anji, yes, you should do it the other way around. first get the furniture! once painting is done, carpet is laid, furniture is in (place), curtains are hung, THEN concentrate on the accessories. although, if you want to do the built ins, do that first (i guess). you'll see...the room will evolve as your going. sometimes, the paint itself seems to "furnish" a room. get the big (ger) ticket items first, like a sofa, and imo you should get a fairly neutral color for the sofa...there are "neutral" greens, blues, etc. out there. then get the curtains that you love. i really think if you get to that point, the room will "speak" to you and you'll have a direction to go. and if you don't, then post a pic. there are some talented people on this forum (unfortunately not me) that will help you out. good luck!

Yes aktillery, that's what I was thinking for black, in a dulled or muted palette. But it may be too much for a north facing room and with black kitchen cupboards nearby. There is one very important thing to remember before you paint a room. If you don't like it, you can paint it back. No harm in changing your mind. In a north facing or low light room, you might be happier with a lemony yellow. I hate those pale pastels that every room in the 1960s and 70s were painted like stale old mints. And yellow has a tendency to look pastel, but... They are making very nice, deeply saturated pastels, like the green and tangerine you have. I would look for a dusty yellow that was near in tone as the yellow and tang., but then a shade or two lighter. Just to give you an idea of the color I'm thinking of: Valspar: Maple Cream Behr: chilled Lemonade Dutchboy: Crayola Canary Benjamin Moore: Dalia 319; Good Morning Sunshine 326 Glidden: Buttered Sweet Corn Sherwin Will. Daffodil -6901 Lora Ashley: 814 Tulip Revell: Revell 37112 Testors: 1112 You might want to look for these sample cards and go a shade lighter even. Of do the TV wall that shade ^ and the other walls the lighter shade, a subtle feature wall. I wanted to add a styling note: to the left of the TV, in front of the hanging, I would like to see something, I don't know it that means moving the vase nearer to the TV, or putting a stack of books there. Because, having that portion of the map exposed looks a little confusing, like I don't know if the hanging is a back drop, or if it is a mistake. Tried to slop some paint on the wall to see what it would look like (Benjamin Moore: Dalila 319) and at the last minute decided to move the vase over a few inches. Of course real paint would have shadows and some variation. This post was edited by Lilylore on Mon, Dec 8, 14 at 16:30

MizGG! I used to own that very piece! Well, maybe not THAT very piece, but one exactly like it. It's gorgeous but my ex retained custody of it, darn it all! I wish it was larger and would fill my library wall. I would buy it in a heartbeat if only it were a bit wider. Well, a lot wider actually. Thank you for thinking of me! I really am enjoying the dining room window with only the little succulent I brought home yesterday. It seems to add enough of "something" that makes the space feel more alive. I could bring in a couple more small pots of herbs and also use them to cook with. At any rate, that one simple plant has worked wonders to make me feel that the space is not so bare, as strange as that probably sounds!

Do you want more colors in the room or do you want to keep with a blue & white? Appropriate art is relative and difficult to suggest for another. However, these prints have the wood tones of your room. This Ocean Ikat I II III IV series I first saw the above prints at an Ethan Allen store selling for $500 each. Save money and buy prints and frame yourself. The same artist has black & white Ikat series at EA here: Something bright?