Hi all,

Longtime lurker with a painting dilemma. When my husband and I first moved into our home, we painted the entire downstairs SW Architectural Grey because it was a soft, neutral color without being "rental home beige". All of the trim and molding throughout stayed white.

Well, that was almost 13 years and 2 kids ago, and the downstairs is starting to look washed out and dingy. We are in need of a major paint update -- mainly, we want COLOR! :) Our home's layout is fairly open, with the rooms (living room, dining room and kitchen) divided only by small archways. There's also an open "foyer" which basically consists of the front door and the coat closet. The living room also has an open staircase leading to the second floor.

But here's where we're getting stuck -- I really love the idea of an apple green living room, but don't want the entire downstairs to be the same green. But with the openess of the downstairs, I feel as if the dining room, living room and kitchen all need to be cohesive with each other. So what color choices should I be looking at? And what do I do with the dinky little "foyer"?

Also, my husband and mom are of the opinion that we should get rid of the white trim. I'm open to the idea of a darker trim, but again - with the openess of our downstairs, all of the trim runs together and connects throughout the downstairs. So wouldn't the trim need to be the same color throughout?

Any thoughts/input would be greatly appreciated. If it helps give you a better idea of what my downstairs looks like, I can try to snap a few pictures shortly. Thanks in advance!

This post was edited by knitforbrains on Tue, Mar 26, 13 at 12:14