Attached is a picture of the main wall that needs to be painted as well as a picture of my recliner.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

The lighting is not sufficient to give an answer. Your wall of samples appears to be in a tangerine glow.

whatever you choose make it the lightest shade it will make the space seem larger good luck

Sorry about that photo since it does really look like tangerine colored walls! It's amazing how the color looks totally different at certain angles to the difference in light. I think the (4) recessed lights should help, but is this something I should be concerned about when picking an color?

I think the one that I really liked was paper white, but all my friends were telling me that there is no point to paying an painter if u are basically doing the same color.

Are all 3 of those pictures shades of beige? I'm decent at being creative with decorating, but color is something I am 100% out of my element with.

The apartment gets some sunlight during the day, but it's definitely not a place that is full of light. Am I limited to just light colors or could I even do beige? The ones I have on the wall I thought we me too dark.

How do the colors make you feel? Are you drawn to one? It also depends on your purpose - which I think is mostly to brighten up the room. The furniture color will come into play, but the room is busy as it is. And a good portion of the wall is blocked. Another option would be to paint the brick and cinder blocks - or at least the blocks - that would brighten the space up, too. I wouldn't add crown moulding.

I like the lightest one, 2nd in from the left. It looks like to me you have some fun colorful art. The lighter color will let the art really shine.

Yea I'm leaning towards the one you picked as well as the smaller one next to it since I'm really scared to go too dark.

Totally unrelated, but I just picked up a really cool end table lamp.

Naylor - why wouldn't you add the crown molding? In regards to busy, what do u mean?

If your sofa is brown and the chair is ??beige?gray? Beautiful rug and it has a lot of blue in it. I might go with a light blue/gray. Take a look at Benjamin Moore "Though the Looking glass.

Attached is a photo that was my inspiration behind the crown molding. I'm nervous about this now since I don't want my apartment to look like crap!

The chair is kinda grey and the other photo is my end table for the recliner. Thank you for the compliment on the rug - I'm really a big fan of it.

Don't panic. My take on the crown molding is that it is not really needed. By busy I am guessing that he means you already have a lot of interest and texture with the brick wall. Adding it is certainly not going to make the room look like crap, it just seems to me, anyway, of waste of money as you don't need it but it won't hurt either.

Susan -

This is the first apartment I have owned so all of this design/decision making is stressful at times. I agree that I don't necessarily need the crown molding, but I think it could be nice since I want it throughout the entire apartment. The contractor I found wasn't that expensive so to patch holes from demo, so crown molding, and paint it's only $3,100.

Outside of what you see, I need to get new window treatments (know nothing about those), and will thrown a bunch of clutter stuff out of the living room. I think I will get some more light grey samples since I really don't want to go too dark since my taste in art is definitely eccentric.

Oh and in terms of paint, I have to paint the entire apartment - will need to think about the bedroom and bathroom color.

Hi---

Nice space. Of the colors you posted, I prefer the lightest color.

Love the exposed brick, not the cinder block. Reminds me of a basement, sorry. Crown would be nice, but is not necessary---the brick and cinder block wall is where you might want to invest your $$$.

Your kitchen is Beautiful! Excellent choices.

Hope this is helpful. Good Luck!

Haha..can't go wrong with the basement look! It was a pretty depressing moment when I came home to the exposed brick to see that damn cinder block. I honesty don't mind it and actually kinda like it, but I can see how people wouldn't like it. In the event that I wanted to sell my place I could always Sheetrock the wall back up.

Appreciate the compliments on the kitchen, this was a fun project and I was really happy how it came out. Really love the slate backsplash.

For the crown molding paint color, should I use do just a nice coat of white paint?

You could paint it white or 1-2 shades lighter than the wall color. :))

Sorry about the cinder block comment. :D It's not terrible, just not as appealing as the brick. I'd have a graffiti artist come in and have at it---♡ that look. :))

Make sure to keep us updated. Looking forward to seeing the renovations. Good Luck with your project!

The white paint on the molding sounds good. You want some contrast with the walls.

Don't be sorry - I thought it was funny! Really excited for everything to get finished so we can all see how it looks.

By busy, I mean that the room already has a lot in it. Maybe it's just too dark? Also, it seems the ceilings are too low - as there appears to be a 2 in. at most gap between window and ceiling. You're putting a lot into this apt. - over $3,000 - especially since it's your first one. (Assuming you're paying for all this and landlord has approved these changes.) What about hiring a local interior designer, practicing college student to help with decisions? And if you plan on getting new track lighting - wait until that is in before you pick a color.

I agree with the above. Wait and get the lighting done first before deciding on a color. I love the idea of a graffiti artist (contact local art colleges for a student wanting a little work) to do a design or piece of work over the cinderblock-not so much to "cover them up" as more to draw your attention from the actual block to the artwork they hold.

Yea - definitely spending an decent amount of my money, but unfortunately any work in New York is super expensive. I at least own the place and the market is doing well, so it's not like I am doing all of this for an rental unit. The room is very dark right now due to the lighting, but I will get that resolved next week since I'm getting (4) recessed lights installed. Once I have that done I will send some new pictures so everyone can get a better idea of whether or not an certain paint color would work.

You are in fact correct about the space between the Window and the ceiling which is why I was going to do very thin molding like shown in the picture. The molding is something I definitely don't need, but I just thought it could look good throughout the apartment and my bedroom.

While I don't need an interior decorator to come in and opine on all new furniture, it could be a good idea to have someone stop in and look at the arrangement of everything as well as some paint color options. The only piece of furniture that I am getting rid of is the black wine cabinet by the window since I am going to just move the medical cabinet in its place.

Sounds like a good plan. I'm in NY too - 3 hours north. Definitely makes a difference when you own the place. Crown moulding could work - especially since it's being done thru-out. Having another set of eyes in the room will help too. At least you have time to think about it. I'm sure it will turn out great.

So the lights are officially in and I'm really happy with them since they add so much light to the place. Now that we have improved lighting, what do we think about colors?

The wall with paint

Did we decide to just paint the cinder block the same color as the brick to make it blend in? Such a shame to paint that brick.

BTW, wow on the new lighting.

The brick is not going to get painted, think it looks better with the lighting actually. With the lighting I think I can go a little darker with the pant.

Lighting looks great. Big difference. It's really hard to choose/see the colors, but my first reaction is the actually the darker/middle one.

Now with all the light, I kinda like the cinderblocks, ya know DIY NYC

I agree on the darker color-with your new lighting, I think it would tie in the cinderblocks a little better. :)

Really pleased how it came out. Really amazing how much improved lighting helps. Now we just need to get this apartment finished and get rid of those damn windown treatments!

Also don't want to make things super complicated, but I am open to some other paint color selections rather than being limited to what's on the wall.

Not sure if this has been suggested, but when sampling paint, don't paint the sample directly on the wall with the old color. It needs to be painted on a big white piece of cardboard and hung on the wall, so the color is true.

I like the one all the way on the left. It seemsto have ssome warmth, but not too dark. I've heard good things about BM White Dove, which I have heard is a warm white. May want to sample it, too.

A tapestry may look nice on the brick/block wall...give the room some 'pop' color and design.??