Thanks everyone for the feedback! Good point about the fading from the skylight. The area doesn't get any direct sun though as the actual skylight is pitched at a slight angle and is opaque. I think I'd be OK with it as I have either duplicates or digital versions of almost all and some I will need to scan, resize and print to fit my frame sizes. Any thoughts about the chair rail, painting mouldings? I was thinking that dividing up the wall would give more definition to where the gallery walls would start. jennifer_in_kansas: That rug is on overstock which I will link below. I absolutely love it and similar patterned ones, but they don't seem to carry it in the narrower width that I need. :( I haven't really begun looking further for a runner, but am hoping I could find a similar one in the size I need. It's a Hamaden style. I want something in more of a tribal, geometric design which doesn't make the hallway look too narrow. I think the diamond shape may give it a more spacious feeding. patty_cakes: Thanks to the link for ideas. I'll check it out. Here is a link that might be useful: Hamaden Rug on Overstock.

Hi Makeithome. I'm not in love with that blue, but it's not my house, so that doesn't matter. What matters is not the specific color, but how it's handled. The existing scheme, with a different color on the stairway wall, looks really off, like the room was never completed. If the stairs were in a room of their own, having a different color in that area would make sense, but this just looks like the painter didn't come back after lunch. So yes, paint the stairway's walls--both sides--the same color as your living room. And don't worry about painting the upper hallway the same color. Use whatever makes sense up there, and let the blue begin on the two separate sides of the stairs. Easy. But here's a caution: the paneling on your inspiration photo looks awkward, and here's why: the dado rail (and the panels below it) is too high. These days, in new houses, building codes mandate higher stair rails than they used to, which messes up traditional proportions. But safety (or "safety") concerns trump aesthetics, so we just have to deal with it & do the best we can. At any rate, dados now need to be higher in stair areas than they used to be, in order to match the rail on the other side & keep the visual balance. But in your inspiration photo, it's even higher than that, and as a result, the panels look clumsy & amateurish. They're too big, there's not enough height between them & the baseboard and there's too much horizontal space between any two adjacent panels. The overall design of this wall makes me think maybe the layout was done by the carpenter, not the architect, and while a few carpenters are up to that sort of thing, many are not. For someone with a better sense of proprortion, coming up with a better design would have only taken twenty minutes, while others could work on it all day and never figure it out. Anyway, all the problems stem from the height of the dado itself. The height of the dado on the stair wall (not the perpendicular landing wall) should either have been lowered at the point where the two landing walls meet, or there should have been a step-down from the current height of the landing's dado down to a lower angled molding at the first step, in the same way that the actual stair rail drops down a foot or so at the same point. That would given the stair wall's panels much better proportions. The good news is that since your stairs have a straight run without a change in direction & you won't be doing any structural work that might triggers the new codes' railing-height, you won't have to deal with that problem. Just make the dado top out at the height of your existing railing. Then add the panels. BTW, if you're going to add a chair rail to your living room, I'd carry it all the way around the room. That way, it will look like it's always been there, rather than something somebody decided to add, then changed their mind.

Take a look at Revere Pewter. It is a gray that depends on the light in your house. it looks very light gray in some pictures but can also go well with some Browns. My daughter used it in a bathroom with a rich brown toned vanity and it looked great, but took on a tan undertone, while still looking gray.

Demax - You have peaked my interest. What is 3D pattern paint? I would have to really love it in order to go that route because I already painted the wall and a painting for that area (see photo above). I have not yet covered it with the clear chalkboard coat. It's just the dark painted wall with the painting of the lady below the window right now. Also, I think I have too many gallery walls in my living room, which leads to the staircase. As I look around my living room, I have art groupings on every single wall and am in the process of painting something for the wall you see when you enter the front door. Is there such a thing as art overkill? Maybe I just need a house with more wall space. That or either throw my paintbrushes away. It's like an addiction... That's why I went with just a large painting in the staircase.