It's hard to tell from the picture, but if these chairs have skirts on them, cut them off or pin them up. You don't usually see skirts on contemporary chairs. I would also replace the matching seafoam pillows with something modern and colorful. Crate and Barrel, CB2 and West Elm are always good sources for modern, affordable pillows. If you don't want to buy pillows to match a color you're not fond of, you could go bold with zebra or cowhide pillows or go trendy with an ikat or suzani fabric. Here is a link that might be useful: exotic fabrics

Oh oakley you really should go to the doctor, but I understand because I'm like you too. I to put off doctor visits as long as I can. I'm trying to learn to be different about it. My doctor once told me that she knew when she saw me I must really be sick. Today I could most certainly use some company. I just got off the phone with my closest cousin about a half hour ago. Her cancer is back. Four and a half years free from cancer and it's back. She's the second one of my cousin's that's happened to this year. I'm literally sick about it.

for sure paint the ceiling white. just use the white base straight out of the can. don't have it tinted! use a flat, ceiling white. painting the ceiling will have a huge impact on the reflective quality. if doing white on the walls, it's really going to make the trim look dingy. I'd redo all the trim (do a little at a time) and the ceiling, and reevaluate the wall color. if you still think it's too dark, try BM Pale Oak

Before painting anything or adding color anywhere I would pick my color pallet. Figure out everything in the house that has to stay. (Not changing the flooring/countertops/ tile in bathrooms . . .) Figure out what you are bringing into the home that you love and will not change for a long time. Look at everything you own, art, clothing, jewlery, makeup, bed linens . What are the colors that you love? Everyone has a few favorites. You want your home to reflect your personality. Are you a jeans and tshirt gal or a pearls and lace kind of girl? Do you love bright, bold colors, or pastels or deep sultry colors? Which colors? Now examine your home. When are you going to use each room and how will you use it? What kind of energy do you want to experience in that room. Do you throw formal cocktail parties or football bbqs or simple family gatherings? Do you like to relax in the tub at the end of a long day or grab a quick shower to wake you up in the morning. Do you want a sultry sexy bedroom or a relaxing retreat? Now you can put all the pieces together. Lay out the colors that have to stay, lay out the colors that you want to stay. Lay then out in the order that you will see each room. If you can see your dining room from the kitchen you want these next to each other and the colors you pick will need to work together, but the colors you pick for the master bath don't have to work well with the kitchen, but need to work with the master bedroom, which has to work with the hall, witch has to work with the stairs, which have to work with the living room, which has to work with the dining room which we already established, has to work with the kitchen. Add the colors that you love. If you pick purple and lime for the kitchen you will want to bring those colors into the dining room, but maybe just a touch of the lime and more concentrated on the purple, then the livingroom needs to have purple, but doesn't have to have lime, and you may decide to introduce some red. Move from room to room, bringing colors that you love into the pallet, sometimes in a deep or bright version and other times in softer forms, making sure that the shades and versions of the colors make you feel the way you need to feel in each room. My colors are teal, purple and burgundy and my foyer happens to have red/purple/green slate flooring. I am using those 3 colors with taupe as my neutral throughout the main part of my home. Teal walls in my guest bedroom, guest bath and master bath and a deep smokey purple in my bedroom. I have a lot of the deep reds in my upholstry and art and things. I also happen to love lime green, but it won't work with teal, so I am continuing the taupe and purple into the basement where I will be doing a deep purple taupe and lime green accents. Basement will mainly be used as a game room, and it will be a place to hang some of the art that I have from a trip to Costa Rica that is brighter and greener than the decor I have elsewhere. I really think that every woman should feel like a 10 in every room of her home. The colors that make you feel wonderful about yourself and about life should surround you.