Thanks, @acm! Those are all nice examples. And yes. It's quite something. It's slightly less overwhelming with furniture in it, but still so very dark. I think you're right on with paint walls, leave ceiling wood. Just have to pick a shade of white....

But the blue-carpeted stairs! Please get those out of my eyes!!! Those things are going to haunt my dreams.

I think the wood has to stay on at least the fireplace wall. That wall makes a statement that drywall can't make. If you take the stone all the way up (nice idea), I'd enlarge the upper windows to butt up against the stone rather than have a thin strip of wood there.

Cool place. But the stairs...sheesh.

Those stairs can't be to code. They look very dangerous, especially if you have little ones! I'd take care of that first.

I would paint just the wall with the stairs, and then reassess (but also, remove that carpeting on the stairs, and install a handrail--wrought iron perhaps) (that stairwell scares me).

The wood on the fireplace wall will look good. You don't want this house looking like a suburban nightmare--acres of drywall = no.

Speaking of suburban nightmares, the kitchen looks odd. It might be just the photo and its lighting and perspective, but it looks like a little cubby in the distance with Home Depot cabinetry. I'd think about painting that. And maybe opening it up to the main space more.

Then, when all that's over, think about maybe painting the end walls. Maybe.

I would not ever paint the ceiling. I think it adds to the place.

My general comment is to embrace the space. It's on a ski hill in Aspen (or so I've decided). Go big or go home. That means, deer antler chandeliers, ironwork, Navajo quilts (hung like tapestries on those end walls). Rag rugs. A still off in the corner, for when grandma visits.

Thanks for the comments, everyone! Interesting idea to leave the fireplace wall the wood planks (and no paint). We'll have to think on that one.

Regarding the stairs, yes, the carpet will go for sure, we just want to get the walls done before we do that. As far as the safety concern, before we moved in, a railing was high on our priority list, but now that we use the stairs all the time, it doesn't bother us at all. Go figure. No kiddos, but the dogs seem to like the view from the landing.

This is our full-time home, so no antlers and tapestries for us. We're definitely bringing the house into the 21st century. It was built in '72 and best we can tell, they replaced wood with other wood in some of the rooms. The one room that they've redone that we LOVE is the kitchen. It was definitely a poor angle of it in the previous photo I posted. It's great and we love it.

For the stairs, we can't decide whether to do wood treads or keep it carpeted. For the dogs, the carpeting seems like the safer option, though nice wood treads (and white/cream walls) would look visually better. I think we'd have to replace what's installed now - It feels like it was built for carpet. Stairs lead up to the master bedroom so they are used often.

Agree with taking care of stairs first. FYI to paint you don't have to sand first. Just use a sanders oil based primer like Zinsser Coverstain first, adheres to even glossy surfaces and holds down oil based stains.

Paint the fireplace wall.

don't let the hoardes talk you out of it.

it's so busy the stone isn't really even visible.

you will not regret it!

:)

Do paint the brass fireplace front black though.

ACM: Her original post said that they were going to redo the fireplace and take it all the way to the ceiling, which means there will be less wood visible, and wood tones will go much better with the stone than paint.