I would paint the all the walls white. I would stain the beams dark...it will tie in with the dark leather pieces you have. Use the darker stain on the mantel, too.

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JudyG, your inspiration picture is rather more modern than our tastes. Also, there are other rooms in the house with the same wood tones, so staining them might not work. But I was wondering about some shade of white on the walls.

Sandradclark, I KNEW someone would suggest an area rug. We have had one in this room before, but when we adopted my in-laws aging dog (with aging dog issues) we had to temporarily remove the rug. I had not considered a kilim rug before, and will do so when we can have a rug again.

Are you ladies leaning towards a cooler paint color to balance all the warm wood, brick and leather? I hadn't considered that, but it makes sense.

What colors are used in the room beside this one? There are lots of colors that would look good here, and I always like colors in adjacent rooms to relate well to each other.

Would something like BM Guilford Green look good? It's one of BM's Historic Colors, and is a neither warm nor cool. The floors in these rooms look similar to your floor color.

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Would you consider painting your fireplace brick I light cream colour? If so then I would paint the walls a mid tone beige colour so that it would still keep the room nice and cozy but would give it a lighter feel. A lighter wall colour would also make your little red cupboard stand out nicely.

I would do any of the following

BM farm fresh, BM flawless,

I had thought I might pull out a color from the brick. There is no grey in it at all. The best way to describe it is pink with a whitewash to make it look old. VERY popular in the 70s.

The room that connects to it has the same wall color right now, because it is only divided with arches. I did not show a picture of it because right now it is rather a mess! But my plan is to paint both rooms the same, since they flow into one another.

Carol, I actually just created a Sherwin-Williams ChipIt card with one of your images. Take a look!

You can download the ChipIt app right from their website, and then create your own cards. It's a little too much fun, if you ask me! ;)

You're welcome! I looked to see if they had a mobile version of Chip It, but I couldn't find one. I do use Sherwin Williams' Color Snap on my phone. Benjamin Moore has something similar that IS mobile, and it's called Ben Color Capture. Have fun with it!

Carol, I hear you regarding asking some husbands about colors. I think a soft white would work...nothing too stark. Don't think you can go wrong that way.

So far the matched colors do kind of look like flesh pink tone colors, which is not a good thing. Sorry to say your hubby may have hit the mark when he said the color looked like a band-aid! lol

If you look at the color wheel, the complimentary colors to these peachy pink tones would be in the blue/green range and because we are trying to de-emphasize the fireplace color, I’d suggest a darker/muddier color rather than something bright. Some SW colors I think would do this nicely are Riverway, Mount Etna, or Rock Bottom. Let me know what you think!

change my suggestion. I would paint the whole room in a soft white including the fireplace

The flooring is classic and beautiful. The beams overhead are fine as well. You have a lot of dark objects now. The red walls are somewhat oppressive.

I suggest a limestone (no creams, pinks, rose etc.) for the walls and ceiling. Then perhaps paint the fireplace in similar tones.

Try to simplify things, especially the accessories.

Carol, get some soft white samples and see if you can blend something with the white-ish wash on your brick. My thinking is the same as yours...I thought we accent a color when we use something opposite on color wheel. For example, if you have honey oak cabinets, any blue-ish paint on the walls will make the cabinet color pop even more...? I might add I've never studied color theory but have heard things here on Houzz. Now I'm really confused!