When I hear dark wood floors and white trim I see silver/blue or gray/blue paint. Are you familiar with Candace Olsen from HGTV? She uses these blues a lot with the dark wood and white and it's fabulous. Does this appeal to you?

Of course there are a million light greens that would also look good and be easy to decorate around.

I'm thinking the green may be more soothing.

I actually like white paint in a cottage and decorate with vintage items. The outside of my lake house cottage is dark red with tan shutters and green accents but the inside is all white. I love the fresh feeling of it as it's not large so it looks breezy and comfy. I also love a very very pale aqua in a cottage room. I did my studio in that. I did the walls white and painted the wood floor aqua with lots of white furniture. I love it.

brutuses- I am not familiar with Candace Olsen but I will see if I can find some examples of her work. I like the idea of the silver/blue- it seems kind of cool and breezy. Gray seems very drab to me and tends to suck out my cheery mood. I do better with brighter colors.

Yayagal- I would love to see some pics of your house if you have some. I would love to paint the floors but with two young kids and a dog, I don't think it would last long.

I think part of me has been stuck on keeping one color through the entire house but I looked at some paint today and picked some very pale cool shades of pink, blue, green, and a whitish color. They all have a hint of color and I may do each room in a different color because they flowed together so well.

If I do each room a different color would it tie them together using white trim/doors?

I was looking at a recent magazine in a Dr. office the other day, I think it was Southern Living, but not sure. There was a cottage featured. The owner used a bag of flavored marshmallows as her inspiration colors for the rooms. Chalky pastels. It was very pretty.

We just painted our master bath Benjamin Moore Evening White and I love it. It's creamy and not yellow at all but certainly more than white. The contrast with our white trim is especially beautiful. It may be warmer than you want but take a look and see.

I love Candace Olson, but her style is not at all cottage. Check out Sarah Richardson's Design Inc. She has a wonderful show and her website gives the paint color manufacturer name and color. I have her bookmarked on my toolbar I look at it that much!

Oh yes, painting the rooms in different colors that are all in the same hue with matching woodwork, would be beautiful. Have you seen my rooms colors? I have some pastels and a couple of darker shades also, but I love the pastels the best. If you haven't seen them I'll post some for you to see.

artlover- I LOVE the pastel colors of the jet-puff marshmallows! I've been trying to think all day of what the colors remind me of and you hit the nail on the head!!!

pattyann- I scrolled through some of the site you recommended and there are some very lovely ideas! Thanks for the recommendation :)

brutuses- I don't think I have seen any pictures of your rooms but please post some I would love to see how you used the pastels.

I am painting DD room a pale pink and I am so in love with it- it's the perfect little girl pink and it just makes me giddy to see it coming together. I started painting late this evening and hopefully I can have everything done by Monday and post some pictures!

We have a beach cottage and some of the colors we've used are Palladian Blue in the LR, Prescott Green in the kitchen, and Yellow Lab (hmm, I think that was the name -- may be Goldeb Lab?) in the dining room (which we use as a playroom). I like how these colors all work together in my particular cottage. I'm not a blue person in general, but I loooove Palladian Blue. (All Ben. Moore colors.)

My favorite house in Cottage Living was done in the colors of Fireking Jadite with touches of red and white.

We are also doing a coastal cottage feeling house. Painters are still painting but I used BM Gray Wisp (same as Restoration Hardware's Silver Sage) as my neutral color. I absolutely LOVE it. Back of our house is really light, but hallways in middle of house are not. Anyway, the color looks great everywhere. Sometimes it looks gray, sometimes blue, sometimes green.