Help me decide what color to paint my DR

[gavinsmom]

Need ideas quickly. Here is what my set looks like. Our dining room is about 17x14 with a tray ceiling and a chair rail that seperates the upper and lower walls. I was thinking about doing a two tone on the wall with a complementary color on the ceiling. I am trying to achieve a warm yet traditional atmosphere. We don't entertain in there often. Any ideas for a color scheme?

http://www.schneidermans.com/Item.aspx?ID=-124464380&SNum=7141132-PC

[Mommy_Again]

what are other colors in your home that will be in close proximity to the dining room? are you starting from scratch or do you have window treatments and a rug to take into consideration? Since the furniture is such a light wood, I think you can get away with a bolder color, but give us a little more info to help steer you in the right direction.

[gavinsmom]

The kitchen, family room are all a muted yellow with oak hardwood floors. We have green colored plaid couches in the family room. We are starting from scratch, going from a very bold blue. There is carpet in the room(not thrilled about that but we will keep it for now).

[jennifer_r]

My favorite color for a dining room is a deep red. In both my current house and my previous house I painted the area above the chair rail chile red (from Muralo paint) and below it was an off-white. I think red is a very traditional color for a DR but goes well with just about any type of furniture. If you don't want to do white on the ceiling, I would go with an off-white on the ceiling. If you wanted to be really bold, do BLACK below the chair rail instead of white. Kind of asian looking, especially with the red.

Another suggestion is Rockies Brown from Benjamin Moore above the chair rail. Rockies Brown is a very deep brown but it's gorgeous. We had done it in our last house in our foyer. To counter balance all the dark brown, our floor was a beige marble and we painted the ceiling the same beige color plus there was a lot of white trim, with the door being white as well as the stair rail/banisters. We loved the color so much, it is now in our sitting room. But you wouldn't want to do the whole room in that color. I would do the brown above the chair rail, a beige (but not washed out) below the chair rail and put that same beige on the ceiling. It would be gorgeous, especially with the light furniture you picked out.

Can you tell I love bold colors?

HTH

Jennifer

Mom to:
Christopher 12/29/89
Adelaide 8/23/04
Bronwyn 11/9/05

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_garnet_6m.gif[/img][/url]

[Mommy_Again]

What about a rich chocolate brown? It is a very hot color right now, and I love it paired with robin's egg blue or sage green, which would both coordinate with the yellow in the rest of the house. It would be a nice backdrop for your furniture. You could paint the chair rail and crown molding a slight off-white, and you could even do some cool bronze-y effect to the tray ceiling if you are feeling daring.

[gavinsmom]

I should mention too that the LR is adjacent to the DR. We are also planning on painting that. Same color coffee table and end table. Haven't picked out the couches yet. The carpet in both rooms is off white. I was thinking a khaki for the LR. We tend to get a lot of light in the DR in the late afternoon. There is a big picture window in that room. I like red but am thinking that maybe it's too bold as the rest of the house is pretty neutral. Warm honey beige is really nice too. Ahhhh....I hate this...wish I could just afford to hire an interior designer!