I'm sorry, but the "heavily fringed swag" made me shudder. That was used in the 90's but has been out of style for quite some time. Plain curtain panels are used now and with your decor will look traditional without being dated. Your dining room might look wonderful in a shade of light blue. May I also suggest a much larger rug in your living room?

I would try the Ming Red in the dining room as well, since the furnishings seem so similar. I'm not sure why you would want to try a different hue of red.

This is cheating, but what are the suggestions given by the maker of the paprika paint for coordinating or complementary colors?

How do you feel about the gold in your DR? Does it work with the paprika? Maybe it would work in the LR? Looks like your rug has the same gold.

Becky, I may have mislead you - I want to get rid of the red in my living room. Even though I love it, I love the paprika shade I've chosen for the dining room more - it just feels fresher and so that means I need to paint the living room another color. And that's the dilemma! For the first time in my adult life, I'm having trouble picking a paint color. I usually instantly know what I want. But I promise, I'm not going to put two different shades of red in rooms that are across a foyer from each other.

Anele, I tried cheating, lol. The complementary colors they show for the paprika are in the blue family -very gorgeous pale azures to even a deep navy. Unfortunately, the piano gets lost with the navy and the blues, although gorgeous, just don't really work with elements I'm keeping. Not to mention that my husband seems to be the only man in the world that hates blue. I used to have a huge blue and white porcelain collection that I used as accent pieces throughout my house, and he just hated it so much that I just packed it away. The gold in the dining room would work, but I have a large antiqued white book cases that skew to a golden shade in certain light levels and I'm afraid I'd end up feeling a little jaundiced, lol - but it might be my best option. I've had both rooms in the same muslin that my hallways are, and they did look pretty, but I'm so much happier with color around me. I actually redid my den in some very pretty tone on tone neutrals once and ended up recovering everything a few weeks later because - although really pretty - it just didn't make me smile when I walked in the room.

Becky, I may have mislead you - I want to get rid of the red in my living room.

Not so much misleading anyone, but definitely preventing those of us who reply from helping you as well as we're able : ) .

It's usually best to give as much information as possible -- ie I plan to get rid of the red in the living room, I can't do blue or muslin for various reasons, the heavily fringed swags are staying -- so that you get the answers you want and so that forum members don't feel that they're shouting into the wind.

The only suggestions I have at this point are to try that soft gold, or perhaps green, or paint them both paprika. Good luck with the painting and I hope you find something that makes you smile.

I can't quite picture the paprika, but what about a green? Something like Dried Basil? I do love that ming red, and it looks great with the rug, but a green might as well.

In all fairness, the thread is titled about what new color for the living room, so that is clearly the question.

I'm not great at colors, but I do know green and paprika is a winner.

I've had both rooms in the same muslin that my hallways are, and they did look pretty, but I'm so much happier with color around me.

I understand! I am the same way. I think some of us need more sensory input than others.

How do you feel about the gold generally? Maybe since you are moving away from it in the DR, it means you might not want it in the LR? Or will it feel new since it’s in a new room? I understand what you mean about the bookcases. Could you bring a shelf or two to the DR and see? I know it won’t be the same but maybe it would help you envision if you can live with it or not.

I do like the idea of greens, but if you are not a green person,how about something like the mango in this image? I don’t think it will work with your rug, however:

PS From which paint co. is your Ming Red? Is it SW? I love the color. Red is my favorite and I’m always on the hunt for the perfect red.

Could your husband handle a light blue? As I was reading this thread - which is quite entertaining - I have a Wayfair catalog open in front of me with what looks like a sort of paprika colored sofa with a light blue wall behind it.

Anele, you know your paint companies palettes - the ming red was a Sherwin Williams color. I'm not sure it's still an active color, but they still have it in their formulary because I buy small cans for touchup and according to my record book, it's definitely called "Ming Red." Honestly, if it wasn't for wanting to paint the dining room the paprika I found, I'd keep the red in the living room. I'm just ready for changes. When I finally got rid of my eucalyptus-y/sage green in my family room and went to expresso it was kind of galvanizing.

The gold is really a bit richer than the washed out picture and it still makes me happy, but I'm in the mood for a change. The current color is just a few shades lighter than the curry (same basic color family) you posted above - and it does make wonderful changes with the light levels throughout the day and evening. It took a lot of painted 4x4' squares I moved around the room to find it, lol. I like the idea of green, but I'm just not sure since I got rid of green in my family room. Then again, shades of green, reds, and golds have always been my comfort zone - although I was blues, browns, white and pops of red before I married.

I don't really care that much about the living room rug - I can easily put it somewhere else in the house, probably my office - but I'm stuck with the chairs until my daughter moves out and takes them, she likes the retro Alhambra print, although I've toyed with placing them at the head of the table in the dining room and getting a couple of new chairs eventually for the living room.

Becky, I thought I was pretty clear about wanting to change the color of the living room given my heading was "Help, I'm at a loss as to what color to paint my living room," lol. It describes the room as is, says I planned to keep the draperies with the swags that make Ingrid shudder. It clearly stated that since I wanted to paint my dining room from the soft gold it is now to a paprika, I cannot keep the Ming red in my dining room. I even listed Muslin as the color of the foyer that runs between the two rooms and expresso as the color of the family room that the Muslin hallways lead to. Not sure what more detail you might want, although I can see how knowing that I cannot use blues would be helpful. Perhaps it was the volume of details that I threw at you that was confusing. Thank you for your suggestion of paprika for both rooms, though. I'll certainly give that some thought.

Graywings, I LOVE that blue with the paprika - but no, he cannot handle any blues and it drives me crazy because I ADORE blue. I have Benjamin Moore's Woodlawn Blue in one of the guest rooms - and it's a much paler version of the blue in the picture you posted and skews to a pale grew in bright sunlight. Even that's too much blue for him, but he doesn't bug me too much about it since he never goes upstairs, lol. I inherited a large beveled glass china cabinet from my Mom this summer, placed it in my family room, and put a few pieces of my blue and white porcelain in it - the porcelain pops with my expresso walls. He HATES it, but tolerates it since he thinks I inherited it, lol.

Thank you for the paint info, Suzanne! I have to try a sample!

It sounds like the only thing that definitely needs to stay is the curtains, which work with many colors.

How about looking for new chairs and rug that work with the curtains and finding a paint color based on those choices? Maybe if you share some chairs and rug you like, we can brainstorm more and narrow down what you like for paint.