The second room is what will be our dining room. Right now, it has wood paneling and carpet. I'm going to pull up the carpet and install hardwood flooring in that room. The room is pretty dark so I was thinking of lighter wood in the floor with a darker barnwood looking table. However I'm stumped for the walls! My plates are all a brick red color so I would like for that to be the color that pops out in that room but what should I paint the paneling?

Angle blue couch. A silvery grey with blue undertones. The paneling a sage green.

Here is a picture of my couch.

@happyleg so you think the paneling should be sage green? Will that look ok with my brick red dishes? It isn't like I'm going to have them out all the time - however, I would like to not have them clash if possible. Ha ha clearly I'm an over thinker :)

It will or you could do cream or butter.

Anyone else have any input? All suggestions are welcome :)

It might help if you put your room together first before picking wall colors, or at least show your fabrics and the other pieces of furniture you plan to use. Unless you want to go white, ( and boy, there are a ton of whites to choose from) colors on the wall are dependent on your furniture, window treatments, fabrics and accessories. Do you want your wall color to blend in, complementing your stuff, or do you want it to make a statement, highlighting your stuff?

I'd paint a gray with greenish undertones. Match the wood floor in the dining room to the wood in other areas. Use rugs in the dining area and living room to pull furniture groups together. Your red will be beautiful. You might also use a second accent color, maybe a grayed aqua. I'll look for a paint color to post along with some pictures.

Gray Owl walls by Ben Moore would be beautiful.

http://houzz.com/photos/1076743

Well the pieces of furniture I have in my living room will be the couch above, a dark expresso end table, a dark expresso colored coffee table and a tv. All of the accent colors will be dependent on what I choose for my paint color. I definitely do not want to go white. I read that for rooms on the north east corner of the house, blues, purples, and greens work well because of the sunlight entering the room.

I'm starting from a blank canvas. The only thing I know so far is that my furniture is dark brown so I would like that theme to be incorporated into every room with whatever other colors I choose.

I don't want anything over the top and I think that for both rooms, any dark colors are out. So I was thinking for the living room either a light blue or mint green and maybe a tan for the dining room.

I'm no expert though so I wanted to see what everyone else thought first.

in the LR, i'd paint the all of the trim work, windows, baseboards, and closet doors in a clean crisp white. that will neutralize that orangey wood tone which will effect your wall color options. I would definitely not go with a pastel-y mint green, but rather a soft gray with a subtle greenish-blueish undertone....look at ben. moore's beach glass. as far as the room with paneling....please keep in mind that a sage green is a true room darkener. it's base absorbs light rather than bounce light around, making spaces dark. if you want to brighten up the space, don't use a sage. and make sure you sand really well and use a high quality primer, or your newly painted finish will not adhere and will scrape off easily.

I was definitely planning on painting all of the trim white! I hate that orangey wood color! It sounds like soft gray with a green/blue undertone is the way to go :) I will look into that. Since the dining room is so dark, I do agree, I think I'm just going to go a tanish color.

I feel like I'm going to run into problems with trying to have the floor match the rest of the wood in the house. I will try to figure it out though!

HI -- The first thing that should be done when moving into a new to you house is to just do a general color through out like a warm white -- cloud white or an antique white ( BM paints ). This is until you get your furnishings around and decide on drapes and so on . The paint can even be a good primer to start and then everything would be ready for your colors when that is decided . For the paneled room , because it looks varnished it will be more involved getting a paint to adhere to that . I would remove all that paneling ... it's dated and you should have the electrical checked and updated anyway. The wood floors and trims in the house all seems to have a very orange tone to it so you will have to be careful about the paint colors you choose unless you are painting trims and re - staining the floors.

SW Misty Blue link

http://houzz.com/photos/419660

And one more question. For the entry way you see in the first picture I posted, do I paint that the same color as the living room? Or do I paint it something different?

i'd keep it the same or go slightly darker...from the same color strip for the entry. large area rugs will cover and protect your floors, which will fall into the background once the rooms are furnished. if you want a neutral for the paneled room, I'm loving ben. moore's revere pewter lately!

Yes.

Hey everyone. So I went to sherwin williams yesterday. There are so many colors eeek. I started using their online computer program to look at different colors in my room. This is what it would look like with a color called contented.

I plan on painting all the trim in the room white and the couch that is in the picture is not mine - it was the previous owners. Would this look ok? Or should I go with more of a neutral and then put pops of color in with the rug and pillows etc?

Also, should I paint the bay window all white as well if I'm doing the trim white? I wasn't sure if that is typical or not.

You mentioned pulling up carpet in dining room and adding hardwoods. Will the hardwood be the same as what is currently in family room? If not you may want to do a slate tile in there so the woods won't compete.

I have a floor guy coming Friday. Most likely the woods won't match up since it will be impossible to try and get them the same. I am going to paint those wood panels but I have no idea what color. I also don't know about which flooring to get for the dining room either :(

A dark gray-beige color would look nice with the sofa. Basically the color of the wall in the photo you sent of the sofa. Dining room could be a shade deeper.

Jamie, with chocolate and wood floors, if you are painting out all the trim and wood doors white, and painting out panelling, I cannot recommend the minty shades because they really will limit your color pops. If you paint one stick of trim, you must paint it all. I'm not sure you will actually like the result. The new "look" is a throwback to white white walls and lots of wood and wood trim, so you are hearing from some people above to head you in that direction. It requires more architectural interest and wood and depends on high end furnishings and accessories to make the look. I think using some color will help you get a better result.

Might I suggest (because of the expense and miles of primer) that you keep the wood doors and trim only in the living room, but instead of going with a white or offwhite, put a neutral with an olive undertone on the walls in the living room, and a deeper color on the panelling like a new england panelled room in kennebunkport.

I would suggest paris rain for the living room (with or without white trim) from Ben Moore (sw will match the bm colors closely if you are buying sw) and then your brights will b e unlimited - you can shift color accents without having to repaint since this is such a universal tone but not white or beige. .
http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/parisrain or spanish olive is near to this.
For the dining room, the painted panelling is going to be great - you can get such a terrific character look for that . . . and paint all of the woodwork the same as the panelling, so that is a better place (no furnishings will be there to tell the color story - only wall, chair seats and future drapery panels) to go for a blue green to bring in your color - and to go a bit deeper . . I want to suggest you try bm kensington http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/kensingtongreen

The green in the living room would may actually appear neutral but is more sophisticated than tan and will work because of the warmth in the green that resonates with the gold in your floors. Great with white or wood trim, either. Then, you can use pops of real brights - brick red (orange red), turquoise and all shades from coral to peacock are going to be gorgeous with the espresso.

This is a bit bolder than others have suggested, in an attempt to get you to the look I think you are describing . . . and incorporate the green blue green you love.

Paint panels a blue gray.

Thanks everyone! I'm going to pick up some samples tomorrow and head to the house!