Hi Max, I'm sure we'd all like to help, and pictures would definitely be a good idea. Some guy named Steve.

OK, the ceiling is about halfway down and the wood is not coming down without a fight. The contractors are being as careful as they can be, but still the wood is cracking and chipping. I could try glueing and puttying it back together, but at this point I'm thinking that painting is going to be easier and much less risky. And as far as the fireplace wall goes, Les, I almost always agree with everything you say but the photos don't really capture the true hideousness of the color. There's some kind of varnish over the top so I can't even restain because it won't take. Also, there are many cracks and gaps in the fireplace paneling that allow cold air in - part of the reason for painting that wall was so I could caulk the heck out of those gaps without the caulk being noticeable. (I used clear caulk on some of the biggest cracks a few years ago but it is very noticeable since the caulk is shiny.) The guy that built this house was apparently striving for authenticity, right down to the draftiness and lack of insulation of a 200 year old farmhouse. So, assuming that I'm going to paint both the ceiling and the fireplace wall, what are your opinions? I was thinking of choosing a colonial color and going for the look like in the links that reeree posted. The only thing is that I don't want to commit to colored trim throughout the house - I don't mind it in this room, but would have trouble figuring out where to transition it back to white. I could easily do the baseboards dark in that room without a problem, and could do the windows as well, but could not do the posts or the trim at the top of the stone half wall without connecting directly a room with white trim. So actually, I was thinking of a dark dark reddish brown - something like BM's hadley red or townsend harbor brown. I was thinking of putting it on both the ceilng and fireplace wall. But I'm worried that this will look too imposing, especially if the rest of the trim is white and the walls are light. I do like the look of the blue and green as well, but after 10 years of blue sofas, I'm a bit sick of blue. The green is pretty but since I have no idea what color I'll end up with as far as sofas and rugs go, I hate to commit to a definitely color - I'd rather stay neutral. I was also thinking of a dark gold color like BM Livingston Gold, Blair Gold, Summerdale Gold, or Yorkshire Tan. I think I'd rather stay away from painting the ceiling white because of the soot/dust from the stove. We have another beamed ceiling in our breakfast area that is painted white and it looks kind of blah. I'm considering rehanging only every other beam to keep the ceiling less busy. It is a small room, maybe 13 x 15 (in fact, when I'm ready to ditch the blue sofas, I'm going to be posting for room layout help - it's such an oddly laid out room that I can't figure out what type of furniture I even need in there!). But because the room is open to the kitchen and foyer (where the photos are taken from) and because the ceilings are high (they are about 10.5 ft) the room doesn't feel claustrophobic, so I'm not afraid to put a dark color back on the ceiling. So at any rate, assuming we're painting the ceiling, beams, and fireplace wall (and assuming the walls are going to be a yellow-ish cream), what colors would you suggest? What about the baseboards and windows? Thanks for all the advice!

I think a muted green could work very well. Look at the color viewers on the Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore sites. You would want to look for a very grayed down green. The darkest color on the chip should be a what most people would consider a dark greenish-gray. It needs a tan/gray base or else it will be too much of a "clear" color compared to the other colors in your house...in other words, it would look too bright." Pottery Barn uses the gray green colors a lot. Think of it as "light muddy green." In the store, you will probably think it looks gray but blues and greens really need to look gray on the chip or else they come across as too bright most of the time. Remember, gray greens tend to look darker in a room, so go lighter than you think you should. Happy painting.

Amber while Mark may have been a bit flippant with his response, he's on the money in the sense that you can't pick colors from a computer screen. Everyone's monitor reads colors differently. So while I may be seeing the Lakeside brick as more brown, another person may read it as more red. Have you seen actual samples and put them next to your house during different times of day? The only way to pick colors is to have the colors in the actual environment because everything around it will affect how you see the color. The sky, trees, neighbor's houses, etc. Here's an example of what I am trying to explain. The purple color in the middle of each of the 4 squares below is the exact same color. However notice how the color surrounding it changes how we perceive the purple in the center?