Swing by Sherwin Williams and pick up one of their Arts & Crafts Preservation Palettes (only a few colors are shown online). Also, check out the Bradbury & Bradbury website, look at all the wallpapers (just for the colors) and finished rooms. If you have a California Paints dealer in your area, they've teamed up with Historic New England (formerly SPNEA, the Society for Preservation of New England Antiquities) to designate certain paint colors as best for certain periods; although most of their indications are for exteriors, the same colors were used for interiors as well. Thing is, for the most part A&C colors were deep and rich - mustards/golds, rusts, olive/forest greens, muddy plums - and the rooms were intended from square one to be on the dark end of the spectrum, somewhat denlike with welcoming pools of light here and there, rather than the almost blindingly bright rooms we are used to today. Instead of trying to "brighten" an extremely dark room with a lighter paint color (which can really drab out the color), try going for the midtone-to-deep color and using generous amounts of lighting instead. Make sure you allow for the undertone in the beige couch, too - beiges can be super tricky in that way, skewing to green or yellow, but an afghan or quilt over the back of the couch can minimize that. You can also swing by the library and see if they have any books on bungalows, or just google "bungalow colors". You may not have a bungalow but the bungalow was the predominant architecture of the A&C period. Now, that all said, if you want to go straight-up Mission, rather than leaning more toward the A&C end of the spectrum, although your furniture's stain colors are a bit light for it (fumed oak was the norm, which is quite dark) you can look toward the California Mission style, which has more in common with Spanish Colonial Revival than the English-influenced Arts & Crafts. Lighter walls (white or buff were common colors), dark trim, accents of intense colors (reds, sky blue - think Talavera tiles) and earth tones.

We almost exclusively recommend LVT for basements, unless there is radiant heat. It is durable, doesn’t transfer cold as much as tile, some are available with a cork backer which makes it softer underfoot and quieter, very easy to clean, easy to install, waterproof and comes in many varieties of colors. It‘s a great product for a casual basement.

Hi RL Relocation LLC - I am really bummed I did not post my project prior to installing the ceiling, but it is what it is now. I am actually still considering having recessed lighting put in after the fact - I'm talking to my contractor about it when he comes tomorrow. When I texted him about it he said it wouldn't be easy, but certainly not impossible to install now. However, I'm wondering, barring that option - do you have any other suggestions for lighting? And you're really making me consider carpet - it would definitely make the cozy, comfortable feel I want. I'm a bit concern due to it being in the basement - there's a bit of a humidity issue down there, but not significant and I'm working to mitigate that. That was so cool how you sent a picture of my room with carpet and paint. So you definitely gave me the idea, but I would want it to use warmer colors for a cozier feel. I am curious how the wood lvp would look tho as well - any chance you could throw up a pix of that? (i'm looking at these 2 in particular - https://www.flooranddecor.com/rigid-core-luxury-vinyl-plank-and-tile/coffee-oak-rigid-core-luxury-vinyl-plank---cork-back-100378876.html and https://www.flooranddecor.com/eco-forest/dayton-wire-brushed-locking-stranded-engineered-bamboo-100898949.html)

I put LVT in my finished basement a year ago and am so happy I did. Carpet shows traffic patterns and doesn't last as long. I got an inexpensive area rug (pattern was being discontinued) to define the TV/family room area. I also painted the walls a white with a yellow undertone to brighten it up. The only thing with LVT is that the installers need to check to make sure the floor is relatively flat before installing. If it isn't, they have a way to fill in the low spots. While you won't be able to get it completely flat, just make sure you don't have any low spots in noticeable areas like at the bottom of your stairs. Most basement floors aren't flat (you can't tell with carpeting), so make sure they check. The floor doesn't have to be the same color as the upstairs, but this also depends on how the stairs are covered. Mine are carpeted so you can't tell the floors aren't identical. If you put new carpeting on your stairs, tell the carpet store you are doing stairs so they can recommend a product that will hold up well for that use.