Decorating and Design - Paint colors for interior walls

I am thinking about painting the interior of my house (every wall is white, white, white!). I want to make my living area more "homey". I have cathedral ceilings and it just doesn't feel very cozy. I am entertaining the idea of using two colors, a taupe and possibly a cranberry or sage color for an accent wall. Which wall should be chosen as the accent wall?

Thank you.

the accent wall is the wall that is the main focal point when you enter the room. it may be the fireplace wall or it may be the wall that the sofa is backed up against. you didn't describe your room at all, so i really can't help you too much! can you give some more details? (ie fireplace, windows, stairs, sofa placement, etc)

thanks!

As you walk into my living area (I have cathedral ceilings and an open floor plan where the living room, dining room, and kitchen all open into each other, no doors), you go down two steps. You are looking straight at the back of the house where there is an extra wide sliding glass door. To the right is the living room area with a large high wall to the right and a half wall separating the living area from the upper part of the house. To the immediate left is the kitchen with an eight foot wall (the actual ceiling heght is much higher, so there are hanging plants on top of the eight foot wall) that divides it from the living room and dining room with an entry way and an open "window" so the person in the kitchen can see to the living room. Back further and to the left is the dining area. The back wall of the dining area is actually an atrium window wall (which is a whole different decorating problem) and the furthest wall to the left in the dining room is normal height. It's very hard to explain and I hope this makes some sense. I can send you some phots if that would be better.

so..........no fireplace, huh? darn! that would've made it easy!!! well, i've tried to follow your description and i think i have an idea of your floorplan. i've ruled out the wall with your entry door and the wall with the sliding door. so i think that leaves 2 choices for an accent wall: either the wall in between the kitchen & living room, or the wall in the living room on the far right. i would base my decision on where you "need" the color. for example, if you've got a neutral color sofa, and you're putting it up against the far right wall, then a strong color behind the sofa on that wall would be a nice contrast and would place the focus on that area. but if you don't require that (because maybe your sofa floats out in the middle of the room somewhere), then use the color on the wall between the kitchen and LR just for the punch of color itself. or even the other wall, for that matter. my point is, put the color where you "need" it. make it work for you. there isn't one wall that "is" the accent wall in your house. you need to "make" one of the walls YOUR accent wall.

this is hard to explain, so let me know if i can phrase it another way for you!

Thank you for your advice!

I have the cure for those white white white walls of yours. First choose a pillow or other colored item from your room that you want to paint to act as an anchor for your color palatte.Take it with you to WALMART, yes, WALMART, cuz the way they lay out their paint chips is easy to follow and will guarentee that you take out all the gueeswork. Also, you can bring the chips home with you if your item is too large to take to the store. Here is how I did it!. I used a neutral color that was in a bedspread design as my neutral anchor. I found that it matched a color on card 521. The cards 221,321, 421, 521 and 621 contained shades of that same color. These chip cards were all displayed vertically. That means they all work well together. If you want, you can choose to use cards that go across the display. So you could use 321, 322, 323, etc going horizontally. If you use that method in choosing your colors, you will not make any horrible mistakes! I ended up using several different shades in my neutral areas and in one room, I have 7 shades. It is not a square room, and even the built in book cases is painted one of those shades. Use the lightest color on your ceiling instead of "ceiling white". By using several shades of the same color, I get wonderful play as the light changes throughout the day. Everyone thinks I am a genious, but it was just the application of a little Christopher Lowell. Good luck to you. This picture will give you an idea

good idea! i'm going to check that out! i've never noticed their paint chips arranged in any kind of helpful order like that (other than "rainbow" order!) and i've looked at those chips a million times! i'm all for anything that makes coordinating colors easier!

also, i'd like to share my opinion about WM paints (which will make the Pro paint guys cringe, i'm sure). we re-painted all the icky beige woodwork in every room of our first old house a pure, fresh white. we bought expensive brushes, and we first tried the expensive "one coat" paint (BenjMoore). it took a good 3 coats to get complete coverage. then we tried several medium-priced "one coat" paints. same deal. so then we bought the least expensive paint WM had. guess what. still took 3 coats, but we spent WAY less! and the end result was the same. so, why spend $25 or $30 bucks a gallon???

Annette, you are so right! However, I was dealing with a contractor who bought all her paint at one place. But never fear! I gave her my paint chips and now with all this digital paint matching technology, her supplier was able to match all the colors with no problem, so you can pick it out in one store and buy it in another! Another neat tip is this: Get some extras of the paint chips you choose to use. Keep a set in the glove box and tape a set to the inside of a cabinet door. Then in the future if you are out trying to match for curtains, or other fabrics, you have your chips handy!:cool: