I used Sedona Clay in our basement...very warm... That's our "hodgepodge" room. I intend get "real" furniture once The Boy is our of college. Or, at least, past the "invite the buddies over and beer gets spilled" stage.

Thank you Betsy! I really do love the aesthetic of Studio McGee. I've been using their work as inspirational images. I also appreciate your suggestions for the stairs and the beams. Now my question is what should we do about the color in the rest of our house? Can we keep it the same and fine a white that will go with it or do we have to paint everything else as well?

Hollybar is correct. It would be helpful if you could give us an idea the purpose of the room and other art, furniture, etc. Consider putting together an inspiration board for yourself so it keeps you focused on what you want to accomplish. It's not just the paint color that brings life to a room. Would love to help. The grey is a nice tone and not offensive. The walls will fall back depending on all the other design elements. From your ideabook, it looks like you like pale blue, which would be a good color to incorporate into the room. What else do you have planned?

If this was my house.... The first thing i would do is paint the walls white. White base with no tint is a lovely pure bright white but if you go this route, paint a small patch on a piece of scrap wood and tuck it away for future color matching. Ive used a tintless base & found years later, when i went to do touch ups, that the base formula had changed a tiny bit. Enough to be a problem. Dove white is a softer pure white that several people i know use in their homes. Next get window treatments that you absolutely love. Then take a second look. You might find that the dark trim is very nice looking with bright white walls & your fabulous curtains. If you need to splurge a bit to get fabulous curtains, i can almost promise you, it will be cheaper in the long run, if it enables you to avoid painted trim. I do love white trim. When its freshly painted, freshly dusted, and has not come in contact with kids. Painted trim requires a decent amount of maintenance and frequent cleaning. Wood trim is very much the opposite. I had a brand new house with white trim, at my choosing. I also had little kids & i do not like to dust trim on a weekly basis. Therefore, I will never have white trim again. Its fresh & bright.... when its in perfect shape. Its not so much when it has scuffs & scratches and has dust built into every corner that even a toothpick cant get 100% cleaned. *i painted my white trim gray and that helped. A lot. But it was still painted wood & needed too much tlc much too frequently. I had other things i wanted to spend my time on. If you have no kids, extra time every now and again & enjoy painting, and scrubbing, and repainting to freshen, then you will likely be just fine with painted trim.