Do you have any window treatments in the room? If so, you can pull a color from them. Light green would look good. So would a lighter version of your couch/love seat.

Thanks for the input!

Here is a picture of the opposite wall with window treatments. Seems like the solid green shades with a green wall might be too much-- and hard to get the color just right??

I get confused by the 80/60/10 rule, since I have camel, sage and black-- all sort of neutrals-- plus green and touches of gold.

Here is a link that might be useful:

I'd paint a light olive- something that blends nicely with your chair.
I think either black or brown would work well for your ottoman.

Try BM Bamboo Shoot or Ocean Pebbles (deeper) 1529, 1530. It's a neutral greyed greenish taupe. Hard to explain but it's a very soothing color and looks great with greens. It's one of those colors you can't exactly figure out but blends in nicely. Two of my friends have it and I wish I would have chosen it for my living room.

How about a "rust" color that complements your fireplace?

See the way the light hits on the right arm of the sofa? That light golden color would look great. It would brighten the room.

After a long day, it was lovely to come home and find your suggestions. Like a convenient way to have a bunch of friends over to give decorating input. Thanks for your help -- I'm going to grab a few more samples and see what sings to me. :-)

Check out a BM color called Peanut Shell. They sell the little sample size, so you could paint up a board & see the real thing in your room. I think it's a really great, warm color, & from here it looks like it may go with your things.

You might also check out Decatur Buff or Wilmington Tan in the Historic Colors. Even Beacon Hill Damask, going greener & much brighter, could be a possibility.

I know picking out paint is mind-boggling. Hang in there! And keep us posted!

I also vote for a green like scanmike suggested. I have a similar color scheme in my great room and struggled for a very long time with a color to go well with my peanut butter colored sofa. I would have used green but really wanted a tan. You might also consider Pottery Barn's Bella paisley pillows to pull everything together. They have camels and greens, and are great quality - 24 inches so they make quite a statement. That would help to add pattern to your room.
Dee

Here is a link that might be useful: Pillows

Ah, just re-read your post & saw the "Goldilocks" comment. You'll find Decatur Buff & Wilimington Tan too gold & blah in that case. In fact, you already probably looked at them! Peanut might still be worth a look. Beacon Hill is still worth a try, & is certainly not too gold or blah! I also wonder about test-driving Greenmount Silk (light & bright & subtle) or going creamy & a little more yellow with Philadelphia Cream?

Again, best of luck Grace!

Wow, Dee's pillows are adorable. Worthy of building a color scheme around!

Take a look at SW Edgy Gold. It is really green but goes so nice with gold tones.

Grace

Glad you came out of "lurkdom" to request advice

I would suggest posting pics of the colors you have tried - If you have sample paint that should go on the wall in a large sample 8x10 or larger - several areas if you can - this will allow you to really see the color in the room - different times of day, differing light -

If you haven't tried that, I would not purchase more samples now - Put some up! take pics,different lighting - post here

Have you thought about painting the trim a white/cream,
and then painting below the chair rail a diff. color than the top?

I would shoot for a pewter type color a little lighter than the shades but darker than the rug. Then with that neutral, you can accessorize with color and change those as you want.

I like the green idea, but I think an area rug that covers that ocean of grey might help and then you could pull a color from that.

I like the idea of something in the greenish-olive-brown category. The best thing you can do is grab some paint chips to see what might work, and then paint some sample spots on the wall or pieces of posterboard. That will help you a lot with your room and lighting. Speaking of lighting, you may find that some additional lighting will help the room a lot.

Jan

I like gracie01's suggestion of rust or something in the red family. For me personally, I find olive green to be so depressing, I do like lighter pastel greens though.

I also find Olive Green to be a trend right now, and I'm not a trendy person, so what do I know? :)

But adding green walls would make the room monochromatic. The red would really bring out the colors in your FP and opens the door for other accent colors.

Red (not a bright red) also makes a room cozier. Red paints come in so many colors now, it's hard to choose.

I think I'm one of the few "red" people here. lol

Oh, picking paint colours is so hard, I feel your pain as I just went through this.

I like the idea of green, and like another poster said, paint your samples on a 8 x 11 sheet of paper and put them up in the room. Then look at them in various lights/times of day to see what you like. Invite a few girlfriends with "good eyes" and see what the consensus is.

If you are painting, an idea I'd throw out is to remove the chair railing and paint the door beside the fireplace the same colour as the wall. This will make your room seem larger and also draw the focus on the fireplace.

Good luck, you have a lovely room!

UGH-- I am not getting e-mail notices so missed a lot here! I'm sorry I missed so much great advice! I actually painted a warm camel color, just a little lighter than the sofa, and I like it. But I lost the name of the sample and just had it mixed from the sample paint, so I can't even tell you what the name is I ended up with.:-P I like it-- but now I want to try all the other great ideas here. Ahhh-well---the next time the decorating bug hits. :-)

I'm just now looking for pillows-- so great to have your input Dee! I'm def checking those paisley PB ones out! And I LOVE your peanut butter description for your sofa. :-) Much more interesting than "camel"
I have considered painting the chair rail but it is so irreversable that I haven't. I have that same cherry wood on my windows and doors throughout the house too, and like the continuity that brings.

Thanks, fillagirl, for the lovely response. I really like the idea of painting the door on the fireplace wall the same color as the wall-- never thought of that and I just might.

Really appreciated the specific color recommendations from several of you also.... always a big help in weeding through the many choices.

And ideefixe... I've considered an area rug but wasn't sure how it would work over my "extra plush" wall to wall. Does anyone else have that super plush carpet with an area rug over it?

jan in wisconsin, I just ordered two lamps!Now I'm looking for a large piece of artwork with lots of "my" greens in it for the wall behind the sofa.

When I get those things, I'll try to figure out how to post here and show you. Wish I could have you all over for tea to see it in person!

Thanks, everyone! This is fun!