I have yellow walls that I adore myself and have used a variety of colors with them. I do see the problems with what you have going on now but I think that with just a bit of change you'll come to love them and be glad you didn't get rid of them.

OHHH...I just noticed your amaryllis picture... "grow" your room around that! Take the green and coral(?) or orange or whatever the bloom color is and add accessories in those colors. Throw pillows, stripes would be good with some other designs. Change out some vases. Maybe use the green for your lamps. Dozens of small changes could truly wake up your room.

You also have a very large blank canvas over your sofa. One wonderful piece of artwork there and you will not feel so blah about the room!

Hi Kelley! Your home is lovely! The architectural elements are just gorgeous!! If you like yellow -- keep it. The problem is your furniture looks bad with the yellow color. I think one of the big color combinations now is yellow/gray/cream. There are some lovely rugs on overstock in those colors. If you can afford to change the furniture, go with a gray sofa, chair. Use some gray/yellow/cream patterned curtains, and throw pillows. It will be beautiful. If, however, you have decided you just don't like the yellow and you must keep the furniture, you could paint the room a medium beige color (the furniture looks like linen slip covers). It will still highlight the architecture and make the furniture look better. You could also go with a sage green color (at least it looks like there is a sage green stripe in the dining chairs). The green color will also "cross-pollinate" the colors in both rooms, as you have a nice green rug in the den. Good luck and please post an after picture so we can see how lovely it turned out!

I for the most part think it's cheery. You need art above sofa. You could go either lighter or darker. And even keep the yellow.

I don't think it's the yellow walls, but that everything in the room is yellow or beige. If buying a new rug is out then I suppose changing the wall color would be a way to break it up.

I love it. If you change it please stick with a light color it makes the room appear big. But Sherwin Williams has a color called Kilim Beige that would be perfect with this room.

I agree with LB interiors. Love all those colors. You have a beautiful home but my opinion is the yellow does not do justice to the trim and ceiling like a different color would. I also agree with adding some art and bringing more color accents into the room. You could accent the woodwork on the ceiling by painting the ceiling one shade darker than the molding?

Maybe you'd like to go with a grey green dark putty color? It will make the moulding really show up beautifully and it's a great backdrop to lighter colored furnishings.
This is SW Zeus

I LIKE THE COLOR OF YOUR WALLS, THE PERIOD APPEARS TO BE VICTORIAN.
CHECK WITH A DESIGNER TO SEE WHAT THE TYPICAL COLORS WOULD BE FOR THAT ROOM.

I agree with your take on the yellow. It's just over the edge of too much. We recently painted our living room Weston Flax from Ben Moore and, with Cotton Ball trim, I wouldn't change it for anything. Airy during the day and soft/inviting in low light. If you choose to take the gray path, I adore Ben's Cape Hatteras Sand. And I agree with the "more art work" suggestions. Good luck!

Thank you everybody!!! Especially appreciate the photoshop
Of the gray blue putty. One key issue is that my preference is light due to lack of direct sun. It is morning sun onlyand even shady in summer due to tree in front of building.

Wow, I think that is the prettiest shade of yellow and that the room is gorgeous! It totally works for me.

Wow, I think that is the prettiest shade of yellow and that the room is gorgeous! It totally works for me.

I think it looks great. Just needs an accent color to make it glow. How about doing something about the DR picture? It is hung too high and looks to be even with or above the door frame, rather than centered at 5' above the floor or 5" above the furniture piece. It may too long for the table also (75% rule works best.) Looks like you may have two mirrors in the LR, so why not switch out the mirror and sconces with the picture?

this may sound like an impossibility, but it's not. The room is just too warm. Every room needs a bit of cool to offset the warm or vise versa. The easiest thing to do would be to add the cool in pillows and art. It will make a world of difference.

Add blue couch pillows & throw.

Hyde Evans Design??? To warm??

Hyde Evans - I agree. Yellow is a warm tone even though this particular yellow is cooler than most. Adding, green, blue, grey or even a bluish purple, will cool it down. On the flip side, I think the room needs more depth of colors so as long as one balances the other, a touch of the coral, salmon, or whatever the color of the amaryllis bloom would add the depth while, taking a cue from the flower, the green will balance the warmer colors.

I just found the exact color of the yellow. It is lemon sorbet on two walls and lemon bliss on two walls. The sorbet is the cooler one. It is Benjamin Moore paint

Personaly, I love the colour and the combination of the walls and trim. I think the rug could have more presence and cannot see in the photo whether there may be a patter, etc. to pull from. I am inclined to keep the wall colour and introduce a stronger, grounding colour in the rugs. But, an alternative might be to pick up soft green on the walls (stick with the trim colour you have) and that might pull the rugs in better. Add some yellow and gray accents, perhaps. Great space!

If yellow does not work what do you think about this color? I am not sure what color it really is. It seems cooler and at the same time warm. See link!
http://houzz.com/photos/3179044

Hi Kelley -- Love the photo you just posted. I did a lot of work with Back Bay engineering firms and ad agencies in the years leading up to designing my current home and was heavily influenced by the architecture and detail of spaces like yours. Here in the hills well west of Boston, I added similar moldings in my "new to look old" reno, and find that ornate white molding plays nicely with the color of the shadow it casts, as you see here -- a shade darker perhaps.

While I also love the photo you just posted, I don't think it will work for you with the current furniture and fireplace colors. There will be no contrast of any sort and everything will just blend in together.
I love yellow personally but you need some darker, richer colors somewhere, whether in your art, accessories or furniture. Some black maybe to tie in with your chandelier, in the form of a patterned rug or dark tables or dark wood framed art somewhere. Such a gorgeous room!

Rug idea for dining or living area

http://houzz.com/photos/2627507

Example of dark contrast with light walls

http://houzz.com/photos/5004081

I love the yellow and with a room that you are trying to warm up it's a great choice. I had the same problem in my house and I have not regretted that choice but it is tricky to work with. The suggestions here that you need more contrast in your other furnishings are very correct. I would play around with fabrics to see what color combination you might like. It's pretty easy to pick up a meter or two of various fabrics in a fabric store and place them around the room, to see what you like. Earthy greens, chocolate brown, terracotta, is a nice combination with yellow. Black would make a very dramatic contrast, Gray's would work well and blues. You just need to work on a more dramatic colour palette.

For example a Oriental style rug would suit the atmosphere of the room. I particularly like the site "Rugs on Time" a couple examples are posted below. You could then pull some of the colors from the rug into cushions. I love your furniture, I think it works just fine with a bit of colour on your floor you could do a lot.

OK, thanks for all these great comments. Now, it's nine months later and the baby is still not born but I moved some furniture around. I am going to reupholster the sofa and chairs. Do you think a bright white fabric, maybe a soft linen would be good. With some grayish pillows to tie in with fireplace. Add some color with pillows. Question, does anyone know of a spray for a rug that would keep a dog from peeing on it?

I also painted the walls around the windows a lighter yellow, as the other yellow was sort of like kitchen yellow. I might even paint the entire room white..as it turns out, the room is kind of low on natural light in summer, due to trees.

P.S. the Eduardian dude in earlier photo is my husband. He was kind of mad that I posted that picture but it did attract a lot of comments!

Try vingar for rug.

Hi, I sure do love the moldings and all the details and architecture of your home. Furniture looks very nice changed.

It's beautiful! I think the beige fireplace is now the culprit. I would paint it white. I also think the picture by the round table is hung too high and needs more pictures grouped together. The mirror over the fireplace isn't the correct scale. Otherwise with some turquoise pillows and accents it is lovely! MJC pro. Designer

I think the yellow looks fine...

I love your yellow. Grey is way too trendy for high Victorian. Love the wood work. Try changing your accents. Splurge on a rug.

Thanks everyone. So, I painted over the yellow and it's white, monochromatic with trim. I tried to make the trim and walls seamless, less busy. And, crisper. It was feeling a little too "old" so I bought more transitional furniture, more contemporary. I now miss the trim - what would you paint the walls, a light gray? I just want the trim to pop; more but I do not want a saturated color.

I think it is lovely, but you would not be posting if it worked for you. I find gray trendy and depressing. Just thought I would throw in a vote for the cheery yellow.

Be careful with yellow. My grandmother was excellent at designing and said when choosing yellow, pick a shade or two lighter than what you think you want. Yellow walls reflect off each other making them appear more yellow. Just a thought

I would choose darker than beige and somewhere in the sand/tan palette. A few tones lighter than your sofa. Classic for the home.

I'm not seeing gray in your home. I think too many are doing it.

I am a huge fan of all golden tones. I think that with your period home you might have had better luck with an Historic BM gold/yellow. Like "Waterbury Cream" or " Hawthorne Yellow." LOVE your home and Boston is beautiful!

so if my furniture has various shades of gray, blue and green would gray undertones in yellow work?

I like Hawthorne yellow and Waterbury Cream. It says that Hawthorne yellow has gray undertones which would work well with my trim.

Kelley I worked on a project that was a Hime built in the 1800s. This color was used in the home as the main color. We used deep corals, blues .
Hunger greens , eggplant, and deep blue reds with it. Then painted the trim antique white. It was absolutely gorgeous.

A decorator friend of mine told me long time ago when using yellows just be sure to not go too yellow. Keep it from looking like jello and that was some of the best advice I've ever been given. Also, I agree with what others are saying about gray. It doesn't do a thing for the period of your house and too trendy and depressing.

That was suppose to be hunter green. Above. Sorry.

I also like the furniture in the window you had originally. Looks more like the house.

On the yellow topic, though i realize its been painted over now, we took the lemon sorbet and mixed with its lighter cousin lightening white. The sorbet was just too strong full strength. Now our dining /kitchen just glows in daylight and at night it doesn't have the greenish cast it had with an earlier yellow attempt. We love it. Some friends say they like it. Others bite their tongues and say nothing. Yellow is tough!

I love Yellow. Maybe a black window trim or curtains.