It is personal preference but it sounds as though you definetly need to paint and the couch sounds great, the nice thing about paint is you can always change it, furniture is more of an investment, so keep that in mind. If you can stay away from a lot of prints in your furniture fabric it will last longer, style wise that is. Stripes are timeless you can decorate a lot around them they are one of the more flexible patterns out there. I think a burgundy couch sounds nice and with some complementing paint and great accents you would be good to go!

Hello,
I understand your color dilemma, it is a difficult issue matching some colors. My advice: do the walls and room colors first, you build a room in layers, so you have to start somewhere. It might also help to contact a professional decorator on this site. The wainscoating sounds like a keeper. You could always go with more of a neutral color scheme, maybe even earthy tones. Have you tried using the chairs anywhere else? What about painting the chair frames in black, ebony, or espresso, and re upholstering the chairs? There are a lot of great fabrics that may work better. But, The best bet: contact a decorator, they can give you a lot of great ideas and advice. Good luck !

I definitely like the idea of painting the walls a cream color and keeping the rest of the furniture in solids if you have a striped pattern on the chairs. Personally, I tend to use neutrals for both walls and furniture and save the more vivid colors for rugs and accents. I usually choose the living room area rug first and draw colors for the rest of the room from it. My main concern in the redecoration you are planning is that you describe the chairs as purchased on an impulse, which sounds like you are regretting the decision as it is forcing you to design the room around them. If that is the case I really would think carefully about whether you love the chairs enough to make their colors and style shape your whole room. If not, then find another place for them and design the room you truly want (or bring in a designer to help you create a room you'll be happy with for a long time).

I agree with Feeny that it's best to decide if you really love the chairs, which sound nice, or if you were just attracted to the colors or stripes.

Here are some potential options; restain the wainscoting to coordinate with whatever paint/wallpaper you choose:

1. Keep the chairs and get the couch you found; move current furniture to another room or donate it. Paint the walls gold based white and do the same for the ceiling; paint the walls gold based white and the ceiling in antique gold; paint the walls and ceiling gold based burgundy.

2. Return the chairs you bought. Depending on the colors in your current living room furniture, bring in whatever color most attracted you to the chairs in the form of art like "All About The Shoe" http://www.spkcreative.com/large-multi-view/gallery/1895950-1-89251/Photography.html#.T-hshGh970c, a rug and/or a vase. If the stripe pattern is what drew you in, paint the walls in a stripe pattern or get wallpaper that has one or two of the colors in the furniture.

Post pics when you're done.

Best regards,
Shari

spkcreative@gmail.com
www.spkcreative.com

My own living room furniture got a new lease on life after I repainted my walls. Furniture , sofa and love seat, had a floral pattern on a grayish beige background. When I painted LR walls a soft sage the furniture looked much brighter and newer.

But now you have your new furniture and can go either way. Think at this point I would decide what furniture I wanted in LR. Of course, removing wall paper is a ton of work (done that!). Would it be easier to wallpaper over existing wallpaper with something more neutral?

Thanks for all the suggestions! I have to go get some paint swatches for the wall and wainscoting. The room decor is 20 years old and needs refreshing. I have always loved color but been afraid to do much more than soft colors-now the kids are gone I want to tread where I have been afraid to go! Reinvent the "nest" so to speak & my hubby and I are looking forward to moving away from "safe" and kid oriented! It makes a fun thing to work on together! Thanks for the terrific ideas!

Enjoy!