You can't beat creamy pale buttercream walls with navy. Bright white trim. Good wood furniture, a wool sisal rug. Prints and stripes with a lot of white or ivory background for generous-sized pillows, to lighten all that dark leather.

If you like a nautical feeling, use some lighter blues and white in fat stripes and geometrics with a teeny touch of red, something in sand colored and/or off-white canvas, and brass and glass lamps and accessories. Sailboats and navigational charts on the wall in natural frames.

For a crisp modern look, bold patterns (again on white backgrounds) in coral and bright yellow, silver and white accessories, including lamps, a big mirror in a battleship gray frame somewhere, one big dramatic reproduction of an antique poster (travel, food or wine advertising, opera).

If you'd prefer something more organic, a mix of a little deep leaf green (think boxwoods, magnolias, gardenias) and a light brighter green (Granny Smith apples, ferns, the insides of limes) with more white, and a little bit of coral or terracotta. Fat ceramic or glass lamps. Oversized botanicals on the walls, or large-scale black and white photographs of natural wonders (waterfalls, deep woods, canyons, mountains). Lots of baskets.

Plenty of lamps with ivory lampshades in any case.

I shut up now.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but of course I can't find photo when I want to! I like all of bronwynsmom's suggestions, but what I first thought of was a more 'bookish' room, a deep red oriental or tribal rug, with medium cherry wood cabinetry, and lots of books.

I thought of a browned peach color to make those sofas pop and with accents of greens and whites,

Hard to make suggestions without knowing what color the flooring is, what other furniture, particularly case goods, exist in the space.

Also depends on whether you want a modern feel, or something more traditional. You have gotten lots of great suggestions.

One thought would be a warm beige tone on the walls, lots of copper or bronze accessories, and a few touches of plum as the accent color.
Take this rug: a choice of three palettes right here. The burgundy for a more traditional feel, the beige background for a softer feel. The blue rug would work for what I just described. Use the lighter beige color for the color family of the walls, perhaps a shade or two darker. Then pick up the bronze tones in the rug for lamps, pillows, accessories. Add some touches of plum here and there.

linden street rug

A second thought would be a soft turquoise on the walls, and then a medium coral color as the accent. This rug would work:

babylon rugs

But some of that really does depend on what else will be in the room, the floor,and the style you are seeking.

How about the Linden Street rug that Les suggested in ivory and then these JCP drapes in champagne??
You could do your walls in a rich cream color, pale gold or soft sea blue~

Here is a link that might be useful: jcp drapes

I believe this post is calling me. We have a smoky navy chenille sectional, our walls are painted Beeswax (a medium ochre color) and we recently purchased the Linden Street Cavalier rug in ivory. I chose the Cavalier rug in ivory because of the background color and the fact that it lightens up the room because of the darker colors of the walls and sofa. Our trim is white and our hard case furniture is black. Our ottoman is a muted golden-olive color and our accents are cream, white, ochre and earthy muted colors.

I don't have a photo of the room with the rug yet becausewe just put it in place this past week and I've been in the throes of cooking and canning tomato sauce and I am in overload mode LOL. I will take and post a photo when I get a chance. Also, the throw pillows have been changed out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cavalier in cream

This thread might help. I just acquired a dark dusty blue chenille sofa, so I've been thinking about colours, too. At this time I'm leaning to a pale yellow or gold, but the right green would be nice, too. My hope is to stumble on fabric for curtains and cushions that will become my inspiration.

...Pam

Here is a link that might be useful: Navy blue leather sofa? and what chairs?

mrsmarv...I love that room!

prairiedawnpam... you have a good memory~~ great thread to post!

bluesky2010...do these ideas help??

A bit late with posting a photo, but here's the Linden Street "Cavalier" rug in ivory with our sectional. I moved the ottoman away so you could see all the colors and the overall pattern. It goes beautifully with the fabric on the sectional, the ottoman fabric, and the whole room. We love it!

I LOVE that rug! Is there coordinating fabric?

I would choose rust red accents to warm up the room with an Oriental rug with rust red and navy tones with perhaps also cream. Cream and rust red striped drapes would look nice and patterned pillows for the furniture with rust as the main color.

Pam ~ I don't know of any cordinating fabric. The rug is from JCP. If I were to choose a fabric it would probably be a stripe or a color-on-color diamond patterned jacquard.
Our WT's are a simple corduroy in a camel/ochre color (see the other photo above).

Love the rug! I would still use your tapestry pillows as well. :)

mrsmarv- I love your sofa. Where did you get it?

Laurie