Thanks ttodd for your help. There is so much brown in the room, it needs to be balanced out. The blue in the Harbor Gray may help with that. The panels- my DH made them and actually were his idea. I think it is neat that I can redo it over and over, just get different fabric. The fabric that is up there we had laying around. I plan on making pillows from the left over fabric. The lamps are another issue. I want simpler ones that have a glass vase base, but I haven't changed those out yet.

Thanks! I did see that thread and immediately thought, repaint it! I do have to work with the stuff I have now. So a dark chocolate brown couch and loveseat, a couple of no so fab tables, and 90ish contemporary lamps. Lamps and tables will go asap. A few years ago, my DH was horsing around with my DD one day and fell backwards into the matching coffee table and it broke. I was tempted to push him into each of the end tables too! ;-) I'm actually quite fond of the furniture, but I don't think it really works in this room. I already took the big chair for the set up to my bedroom. As for color, I think I've settled on BM Soleil. It's light and fairly neutral without being beige. Sort of a pale yellow cream. I have a sample jar sitting on the table, I just need to get it onto some posterboard so I can see it in a larger format. I think my biggest decision is going to be the trim, especially matching the old and new trim. We have enough old door trim to trim out the two missing doorways on the LR side, so we'll use that, but the door casings will be new pine, the new doors - 2 sets of double 10 lite pocket doors, plus 2 hinged 15 light doors, all are unfinished clear pine, and I have the tops of the windows that hadn't been striped and stained with the rest of the trim to match. I'll paint, try to match the stain, then see how it looks. If it's awful, I'll strip the lot, and restain darker. In someways this is more of an old house thread, than a home decorating one. I think I'll cross post there too. My biggest challenge furnishing-wise is the seating arrangement! How do I get the focus of the room on the big picture window and fireplace, and still have good flow in the room to the Library and DR? DH is the line all the furniture up on the walls kind, but we've done that for years and quite frankly it looked bad. I liked the loveseat under the big window, mainly because it's the brightest natural light spots in thr room, so it makes a good reading perch. Even though I really shouldn't buy furniture, especially accessories, for the room until we're much closer to ready, I do have a serious lust for the photographer's tripod lamp at Pottery Barn. Both my DH and DD hate it, but I don't care! I think it's awesome. I might get it as a birthday present to me next month! I have a large file of "house stuff". I think I'll go through it and put some of the ideas in my photo album, so we can talk styles a bit better. Always ;-) Hunzi Here is a link that might be useful: Stuff Hunzi Loves

I think all the medium, outdated brown wood of the doors and trim bothers me even more than brown windows. And with the walls, outlets and switches in the house being bland almond, I am in desperate need of some color! I think I will be able to live with the contrast of the windows and trim, since there is no easy fix for any of it that I can find. I'm just hoping to find the look that is easiest on the eye and blends the best that it can. Many have recommended BM White Dove and I've used Simply White in the past.

Stop and take a bunch of deep cleansing breaths. Don't make any hasty decisions about fixes, please! If you have any drop cloths on the floors, pick them up. Put down your rugs, set up your furniture, hang the drapes. This may all sound counterintuitive because you'll need to put that stuff back if you have to repaint anything. But if you don't have the regular elements of your house in place you are not seeing the color the way it is going to look on a daily basis. Next, take a bunch more deep breaths. Nothing is unfixable; it will be okay. It may not get fixed in time for your family gatherings, but that will be okay, too. In fact, if you can possibly not say anything about your dissatisfaction with the paint it's entirely possible nobody else will notice. (I know it would be really hard not to say anything, but if you could pull that off nobody would be the wiser. Show them all the features you love about your house and they will hardly even notice the walls.) I'm not the person to give you the advice you need for how to fix this if it needs fixing. I think the experts here are going to want more pictures to be able to advise you. My completely amateur take from the small amount of info I can get from your pics is that the accent wall may be the source of the problem. But I'll defer to those who know way more than me and can explain what you can do with lighting and paint to fix things. Again...it will be okay! Focus on the good and what you love about your house and how it's going to be a great place to live for the coming years.