Interesting room, but I can see your challenge :)

My opinion, and it's only my opinion, would be that if you are going to paint only one wall pink do so on the focal wall where the bed will be placed. The different color draws your attention to it and there should be a reason you are drawing someone's eye to that wall.
Keeping in line with the furniture style, you can put beadboard wainscoting around the room in the white and paint the above walls the pink. I would take it up and onto the ceiling but, again, that's my personal choice most of the time.
As far as the shade of white, you really need to get a few samples and paint some big swatches on the wall. I'd stay away from the blue-whites since the north light will blue up everything anyway. I'd keep with the same undertone your furniture has, but maybe a shade off for a little contrast.
If you build a loft, I would think it would have to be the far short end to have any usable space up there. The room just isn't wide enough (12ish') to offer much and would really feel heavy in a room that you already feel is a bit dark. Although, I wouldn't build one at all. Young children and high places spell disaster in my house :)

An absolutely lovely shade of pink/coral is SW Henna Shade. I painted one of our baths this color and it is just gorgeous!

Good luck, and don't forget to post "after" pics. I can't wait to see what you do!

Definitely build a loft above the window at the end wall ... just follow standard safety for railings and kids. At six I was climbing in and out of haylofts with only a few dings. With some cushions and a bookcase and a good reading light, she's got paradise. Under it you could put a schoolwork center or something. That's a HUGE room.

Color: Extremely pale yellow (on the peach end of the yellows) with a clear very light pink could look sunny despite the northern exposure. Haul a large number of big paint chips from all kinds of manufacturers to that room and check them against the carpet ... explain to her that pinks intensify and her "azalea" pink will become Pepto-Bismol on a wall, and it's the wall that counts.

Because of the lighting, test the chips by taping them to the walls and checking them several times a day. If anything looks ugly at dawn, or at noon, take it down. Eventually you will have some survivors for large-swatch testing.

I would paint the ceiling and the low-height wall the same color, then the other three walls the same. Or all walls one color with the ceiling a second.

I like multi-color rooms - not just an "accent wall". If she's daring, put the bed on the center of the tallest wall with a band of her chosen pink running up the wall to the ceiling ... more intense than the rest of the walls.

Here is a link that might be useful: Read this blog - it explains color real well.

I don't really know much of anything about anything, I mostly just read here, and occasionally ask questions, so take this with a large grain of salt..... When I looked at the pictures, I thought a loft might be cool put diagonally in the corner of the wall opposite the door, on the side where there's no window. Not sure if my description made sense or if this is feasible space-wise or otherwise, just what popped into my head. Good luck!

I think that it would be a good idea for you to make a 3-D model of the room. Remember, if you build the loft floor at an 8' height, the height of the loft halfway between long interior wall and the long window wall, the distance from the loft floor to the ceiling will be slightly more than 4' high.

Also, how do you propose to get up to the loft area? A ladder or stairs?

thank you guys for even reading my wordy post! and for responding with great/helpful ideas ;)

i fixed the google sketchup drawings with correct wall height.

alx and lzgdns -

i'm not married to an accent wall, but dd wanted bright pink walls and all 4 walls = approx 713 sq feet of azalea pink! good info though, that focal wall has to be focal for a reason.

i was trying to do a satisfying dose of pink for her, without losing the light reflectivity of the other walls, and trying to make the dingiest north wall/ceiling area look crisp white by contrast.

the ivory on upper half of room now looks greyish-ivory
"BM faded orphan dress"

thank you for the paint color suggestions, especially on dealing with the northerly light (and website)

purply-pinks clash with the carpet for sure.

the color dd keeps coming back to is
behr's springtime bloom -
lol - fun job to name paint colors -
BM peptobismol
SW benydryl tablet pink
FPE chalky calamine lotion

would you really paint the ceiling pink too? there is no flat ceiling, it's all on a slope.

that's exactly why we want the loft for her - cozy book nook, place where she and her friends will want to be as they get a little older - we wanted the area underneath it to have maybe a desk, storage, bookshelves too -

something that i really worry about is that since the light is northerly, putting a loft on the far wall would actually pretty much lower the ceiling over both windows. this has to reduce the amount of light that gets reflected into the rest of the room, making it feel even darker.

i Love beadboard, but i have been feeling that it's too out of character with the house to look right. my mil has the similar contemporary 1970s style home, and she has spent years gradually colonializing it - colonial wallpapers, paint colors, furniture. the overall effect is ODD.
cottagy finishes in a room with an 15'high x 19'long wall -is it possible?

crash&suero, you've both gotten me thinking,

corner loft! a triangle wastes a lot of floor space, but a square works maybe? instead of across the room - because the shortest part is useless anyway - the one i drew is directly under the skylight, and has lowest ceiling height of around 4'5"
like a staircase but that would take up a lot of space/$, for now i think ladder is best option?
i also like that it breaks up the enormous expanse of wall.
no kidding if i had a ds instead of dd, i'd do a mural of niagara falls, put fake boulders at the bottom, hang some barrels halfway on hte wall for bookshelves, decorate his bed in lifejacket orange and be done ;)

Did another sketch! Loft is around 5' by 8'. Wasn't sure what size it should be but this doesn't block window, and is a golden mean ratio ;) added ladder. hope it makes sense visually. Any thoughts?

the wall is pink for fun, will try other paint suggestions too ;) pink does not match actual paint choices.

thank you so much!

(sorry my messages are so long)
my paint color name is:
SW chatty blur

Here is a link that might be useful: new sketch with corner loft

I would do the ceiling in a very pale yellow or pink. It will reflect a warm or a sunny glow better than a white one. In contrast with a darker shade, it will probably appear white but it isn't.

It appears that you have a chair rail in the room. I would take advantage of that and paint the bottom a warm white, then do the pink on all the walls above. That will create a break between the beige carpeting and the strong pink. Beige undertones can be sneaky, and once you get the pink next to it, could go green or grey on you. Ceiling in the same color to de-emphasize the angle and make the skylights stand out.

No loft, sorry. It is not just about your child being safe, it is about you being responsible for the safety and actions of any other kids that are there. Plus, 4 feet high isn't very tall, and your daughter will soon not find it comfortable or easy to climb up and be up there. And, as a practical matter, the room feels a bit dark so I would not want to lose one of the skylights.

That said, if you are determined to do it, I would build the loft on the end of the room where the closet is. That way you don't lose a lot of living space, since you have to leave area around the closet empty anyway for access. And, you could drop the loft to the height of the closet, to give you more space up there. Rather than have the loft accessed from an open side, you could have the access through the floor by the closet, in a ladder going straight up. Then you can box in the side and end with taller railings so that kids can't fall if they are horsing around up there.

If you want to create a private space, you can do that at floor level with curtains, a platform (which kids love and can pretend is a stage, too) and big floor pillows, etc. I cannot imagine how much I would worry about the risk factor of that loft.