My husband and I are newlyweds living in a small apartment. All of our furnishings are of dubious long-term quality, with the exception of four items: our leather couch, a bamboo and glass end table, an orange and brown mid-century chair (inherited), and a federal-era burled maple side chair in need of new upholstery.

Thanks to the influence of the mid-century chair, our decor has leaned towards warm, rust tones. When I acquired the federal-era chair I immediately thought that an orange tone would look nice on it as well and would tie in with our other pieces. But as time has gone on, and I have put off the upholstery job, doubts have begun to creep in. I've realized that, if the mid-century chair were in a different room and we took the pillows off the couch, all of our pieces would be pretty neutral and we could go in any color palette direction that we choose.

This federal chair is gorgeous, from the early 19th century, and I plan to keep it around forever. I feel like whatever color I pick for it will influence all future decor choices. Basically, I feel like I'm at a design crossroads. Any advice, Houzz??

Here's a link to an ideabook I made with pictures of our various furniture pieces.
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/26172571/thumbs/Work-in-Progress

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