I hate to tell you but greige will not liven up that space , lighting is what you need in there you have vitrually no lighting in thta space the fan light is useless and the tiny lamp pretty much the same . Get some table with proper sized lamps between the sofas and the chirs maybe even an arc lamp and a fan with no light . I also would not do yhe arches in a different color just use the same proper white everywhere and get better lighting I like all LED bulbs in 4000K to keep whites looking the same all the time . I would eliminate the buit in and then hang a fabulous lerge piece of art on that wall so much more bang for your buck than a bunch of knick knacks to fiil a space

Thanks for your response. That lamp on the table is actually quite large. We also have two floor lamps in the corners with two light bulbs each. We do not use the fan light. Also no room for tables on either side of the sofa. I’ll check the bulbs in the lamps and see if we can bring some more light in. Not in the budget to replace the built ins—just need to fix the paint and need to make a decision around color. Thanks!

Although the match may have been off, Simply White does sometimes have a green glow.

Don't assume it is the match and buying BM Simply White will solve the problem.

Read all the comments on this blog post about Simply White https://roomsforrentblog.com/2016/01/my-white-paint-fail/

Person after person thought they were the only one who had Simply White go green.

The color of your lightbulbs is also impacting the colors on your walls.

Warmer light gives off a yellow glow. Your last picture you can see how yellow the light is coming from the lamp.

This isn't always a bad thing, some people prefer softer, more yellow lighting, but it does create a situation where the colors on your wall look different when the lights are on and when the lights are off and daylight is lighting the space.

Kelvins are used to measure the temperature of the light. Daylight lightbulbs usually list the value as 5000k.

Your light looks like it may be a 2500K or 3000k lightbulb.

You have some of the right ideas. White needs light to be beautiful, so if you don't have enough light it is going to look dingy. Going with a wall color that has more color will look better in a room without enough light. Natural Cream is a good LRV, but you can't decide on colors without making sure the kelvins in the lighting are what you want and without testing large samples that have been looked at on every wall and at all times of the day and looking at the colors next to your furniture, flooring, cabinetry . . .

@Jennifer Hogan Thanks for letting me know I’m somewhat on the right track! I know this room is never going to be bright, so I’m just trying to introduce a light/medium ”color” for warmth and comfort. You’re right that my light bulbs are 2700K. The brand I usually buy has 2700K, 3000K and then 5000K. I am not crazy about daylight/5000K. Maybe I can try to find something in the 3500-4000K range… just not sure who makes those. I’ll do some research on bulbs.

I’ve been using the large Samplize swatches, comparing undertones to my hard finishes/furniture like crazy, and moving them around a lot over several days. I’m not 100% sold on Natural Cream, but out of the zillion I’ve tried, that seems to work the best. I have some green gray and some taupe in this living room, so I’m trying to find a color that is happy with both and around 60-70 LRV.

I’m pretty sold on Woodlawn Blue in the dining room. That room gets a ton of light and the sample looks beautiful everywhere.

Thanks again!

Here's a nice combo that would feature your trim. Believed to be Navajo White walls and White Dove trim.

Horse Country Home · More Info

@decoenthusiaste stunning combo! I’ll look into it.

So, putting aside the actual colors, does anybody have any thoughts on what to paint the underside of that arch? Would it be weird to paint it the living room color (light greige) if the dining room is a combo of light blue/white? I’m used to seeing two different wall colors separated by trim, but we don’t have any here.

Also any thoughts about going colorful in the dining room if the rest of the house is pretty neutral? I feel like it would be a missed opportunity to carry the greige into the dining room. It’s decorated traditionally and I’d love it to be a focal point of the house. We have some blueish green accents in the living room (art, pillows), so I’m thinking it would flow nicely to feature that in the dining room.

Dining rooms and powder rooms can easily serve as a break from the expected.

Lighting, lighting, lighting! It'll completely change the look of the room depending on the temperature of the lighting.

I would personally go with adding a colorful "pop" in the dining room. Agreeing with @decoenthusiaste - the dining room can easily serve as a break from the expected!!

Thanks @decoenthusiaste and @FrameMyMirror ! I’m excited about the Woodlawn Blue and glad others agree with a little bit of color! Trying to slowly move this 1935 home out of the gray trend we inherited and give it a little life.

When planning a whole home color palette I often use multiple colors. I generally use a neutral in the living room and hallways and might bring it into other rooms (dining room, kitchen, laundry, bath or bedrooms, but can also do those rooms with color. It depends on what else is the same or different. If you have the same flooring and trim throughout you can change wall color and still create a feeling of cohesiveness. In my last home I had different flooring, but used the neutral on the ceilings throughout the house and that created the flow from room to room.

The key is to carry the colors from room to room, so if you use the blue on the walls in the dining room you want the neutral in the area rug, chair upholstery, art or décor (centerpiece, bowls on the sideboard. . . ). In the adjoining living room where the walls are neutral I want some of the blue in the décor. You may want to add a 2nd accent color in the living room and have that color in the foyer.

What you don't want is one room that is totally disjointed from the other rooms that are in the same sightline. You want to walk from one room to the next and have the same colors, but in different ratios. You can also use lighter and darker shades of the same colors.

Here are a couple of examples:

I love this example where someone flip flopped the trim and wall color in two adjacent rooms.

There are so many ways to add color, you just need to decide which colors make your heart sing and how you want to incorporate them into your home.

More than likely I would use the neutral inside the door arch.

Can you share the names of the samples you tried and what you did or didn't like about them? (Too gray, too yellow, too pink . . . )

@Jennifer Hogan Sure! So my biggest challenge is coordinating with the fireplace stone. I think it originally was the pinkish/orangeish stone and brick that you see over the front doors of a lot of tudor revival homes. At some point it looks like it was limewashed, but it’s also faded with some fireplace soot, so it’s not a consistent color. Kind of gray, kind of off white, with some red/pink poking through. Current paint on fireplace is Rockport Gray, which I understand is a green gray, and that seems to work well with the stone. So I started sampling with green grays and expanded from there.

• BM Natural Cream - Seems like a nice, warm gray. Good LRV. Coordinates with stone pretty well. Looks a little green next to the taupe swivels.
• BM Pale Oak - Also seriously considering. Has more of the pinkish/taupe undertones in the art and swivel chairs but still looks good next to stone and has the LRV I’m looking for. Worried that it might look mauve in other places.
• BM Wind’s Breath - supposedly has pinkish undertones but is showing up more yellow/green in my space, compared to Pale Oak. Less likely to turn pink on my walls. But not my favorite next to stone.
• BM Classic Gray - too purplely gray.
• BM Ballet White/SW Shoji White - too yellow
• SW White Duck - Better than ballet white/shoji white, but I think too light.
• SW Accessible Beige - too dark

I’ve looked at others but these were the only real contenders.

@elizht - I am impressed. I have almost the entire color inventory for SW and BM on a spreadsheet that provides detailed color measurements and you narrowed your selection to a really narrow spectrum. There really isn't anything I can suggest trying that I think would improve on your selection.

I happen to agree with you with Wind's Breath - it has that desaturated yellow green that I really dislike. Chroma needs to be just a little higher to make it more yellow beige or a little lower to make it just a bit more gray. There is a really delicate balance between beige and taupe.

Before settling on one or the other I would get a sample quart of each and I usually paint a 1/2 sheet of drywall or the side of a moving box - something in the 3'x4' size range and move it around before making that final commitment.

I like a touch of pink in my neutrals and I would lean toward the Pale Oak. I also like the Woodlawn Blue with the Pale Oak slightly better, but you are the one who has to love it when you walk into the room.

I know they won't be in the same room, but the sightline between the two rooms is open enough that they will interact.

Thank you @Jennifer Hogan! Your feedback has been incredibly helpful. I’ve spent entirely too much time researching these colors on the internet, so I’m glad I’m in the ballpark. Now that I’ve really narrowed it down, I’ll go with extra large samples. I tend to agree with you on the interplay between Pale Oak and Woodlawn Blue. Thank you again!

Keep posting as the project progresses. Can't wait to see it when it is all done!