West light is a tricky customer because it changes character through the day. In the morning and early afternoon it's flat and cool — sometimes a bit grey-blue — and then come late afternoon it warms up dramatically with that lovely golden, almost amber glow at dusk. The trick is to pick colours with a touch of inherent warmth so they don't go cold and dreary in the morning, but won't turn brassy when the sun drops in the evening.
For that reason, gently warm tones are your friends here. If you want something soft and sunny, Dulux Pharaohs Gold 2 (LRV 67.1) gives you a light, mellow gold that lifts beautifully at dusk without screaming yellow. For a deeper, more grounded feel, Dulux Cardamom Pod (LRV 46.8) is a cracking mid-tone that holds its own in the cool morning light and glows in the evening.
Love your greens? Sanderson Artichoke (LRV 42.8) is a muddied, slightly olive green that flatters west light brilliantly — the warmth in the pigment stops it tipping cold by day. And if you fancy a touch of pink-plaster warmth, Crown Candy Clay (LRV 30) is a rich, cosy choice for a snug or a dining room where you want that dusk light doing the heavy lifting.
"But I want it light and airy." Fair enough — west-facing rooms can take a clean white if you keep a hint of warmth in it. Crown Sail White (LRV 83.3) is a soft, easy white, and Paint & Paper Library Sand I (LRV 95.4) is about as bright as it gets while still reading warm rather than clinical. Avoid the very cool, blue-leaning whites — they'll look grey and miserable on a dull morning.
My practical advice: paint a big test patch on the wall that gets the most light and live with it for a full day. West light swings so much between 9am and 6pm that a sample you only check at lunchtime will mislead you. Watch it at dusk especially — that's when west-facing rooms come alive.
It applies across rooms too: west light's cool-by-day, golden-at-dusk character is the same in a kitchen, snug or nursery, so let the orientation choose the colour and the room choose the finish — hard-wearing in kitchens and halls, soft low-sheen in bedrooms and nurseries.