Just wondering if you have an opinion on this please:Absolutely correct on both counts. Think about movie theaters, and how dark and unobtrusive the walls appear . The objective with entertainment rooms is to keep the focus on the screen. So, by painting the wall behind the television a dark, muted tone, the wall does not compete with the tv. Any time you have a high level of contrast, such as white (walls) and black (electronics), your eye is immediately drawn to where the two extreme values meet.
Is it better to have a dark color on the wall that a TV is on?
Is a flat paint preferable? -Karen
This is some random image I pulled off the web and then doctored to give you an example of what I mean. I wanted to show my neighbor's really great set-up in his basement, with chocolate brown walls behind his flat screen, and cappuccino-colored walls everywhere else. But I couldn't catch him in time for this article. Ah well, next time.And as for sheen: matte or flat paint, always. Any shine to the wall might produce a reflection from light sources in the room, and distract from the tv. Not to say that I believe a room should be dominated by the television set, but from a visual ergonomics perspective, low contrast is the way to go in this situation.