Well, I've been playing around with paint programs on the paint company web sites, and it seems like the only way to downplay the yucky carpet is to go with either a dark violet navy or a brick red. In that case, the light art will not be so good, and painting those wood pieces white will make them stick out like a sore thumb and they aren't that great. I have some barn-ey woodsy art in the dining room I could move in there, it was going out eventually anyway, and I could move the beach art into the closed-in dining room to open it up a bit. I had kinda been wanting to do that anyway. I have some other stained wood furniture pieces I could put in the bedroom, but they would give new meaning to the word "eclectic" as far as style. The wood matches on them, but all three are totally different furniture styles, one is a rococo secretary that hovers on being so bad it is cool, and the other is a rustic style three drawer little dresser. I could also keep the brown painted dresser and get dark metal pulls for it instead of the white floral ones. That's one way to go.

The other way to go is just do an off white or builder's white on the walls (that's what every other room in the house is) and just fill up the walls with so much art that no one notices the carpet. I certainly have enough art, although it too is eclectic. I think I may have enough nature-ey northwoods-ey stuff to make it work.

I dunno, this seems like this bedroom is going to be the holy grail of eclectic decorating. The basic problem is the choice of blue as a carpet color with the orange-ey wood trim. Blue and orange is my most loathed color combo! That's what I want to get rid of to make the room livable for me. That blue carpet was in every room of the house except the kitchen and bathrooms, and we are slowly getting rid of it. But the bedrooms have to wait because next up is wood floors for the dining room and den.

I don't see an issue at all. If you look in the border, there's a wonderful shade of green that looks great in a lighter shade like BM Antique Jade

Frankly, I'd ignore the rug. If it troubles you too much then buy an inexpensive sisal area rug to put over it so it just becomes a border around the room.

I thought the carpet is gray until you wrote it's blue. Need to think more

What a great headboard! Does it stay?

I must say..the new quilt throws me off the track, in my thinking..

Maybe a little too geometric for the quilt. I had a creamy one with an embroidered floral, but after trying twice last night to clean some stains off of it, I think it is a bust. The other one I had which is pictured, is torn. I do have a purple sueded duvet cover that I use a lot, and a green and white ticking striped duvet cover. I also have pink ones, but I'm trying to stay away from this year's powder pink and powder blue theme! Mom may have some other quilts packed away somewhere, I dunno. It would SUCH A SHAME (she says sarcastically) if I had to get a new quilt and duvet cover!

Yeah, the carpet is sort of the same cornflower blue as the wall, just a bit duskier (or dustier perhaps). I think that's why I have such a negative visceral reaction to the room. I don't hate blue, but when it is combined with the orangey trim, it makes me feel kinda sick to my stomach.

Hmmm. I LOVE green. Had been staying away from it because I wasn't sure that I liked the contrast between the green and the orangey wood. Maybe I should paint the wood trim this weekend too. It is nothing special. Hey, there's an idea . . .

I'd be tempted to go with a *dark green for the walls, then accessorize with the rose colors you liked in the old folks home. I'd use ivory for the bedding and fold the quilt across the foot of the bed. As for the woodwork, I wouldn't paint. I'd keep that can of worms tightly sealed. ;)

I would paint all of the wood trim a soft white and use the paint color Annie posted, think doing both of those would make the carpet at least tolerable until you replace it.

-green

-both landscapes

-wait on the quilt. Try the green and white ticking duvet

-just a bit of rosy-reddish accents (as natebear suggested), as found in a flower trim and flower details in the headboard frame.

PS green and wood is one of the most natural combos in the world. Agree, with orange-y wood it is harder..

would suggest to paint trim but what if your mother hates the idea.

It's never about the paint color is it . . . Mom died, that's why I am in the house. Dad and I inherited the house but he moved out six months ago to a lovely condo. I had sold my house and was planning on buying something locally but then with mom's sudden death I put it off indefinitely. I still have my apt. near work, just go to the house three days a week to sort and take care of the yard, etc. Dad helps. My things and some of mom's are all stored in the master bedroom, it is full to the ceiling with my boxes to sort and go through. Long range plan is to redo master suite (it needs it!) if I stay but due to family and friend guest visits I am needing the guest bedroom so have turned to this other room to use as my bedroom when I'm here so I can also have weekend guests in the guest bedroom.

This room was dad's den/office and the folks did nothing, absolutely nothing to it for the 16 years they lived there. Mom had her office in another part of the house and hated the whole room and dad's clutter that was in there, so I'm not going to be changing some sacred things of my dead mother's. And dad has a three room, completely decorated den/office/workshop/guest room in the basement of his new condo, so he SHOULD be fine with whatever I do, particularly if it is minor. But probably not because he is constantly agitated and angry about anything and everything, that's just the way he is in his old age. I am used to it and adapt to it, but it does make doing the most mundane things loaded with baggage that you would never expect to be there. He was like this before mom died too, she put up with a lot!

Oh my. I'm so very sorry. I didn't mean to bring you additional pain with my stupid comment. I'm very sorry for your loss.

And yes..No, it's never about the paint color...

April no worries! I'm sorry if my explanation of the situation made you feel bad because your comment wasn't stupid in the least and did not bring me any pain at all!! You didn't know that my mom died and she has been gone for a year and four months, so this isn't some fresh new issue, I have been dealing with dad's mental problems and mom's things for a long time now. I would so love to just do something fun with that room for me though . . . sigh.

What is under the carpet? Hardwood floor, by chance? You can paint plywood, you know. And it's not going to be forever. Paint your white trim after you roll the walls. Paint splatters from the roller will go everywhere!

The art and the sun quilt go together. the floral quilt and paper trim work with the flowers in the bed frame and proposed drawer pulls. The two ideas don't look right together from here.

I would paint, choose the quilt/spread and curtains/blinds. Then shop your house for art work and accessories. Paint your furniture pieces after you've done the rest.

I had an epiphany this morning. I was trying to put some things together that just didn't quite jibe. I remembered my old lesson from my pepto-bismol bedroom walls fiasco--if something in a room is bugging you, the way to make it go away is to pair it with things ALMOST like it that don't bug you, rather than try to contrast it or draw the eye away from it. Make it blend in.

And truth be told, I really didn't want to fuss with painting all those doors--closet and otherwise, window trim, etc., even if it would look good. And my dad probably wouldn't like it. And I wasn't planning on hiding those beach watercolors away forever in that bedroom, I had toyed with putting them in the dining room anyway, to give that closed-in room the feeling of having a view . . . and the stuff on the dining room walls was rustic and woodsy, not ideal for what I envisioned for that room either, with formal furniture. The art on the walls in there was just being OK place holders for now, so totally chage-able. Switching out the art in the dining room and bedroom went with a direction for the bedroom that I had been toying with anyway--rustic northwoods cabin instead of light and beach-ey. AND, I have been wanting to find a way to use this color palette in a room in my house, and this may be the perfect opportunity. I'm already halfway there with the orange-y wood and the carpet . . .

I really feel excited about the possibilities, like "a plan has come together." I'll keep y'all posted, it may take me a few weekends to get it all done. This weekend I'll be happy if I can just make some headway on getting a wall paint color chosen. I'm thinking to go dark raspberry or grey-blue for the walls, like a darker shade of the carpet or even swing it a little grey violet if I can. There's just nasty plywood under the carpet, this is late 80's house.

I think removing the floral border will do the most to transform the room. Then paint the walls a warm white like BM mascarppone, which will look great with the wood trim and not clash with the carpet (as I am afraid green will). Then bring in the colors you love in bedding and art!

Yes, I may take out the floral border. I'll probably paint a wall and see if I dislike it with the new paint enough to remove it. I'm just lazy enough to try and work with it though, if possible. But it is not sacred.

Oh geez, now there's THIS photo my friend just posted on Facebook today from the Chesapeake Bay . . . How's that for a color combo!

You need Ingrid's golden headboard.

Would the colors of that last photo work with the carpet?

I am moving in with my mom, 92, we like different tones of colors. It sure is "interesting" to combine households

What is your long term plan for this house? If you are eventually going to sell it, then you might want to focus on getting it ready to sell. Remove the wallpaper border, paint the walls one of the current neutrals, and focus on the project that brings you to the house three days a week. If the wood doors on the closet are as nice in person as they are in the photos, then you may have hardwood under the carpeting. It is worth pulling back the carpet before you select a paint color.

Don't get yourself sidetracked with projects that are not the main reason for being in the house.

Not hardwood under the carpeting. This is a late 80's build, it's particleboard. I will probably move long term but I am so very tired of moving and moving. I try to make slow steady progress on the house, although I have a job and dealing with dad pulling at me. That's why I just want to quick paint the walls right now that I have everything out of the room. I want to unpack and go through my things to put in there. In some ways though, it does give me some comfort to decorate it and combine my things with mom's. Now that dad is out of the house with his obsessions and clutter, I can bring mom's voice more to the forefront. People might say "It's only stuff" but that was not the way my mom viewed it She was a librarian, historian and lover of art and literature. She loved beautiful things and they spoke to her. She was all about preservation of history and culture, and I am too, so I want to keep and display things with meaning and history. I'm not trying to become someone totally different just to preserve my mom's memory, but I also know it would make her happy to know that I am taking good care of the family things I've inherited, to know that they mean something to me too. I'm trying to create a "curated" set of things that I can take with me when and if I move. I'm trying to sort the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. And that blue wall in that bedroom is definitely "chaff." There are quite a few things I can edit out. For example, that quilt that I put in there is nothing sacred, I just liked it and the one I had, which was more subtle and I loved, is torn and worn beyond repair. Both may have to go in the end. I was using my old stained one last night, it is 20 years old and yet shows no signs of wear other than the stains. They just don't make stuff like that anymore. I could get a new one and it would no way last as long. So that's also why I sometimes prefer to just work with old stuff, the quality is better.

Did you find a color you liked for this room and make any progress over the weekend, or decide to pause and think more? It usually takes me months (sometimes years) to decide on paint colors, so I envy people who can make quick decisions and not regret them.

I like your idea of going with a light cream color... Something neutral that looks nice with your trim and allows whatever textiles and art you ultimately decide to display in the room to shine. I love Pratt & Lambert's "Silver Lining." If you're still looking, you could grab a chip of that to try it next to your trim and see what it looks like in your lighting. I used it for our exterior trim and love the rich creaminess of it. Our front and back doors are stained wood, a little darker than your trim work, and it looks great next to the wood.

Thanks for sharing your project.