Hi Sheila,

Where exactly are you wanting to take the home, style-wise? The wall color looks pretty light already, so painting the beams white won't "lighten" anything much, though it will give a cleaner, fresher, more modern look. I'd probably paint the baseboards and door casings white as well, so that when you come in with wood floors, you are balancing the wood with some white. Other touches that will make the home look more current are removing popcorn ceiling (if budget allows) and replacing ceiling fans with either an interesting light fixture or (if heat demands) a more streamlined, modern fan. Hope that helps.

this photo has beachy color, but is a neutral color an option? most don't do that.

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Since you like a more traditional home, I wouldn't paint the beams as they bring that warmth of wood that is so wonderful in traditional homes.

I can't see much of your room, but one easy change would be to replace the dark valances with some colorful panel curtains.

If you post some more pictures of the room, I'm sure you'll get lots of helpful ideas on how to brighten it up without painting the beams. And btw, painting something that high is going to be a very time consuming job. If you hire it done, it's going to be expensive as it's such an odd area to paint.

Hello. To brighten and update the space consider painting all the wooden trim around the room white ... door/window casings, baseboard, perhaps the mantel as well. With all the trim painted white, either white or dark stained beams would work nicely. Here are a couple of examples. Good Luck!

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