Late to the party, but I'm liking the dark brown one. Your room is so spacious and open that I dontt think the darker color will overwhelm or weigh the room down. Did you fall in love with the sofa because of the color or in spite of it? Would you still love it if it you originally saw it in, say, eggplant LOL? The reason I'm asking is because you had mentioned that " There is still a part of me that wants to go with the lighter sofa since that's what I fell in love with. It's the practical side that's telling me to go with the brown." You have a pug. A pug that sheds no matter what (ask me how I know). And she probably occupies the sofa as frequently as you do. And hopefully she'll be around for a while ;o) The lighter color will be a bear to keep clean (ie. dirt) while the dark one will need constant attention with regard to vacuuming. But the darker one will look better for longer. It's a big purchase. Don't let the price of the fabric be the deciding factor unless the difference is enormous. Sit on it and wait for a few weeks, if possible, before making the purchase. We took almost a year deciding on the sectional we wanted and that's including the fabric and color. One piece of advice I can give you is to get a fabric that is "forgiving" when it comes to showing marks, pulls, etc. A textured chenille is a great fabric for hiding a multitude of sins. I can tell you what works for me and I can tell you what I like...and what I really like is your beautiful pug. She looks absolutely precious!

SW Jersey Cream and Compatible Cream might be too yellow if you want something soft. Those shades are very good for brightening and warming up a room that doesn't get much natural light. But for a large area with natural light, I think they would go too yellow. SW Wheat Grass is also a fairly intense shade that you might not want in a large space, although it doesn't look like that on the strip. Looks great in a kitchen that is fairly confined to itself. SW Sea Salt or Comfort Gray (if you wanted to go a little darker) are very pretty and versatile shades for large areas. Rainwashed/Quietude is beautiful, but I like that best in a bedroom or bath. Although I have seen some kitchens with white cabs and Quietude that have been stunning. In your case, with those lovely blue tiles, I would let them be the star and go neutral in the kitchen with the wall color (creamy yellow/beige). Take a look at SW Ivoire and Biltmore Buff. They are more subdued yellows and make nice backdrops for open spaces. SW Believable Buff/Whole Wheat go more toward beige, but in light the yellow is more apparent. I don't have Whole Wheat, but I do have Believeable Buff and it appears much more yellow once on the walls than it does on the paint strip. They are among SW's top selling colors. Yellows are tricky. I've found that for my tastes, if I want a yellow/cream in a well lit space, one which tends toward green (not too much) looks better, but if it's in a smaller space or one that gets little natural light (basement or north facing, e.g.), a yellow that tends toward gold looks better. Since you have such large spaces to paint, I definitely echo the sentiment to do some sampling - even painting a whole wall (roughly) and observing how it blends with your other colors and plays in light would help a lot.

Hi thank you!!! A chandelier would look gorgeous, but I think the functionality of a fan wins out for us because with ceilings this high and a mountain climate, we need the fan to push the hot air down to the rest of the house in the winter. Is there such a thing as an attractive ceiling fan? (serious question!) I think we'll just put the little book case upstairs in the loft, which is desks and another book case anyway. So funny that y'all like the arches! We are so stuck on them. What do you think about squaring the one that goes to the staircase but keeping the others? It would sort of balance the visual impact of the other 4. Are you saying cover the beams with wood or just paint to match the room? or would you do another color? I have no design sense, but I see the potential too!

@tiffnthor - I like your color choice and love that you know your own mind and what you like. Good call on questioning the vaulted ceilings. I treat angled ceilings as walls, so I would use the same color and sheen on the vaulted ceilings as I would the walls. I also want to caution you on one aspect of your choice. You stated that you loved this color in your California home, and I am assuming that Woodstock is Woodstock NY. I loved the color in my last home (San Diego Inland) and moved in to my new home (PA Dutch Country) thinking I wanted the same color. I thought the paint store screwed up when they gave me the sample and I tested it in my new home. With the overcast weather and wooded lot and smaller windows, it was not the same color as it was in my sunlit rooms in Southern California. It was actually the same color, but it didn't feel the same. Your color is actually quite similar in light and chroma as I picked for my home in PA, so I am hopeful that it will be perfect in your new home, but sometimes our brains don't want to rethink things. We learn something, we stick with it. Please test large spaces and make sure this is really exactly right for your new home.