Hi Doug, IMHO, it's totally fine to paint the different floors different colors, even if you have a common wall that shares both floors (like mine). I used a darker shade upstairs (more sliders, light and 15 ft ceilings), and downstairs in my 8' ceiling bedrooms and even lower hallway, I used lighter colors. You don't really need accent walls... Maybe just take whatever color you use 2 shades darker? The lighting is going to cast shadows depending on time of day, etc., anyways, so not really necessary... If you go on Pinterest, there are so many nice combinations of color that are very popular and calming, so you can get ideas. The dust blue seems like a fairly dark gray? And you may prefer a softer/warmer gray that is not as blue? Look at the 'warm grays' in the last photo. There are some very popular shades that work well with beige and gray (greige).... Here are a few snapshots of what's on Pinterest if you need some ideas... It's nice to see them side by side (as some gray goes blue, or green or beige...). My vote would be to pick from any of their top 5 grays or greiges and you can't go wrong....

DH started collecting the Noah's Ark prints before we were married. He likes the artist and he wanted to gave the whole set. They do make great conversation pieces...any time someone comes into our house they comment on them and spend a couple minutes looking at them. They're not my favorites but since he lives in the house too... And we have 3300 sq ft so there should be plenty of room to hang these along with artwork that's more to my liking. Here's the artwork we currently have. The first one is the only one I really like. The last one is the largest. This is a graphite drawing we got on our honeymoon...thinking of putting it in a larger frame with a mat and put it on the buffet. To give an idea of the type of artwork I like, this is what I'm planning on putting in our dining room.

Why not take a look at a dimensional paint? Gentle Cream - Benjamin Moore #OC-96 for instance. I used it for all of my walls except the bathrooms. My house had all North, South, East and West exposure and as you move from room to room Gentle Cream changes according to the light. Sometimes it's a buttery tan, sometimes a real pretty cream and the Southern one is more beige. It's especially nice in the North facing room as it warms it up. Something to think about but I'm with those that are saying it looks great as it is.

Thank you, thank you!! I will post some more photos later. Yes, exactly I'm trying to do some of the smaller items. We're replacing the kitchen faucet this weekend and some light fixtures. For the upstairs hallway, I already bought fixtures but again I'm not sure if they're the best - they are the drum kind (I got flush and semi flush to compare). We are also absolutely replacing outlets/covers - we did one in the kitchen so far when we installed the light fixture and it's amazing how much better it looks. And when I say 'we', I mean our friend because we are useless at this! For the kitchen, I'd love hardwood (we had it in our last house) - I just really always liked how it felt. However, of course again cost + we have a dog who was not kind on the last one so we'll see. I have to balance my anxiety over spending money with what's really important - I won't do this as quickly as I first envisioned. We were considering replacing all the doors upstairs (they previous owners recently redid one bathroom there and so it has a different door already). As far as paint color, I've typically always had 'color' but I'm open. If I'm doing the kitchen shoji white, I would probably prefer something a little more colorful elsewhere so the house doesn't look like one big off white place. I'm not skilled enough to make things pop with furnishings and etc...(plus don't want to have to buy more). At some point I will repaint all the bedrooms too, but down the line. One bedroom is currently named the Pepto Bismol room for its shade of paint. I try not to go in there :)