Looks like I can only post one picture per post? Maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, I'll post the two others here.

Living room:

Tiny dining room:

Thanks, tinan. I do think that a gray wall color would go against the style of the house. We weren't thinking we'd get an older home, so we're adjusting on the fly to fit the Tudor style.

The BM marscapone looks quite nice, though I think my wife might object to it as too "boring." But it would be clean and bright, for sure. I like the idea of an accent wall for the fireplace. Any color suggestions there?

As for the brown furniture, we'll eventually move away from as we can afford new pieces. That's our goal -- less plain wood furniture and fewer brown couches and chairs. I think our ideal goal is something kind of like Anthropologie, though probably a little more clean than that. Painted furniture, occasional patterns, etc.

Thanks again!

Yes -- another BIG vote for a warm white or a fresh milky white! choosing a warm white would be just right for your new home! That kind of color would look like old plaster -- which is wonderful for a Tudor house!:)

Then -- after you paint the walls -- you could add color to the room decor with accessories like curtains, cushions or pillows for your furniture, artworks etc. Your brown furniture might just fit in very very nicely with the Tudor -- plus lots of fresh color and pattern will add an updated touch too!

The absolute first project I'd want to take on is to strip that white paint off of the woodwork! It's sacrilegious that they painted it. And that's what's missing out of the rooms that you posted: the punctuation of the dark wood against which to contrast the lighter colors which is so typical of a Tudor look, such as the exterior shows. It's why there is no "depth" to the rooms. You can't have light and bright without some darkness to contrast it against.

You can't go wrong with a creamy white-- but I looked at your rooms and immediately thought of a light taupe with green undertones. I have one in my house that I am hoping to carry forward in the next house -- I love it that much! It's an old Duron color Tavern Taupe.. if you look for it online, it looks much darker than it is in real life. I love that it's one of those colors that changes with the light. Another color that is a bit of a chameleon is BM Baby Turtle. Many on the board here have used it.

From there, I'd look at small ways to add color before you replace your furniture. Rugs, pillows and artwork are all ways to bring in color. My furniture is all brown -- and while one day I'll replace the brown, for now, I am accenting with other colors-- my favorites are orange and bright green but sage, forest green, reds and blues would work too. All should work with the style of your house -- especially with brown furniture as the anchor.

Beautiful home. Congratulations!

If your windows are newer windows, they may not be wood. If this is the case and they are white, then white your trim will need to be. (such is the case with my 1931 colonial with 1990s vinyl windows.)

If your windows are original and wood, then they and the trim could be stripped, which is a ton of work and never fun. Or they could be painted in a trim color.

Even painting them a different white can sometimes make a big difference.

As to the walls, the yellow is not looking very inviting. It seems rather harsh and not very calming.

If you haven't already, go to the benjamin moore website. You can upload a picture of your rooms, and then "paint" them in different colors. This lets you see the actual floors and space with the paint colors.

And my friend who is a painter suggests that if you are in doubt, just stick to the benjamin moore historical colors, as they always look good. So that might be a fail safe way to go

I'm not sure some of the replies aren't directed towards Craftsman style home instead of Tudor. If you google Tudor style decorating, there are great ideas out there. I don't see any indication of the dark colors/dark moldings mentioned here. Lots of them have white molding and lighter walls and have no indication of "modern." Good luck, house looks wonderful!

Thank you to everyone for the replies and well-wishes! This is all very helpful. And yes, we were initially sad that they painted the trim white and covered up what was apparently beautiful dark wood trim. We're not sure we want to deal with the hassle of stripping it (at the moment), so they sort of made the decision for us. The new-ish windows are white, too.

Also, thanks to everyone here, I'm not feeling quite so bad about all of our brown furniture anymore.

I've seen BM paint mentioned in this thread and others quite a bit -- sounds like that's where we should start. Definitely seems to be worth the quality from looking around a bit.

If you want something cooler, and the color of plaster, look at Lancaster Whitewash in the BMoore historic color group. Depending on your light, it can be a perfect neutral to start from. Try a big sample first (it does come in the 18 inch square sample sheets), because it can also seem drab in some lights. But it's worth a look.

And Mascarpone is a lovely neutral white, too.
If the Mascarpone reads green in your light, look at Mayonnaise, which is creamier, but also luminous.

Whatever you choose, buy their top of the line paint. In the long run, the difference in cost is nothing (particularly since two normal coats is probably all you will ever need), and the difference in quality is everything.

A few thoughts. One, I think grey is too cold, given your exterior (assume that is staying, as it is pretty de rigeur for Tudor.

For historic homes, using a slightly darker color on the trim vs the walls is more in keeping than the very bright white trim currently popular.

I would stick with off whites, like Halo or Cotton Balls by BM, or take a look at Farrow and Ball colors (their colors can be mixed in any paint if you do not want to pay FnB prices). Don't forget to sample the colors first --- look at it in different light and do at least a 4ft sq if you can.

You may also want to look at American Clay (they can custom mix very light off whites). We used it in our entry and MBR, and I like the depth and variation (we went with the most subtle ... i dont think it photographs at all, but it is really nice in person)

here's an example

Here is a link that might be useful: an example of subtle use of clay

Here is our semi-Mission style townhouse (I say semi because it's not real mission style other than having red tile roof, cream stucco etc exterior the interior is basically plain 1980's townhouse) painted almost all Mascarpone. It's not boring once you accessorize, and maybe add some color around the fireplace! The fireplace accent wall is BM Mexicana.

A warm white is cheerful and neutral without being too modern, and it is definitely in sync with Tudor style since the exteriors are cream.

{{!gwi}}

{{gwi:1385953}}

Love the look of American Clay! It would be perfect in a Tudor home. I wish that I had seen it before we painted our plaster walls in our 100+ year old home.
Diane

I like color and used a lot of BM historic colors in my 1920s storybook tudor. I found this 1917 color chart to be helpful even though they are from 10years before my home was built I think they can still work but are not 100% accurate for the 20s I am sure if they were popular in 1917 many were still popular 10 years later. "Drab" and "french grey" are both greyish colors. So it might be possible to pull of a grey room after all. FWIW, I have a charcoal grey living room and , although not historically perfect, I think it works within the character of my home.

Also, the orginal owner had painted my wood work white too. I started striping all the doors and had intended to strip all the wood work but after doing the doors I rather liked the white trim with the dark doors and stopped there. It was a common look in the 20s to have white mouldings with dark doors if you are not up to stripping all the wood work.

Here is a link that might be useful: 1917 colour chart

Hi again, everyone:

You all have such beautiful homes! Roarah, I love your trim and the slightly darker paint color you used; and tinan, your townhome is so bright and airy. I also love that staircase.

Unfortunately, now that we've gotten all this good advice, I'm sad to say that yesterday the sellers waffled on some promises they made to fix items (we're still in inspection period), and we had to walk away from the deal. We're pretty bummed to lose the house, but taking on the repair of a faulty sewer waste line and several other things wasn't in the cards for us. I guess it's all part of the process.

Still, I appreciate all of the help. I've already learned a lot from everyone here, and hopefully I'll have a new, new home to show off soon enough. :-) Thanks again.

Oh, I am sorry. That is a disappointment, but you will find your perfect home for sure. Keep us posted. We love following everyone's progress/adventures.

OH I too am sorry it fell through but we lost the first house we bid on because of issues and I was so sad and thought I would never find a house I liked as much only to find a larger lot and house in a better location for less money just a few weeks later. Things really do often happen for a reason and I am sure you will either find a house more suited for you or this one will return to you in a repair you can accept. Best of luck!

Sometimes it just isn't meant to be. I do love Tudor homes, though! Good luck on your continued search.