No, we're not! The carpet is for the bedrooms/lower living area

Patricia Cowell, i want to update the colors. I want it to be fresh and more contemporary but we plan to keep the woods and beams. Does that make sense?

What Peter said - just getting wall +ceiling colors up that provide good counterbalance to all that wood is all thats needed, imho. Please dont paint any of the wood - it is quite lovely and adds a nice glow, esp after you get some COLOR in there.

I could see a soft gray blue as your ceiling/ upper areas - not what we think of as "sky blue" but sorta leaning in that direction.... with more of a woodsy or mossy green for the lower wall areas - or keep it gray if you must. Ive not used any Ellen kennon's paint - not yet anyway! - but she has this great palette of nature inspired colors Ive long admired
http://www.ellenkennon.com/naturespalette.htm

I think its absolutely fine,,, and possible... for rustic to coincide with "modern." Dont know where yall live but here in midwestern city we've got this neo-prairie architecture thing going on w/ heavy FLW + craftsman + prairie style influences.... some of it not really well done (as happens when anything becomes a trend or fad) but some of it really sublime.. my point is there is a whole body of contemporary design that uses natural materials -wood + wood tones, rock, brick, authentic linoleum + nature colors - blues, grays, greens, browns,rusts.

With your heavy woods /leathers/ stone etc. a craftsman palette would be appropriate too (google craftsman colors) Even though yours is not what is usually thought of as "craftsman" - it has all the elements of that style - the arts&crafts movement of the early 1900s was all about natural materials and colors. "Rustic" if you will.

It- might be worth finding someone local who is well versed in the historic styles as well as the whole range of contemporary design (its not all white wash and gray) and who can look at your space (which is beautiful btw) and furnishings and come up with some exact colors for you.

Thank you! That is really helpful!!! We are in Colorado!

Hey i have some fam in CO - love the light and you cant go wrong with inspiration taken from the nature colors there - the blue of the sky, beiges of the prairie grasses, dark green pines, snow whites, gray rocks (or reds in some areas) golds of aspens in fall....

The key to balancing honey wood tones is to use muddy (earthy) paint colors. That does not mean your space turns to mud :) Anything pastel looks disconnected. It definitely takes color testing on the walls. Grab a range of colors and see what works. Generally warmer grays look best in your case. Other colors that work- gray/blue/green, light khaki green, taupe, cream, white... Good luck!

Thx so much!