Not sure where to start with choosing a dining room paint color? Here are some of our favorites – some are trendy, some are tried-and-true, but they all can help breathe new life into your dining room. And don’t stress too much – if you change your mind, we’ve got the Love Your Color Guarantee: if you don’t love your color, we’ll replace it with one you do.

Choosing a color can get overwhelming – but here are a few things that can help narrow down your options.

Lay it all on the table

The table is the focal point of the dining room, so it makes sense to design around it. Try colors that complement the tones of the table, as well as the rest of your dining furniture and décor.

Look to your lighting

Lighting plays a huge role in how you perceive color in a space. It’s common to have multiple light sources – from windows, to lamps, to light fixtures – each of which can change how a color appears.

Natural light changes the appearance of colors throughout the day, from sunrise to midday to sunset. A room full of natural light brings out subtle undertones in lighter, cooler colors. Meanwhile, interior lighting offers a wide range of warm to cool tones. Warm light temperatures are popular, and they can help vivid and bold colors feel more livable.

Find flexibility

Nowadays, dining rooms are becoming more and more flexible. It may not make sense for your home to keep a more formal dining area, so keep in mind how else you might use this space. As we’ve converted dining rooms to multifunctional spaces, lighter, more livable colors have become more popular. Alternatively, you might want to keep your dining room as a more dramatic space, so you could consider choosing a color that’s a shade or two darker than one used in your living spaces.

Start with chips and samples

There’s no substitute for seeing paint on your walls – so no matter how much you love a color, you should always take the time to order and use paint chips and samples. Seeing a color with your own eyes and in the context of your space will go a long way toward getting a dining room you love.

To get the best out of your samples, try to recreate how you’ll typically experience your space. This means using the paint on multiple walls, and seeing how different lighting affects the color. Be sure to check in throughout the day, so you get a better sense for the color as lighting conditions change.

Got an idea for what you want? Start by browing colors by color family:

If you want advice that’s more specific to your space, our color experts and color tools are here to help.

Once you’ve got a color, then it’s time to pick a paint. It might not seem as important as color, but the right paint is a crucial part of getting results you love.

Choosing the right sheen

What makes a sheen the right one? In the dining room, it depends. Traditionally, eggshell and satin sheens are used the most. But since the dining room isn’t usually a high-traffic area, you don’t have to worry much about durability. In that case, flat and semi-gloss sheens are good options, too. Take some time to test out different sheens, and go with what you like the most. For more information on sheens, take a look at our sheen article.

Make sure you’re covered

Before you buy, figure out how much paint you’ll need with our Paint Calculator.