I don't think the carpet looks too dark at all.

Darker is much more practical too

Use lighter colors for your furniture and upholstery.

I agree the paint and the carpet are fighting eachother and what flooring is going everywhere else ?So many things wrong in this space but the carpet will be hidden a lot with the furniture which i hope is not brown or black.

Sina Sadeddin - The color that the builder went with is called anew gray, which seems to take on more of a traditional gray color for part of the day, and without direct light looks like what you see in the pic. What would you recommend for the paint color?

Patricia - please share what you are seeing that is so wrong. We have not bought our furniture yet, and are waiting to see how we feel about the space once we move in.

I sure hope that is a gas fireplace.

It is a gas fireplace.

Really can’t give a opinion on color based upon a picture on my monitor. It doesn’t look that dark to me but I’d have to see it in the room to give you a definitive answer.

What is the kitchen/adjacent flooring color?

It’s a darker hardwood. You can see a little bit in the LR pic.

White sofa/chairs and black accents might look nice with your fireplace and white kitchen.

I know its a little late, but all wood with area rug would have been a good choice.

I love the dark carpet. I think carpeting is trending toward darker recently anyway. I just sold my home that had black carpet in all the bedrooms. The new buyer loved it, though she doesn't know what it takes to keep clean! She'll find out. LOL. Seriously though - I think it looks good. For your wall color - whites are coming back into favor again. I think some form of white will really offset your carpet, look elegant and give you a variety of accent colors to choose from.

SuzyQ I agree!

Thank you Shredder1952! I appreciate your comment.

I like the carpet you have. I think it looks stylish and will be practical. Make sure your furniture is not gray or black/dark brown, or the room will look sad. Bring in some color :-)

If you think you will want the wood someday, I'd buy it now while the exact style is still available. You can have it installed later.

Thank you Izeve!

The carpet is elephant in the room. I would put hardwood floor if possible. It would look gorgeous beside you brand new kitchen. Your issue is mix of clean(bright white kitchen ) and dirty colours(carpet). I also think that wall colour is clashing with the carpet.

http://www.mariakillam.com/this-colour-mistake-will-make-you-look-bad/

The carpet color is fine. Do you or will out have kids or pets here? This color will hide a multitude of stains until it doesn't. I've pretty much given up on carpet for our family. We can trash the best of them in a couple of years.

SuzyQ we have kids and will be adopting a pet. Lol yeah I’m guessing the carpet will get thrashed.

Wallcolor fights the carpet, the carpet is fine. The kitchen looks good.

General consensus is to paint, and I completely agree. Love those patterns!!

Thank you all for your comments

The contrast is fine, the color of the walls seem to beige for the grey rug

Hi Tiffany, the carpet color looks good to me. The paint, at least on my monitor, has a greenish undertone. It might be just the light in the room at the moment you took the picture or my monitor. Have you painted the whole house with that color? Do you have the carpet in other rooms? We had builder's grade carpet in a previous house and changed it out 3 different times. One thing about carpet is that it dampens noise. Hardwood can be very noisy. There are lots of colors that will look great in your LR. Also, different colors of warm light bulbs can really make a difference.

Ashtonchic, the builder chose the color before we purchased the house. It's anew gray - Sherwin Williams. This room has windows on east side only, and when we initially were in the home it was in the morning so it appeared much less "beige-y." We will have to repaint the whole downstairs, and upstairs eventually if it bothers us. The carpet is in all rooms upstairs, except bathrooms which have the same tile that is around the fireplace.

There is a slight difference in decorating likes and styles in Canada vs US.

I think most of the responders to this topic are from the US.

In this part of Canada newly built homes do not have carpets in living rooms, only in bedrooms. Even that is not a popular choice and people choose to upgrade to hardwood or laminate.

Regardless, the same hardwood floor as the one that is right beside would create a nicer flow in this space.

I agree. Just not sure if my husband will go for having hardwood put in.

Oh for goodness sake. The carpet is beautiful. Hardwoods EVERYWHERE work for some people, and not for others. Your children will love the cozy, soft carpeting; whether or not they thrash it in one year or 10. You can replace the carpet several times for the cost of good wood flooring--and don't install crap wood just because its the only "In" thing in new builds in places where apparently nobody gets old, and everyone's feet are always warm. After living in your lovely new home (with kids and dog) for a year--then start thinking about what wall color works for you--or not. If your kids are like mine, it will probably be time for a fresh coat then anyway :)

Would khaki, a light yellow, or bluish gray work for paint? The carpet had flecks of brown and gray in it

I don't think those colors are the best choices for your entire downstairs. You need something just slightly darker than the kitchen cabs. What color is the kitchen backsplash? Gray? How about a pale silvery sage green? Or a very light neutral taupe? There are also some great whites, that aren't really white that would contrast nicely with your trim. I think lighter is happier in this space.

Thank you SuzyQ for all your help. I uploaded the pic onto a sherwin williams site and am playing around now.

You could paint the wall behind fireplace a light color and go light with the furniture for contrast against the rug. Or put an area rug in a lighter color right over the wall to wall carpet. Your kitchen looks great! I also just did white kitchen cabinets & white quartz countertops. What brand is your quartz? it looks like my Ceasarstone.

I’m not sure what the brand is, but it’s white with gray flecks. Thank you! I like the kitchen too.

Hi Tiffany - I would suggest taking a carpet sample and some paint swatches you like outside into natural light to see if carpet and paint look good together. Narrow your choices down to 2 or 3 and then get some small samples of the paint if you can and paint some white boards to place around the downstairs where you want to repaint. It's really hard to tell what undertones are in different paint colors. Or another thought would be to get your furniture first, then find your wall paint color. Take a carpet sample with you when you look at furniture. Take samples (pillows etc) to the windows to check colors with carpets. Personally, I would try to stay with light taupe - maybe what you have - can't tell on the computer.

Here is a light taupe wall with a darker taupe carpet in the Netherlands.

Here are some pretty colors which would go with your carpet and wall colors.

Thank you for the advice! Love love the paint samples. The color is a taupe, but it's not so light. If it were the color lighter on the paint chip it would be much better I think (agreeable gray - sherwin williams). The first two colors I absolutely love. I'd like to paint the whole downstairs the first color, and then paint the wall with the fireplace the deep blue.

agreeable gray is the color I am looking at (far left), and anew gray is the current shade (far right). If we went with agreeable we also would not have to paint the whole downstairs, just the kitchen/living room as it is open.

I like the color of the carpet, but I wouldn't have carpet there at all. I would extend the kitchen flooring into the living room and use an area rug on top.

Blondelle - I would rather do that as well, but I don't think it will be in the budget right away. We are going to have to deal with the carpet for a bit.

Thank you chocolate snap for the sweet comment. <3 Looking forward to our new adventure

You are getting a lot of good ideas. If you decide to go even lighter, check out SW Neutral Ground--it is hard for me to tell on a comp. screen, but it could be a good option. Enjoy the journey. If it starts to feel overwhelming, remember that wonderful homes are created more through relationships and memories, than finishes :)

Agreeable gray is a nice color, I would venture a little lighter even. Remember on the swatch its always going to look darker than it does on the entire wall. I would not paint an accent wall if I were you, In a smaller space it can really make it look cluttered. I would go with a light beige sofa, accent chairs in a color that you can use in your pillows and drapes, and tables that tie in the dark color on the fireplace.

kourtneydixon - good call. Thank you!

Get some sample boards made (I would go with the paint chip in the middle, myself). Since you have eastern facing windows in the LR, it will be in the shade most of the day so walls will look darker. Prop the boards in different areas next to the rug and see if the colors work together at different times during the day. Here are some other colors that would work as accents.

Another fun thing to do is to go to a fabric store and find a printed fabric that you like that have your taupe colors in it. Then use the other colors for accent colors. You can buy a 1/4 of a yard of the fabric to take with you when you are shopping for pillows or accessories - even furniture.

Thank you for the wonderful ideas!