snookums2 - Yes my plan is to paint the green to the trim, then above would be off white. We just put that trim up yesterday, that's why it is unpainted. I planned to paint it the ceiling color. I am about out of the green paint, so I have to buy more paint one way or another. I am definitely going with a lighter green. I'll start with the one wall and see how it looks, I can also continue around the door later... Not sure about adding another railing. We don't want to, but I suspect a home inspector will flag it.

All my trim is Simply White. What about the next color up on that strip, Moonlight White? There are many examples of this online if you Google--it looks gorgeous in person but is definitely "white". Or the next color up, which is Old Prairie (pale taupey greenish gray). I have the opposite problem (North/South facing, but not a lot of windows, everything reads blue, argh!). I wouldn't get too caught up in what you were "told". Only you have to live in the space so I say go with your gut! Are you feeling something yellow-y, taupe-y, or more gray? It sounds boring but BM Linen White is a classic for a reason, a rich white. I like BM Windham Cream for a buttercream color, but I am partial to that in general. There are a lot of grays but it really depends on what kind of undertone (green, blue, brown, purplish) you want.

As long as all the colors work together nicely, you can start and stop anywhere that feels right to you...typically though you want to break colors at inside corners. Unless you are really good, outside corners can be tricky to paint. I would paint the wall with the stairs the beige and do the rest of the family room in the blue. I would not paint the bottom of the soffit dark...I think it should match the ceiling. One way to think about it is, am I in the room. If you are in the room then the color can be the same. If you are not in the room, the color can be different. So the brown wall on the kitchen side is in the kitchen. The wall in the pass through is in the family room so should be blue. The stairwell is the stairwell so should be beige. But you are inspiring me to create a thread on color blocking...there seems to be a lot of questions around how to do it....

@cat_ky, it's in the design phase and nothing is built. It's a new home that hasn't started yet. So I don't have a photos to share.