With your description of your hardwoods, neutral stone, and dark sofa, I think you could go in many possible directions with paint. You could definitely head towards monochromatic by doing something in the brown family; Restoration Hardware Cappuchino, Benjamin Moore Shaker Beige, or even something like Macadamia by Sherwin Wms. It's a little more in the yellow tan tone, but it would still give you that mono look. You could go dramatic with one of the new turquoise colors. Sherwin Williams Quietude is a blue green that would look great with hardwoods and dark furniture. Pratt & Lambert's Contemplation has similar tones and feel. You could try a subtle gray-green like Nantucket Gray by Ben Moore or even Flowering Herbs, which is soft browned green. Even a nice creamy white like Navaho White or Mascarpone could be nice for a little heavy accessorizing later. Any of those colors would lend themselves well to touches or red or raspberry, yellows and brighter lime greens in pillows or pottery or even floral arrangements. What I think we need to know is, What style are you? Do you want your room to give off a contemporary modern vibe? Perhaps even Pratt & Lambert Feather Gray, (check it out on Cote De Texas today) something soft almost no color and yet modern looking. Do you want the room modern but cozy and warm? Rockport Gray, another BM color, is medium dark on the wall. I tested it for my study but needed something with just a little more light for that small room. What mood or feel do you want to convey? Are you looking for sophisticated and subtle? Do you love color and want the room to lift your mood when you walk in? When you look at photos in the Decorating magazines, what kind of look appeals? Barely accessorized yet looking finished? Or more earthy with lots of books, lamps, flowers, and throws? Do you love Traditional rooms or even maybe Transitional spaces? We just need more info really......... Red

You go with what you like...don't care what is in today because it will be out tomorrow. Vertical blinds are available in hundreds of beautiful fabrics...most of the time the same fabrics you can use for roller shades. Pricing depends on the quality of the fabric of course...there are cheap ones available at Ikea or even HomeDepot but their quality shows. If you want to spend a bit more for custom made shades, please check us out at www.PleatedBlindsStore.com or give us a call at 619.665.9446 Vertical Blinds

Looks to be typical 8' ceilings. The higher you mount the rod the better the illusion of more space because the eye is drawn up. If there were 5' of space between the window and ceiling I would not advise taking them to the ceiling, but this is not the case here. When they're open, the rod is drawing a pretty severe line where it is mounted. It stops the eye and communicates that the dark line is the top of the room, and the drapes do the same when closed. It is just a designer trick to visually enlarge the space.

I would do soalr shades on the top windows to control heat and damaging UV rays and I would make those probably custom and permanent then the same for the lower windows but able to be rolled up on cloudy days the drapes as shown for a nice look IMO the windows do not lend themselves to sheers. BTW the solar shades allow you to keep the view and if you do not need privacy at night just leave the dapes open but always make the drapes be full enough to be able to close not just skimpy panels that really look cheap. No lights are needed there and if you do not do the solar shades those floors and everything else you put in that space will fade .I also think that FP is too unassuming for the windows so I woiuld be looking at taking a nice porcelain large format tile to the ceiling with a nice thick mantel in a wood like the floor. BTW drapes near a FP are never good so maybe just romans shades in the same fabric as the drapes for those windows and please do not put the TV above the FP. I would also close the passthrough it will give you a nice wall for a TV , storage,display arrangement I deally in a wood like the mantel