Decorating and Design - Color dilema

For 2 years I have been trying to find colors that will go with my peach carpet - my living room furniture is white (can't replace) my walls are off white (can paint) my dining chairs can be recovered - I would like to add color to walls - chair covers and possibly window treatment - and accessories. can some one please help - I am ready to take the carpet up and use hard wood floors - but it is plush and beautiful

instead of just trying to come up with one color that will "go with" your peach & white, i would start by finding a pattern (floral or paisley or plaid or whatever) that contains peach, white & other colors in either a fabric that you could use for recovering your dining room chairs & for window treatments, or in a wallcovering. the pattern will have lots of shades of peach and several other colors in it. then you can pull colors from that pattern & create your combinations. usually when i decorate a room, i START with the patterns and pull out individual colors from there. in your case, you've got the solid colors, and now you need the patterns. so you're just kind of having to work backward! but it'll be fine.

if that's confusing, here's an example:

let's say you like florals. find a floral fabric with peach & white in it. i'm picturing something with shades from white to light peach to a darker peach. and let's say it has blues and jades & greens in it, too, like for the leaves & background. well, you could use the fabric for your chairs, for window treatments and throw pillows for your sofas. you can also use some throw pillows in solid colors of the jades or blues. next, you could paint your walls either a darker or lighter shade of peach than your carpet. if you want even more color, you could paint your walls a lighter or darker shade of the jade or blue colors. (if your carpet is very pale peach, go with deeper toned walls, and vice versa - you probably don't want dark peach carpet & dark jade walls, and if your carpet is light peach, then pale jade walls (mint) might just be TOO many pastels, understand?) but i, personally, would probably lean more toward keeping your walls & carpet the same COLOR, but just different shades of it. otherwise, it looks kind of choppy.

or if you want more pattern, find a wallpaper you like with multicolors in it. if it's really super busy, you could just paper the bottom 3 feet of the walls & use a border or put up a chair rail. you could even just paper one accent wall (behind the sofa, maybe, or whichever is the focal point wall), floor to ceiling, and paint the other walls.

you maybe even be lucky enough to find some coordinates, like several fabrics that "go" together, like a floral that has a coordinating stripe and small print. then you'll be able to mix & match them for a really interesting and pulled together room!

bottom line: you have the solids, now find a pattern!

i hope this helps & i haven't just further confused you!

have FUN!!!