roseabbey, The 'one up' thing doesn't always apply to the way paint works present day -- because paint color strips are not all created equal. Back in the day, there was a lot more consistency and 'one up' kinda sorta could really mean something. Now-a-days if you go one shade lighter, it's a real possibility that it's not the same color that you initially chose. A lighter color, yes, but very characteristically different than the darker color on the strip. Not all paint color strips are the same - these days they're arranged in all sorts of ways. Sometimes, 'one up' is a viable option because the strip really is a progression of color arranged lighter to darker. Oftentimes, that's not the case. The strip is comprised of anywhere from five to seven colors that can be very similar, but are essentially different colors. The way to manage and determine what is too dark, too light or just right is primarily by using LRV. Light Reflectance Value. The number is a consistent piece of data that tells you a lot about how light or how dark a color can look/feel. LRV is especially useful if you have paid attention to it over time and have benchmarks for you, your house that you can refer to when choosing what colors to sample.

Ours is Lincoln Cottage Brown - Lowes color, mixed in BM paint. Sorry, no pic yet - digital camera is giving me trouble!! But, it is a brownish/plum color and gorgeous (to me, at least.) I never would have found this color if it weren't for a forum member just throwing out the idea of it. I hunted down the swatch, fell in love. So, it is possible to find that perfect color from a message board!! Keep looking!

What part of the country do you live in?

Beth yes I was going to change hardware I just wasn’t sure what color. I’m not a big fan of black as I like bronze and brushed nickel. I even looked at brass but that probably wouldn’t be a good fit. I’m so set on wanting the two tone so I have been looking at gauntlet gray and dovetail and I think there was one other. I would of went with mindful gray if I didn’t get advice on going darker. Then looking at all the wall colors you photo shopped.