help me pick a paint color

[VBMama]

Okay, I am determined to take the plunge and paint my living room something besides white/off-white, but I'm not very good with color. Give me your advice! I have two couches. One is very bright red. It's more of an orangey red than a deep red (Ikea Ektorp slipcover). The other couch is mostly black with very thin stripes of lavender/turquoise/light blue/red (more subtle than it sounds). We have exposed beams and a lot of woodwork that is medium-toned, your basic neutral-speckled carpet, and lots of natural light. What colors should I consider for the walls?

Pics

[marimara]

Can you post a pic of your room? That would make it easier. I can't visualize the black striped couch.

[Ola_]

Hmm, how about something sort of blue-grey? Not too crazy but when you paint the whole room it will definitely have impact.

What colours are you drawn to?

[VBMama]

Okay, here are some pictures. (I had to dig through my old photos because it's way too messy to take a picture right now!)

It's a fairly large great room style set-up with the woodstove in the center of the room. I also put a pic of the dining area that borders the living room so you can see more of the wood & wood-laminate floor.

A blue-grey might be a good match, Ola, I like blues. Mostly trying to stay away from anything too dark or too dull. Right now is is a blinding "builders' white" that I would not have picked.

[nathansmum]

Maybe too dull for you, but I would check out a mocha/light choc brown colours (warm toned) - have just done my bedroom in that sort of colour and we have wood, light browns and red accents and it's lovely.

[marimara]

Originally Posted by VBMama

Okay, here are some pictures. (I had to dig through my old photos because it's way too messy to take a picture right now!)

It's a fairly large great room style set-up with the woodstove in the center of the room. I also put a pic of the dining area that borders the living room so you can see more of the wood & wood-laminate floor.

A blue-grey might be a good match, Ola, I like blues. Mostly trying to stay away from anything too dark or too dull. Right now is is a blinding "builders' white" that I would not have picked.

I really like the red couch and the wood colors. I would slip cover the black couch with a cream/offwhite/beige/tan neutral color. For the walls, a nice mustard This is country style but you can see the dynamic between the mustard and red
honey another sample of a honey mustard color
cafe au lait

those might look nice.
I think keeping a warm palette with the red would work nicely!

[onlyzombiecat]

I would look at yellows.

We painted our living room/dining room light topaz (Glidden paint) and it goes with most colors. It is bright and sunny without being blinding. It looks great next to the wood trim which is similar to yours.

https://www.glidden.com/visualizer/b...ation=Interior

[Three~Little~Birds]

I would consider the following colours:
Cord (Farrow and Ball) - muddy goldish undertones
String (Farrow and Ball) - lighter version of Cord - a really nice neutral)
Old White (Farrow and Ball) - Beautiful neutral
French Grey (Farrow and BAll) - has greenish undertones

I wish that I could find a sample for you online, but I couldn't...

[frontierpsych]

I would likely choose a rich gold tone, with a lighter version of that sme color on the ceilings to open the room up (it makes a huge difference!)

[Blucactus]

I think a (warm) mid to light brown or something in the yellow family would be nice. I l the paint colors and color combos Delight uses here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/happyja...7600094974612/

[mumkimum]

Yellow-wise, I'd suggest something with a touch more tan to it. like this We have a hallway in something similar and these types of colors look real nice in afternoon sun.

That said, I'm more of a fan of medium browns, possibly even an aqua (a not-too-intense one however). I think either would work okay.

[rsummer]

Try birds egg by benjamin moore. I would also slip cover the stripey couch. I really like your space and am super envious of your wood stove.

Let us know what you pick!

[VBMama]

Thanks SO much for all the ideas! And the links!!! Pictures help me so much, I'm not great at visualizing in my head. I'm really loving the idea of the golds/yellows and will be heading off for paint chips soon. Today I found some new curtains from Cost Plus that will also fit in with that color, they have a big fun pattern in red/brown/yellow.

Hmm, sounds like from multiple comments I should consider slipcovering the couch. It was a hand-me-down from my mom and is a very good quality couch, but the pattern is not one that I would have chosen either. I haven't had good luck with generic slipcovers in the past but maybe I should take a look again.

More opinions are always welcome! Thanks again for all the feedback.