Painting the whole house gray in a northern climate seems contrary to the warm, livable space you're trying to create. On dull, rainy, snowy days it may not be what you're looking for. With your beautiful, warm-colored floor I would look for a color that is warm in a light tone. You certainly don't want beige, but more something along the lines of a warm white tone. Gray has been so overused that it's quickly becoming dated, and the new trend now is color, so you might want to rethink your choice. I would look for beautiful rugs in warm colors (Oriental rugs are considered neutral and can be used with any style of furniture) and base your furniture choices and accent colors on that. You need to decide on your furniture layout before buying anything and measure the areas where you want your couch to go, for instance, so that you don't buy one that's too large for your space. Pay attention to the depth which on modern couches is often ridiculously deep (like 48 inches) and look for ones that are more along the lines of 35 to 36 inches. Buy leather only if you love it (and please DO NOT pick dark brown or black leather that goes with absolutely nothing in the room). Pick light, warm tones that will marry well with beautiful rugs and pillows. A warm-colored beige is a good option. One couch and two chairs, with the chairs in a different style (although the heights should pretty well match) would be a good start. A glass and metal coffee table would make your space look larger, and then you can have wood side tables (which don't have to match each other but should be close in height). This gives you the basics and you can then buy pillows based on the rug colors, and you'll want to add books and paintings to finish the look. Large plants are always a good accent; small plants should be grouped together if used at all since they have little impact in a large space.

It is really hard to visualize without pics. I know you aren't in the space yet, but could you at least link to a pic of the dining set? And the sofa? And a photo of your chandelier since it sounds like you have that in your current home? It sounds like the kitchen is a black/white color scheme. A lot of people pair that with greige walls, which (if my web search turned up the right sorts of images for "mink") seems like it would work with your dining set. I think "fawn" walls would not work well with "mink," at least if my understanding of what you mean by those colors is on point. Fawn conjures up a warm color with orange undertones, and while that could look nice with a sage green living room set, I think it will fight the cooler tones of the kitchen and the proposed dining set. It sounds like the peppercorn floor is not installed yet, so I will throw this out there: Dark floors have a reputation for showing every speck of dust. The elements you've described would look just as nice with a less dramatically dark floor. Just something to think about. I haven't found it to be difficult to find black tables in styles other than country. What style are you interested in? More modern? More traditional? I'm sure we could help you find something. But if you stick with the peppercorn floors, black furnishings might be too much black. You could do white (tie in with kitchen cabinetry), chrome (tie in with your proposed chandelier) or something else. Congratulations on your new home! (I probably should have led with that...)

Hi @Patricia Colwell, Please see the existing furniture pieces that will stay, the tv media console and the table, and the two pieces that I will paint either a wood stain or separate color, the bookcase and an Ikea Ivar cabinet (also adding legs to work as living room piece of furniture).

How nice of you to want to do up your mother's room! You need a third color besides the light blue and royal blue, and you can do the 60-30-10 rule with 60% your light blue, 30% your royal blue and 10% the third color. What you need to decide is what that color will be, and either you can decide that, or your mother can. And you can decide that based on color preferences and then purchase art and accessories based on that, or you can just wing it and pick some art and accessories you like and work around that. To be more specific, do you want to add a green or purple? And what type of a green or purple, there are so many! Green and purple are next to blue on the color wheel, so they will be calming. Or, if you want excitement and pizzazz you can add to your blues some oranges or yellows, and you can make it less primary school and more sophisticated if you use ochre or saffron or pumpkin or carnelian. Why don't you look up how to use a color wheel for decorating? I strongly suggest that you let your mom pick out the art for the walls? She is the one that will be staring at it. I also suggest a knock-out mirror somewhere, either a Venetian glass mirror, or a starburst mirror, or an antique mirror that you find in a consignment shop. If you get a Venetian glass mirror (those look divine on a light blue wall!) have it hung by someone who really knows what they are doing, because those mirrors are very heavy! I would also suggest throw pillows that unite the colors that you have chosen for the room in a very clever way and that are textural, for example, a velveteen or synthetic velvet that wears well, a nubby knit, etc. I would have chosen an Oriental rug rather than the solid blue. If it is not too late, can you move the solid blue rug into the bedroom? Something like this would look marvelous in the living room, and be so interesting.