Ttodd, you are such a talented person with a great eye.

LOVE the wall.
I would probably go for the full effect and paint the entire room, but I'm a color person.

Very very sophisticated and gorgeous transoms!

ooooooooo -- what a gorgeous color!! Just LOVE it!!! :)

Well -- a vote here for the whole room to be done in that color ....

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

LOVE the one wall done!!!

Girlfriend....oh yeah.

I think you need to go for greatness and do the entire room. With a white couch in there it is going to be out of this world. The ceiling is perfect complement. I remember a long time ago a trick I learned was to paint the ceiling in one room the color of the adjoining room, that is what can tie things together. This looks great!

If you end up not loving those lamps, which might look pretty cool in there when you are done, you can always consider my new best friend... Enamel Spray Paint! In some great color that also helps tie the space together with another room! Turquoise? Orange? Yellow? ohhhh

And I wanted to tell you that last night we did a little experiment (dh didn't know he was actually involved) but I found 2 lamps for my tables on each side of the fireplace. That dark wall has been driving me crazy because it isn't properly lit. Well, I had a regular bulb in one lamp, and a reveal bulb in the other. Son of a gun, the reveal lamp really did make the color look true, the other one made that dark gray look green! So think about your bulbs in there. They are very important.

I can't wait to see it done.

You know, you could have the rooms "speak to each other", the LR is Black with white in it and the other could be white with black in it....I mean just look at the frames you have already got going.

Love the color - it's not black at all to my eye, even in the daytime - far richer.

Am I understanding right - the new sectional will wrap the corner? If so, I think that's what's going to throw the accent wall off. Placing a sofa fully on the accent wall is one thing but having it straddle accent and non-accent is going to look odd. If that's the case, paint the room. I still think you get your flow - a lot of it comes not just from color but consistency in your personal design ethic.

Love it, love it, love it! Without standing in the room, I don't have an opinion about accent wall vs. four walls in sealskin, but with your eye, I'm sure whatever you choose will be fabulous.

Very striking! It also looks comfortable. I love the detail over your doors and the moldings and floors also besides the decor.

I defer to the experts, but I like it as an accent wall.

I would be tempted to do the other walls in a sepia tone, taken from the tree art and sepia prints in the next room, a bit darker than the background color of the toile draped on the ladder (is that drpaery-to-be fabric?).

You know, on my monitor it reads like a chalkboard. Not black, not brown, not gray. Except for the pic showing the lamp, in which it looks like a super deep chocolate.

Gorgeous color! I say paint the entire room, especially if your sectional is going to wrap as dlm2000 said.

As your rooms look light, bright and spacious, I do think you could pull off the full effect and paint it all black. it would definitely add a more cohesive effect with the sectional. Are you planning any area rugs?

Thank you, thank you! I really do like it alot. The room is actually quite small, only 12x13 but I've always liked this room cozy. I always think about putting folding french doors on the frame to match the trim. You can see that there were once doors but they were heavy, bulky and took up a ton of space. Not original to the house. Honestly I think DH took them off the day we moved in.

You guys nailed it right on the head about the sectional. I figured that as an accent wall a single sofa would work best and was wondering how the sectional would come into play.

Nice tip about painting the ceiling the same color as an adjoining room! Maybe what I'll try next is painting the wall that is shared w/ the hallway. No reason not to try that tonight if I get my laundry folded in a reasonable time.

I plan on some sort of seagrass style rugs or flat woven rugs from Dash and Albert.

WOW...............that's pretty! I like it as an accent wall....

Love the dark color, especially since your whole design sense is now black and white and sepia. I would do the whole room for two reasons. One, the sectional wrap as others mentioned.

Two, right now it has the feel of a blackboard wall, calling to me to grab a piece of chalk and go wild!

I think doing the whole space will take if from interesting to dramatic.

Beautiful...love the drama!
I would be going for an accent wall if it were just a sofa. WIth a sectional, I do think you can pull off all walls. Only thing I'm not sure of is if that beautiful trimwork will be lost on the black rather than having the contrast of popping against lighter walls (and just having the 1 dark wall)

just throwing this out there(your home already has sooo much character/detail)..what about light wainscotting and the dark paint on top? I'm no expert here either, but would still allow for the dramatic effect without being too dark all over.(if that's a concern)

Will be beautiful whichever way you go!!

Can I just say again how lucky you are to have such a home...the character/architectural details...just gorgeous!

ttodd,
I absolutely love it. Your house is breathtaking!
If you don't mind, could you tell me the names of the paint colors used for the black and also for the off white in the hall/other room? Is the rest of your house all in the off white? I seem to remember you had a green somewhere - maybe Baby Turtle?

I just love that color. I'd do the whole room, but I tend to like my rooms dark. I'm wishing I had a room to paint that color!

Beth P.

Love it, love it, love it. I would do the entire room, then see how you feel about the ceiling color. I think with these rich colors you have to take it a step at a time. Very inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

Just a thought, but what about super-wide black stripes on the other walls? I think I'm in favour of black accent wall rather than all over. I think your lovely accents like the lamps, ladder and black framed art will be lost if you do it all black. The way it looks now is incredibly dramatic and I worry it will lose impact if it's all black.

Also, as one perennial painter to another, just how many coats of paint do you think these old plaster walls can hold before they just fall off the walls? We live in a similar aged home and my husband knows that he may come home on any given day to a new paint colour. Although it's gotten much better since I've returned to teaching full-time, I'm really loving that sealskin ;-)

The picture looking across the hall at the wall gallery is STUNNING!

Yes- I was trying to think of a word to describe what you've done- STUNNING is it!

My daughter is looking to do a black accent wall in her bedroom, I have been on the fence about it. Yours looks absolutely stunning. Could you share the information on the paint. The color, the brand and the finish. Thanks Kim

Love it!! and I love the way you lined up the pictures in one of the rooms, your office maybe? Super job, I am toying with the idea of doing the same but the continuous color to the next room and other walls will be a carmel type color, Im inspired to go for it in my dining room.

As much as I *love* the dark walls, with the dark stained wood I think a whole room would be over-bearing, and almost morbid, but that's just my 2 cents. IMO, you need to look at it from the standpoint you'll be living with it every day, and it might 'get' to you. With hallway walls/ceiling already black, I would have to think twice.

You might also want to re-think using a matte paint as dark colors tend to 'burnish', even when barely touched. Having little ones, even leaning against the wall could cause a scuff. I have a black eggshell in my mini(closet)office, and it really doesn't have much of a sheen, even with the wall lamps on~~just a thought. ;o)

Lisa Mocha I do like the idea of a wainxcotting! I wonder if I could talk DH into spending the money. My dad could do it. If I did I would want it to match the vestibule paneling though I a fear that would be both tima and labor intensive as well as $$$$$$$$$$$. I'm going to ask my dad how cheaply he could do it. Done right I think it would add great value to the house.

Vestibule paneling:

There is very minimal wall on the other 3 walls. Mostly windows and then the wide opening.

The colors are as follows:

Office:
Sherwin Williams High Reflectance white.
Very bright, stark white (but not cold white). I think it could be hard to live w/ if I didn't have the walls covered in so many pictures.

Office Ceiling: undetermined

Center Hall:
Walls: Benjamin Moore Ivory Porcelain CC 239 Flat
Ceiling: Sherwin Williams Caviar 6990 from the Essantials line. Both Flat.

LR test wall: Sherwin Williams Sealskin 7675 from Concepts in Color. Since it is only a Color To Go sample it is a satin finish I believe.

There are a multitude of whites floating around on the other walls.

Ceiling is undetermined but the color that you see in the picture is BM San Antonio Gray.

I have a conference to go to today and grocery shopping after but I'm crossing my fingers that I can do the next wall tonight. Tomorrow at the latest then show you.

Have a good day!

I love that accent wall in black. It looks very rich.
The black color is lovely, it looks like a silvery charcoal, beautiful.

I love wainscot, but in that room, with a sectional covering most of the largest wall, I am not sure it is worth the money or the time. Besides, what you have in the hall is lovely, and it makes it a special feature of the home. I think it would be too much detail on too little wall in the other room.

I think unless you plan on just keeping a sofa, then I think that black would not be best for the room in any form as a wall color. I think it would be too much considering the ceiling in the hallway (which I love).