WELL, since you asked, If I had the talent and time and energy and THIS were my bedroom set. I'd paint it all black. I just am amazed at how wonderful pieces others have done have turned out. I think you would absolutely transform this room if you did it. With the lovely rich reds and gold tones.

I would vote for a rich olive green on the walls. Like BM Olive Moss (which is kinda bright, but with black furniture would be great IMO)or BM Olive branch is nice too. Or in gold tones, Medieval Gold or Autumn gold?

so many choices!!! will be lovely I'm sure. Please let us know what you end up doing.

I think a nice soft gold would play up your woods nicely and go well with your carpet color. Very light - nothing dark. I love sage, but think the gold would give you more warmth.

When I saw your bed, I immediately thought of two large heart-shaped grapevine wreaths embellished with red ribbons. Just a thought!

Since it looks like you have so much natural woodwork in your home (doors, baseboards, window sills) I don't think you should touch the finish on your furniture. What I'd suggest would be to look into replacing the wood knobs on your various pieces with something in an oil rubbed bronze...It looks like your armoire already has something like that already? And with all the warm tones in the room, I'd definitely go with a nice sage green color on the walls.

Your bedcovering looks pretty stark in color. Is it something you're consider changing out so that it would match the beautiful pillows you have on the bed? I'd also look into getting some larger(taller)lamps for your bedside tables and as you mentioned, something over the headboard as a focal point.

Overall, I think you're room has a lot going for it. It just needs a couple of inexpensive tweaks.

baby turtle!!!

This room has so much great potential. One thing I would try first is a different room arrangement for the furniture. The couch and the long sofa table next to it blocking the door, looks off and the other furniture is not being shown to the best advantage either. Can the bed and amoire be flipped? It would look more welcoming when entering the room to see the bed than having it behind the door when entering. I would then angle the sofa in the corner. Another question........Is the window wall longer than the adjoining walls? Is the window centered. If so, you may want to toy with the idea of putting the bed on that wall and having the TV amoire opposite in the corner. it is hard to recommend anything because the whole room is not shown in photos and it looks like there are a couple of oddly placed closets.

Rather than painting that lovely, knotty, bed set, if it is in your budget, I would replace the wood knobs with ceramic ones. Also consider getting a fluffier bedcover and larger lamps. The lamps do not have to be a new purchase.........maybe you could switch out two from elsewhere in the home?

Another switch you could do is to use a different mirror with the dresser. Maybe an oval with a painted frame? Something with contrast and not so matchy-matchy. French Country is not about matching. Be daring.

I would use more art on the walls and hang them in groupings. I see you have a head start on that with the pile of 'potentials' stacked on the dresser.

The pillows you made are lovey but I would add one or two small ones of another color to the mix.

The mini blinds can be replaced inexpensively with soft Romans.

Regarding paint color........the room has only one window and the furniture is dark and heavy, so you have to stay light with the paint color but not pastel. I would go with a saturated Celery Green that is a bit grayed out. You don't want a color that is too bright to fight with the Olde World look that the room has but you don't want the room to look like a dark castle either.

Well, I am in a black phase myself so would agree with rjinga! Instead of painting the entire bedside pieces you could leave the tops stained and just paint the body of them black. This could also be done with the dresser although I think you would not want to overdo the black/stained combo.

Baby Turtle is awesome with black. New knobs would also help. You have a nice sized room-lucky you!

JR

Thanks for the explaination of "baby turtle!". I was a tiny bit disturbed at first by that comment ;-).

The door that appears to be blocked by the side table next to the armoire is a door that was removed from another room for painting and it's propped against the wall. It won't be there in the future. Here's the layout and proposed layout of the room. There are 2 windows.

Thanks for the great suggestions everyone!

I have sage green walls, cranberry red drapes over white cotton sheers, cranberry carpeting. The bedspread is polished cotton, navy background with red, pink, and a few gold flowers, and many green vines and leaves.

The room has only one large north-facing window, the furniture is very dark. It's really a beautiful room, calm, cozy, surprisingly bright. I was stuck with the red carpet and drapes when we moved in, added the sheers later. When the decorator suggested sage green walls I balked, but she was right.

sorry that I startled you :) I thought EVERYONE on GW knew about baby turtle, hee hee...well at least anyone who's been reading for awhile, I personally have not painted with it, but IF I ever need a room that color that will be what I choose.

Not happy with how these turned out, it's doing that once-in-a-blue moon thing where what I see in my software is OK but somehow morphs when it lands in photobucket and colors aren't what I start with. Can't for the life of me figure out why that happens. But tossing them out anyway. Went for colors you prefer, focusing on woodwork + floor rather than bedding, since those are permanent items. I merged two walls (opposing, not adjoining, didn't see your diagram till just now). Also would have taken the leaning door out, but thought it was functional. ;)

Cool colors don't play well with all the warm tones in wood and floor.

Anyway, maybe this will give you a start...also check your album here for more photos.

Here is a link that might be useful: gmp3 Album

Thanks so much moonshadow - that looks like a lot of work! I realy love the second and third ones.

Oh, you're welcome. It was a pleasant diversion, I've been trying to find good Cyber Monday deals all day, my head is spinning from it! ;D

Wow you have all inspired me!

I went to the paint/decorating store to get all the wall paint samples you all suggested and they had some painted furniture there. It was black with medium brown stained tops. Here's what I'm thinking, I will paint the headboard/footboard and armoire black and gel stain the top of the footboard and headboard and the curved top of the armoire. I'll gel stain the rest of the furniture (but not paint) to match. I may try just painting the mirror black with a dark stained top until I find a different mirror, I really like the mismatched oval mirror idea.

Anyone use gel stain before? I just found a matching end table (my bedroom set was from a very popular Broyhill line from about 16 years ago)on CL for $30 so I can try out the gel stain on that first.

I think I'll get the furniture squared away before picking a paint color.

Well, I forgot about the red loveseat, and it looks like the cover is new. But I'll throw this out anyway. Maybe you'll like the arrangement over the bed. I wouldn't paint the wood set either. I picture something deep on the walls, with low contrast to the woods of your furniture, the light with bedding, lace across the dresser, fluffy duvet at the end of the bed, larger lamps with light shades, light artwork. (Disregard the actual images over the bed, as it looks very different than what you have in mind, but the colors worked : ) I had put some red in this burnt color, for the bed pillows, but it won't work with the loveseat.

{{!gwi}}

I LOVE the artwork over the bed and by the dresser, squirrelheaven, and the lamps on the side tables. I love the warm shade too, the cover on the loveseat is new - I haven't even steamed the wrinkles out yet. Again thanks for your hard work!

You're welcome : ) Thought that cover looked new!

I really like your rustic French Country furniture. Very romantic and pretty with a leather & lace kind of thing going.

My 1st thought was BM Wilmington Tan, which is similar to moonshadow's 2nd picture. I love the idea of painting the furniture black.

Laurie

Some quickies. With some reluctance. Love that armoire as is!

All black except table tops stained

Black with tops/top trim stained

This is wall color #3 above that you liked.

Armoire left as is

Wall color #3 above that you liked, heavy pieces painted, night stands stained.

Wow I like the darker duvet cover too, and I do like the black accents, but prefer the nightstands stained. Thanks so much!

I think a green (sage or baby turtle, etc.) will look better with your pine furniture than a gold. You might just try painting the walls to see, before painting the furniture. That's a lotta black in there.

You're welcome gmp3! andee's suggestion for Baby Turtle made me think of Red's room with her black armoire. Stunning combination!

There are a couple pics in this thread, her post of May 9, 2008(shown with her red foyer). And you'll see the black armoire against baby turtle wall in this thread from Gallery. That's a whopping long thread, her post is about 9 posts down from the top, dated Sat, Nov 12, 05 at 13:29

The black armoire in the other thread looks like it is from the same line as my bedroom set. My armoire is a rustic piece, not part of the set. Gosh Baby Turtle is beautiful with black!

The black is quite heavy, and you'll loose the details; would you be changing the hardware?

Here's a muddy green, nice with the wood (maybe too much for the red sofa, if it's as bright as in the pics; I might try a throw along the back, though). And a lighter warm gray with green and some blue in it, better overall when there's a lot of the the bright red, I think.

Picking up some more contemporary looking black in other ways. Just using what's readily available for the general idea : )

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

Yes, gmp3, I agree baby turtle and black is very classy looking! Redbazel's black armoire against the BT walls has always been one of my favorite looks; classy, elegant but still warm and cozy. She really has a knack for color and repurposing furniture (she scores a lot from Craig's List)! Not sure how she acquired that armoire (maybe her ears will ring and she'll pop in here), but if memory serves she didn't buy it black, she had it painted. (It certainly does look like Broyhill Fontana, I almost snagged the coffee table once on CL but missed it, very pretty!) As you can see from her red foyer in one of the photos, the BT does go really nice with a rich red, and you've already got the red going on in your accessories. ;)

Here are some more pics you can check out of BT. It changes with the lighting in rooms, too. ttod has it in her liv room. See her post of Fri, Oct 30, 09 at 17:53. She has B&W photos in black frames, nice against the BT. Then jant posted her photos on Sat, Oct 31, 09 at 5:01. She has red accents in her room.

I was looking for photos of BM Flowering Herb, next one up on swatch from BT. Can't find any photos yet, but did find a different view of Red's black armoire in BT room, not as close-up, so you can see more of the room. See parma's post Sat, Aug 15, 09 at 11:27

Not to make your head spin, but if you didn't want to go with true black, BM Bittersweet looks really nice on wood. I've only seen it with light blue walls here, but it's a rich dark chocolate with some warmth, almost black. girlwithaspirin did a kitchen makeover that will blow your socks off! ;D She used BM Bittersweet Choc (she used it in oil-based) on her cabinets. You can see it here.