Hi - very nice house, but I have to say I'm a bit confused as to which room (family or living) you're asking for help with (read the first couple of paragraphs - it's not really clear

You have a beautiful home and have done a wonderful job decorating it and picking out the paint colors. If you are asking for opinions I would vote to paint the living room the same beautiful color you have in the dining room, BM Chocolate Candy Brown. This way the rooms relate to one another. I think too many different wall colors takes away from the wow factor you already have going. Just me 2 cents :)

The room in need of help is the Living Room. The room to the right when you walk through the front door. The doorway to it is in the last photo.

(Even though the foyer looks like it needs help--help is already on the way)

The living room has the double window facing almost West, and on the opposite wall is a large opening to the family room. Through that large opening you can see the family room's colors.

Hope this makes it clearer.

roseabbey, I would love to do the dark chocolate in there. We actually discussed it, but there is this one piece of furniture that has to stay in the Living Room, it's a big desk with a hutch on top (beautiful piece) but it's a very dark cherry and it wouldn't like good with the dark brown background. Otherwise, that is certainly what I would have done just to tie it all together nicely.

Bee, I know this is may not be any help. Why not leave everything the way it is. Your rooms are gorgeous with your choices. I can understand your concern with too much gray but what the heck. We see beige all over the same house all the time. I love the green accents and I think you should bring out the same in the foyer. Make it work with large art framed in chrome and accessories.

Maybe I'm not envisioning this right, but how about a pale sophisticated pink for the LR? Works with the chocolate, the grays, & the green & all that great crystal.

If you're afraid of purple, what wrong with using the gravender color you were considering at one time? Just lean more towards gray with only a hint of lavender. If you keep the tone light, it should pair well with gray, green and even brown.

Hi jerseygirl, the Living Room has not been painted yet. It was about 10 years ago...and it is BM Maple Syrup. Pretty hideous next to the surrounding gray rooms. In fact, it hurts my eyes!

awm, I have a vision of using this agave green along with some of those coral/pinks that we are seeing more and more of now. Maybe I could bring that color in through the curtains...I need to get to the Shumaker/Waverly outlet and see what I find...maybe some inspiration!

How about this for a coincidence..I went to the paint store at lunch to get my tiny little sample of Agave, and the customer at the counter who was waiting for her paint...was waiting for Agave. She said she loved it, tested it in her basement and really liked the way it looked. So, I'm not sure--is it a good thing that she is using a paint color in her basement for her kids that I want to use in my living room....oh the decisions...

The dining room foyer photo looks great with the 2 colors you've chosen. Why not repeat those delicious colors in the living room as follows-- Use the chocolate for most of the room, use moldings like in the DR to frame the area where the desk/hutch will live, and paint the molding/frame and the inside of that framed area with the cameo. Colors will reflect the DR, but with a totally different geometry. Dark cherry piece will be framed in cameo white and will look oh so cool.

Your rooms look amazing! I look forward to seeing more.

amazing rooms. I really like your DR drapes and that bird centerpiece looks interesting. Could we see a close up of that.

bm's nightingale and kasbah are 2 purples(pb's fall colors) which would probably work with the agave and the grays and browns.... neither are too dark---the nightingale is really, really light.... might be worth checking out.

I am not totally clear about the foyer. In the last pic, where is the front door....just to the right, behind that jut-out of closet or whatever? Is the dining room behind you?

When you walk in the front door, what are you seeing, the stairs? Or a corridor back to the family room to the left of the stairs?

I ask all this, because if I understand the pics correctly, I feel like there is enough separation and non-symmetry between the rooms flanking the front door to give you a fair amount of freedom in color selection. This is not a center hall Colonial with two wide doorways on either side, each showing a similar amount of room beyond. If it were, I'd be far more concerned with balance.

I think you can and should use whatever will reside on those two walls (art wall, clock wall) to skew the balance/draw the eye if you need to.

I am also guessing that you see the front window wall and a large chunk of WT when you come in the door and look right. If so, I think you could certainly do a paler yet sprightly green on the walls and ground the room with somewhat substantial chocolate drapery to make the DR connection (or dark gray to connect to the foyer but I prefer chocolate.) I would also do as much white furniture as practicality allows for the same reason.

Last tidbit....the cherry desk will look quite red against green walls. Make sure you are happy with that complementary combo.

"I am not totally clear about the foyer. In the last pic, where is the front door....just to the right, behind that jut-out of closet or whatever? Is the dining room behind you?"

Yes, the door is on the right, the clock and that table are in front of it. So when you come through the front door the hall to the family room would sort of be if you followed that rug (which isn't there anymore). The photo is taken from the dining room. If looking at the Living Room from this vantage point, (through that small doorway) the window is a bit further out to the right, not the same as the dining room.

Right now my LR walls look like the Partridge Family bus. I have Agave, Wasabi, Kalamata, and 3 grays on there. I will see how they look when I get home, and also tomorrow is supposed to be a sunny Saturday here, so it will give me a chance to evaluate them all day long.

Here's my observation as of last night, the Agave looks really "flat", no depth to the color. My dh is scared to death of the Kalamta (dark purple) and I sort of agree, even thought the purple "goes" with the gray, it's random. The Wasabi was surprisingly nice at night with the lights on, but this am, it sort of looked a little bright. So, before work I added three grays to the wall.

I am so afraid I won't be able to decide. I guess it is only the LR, and I can repaint it myself if I have to . As long as I'm confident on the foyer and its ceiling I think it will work out.

(and yes, there will be white chairs in there (or gray depending on the color of the walls)

Okay did a trip to BM today since my DH "room/office" (mess) is getting painted on Monday. While I was there, I picked up the "Colors For Your Home" book. You may have it already. Did you see Brookside Moss? It does not appear to be as yellow as Washabi and does not look muddy at all.

Can you find a purple/grey/brown (if there is such a color)? Maybe that would provide enough contrast but not so "scary purple"?

Oh, and here is a Brookside Moss room by Maria Killam.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1859840}}

I'd pull that silvery pale almost grey white from the sticks in the bathroom wallpaper sort go for that neutral white look with silver accents like mercury glass (the sticks in the wallpaper remind me of that glass) and you can use whatever sort of color accents in there you want to bring into the room color wise.