Personally, I vote for painting the entire area one color. Sometimes an accent color can come off as "didn't have enough guts to paint the whole thing". To keep it classic looking, you could do a neutral like Sherwin Williams' Bittersweet Stem or Tamarind or if you wanted to be a little more daring, you could consider a sunnier yellow tone like August Moon. Will you keep the existing furniture? If so, maybe we could pull a color from those pieces?

By the way, I ADORE your floors! Lucky to have them!

Thanks Kerrie - I love the floors and do feel lucky to have them. The pics are from the listing, the house professionally stage (save the dark green paint below the chair rail). So the furniture you see is long gone. Now I have a clean palette to work with save for my Baby Grand ebony piano now. Maybe the new furniture pattern/color could be more the accent? The house architecture is Mediterranian lines without being overtly grand. I will be going with Brazilian cherry w/white kickbacks on the steps to match the small open libray at the top of the steps.

Kerrie - I just took a look at the colors you suggested. Both are very appealing. I will get both as samples to see how they play off the deep black tiles at night and the ample natural light from the windows. I may want to work both colors into the house as they are so nice, neutral and I can accessorize to my heart's content. Thank you - thank you. When I get some painting done (probably february) I will post some "after" pics! :)

Been thinking about your space all afternoon. My mind won't stop decorating it! Beautiful home! I would go for a bold accent color. As kerriekelly stated above, I would go for a sunny yellow or a tuscany gold. I can envision your sofas slipcovered in white duckcloth (super kid and pet friendly, you can bleach them). I think throw pillows to pick up the gold/yellow accent color as well as adding red pillows and other red and yellow accent pieces would pull the room and adjoing foyer together. I would either paint below the chair rail in the living room the same as the foyer or paint it all white. Good luck. Keep us posted and send photos of your decison, please!

WJOY -
oh - all the choices...I so love color!

WJOY -
I had been looking at sail cloth for some outdoor treatments - but I did some checking at FFC on their Duckcloth color selections to use as upolstery and or drapery. I found some very nice colors - Jade (SW11874), Currant (SW11870) and two shades of yellows; Sadie Duck Gold (SW5830), and Sadie Duck Yellow (SW5744). My favorites so far are the Jade andthe yellow as both either works well as window treatments for both front room and foyer windows. That leaves me with a white neutral for the furniture and coloring the rest of the room with accessories (pillow, art, ect). Thanks for you suggestion. Between you and Kerrie I am now begining to "see" what I had envisioned in my mind. I can't thank either of you enough!

roldham44-
Best of luck with your decorating. I know with color in the foyer and in your pillows, art and decorating accessories your beautiful home will be a real showplace and a wonderful place to be. I will look forward to seeing photos of the results.

If you're looking for more information, here's a great article … just Google ... Yahoo! The Color Perfect: Finding The Perfect Colors For Your Furniture, Flooring, Walls, And Accessories … It's an easy read with lots of tips you can use on the subject.

Here's a great site to purchase black and white continuous vinyl checkered floor

www.checkeredfloor.com

They have it in small width size and large width size for small or large projects. Like kitchens & garages for the large size width and bathroom, laundry or car trailers for the small width. Only takes about a week to get.