Best Paint Colours for East-Facing Rooms

An off-white wall with floor-to-ceiling wainscotting and multiple white vases placed on top of a white dresser.

Natural light can have a dramatic effect on how a paint colour looks in a room. Season, time of day, and the amount of light a room gets all affect the cast of a paint colour in your space.

The good news is that our colour and design experts are here to help. Read on to discover how to choose the best paint colours for eastern exposure—when natural light comes into a room from the east.

Natural light can enter a room from the north, south, east, or west—and the light coming from each direction has distinct characteristics that change throughout the day and into the evening. Elements of a space with eastern lighting:

A room with light coming in from the east tends to get more direct light in the morning, and more muted, indirect light past noon.
The afternoon natural light in a room with eastern exposure tends to have a cooler cast.
Choosing a paint colour with the right amount of warm and cool undertones can bring balance to a room with eastern light.

Let’s look at recommendations for east-facing rooms handpicked by our colour experts.

White Paint Colours for East-Facing Rooms

Keep walls lively throughout the day with clean, warm white paint colours. These three go-tos provide varying levels of warm tones.

Gray Paint Colours for East-Facing Rooms

The perfect gray for your east-facing space will depend on the quality of light coming into the room. Brighten things up with a lighter gray that has a hint of warmth.

Neutral Paint Colours for East-Facing Rooms

The varied lighting of an east-facing space gives you the ability to play with ambience. These neutral paint colours provide warm undertones that lighten shadowy afternoons.

Our Colour Experts’ Top Picks for East-Facing Rooms

In rooms that receive a lot of eastern exposure, the lighting will change drastically throughout the day. Opt for mid-tones that can balance bright morning light and bring depth to muted afternoons. These three paint colours are a few of our favourites.

East-Facing Room: Consider the Time of Day

Lighting conditions change hour by hour, and day by day, depending on your location. A woodsy cabin surrounded by trees will receive different lighting than a beach bungalow in the sun. Artificial lighting also affects paint colours and how they cast.

The time of day can significantly affect how a paint colour appears in an east-facing room. Consider:

Morning yields bright light because the sun rises in the east.

Afternoon lighting in an east-facing room tends to be dimmer than the morning, with a cool cast.

It's important to think about the time of day that you occupy your east-facing space. A dining room primarily used in the evening will have mostly artificial light. This varies greatly from a bedroom where you get dressed and ready for the day in the bright morning rays.

Shadows can look darker in an east-facing space, especially in the afternoon as the sun starts to set. Consider using a lighter, airier paint colour on an east-facing wall, such as Ocean Air 2123-50, Pleasant Pink 2094-60, or Spring Meadow 486.

For trim and ceiling, consider Chantilly Lace OC-65, a crisp white. This clean hue plays well with all the paint colours in this article, offering a bright contrast for dim eastern light.

Consider using a high sheen for trim, like semi-gloss or high gloss, to lighten up a darker space.

Pro Tip Spotlight:

Looking for an easier answer?

If you aren’t sure which colour to choose or have a room with multiple exposures, try one of these three paint colours recommended by our colour and design experts. Each offers versatile undertones and flexibility for a variety of lighting conditions:

By observing paint colours in your actual space using a Benjamin Moore Colour Sample, you'll be sure to find a paint colour you love.

Pro Tip Spotlight:

By observing paint colours in your actual space using a Benjamin Moore Colour Sample, you'll be sure to find a paint colour you love.

A variety of paint colour samples in different colours.

East-Facing Rooms: Increase Colour Confidence

The more you test paint colours, the more confident you will be in your final colour decision.

Choose paint colour samples from your locally owned Benjamin Moore store or our online store, including oversized colour swatches, peel & stick samples, or brush-on paint colour samples.

If you brush on a paint sample, we recommend painting a foam poster board so you can easily move it around and observe colours in different lighting.

After seeing your colour samples on the wall, go back and observe the hues in both artificial and natural light, throughout the day and evening.

Neutral living room with white walls and an off-white wall mantel, and a white circle coffee table in between two cream couches.

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