Charcoal Gray is a neutral color, so goes good with any color.

Here is your palette to work with.

I would start with a rug with the colors and since your wallpaper has them and gray is a neutral you can make it work.

then find pillows with those Colors too

Thanks! I struggle with narrowing down all of these colors, and understanding how much % of each to use within the living room. I was kind of striving for a palette limited to, say 5 colors, such as:

My brain honestly doesn't understand what to do with 10 colors :)

Sounds like you’re trying to tone things down so I would focus on one of the lighter more neutral colors for a rug and layer your throw pillows with that same neutral color and one of the secondary accent colors. The sofa looks to be on the blue side of gray (but this could just be my screen) so I would use the blue as my other color.
A good rule of thumb is the 60/30/10 rule- 60% neutral color like gray, off white, tan 30% primary color like blue, red, 10% accent color playing off other 90%.

@Inside Out Staging and Design ...so do you think the beigey color in the "pears" in the wallpaper would be good as an area rug (e.g. jute), and then get that color up in the pillows too....not sure if beige and this bluey gray go together or not :)

I would pick the overall background color which looks light gray in the picture. The sofa is on the cooler side so I’d stick to varying shades of cooler gray and cooler blues.

Digital photos are so hard to use for color......the background color in the wallpaper is actually cream....is that neutral too? I'm good with finding a cream colored rug...just a bit worried there could be too much cream in the room then (ceiling is white).

If you pull out the blues and greens from the paper to use as the basis for your accent color(s) you aren’t ignoring the red, the red is all over the wall already. You don’t have to use every color found in the paper, you are accenting it, not copying it.

So, what color did you decide to paint the etergere?

It is the same dilemma, again. the problem is the wallpaper. It is from the 1960’s, probably Waverley and has no intrinsic value.

A dilemma for sure. The wallpaper is actually from the 90s....but yes feels dated. The etagere I can't fit into the floorspace and so may try to sell it or place it in a different room....

As I spin my tires on this room, I am almost ready to ditch the sectional for the sake of choosing a different colour...

Do you love the wallpaper? If not, would you consider changing it instead of trying to design around it? Something with less colors and a bigger pattern. I find the small pattern over such a large area looks quite busy.

Are you trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? The start of redecorating a room is knowing what you want it to look like when you are done, which is part of knowing what style/look you are trying to achieve for the entire home.

You can change the sofa, the woodwork or the wall paper or 2 or all three.

But you need to decide first what must stay and what can change to get the look you will love.

Some really rough visuals . . .

Is there a reason you don’t want to get rid of the wallpaper?

I agree with others who have suggested that the wallpaper is the problem child.

So I'm stuck with the problem child. This is an old farm house and the wallpaper is doing a great job of covering plaster walls (and it's honestly not the redhaired stepchild it looks like in photos--we do like it). Also stuck with the dark wainscoting--husband is against painting wood (it's 100+-year-old ash custom crafted from the farm bushlot). I've been trial-and-erring (mostly erring) around these constraints. Add to this the awkardness of the room -- 3 windows, three doors plus opens into galley kitchen. I haven't had a solid target in mind afa what I'd like the room to look like, been trying to fit things in as I go.......👀

If you are going to embrace the wallpaper and dark wood trim then I would go all the way.

They simply don't fit with a casual sectional sofa.

Not tufted type, and linen might be better / poly heathered boucle... ?

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This green is so muted/ dark it's nearing old-color and nearer dark wood [than blush yeh] contemporary arms? 76"L x 32"W x 31"H

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With your charcoal sofa, or 'my' spruce green sofa ---

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Do a fabric in the color of the pear, tone on tone, It will look great against the dark wainscoting, and you have ended the struggle to work with pink.

I suggest you start with a love seat (no skirting) fit between the two doors.

Keep the neutrals going in a pair of arm chairs.

Bring the colors of the wallpaper down on the floor. Visually, the rug and wallpaper work (at least on my monitor), but everything else is a soft contrast.

@JudyG Designs thanks! where's the rug from?