Hi Teapot!

Any chance of posting a photograph?

Look at BM Thunder. AF 685.

I can never just pick a color out of the blue, so to speak, as I like so many. Rather I want to tie it into what's going on in the rest of the room. Is there art? Is there a print fabric? Is there something out the window? Something to use as an inspiration to help tie the whole space together. Also do you want the wall to recede? Then paint it darker. Also consider if you have natural break points to stop the accent color. If it's in an entry way, are there other rooms that it needs to coordinate with too?

These are some of the things I'd consider before selecting a color for an accent wall.

My daughter painted a small room with RH flint mixed in BM paint. The dark color is very effective at making the walls recede. She has honey oak floors. It looks fabulous and she gets many compliments.

Grays and golds are beautiful when pared together, so I wouldn't worry about that.

It might make things easier on yourself if you decide on the wall colors for the entire area before painting an accent wall, though. Or, at least have a plan for the room and adjoining spaces as Annie suggests.

I'm attaching a photo of the area below - I hope this works!

I'm always hesitant to post photos because my house is so much less than everyone else's here. :( But there you go. :)

Colours in our living room and throughout the house are:
red, orange, aqua, beige, black...

I would like to create more visual interest to draw the eyes of whoever enters through the front door up instead of down to the mudroom/clutter room. Party streamers are temporary from 10 year old's bday.

Here is a link that might be useful:

This post was edited by teapot100 on Mon, Sep 8, 14 at 10:36

Teapot, I love the streamers!

Your house looks warm and lived in - certainly nothing to be ashamed of. I would be very comfortable visiting your house, because mine is the same way.

Sorry I can't help with color choices.

I'm not going to be much help, either, I suspect. (Why is the piano in the stairwell?!) Oh, well, if it stays there, I definitely would not paint the wall charcoal; it will look like dark clouds and mud. The third picture down in this link shows a brown buffet against a Chinese red wall. It's beautiful.

Here is a link that might be useful: brown with red wall

This post was edited by tomatofreak on Mon, Sep 8, 14 at 14:34

Are there any other colors to draw from on the exterior or form adjoining rooms? It is hard to give advice in a vacuum, I think nearly any color would work, but if you want an accent it should be something that works with the house.

wall paper it with old sheet music?

The piano is at the top of the stairs because there are only 2 walls in the small living area that it will fit against. We decided to hide the clutter that is the computer desk against the other wall (so it's not the first thing you see) so the piano is where it's at. Our house is very small!

So like I said, the other colors are oranges (rug, accents), reds (accents), aquas (accents), black (accents, pillows) and beige (the walls and slipcovers). We have rattan blinds in the windows. Ummm....I think that's it!

Soooooo, red????

@annkh - thank you for the kind words! Our house is tiny (around 1200 sq feet) and so room layout gets very tricky. I have a like-hate relationship with the house right now. I wish the ceilings were higher, I wish the rooms were slightly bigger, I wish we didn't have baseboard heat, I wish the previous owners had updated a little in the past 40 years that it was occupied, I wish we had more money to renovate, more money to buy new furniture that will work with our space, I wish I wish I wish. *sigh* But I appreciate your kind words. Encouragement like that makes me see the good where it's so easy to see the negatives.

Hang in there, teapot! My first house was an 800sq ft Cape Cod. One bathroom, two attic bedrooms, a whopping three kitchen cupboards, and not one single full height closet. I had to hang dresses and full length coats on the back of my door. Living in a small house that needs updates and with an equally small budget can be frustrating, but I and two sons survived it. In fact, my youngest son and his two doggies are still living there, so it couldn't have been all that bad :)

I'd do orange or aqua; they both seem kind of "in" right now. You have those colors as accents, so it should fit in.
Plus it's paint, no biggie if you change your mind.

No house is perfect and all of us wish for things, but I think a zap of color as you come in might change your current ennui with your house!

Here you go. Yes, it's a wall wider than yours, but there's more here than color. May give you some ideas of how to liven up the space above the piano. And, yes, it's still red!

Here is a link that might be useful: piano and red wall

Thank you for the suggestions! We used to have a photo gallery above the piano, but it felt cluttered. I'm worried that adding a bright colour like orange or aqua will make that wall look even more cluttered. Red walls feel a bit dated. Maybe I should just repaint the whole interior white. That is so much easier to work with, lol.

How about teal? Like a deep jeweled teal? That would go along with the aqua?

Hey Teapot...I like tea as well.

I think the wall should be a paint colour that goes with the living room. But you could do something great with fabric that would really have panache.

What about choosing a great fabric design and putting a cover on the piano bench and chair seat? You could carry it into the living room with an accent pillow.

I included a link with a wood dining chair with a slip cover. But you could use any fabric that had pizazz - a cotton or linen with a design - and was in keeping with your décor, and a tie on cushion on the chair beside it. And if that chair is part of a dining set then carry it into the dining room. Sometimes the decorator Sarah Richardson would use one fabric on a bench, and a coordinating fabric on the cushion with the first fabric as a piping...

Then maybe paint out the frame of your art over the piano in a coordinating colour, and something on top of the piano that is fun like several different coloured glass bottles...

Anyhow, hope this helps and let us know what you do please?

Radley

And, if anyone could tell me how to put a picture in a garden web post that would be great!!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: upholstered chair

Thank you, Radley! I think a cushion for the bench is a GREAT idea!

I hope I didn't insult anyone when I said that red walls feel a bit dated. What I meant was that I see that colour a lot in houses around here and in those instances, it just feels heavy (not any more than this wall in my house is right now either, lol) and I'm worried that the same will happen here. The turquoise or teal or peacock blue wall idea is growing on me and if I found maybe something like a turquoise/teal velvet cushion (or made one) for the piano bench, that might knock it out of the park along with some other accent ideas mentioned and depicted in photos in other posts too. Thank you so much for the help!