Painting living / dining area?

Question

I am going to paint my living room / dining area. I want to add color. It is a medium size space that is longer than it is wide. The dining area is small and is in front of the living area, so the couch kind divides the spaces. The small dining area has three small walls, one of which has bay windows. I know the ceiling will be white, with the brown wood colored beams. From the chair rail moulding down will be white or off white, I would like to add color, or colors to the top half of the walls, are there 2 colors that would look good with each other and with the carpet for each area of the room? I have a light blue carpet that I hate, and dont want blue colors on the walls. I plan to one day change to hardwood floors, but would like something that would not clash with the carpet too bad for now. Thanks for your ideas!

My sofa is a sectional, in a much darker blue than the carpet, with tiny burgandy pinstripes, cordaroy type material, my dining table and other funishings are dark wood. I have a fireplace that is white painted brick, set in a square shaped set of walls that protrude out of the middle of my back living room wall on the narror end. I really do not like blue at all, but that is what I have now.

Oh oops narrow! lol

Answer 1

I think that you should get rid of your chair railing actually, it is preventing you from using accent walls and probably makes the room feel smaller with the wood beams on the ceiling. There are so many great taupes and tans out there, you should get some samples and experiment with a few. I like the idea of gold too, it sound like it would suit the room. For accent colors, I would suggest burgundy, navy blue(I know you don't want it, but make it really dark) or an eggplant. You should paint one of the longer walls that go through both rooms as this will make it feel wider. As an accent in the dining area, you could use 4 or 5 complementary colors to block paint(18 to 24 inch squares) the end wall to give it interest or put up floating shelves and display pretty glassware or put up a display of 6 to 9 pretty prints to give the same effect.

Answer 2

Light colors would make the space seem larger, dark smaller.What color[s] are in your upholstery, curtains, other fabrics? If you use one of the colors in your prints it will 'tie' the area together making it look 'finished'.
Otherwise, paint the room you spend the most time in your favorite color; second amount of time, second favorite; etc.
Get input from other people in your home.
Go to the paint/hardware store and get some free color samples! Pin the ones you like on the wall for a few days and you'll probably be very happy with your choice.

Answer 3

I would suggest gold and brown,
Benjamin Moore: Adams gold or Princeton gold with norwick brown or Woodstock tan.
also I would say that the chair rail molding should be creamier and blend more with the wall colour as apposed to a stark white which might just will emphasize the blue carpet.

Answer 4

Dark colors will make the room smaller. What about the same color above and below the chair rail, with the rail as accent?

Answer 5

colors to go with the carpet should be light as well...maybe a light pale green,light gray,pale yellow,as the wood floors you put in later
will go well with lighter colors too..as dark colors do diminish room size...however the trim could be a darker shade to serve as a dominant trim,adding dimension and depth to the rooms..

Answer 6

Pale warm/smokey Grey

Answer 7

any shade of gold - kind of makes a room sort of glow. there is a beautiful gold color at restoration hardware. you can look at it on their website.