How old is the house? Is the wood panelling original or a later addition? Have you tested the finish to see if it is older varnish or modern polyurethane?

i do have a white that calms all pinks and reds. Cottage white by Behr. you will not be able to tell till it is next to the red.

dark or light?

The ceiling color is really harsh, original plaster? Lots of grey that is sucking the life out of everything. You must paint the ceiling preferable a soft color throughout the house. Think In your eyes blue, by BM

The house is 94 yrs old. We are renovating top to bottom. The existing paint is a dull off white best I can tell. The trim I believe is the unvarnished original!

This is a beautiful room. Get rid of the rose colored drapes, add your furniture and furnishings, change your light bulbs to a cooler white, and the red undertone may take care of itself.

The old finish on the beautiful woodwork may be compatible with some current finishes, if not, you could consult a pro about traditional shellac. The old house forum on gardenweb has a lot of helpful people, too: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/oldhouse

For a color palette, I suggest first taking a door or drawer to a good local paint store to find a stain chip on a stain company brochure that matches the color. Cut it out, tape it to an index card and carry it around in your wallet. While you are there, pick up the brochures on "historic colors" and "contemporary colors". Your modern palette may well be one of those combination on its third revival from 94 years ago.

It is far easier to imagine and test new colors once you have primed the painted walls and ceilings in white primer and changed the light bulbs to new LEDs. Experiment with warm white and sunlight LED colors.

At the right time of year, prune any overgrown shrubs and trees away from the windows where they may be blocking much of the light.

Here's a collection of photos that may have inspirational color palettes:

https://www.houzz.com/photos/query/panelled-library

Bright navy blue is a newly trendy color that can be paired with linen or cream tones.

Another idea for whole house palettes is to find an inspiration piece: printed fabric, patterned rug, art piece, or painted ceramic bowl you love. Use the colors throughout the house. This article has a couple of beautiful examples:

[https://www.houzz.com/magazine/decorating-101-how-to-choose-your-colors-stsetivw-vs~28100106[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/decorating-101-how-to-choose-your-colors-stsetivw-vs~28100106)

https://www.houzz.com/user/evilfij

this is a man who is redoing a tudor to original finish. try writing to him through his ideabooks. he knows a lot about the finishes etc.

Definitely need to hire a pro, you have great elements here and don't recommend painting or refinishing the wood at this time.

Pic on the stair.. change out the baluster (verticals) to a different material such as iron or metal. Depending on your design style lots of options here. Recarpet staircase to a lighter color, texture.

Fireplace room looks pretty good, want to heighten the ceiling? I would recommend painting the ceiling beams or whitewashing to blend with the ceiling more. Furniture placement here is key with area rugs.

The shelving area need some work, and that is where you want to be careful. Call me and I can work with you on a fee for recommendations for this room.

561-745-6919 Southeast Interior Designwww.southeastinteriordesign.com

I kinda think if you use the basic rules we always use, it will not fail you now. paint comes after all the other decor. you should start with a rug and then pull from there. but i have found that rugs are in every color, couches are not. so i go there first and then go to the rug.

so something along this line?

see? it guides the rest of the room?

What a beautiful home! I just finished a handsome English Tudor for a client. I would recommend toning the woodwork if the undertone is too much for you. Another thought is to pickle some or all of the woodwork. If you wish to leave the woodwork as is I recommend a soft palette of oyster white, pale platinum, celadon, charcoal grey and greyed lavender. Good luck with your project!

Thanks for all the post so far! The drapes are a vestige from the prior owner they won't survive the change in control lol. I'm partial to blues and appreciate the pics folks posted. I'm liking the darker moody colors as well but I'm afraid they may be overwhelming. The rooms are well proportioned but I'm losing my current 9' ceilings. Ceiling height here is only 8"

well at least in that room, you do have lots of light. when it comes to darks you need to embrace them, they give you great drama.

let me know, i got more! lol

Havingfun those are fab! I love the drama of a dark color I have deep chocolate brown walls with bright white trim and a saturated blue now but I have the light and the height for it. I am also sort of over the red in my old living room and looking to start fresh :)

Havingfun I'm intrigued by the blue walls in the Moroccan themed room I think that could be great with the wood trim do you know what paint color that is?

https://www.wbrint.com/portfolio

you would have to ask her. but, it does not look a hair too bright? i am into blue and jewel colors, it just seems a touch bright no?

closest i could find in behr. it is tanzanite

I would consult a professional about staining all the wood a neutral dark brown, such as dark pine or a Spanish teak shade. Then, I would suggest you paint some of the walls a pale yellow-green to bring color into the house. No doubt you would like to paint some rooms a pure white and then have accent colors that harmonize with the light yellow-green.

Lovely!

Lovely is the word!

Butlers pantry before and after

After!

Wow! If handy, what is the paint color used in entry?

And what kind of art on both sides of window?

Also, I notice 2 lamps aside a loveseat. Do you like that at night there's some lamplight showing, when seen from outside?

We did the foyer some time ago and I don’t have the exact match but it’s quite close to the darker color in the harlequin pattern we used in the Butlers Pantry. That is a contrast of Sherwin Williams Refuge 6238 as a base and Meditative 6227 which is the lighter shade. The pictures are a set “Happy to Bee Home” which I found on Wayfair. Hope that’s helpful!

Thank you. I like muted and moody... and named Meditative sounds good. I also like cute, and the bee and honey are that. :)

I love the transformation! Did you replace the window in the butler’s pantry or paint the mullion bars black? What a lovely little space!

Well it’s a little trick we employed! The prior owner had replaced a few windows with modern casement windows. Since they were in good shape My husband made the mullions and we painted them black to match the original windows in the rest of the house.

Suse! That is down right genius! Well done.

We can’t take credit for the great bones in this house We consider ourselves caretakers and are trying our best not to ruin any of the original features!

More before and after