I'd find a rug before choosing the wall color. I think the purple sofa against a muted gold wall could look great. But -- find the rug first.

I would go very light walls...dove grey....perhaps a very grey-ish pale wine...
As for floors....I think I would love a dark stained wood....
(or you could go for a white polar bear rug...to fulfill your DH's prophesy!))
Lots of natural brass....creamy candles and perhaps a very classy stainless steel and glass coffeetable.
Linda c

Definitely get a rug first, to enhance the sofa, then pick wall paint last to enhance the whole room.

Dark purple goes surprisingly well with all kinds of colors.

I'd be inclined to go for a medium-dark olivey green -- but wait until you get the sofa, THEN get the rug, THEN paint.

I love eggplant and light blue...

Eggplant and sage; eggplant and "pumpkin"; eggplant and gray; eggplant and golden tan/yellow. Lots from which to choose. I loooove eggplant.

This is what we did with our "purple couch". I would get the rug first then paint. And no, the rug doesn't need to be darker than the sofa, it just needs to coordinate somehow.

Thank you for your advice.

We're a bit stuck on the rug color. I guess I left out some important info. Because the sofa and chairs are solid, we've been looking for fabric to cover some of the sofa pillows. We've found 1 that has a bit of eggplant, some burgundy, green, greenish-gold and the background is a faded black. Also, our living room is connected to our kitchen/dinette (which we'll probably paint the same color as the living room). On the other end of the kitchen/dinette is the doorway to the dining room which is a metallic olive green. I think RL's torch. So, the living room is visible from the dining room and vice versa. The eggplant is pretty with the olive, but I don't want my whole house the same color. Would a bluish, greenish, gray clash or be too similar to the olive?

If I just think about the rug, should I try to find one with the eggplant in it, or sage or maybe black? I was told that if my rug is lighter than my sofa, the furniture would appear to be floating.

Your advice is truly appreciated,
Kitty

I'm with you, Tracy_B! Those combinations are beautiful.

Something to remember: Eggplant is a really, almost perfect balance between the red and blue to make purple. If it is eggplant and not just dark purple.

Whatever color you use on your walls will lean the purple towards being more red or more blue. If you use a gray, be careful about its blue and/or red content. Same with tans, browns, and other "neutral" colors.

Having not seen pictures, I can't speak to your other colors. I think I'd go with something that didn't balance red and blue in them. Like the muted gold or soft pumpkin. Something without a blue/red combo.

Just my color senses playing around in my noggin.

You need to post a pic of the sofa! It sounds awesome, and I love hoosiergirl's. I agree, all of the above suggestions will work. I think a dove grey on the walls would be gorgeous!

Thanks, Gsciencechick!

Kitty, if you have or can find or take photos of the sofa and chairs/ottoman, that would be very helpful. (I'm not sure what color dark granite would be.) Also, a photo of the room would help, to see the floor color, trim, etc.

mnkitty-

An olive green, spring green, mango or turquoise blue would be nice on the walls, I'm not much of a gray fan, but YMMV. Here's a link to a rug that may work, I'm considering it for my den, which is getting finished in May (I hope).

Good luck, and post pics, I want to see the purple sofa too.

sandyponder

Here is a link that might be useful: C&B Lexi Rug

The problem that I see is that most rugs with purple in them (that come to mind anyway) are more contemporary, and you don't sound like you're into contemporary. Maybe a natural fiber rug (although that might be too casual) or somewhat of a solid rug like the one linked below (which does come in other colors as well)?

Here is a link that might be useful: rug

Lots of colors will go with your sofa, eggplant is fairly easy to mix and coordinate with.
I once had tweed sort of sectional that read "eggplant" and also had med tone gray leather side chairs. My area rug had different shades/tones of blue, terra cotta, salmon, different shades tones of a grayish eggplant, ruby red, Teal, and a yellowish orange. My walls were my all time favorite yellow called "cut squash" by behr, it's a warm med tone rich easy to live with yellow with a smidge of orange. I also had some eggplant accent walls. You did well in choosing eggplant because you have lots of options.

Do you like Chinese Deco rugs? They combined traditional Oriental rug and Art Deco motifs and gold, purple, burgundy and green are all common colors in these rugs.

In many ways purple can be a near neutral in that it goes well with many other colors, one of the major exceptions being dark red, unfortunately. But Dark red is one of those colors that works with many others too--except most purples. Kind of ironic isn't it.

I love the combination of purple and charcoal. I also love mixing purple, gray, and white. In fact, my living room currently has dark purple sofas (kind of eggplant color - but a deep rich dark color) and silvery gray walls and white trim. So, I may be biased, but I love the idea of light gray walls and white trim.

What is your style? Contemporary? Transitional? Traditional? Can you share any pictures of the new furniture?

I do not think the rug necessarily has to be darker or as dark as your sofa. Nor do I think the rug has to have purple in it. You probably don't want too many colors going on, but it doesn't have to match the sofa necessarily.

We have an eggplant couch and chair plus the oriental rug already. I needed a color to go with the furniture plus the fireplace marble surround. I tried 9 colors until my friends suggested creamy orange (BM 2166-50) and soft pumpkin (BM 2166-40). I HATE orange but it was fantastic with the fireplace and the room looks great. I get lots of compliments.

Helena Rubinstain and her purple chair:

I love a deep rich purple and think you can go in many directions. I'd shop for a rug with an open mind and let something call your name. Then, you have a direction for the paint color. I love putting a bright kiwi colored green with a rich purple, but that is not for everyone. A soft off white would work well too. Yellows of almost all tones look nice. You really can do almost any color, but I'd shy away from red (dh is right), burgundy, pink or powder blue.
Let the rug be your guide and try not to pre-plan until you have found the perfect rug for your house.

You have me missing my eggplant sectional! This area rug is close to the colors I had except there was a little more teal. It looked great with my behr cut squash walls. You'll notice there are some shades that others don't recomend but when it's in small bits in a multi colored carpet it looks good. You can mix most all colors with eggplant.

http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/?action=view&current=eggplant-trimmed-stem.jpg"; target="_blank">

Thank you, so much, for the pictures and replies. I don't have a picture of the sofa, but I can show you a picture of the sofa fabric and accent pillow fabric. I will try to do that this evening.

I have no time right now, but I wanted to quickly thank you for all the helpful input.
Kitty

Chinese Deco Rugs in typical color palettes:

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Pal, love that first area rug!

hoosiergirl - Oh! I love you paint color. Do you know what it is?

Thanks, Msrose! (I do love it, too!) It's Antique Bronze by Porter Paints (a midwest paint company), but you could have it color-matched by SW or BM if you don't have them near you...

You could go traditional with this Asian Hand-knotted Fleur-de-lis Royal Purple Wool Rug~

or try stripes...
http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Flat-Woven-Purple-Keeland-Wool-Rug-5-x-8/5793532/product.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Asian Hand-knotted Fleur-de-lis Royal Purple Wool Rug

This is the sofa and accent fabric.

http://s1184.photobucket.com/albums/z335/mnkitty/

Thank you Palimpsest, Some day I'll figure out how to do that. The colors aren't exact but close. I think and hope it looks a little better in person.

I really like many of the Chinese Deco rugs. My husband thinks we should do neutral walls and a neutral rug. I am not convinced. I'm even second guessing the accent pillow fabric that we just ordered.

You're all right. There are many options that would work with eggplant. That may be my problem. I like many different looks and I'm not sure how to narrow it down.
Kitty

Hi mnkitty, Your pillows are very pretty but do you think picking them before the rug will make rug shopping even harder?

Personally, I'd try not to use purple as an accent in other elements in your room unless it is either noticeably darker or lighter. We used a dark rich purple on the walls of our den and dining room and I doubt any other element will be purple in those rooms (2 purple walls in an open plan). Purple is a statement color, so a little goes a long way. It is my fave color, so it is not about liking it or not, just being careful.
We did a slightly lighter dark purple ceiling in our master with matching purple stencils on 2 walls on a light gray background with medium/dark gray carpet and I think I may have overdone it by using a pale lavender on the master bath walls. The lavender is a lovely color and looks great with the room but it may be too much purple in one area. I am going to give it time, but I may go with a medium/dark gray there in a year or so. The room is very light in the a.m. and a little tough on eyes that are just waking up. I love the look, but it may need to change.
I know when I add new bedding, it will not have anything from the purple family in it.

These are our original inspiration colors. I think this is the direction we should go. Any ideas how to incorporate these?
Thanks,
Kitty

Gold or lighter green walls and a deep sage green rug, if your husband wants to go plain would work nicely with the purple and the accent fabric you have picked. The fabric is Jacobean which goes along with your tudor revival leanings.

I just had to tell you that I love your fabrics and your inspiration colors photo is gorgeous!!!

jterrilynn, I think having a color in mind, when I shop for rugs, may help me. When we've looked at rugs my DH said I looked at the rugs like they were art hanging on a wall. I found many that I liked, but they were all very different from eachother and I wasn't narrowing things down. BTW, the rug you posted is very pretty.

Dianalo, I would love to see your purple ceiling. I thought about doing the same thing in our bedroom. I wasn't sure what I would do with the walls.

Palimpsest, Thank you for all your input. We are thinking of plastering the walls and/or paneling the bottom half. Do you think it would be too much to do both on the same wall?

Hoosiergirl, Thank you for the nice compliment and the photo. It's very comforting to know there are other purple couch people out there. I think my in-laws find it a bit shocking.

If it were me I would just paint and not do a wainscot or chair rail treatment.

I don't have a purple sofa - but I did try to take one from another GW poster once.

I think a pattern in the rug would look best. check flooring stores. I looked at a few around here and they have everything - and gorgeous!

Congrats on the new sofa. Purple can be spectacular. Here are some color scheme inspiration pics for you:

Cher's sitting room:

Hope there's something there that helps you.

Funny, Desertsteph. I found 1 rug that has a pattern but only 1 color. I'll try to post a pic. of it later. My girls think it's perfect, but DH thinks it's too monotone.

Oceanna, Thank you so much for all the photos. I saw other photos of yours on the gallery. It's great to get ideas from others and so nice of you to share.
Kitty

Do you have the sofa already? Since you posted that your fav styles are "French country, English tudor, Spanish Revival, Gothic Revival" I would not repaint until you see the sofa in the room. The dark eggplant may look great with the dark red walls and it would be too bad to give up a color you really like. It could be really perfect for you.

Here's a photo of my one-and-only living room with two plum/eggplant sofas ... right now there are more accessories on the tables etc.

This is the summer photo ... for the winter months we put down an old Heriz rug and add pillows and throws to the sofas and chairs.

hope this helps!

Thanks, Kitty. Your inspiration colors look gorgeous, and I'm so glad you enjoy the photos I post. I love inspirational photos. Please share your before and after photos with us. I can't wait to see what you do!

Sorry, I forgot to thank Sandyponder and loribee for the rug photos.

Also, the chairs are a dark graphite not granite. so, basically charcoal.

Luckygal, I don't have the furniture yet. However, my DH is convinced the walls need to be lighter. I'm o.k. with that. I've had dark walls for 5 1/2 years and I like change. Maybe we're getting classier. Sorry, I know I shouldn't throw that in there. I hate when people fight. Anyway, we have horrible light carpet that we are going to change so, I'm afraid with dark walls, dark floors and dark furniture it might be too dark.

Oceana, The room is so ugly right now; I'd be embarassed to show you even if I can fix it. Maybe, once it's fixed, I'll be able to share how horrible it was.

Teacats, Thank you for the picture. I like your paneled walls and wood floors. I'm not sure how we're going to approach our walls yet but, we will definitely put in wood floors. It may not be for a while though because we have so many projects and, I'd like to do the whole main floor at the same time. Sadly, we'll have to carpet the living room one more time.