant and explosive colors, even a large high-definition television can all work to offset the natural and neutral tones of a tan living room. By allowing the other furniture and aesthetic choices to create a unified backdrop, these pieces can really stand out.

A tan living room can have some potential pitfalls, however, and if the wrong shade of tan is chosen it can become very drab in appearance. Like any other brown color, tan can be fairly muddy if not done carefully. Furniture, decoration, and wall colors that support an overall tan aesthetic can also be somewhat boring, and without proper focal points or accent colors the entire room could become a wash of muted tones. Much like a living room with plain white walls, a tan living room may also be seen by some as an indicator that the homeowner simply did not know what else to do with the room. With the right use of the positive aspects of tan, however, many of these potential pitfalls can be avoided.