Best Paint Colours for South-Facing Rooms

A dining room with light gray-painted walls and fireplace, a white ceiling and trim, a wood table with potted plants, and white chairs.

Many factors contribute to the way a colour appears in a space, and one of the main things to consider is natural light. Both the amount of natural light and the direction it comes from will determine the cast of your paint colour.

If you have a south-facing room, known as southern exposure, the following paint colours and tips will help you find the best hues for your space.

Lighting from the north, east, south, or west—each has characteristics that influence the cast and colour of paint. Common features of southern exposure natural light:

A south-facing room tends to get consistent natural light throughout the day.
Natural light in a room with southern exposure tends to be strong.
Lighting often casts a warmer tone in a room with southern exposure.

The warm, natural light of a south-facing room provides an energizing, happy aura for your space. Select paint colours with a lower brightness and the right balance of warm and cool undertones.

Let’s take a look at the ever-popular white, gray, and neutral paint colour families, all subtle hues that are most affected by natural light.

White Paint Colours for South-Facing Rooms

A white paint with a hint of gray or blue will counterbalance the naturally amber cast of southern exposure. These white paint colours feature varying levels of cool tones, depending on the warmth of your south-facing light.

Gray Paint Colours for South-Facing Rooms

The perfect gray depends on your unique lighting. When it comes to southern exposure, a blue-toned gray can help to neutralize warm tones.

Neutral Paint Colours for South-Facing Rooms

Weave sophistication into your sunny south-facing room by using a neutral paint colour with a touch of gray to balance out warm natural lighting.

Our Colour Experts’ Top Picks for South-Facing Rooms

For bright, sun-soaked rooms that enjoy the beauty of southern lighting, look to greens, blues, and violets to balance the warm golden rays. Slightly darker hues can help to prevent colours from washing out.

South-Facing Rooms: Consider the Season

Natural light can be powerful—especially in south-facing rooms, which tend to get the most sunlight throughout the day. A desert abode with a lot of natural light will be very bright. A forest dwelling with ample tree coverage will receive more muted lighting. Season, time of day, and location all factor into the overall quality of light in your space.

Seasonal impact on a south-facing room:

Winter provides less light, as the sun sets earlier in the day. This light is typically sharper and cooler in cast.

Summertime lighting can be warmer than winter, rendering an amber cast on the same exact paint colour.

A south-facing room gets more light, which makes it ideal for bringing moodier, darker colours into the space, like Coastline AF-570, Mulberry Wine 1251, and Evening Dove 2128-30.

For trim and ceilings in your south-facing rooms, use a colour like Chantilly Lace OC-65. This crisp and clean white paint colour works well with all the colours in this article, a great counterbalance for southern exposure.

Consider using a lower sheen on trim, like matte or eggshell, to tone down reflection and bring dimension to a sunny space.

Pro Tip Spotlight:

Looking for an easier answer?

The following three paint colours are favourites from our colour and design experts. These neutral hues feature versatile undertones and flexibility in a large swath of exposures, including in rooms with multiple directions:

Off-white: Steam AF-15
Gray: Kendall Charcoal HC-166
Neutral: Hush AF-95

Use a Benjamin Moore Colour Sample to observe paint colours in your actual space and see how your unique lighting conditions affect them.

Pro Tip Spotlight:

Off-white: Steam AF-15
Gray: Kendall Charcoal HC-166
Neutral: Hush AF-95

Use a Benjamin Moore Colour Sample to observe paint colours in your actual space and see how your unique lighting conditions affect them.

A variety of paint colour samples in different colours.

South-Facing Rooms: Increase Colour Confidence

Get the right colour sample from your locally owned Benjamin Moore store or from our online store.

Choose from oversized colour swatches, peel-&-stick samples or brush-on paint colour samples. We recommend painting a foam poster board with your brush-on paint colour samples so you can observe them in different rooms and lighting, both natural and artificial. Watch as your home’s unique lighting conditions change throughout the day and evening, depending on artificial and natural light.

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

Interior Ideas & Inspiration

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