SFGate

Deborah Butler, Brickwood Builders Pick out a couple of green colors that you like and paint test boards - like 2'x3' and put them into the room for a couple of days. Move them around and see how you feel about the green with the other tones in the room.

The area under the stairs is not visible in the pictures so it is hard to addrss. You can create drawers or book shelves/cubbies in those type areas typically.

Pawnee True Value Red and green are opposite on the color wheel. So pink undertones will work with green. Finding the right shade that works for you will be the trick. Do as suggested - samples.

ag28 Just looking at your picture...I see sunset colors coming thru..it later in the day...thats when you are using this room. I would go for purple/blue hues. I think it would make the room exciting. Also, I would use the same color under your wood/glass table and use colorful pillows. As Deborah Butler stated, painting the wood boards would help you explore the colors further.

Bethany Ayres There are no "bad" color schemes, they all "go" together in the right proportions. Even if green walls create the platform through which pinks may be more loudly broadcast from the fireplace, it would take a reiteration of pink to cause its registration. So if you don't want pink, don't involve any pink pillows or flowers, etc. reiterate the colors you do want.

The naturalism in the coffee table has a strong relationship with the fireplace, reinforcing the earth tones. Go for the green walls, investigate what might happen with a green-gold-type hue (which will cause the fireplace to preside as more earthy and show off the rug).

pjdanluck Thanks so much for the comments!
We do use it primarily at night and I was also looking at those blues/purples (mainly a grey color with tendencies towards them). But I think you helped me reinforce the green. I painted a few samples on the wall (too far back to see in photo) but will do as suggested and paint on some boards so that I can easily move them around.
Keep the rug? Change it? Was leaning towards changing it out.
Thanks again for the help! Keep 'em coming if there's more!

Manon Floreat I agree with Bethany and think a greyed light sage would look great in this room. I would repeat the earth tones with a rug that had some clay or terracotta in it. The beauty below would fit very well in your space.

For under stair ideas, check out these ideabooks or type "under stair storage" in the search engine here on Houzz.

Ideabook: Need More Space? Look Under the Stairs

Ideabook: What's Hiding Under the Stairs

By the way, I love your coffee table and think you have a very warm and comfortable looking room.

aloeplant C2 vicuña (a gold) would look great in there.

Marie Hebson's interiorsBYDESIGN Inc. Hi pjdanluck, Marie here.
YIKES! don't do a blue undertone gray PLEASE - it just isn't complimentary to your orange wood floor, or to the stone fireplace. You really should not take colour advice over the internet - too many variables. eg: What direction is the sun coming in on that one window? How is the colour reacting against your hardwood floor, stones in the fireplace, fabrics that are staying in the room, artwork?

You say your going to use this space mostly at night, well I would go for a warm-brown undertone of GRAY for paint. Pulling the unexpected colour from your stone, making sure there is enough charcoal black in the paint with dark chocolate brown undertones. The paint needs to compliment your wood floor, stone and your area rug (if it is staying).
Problem with the rug is it feels formal in the colour palette you have, and the red is competing with the orange hardwood - and definitely doesn't go with the more rugged earthy stone fireplace. I think you should put it somewhere else in your home...maybe the master suite?

And, sorry, the furnishings feel wrong - maybe its because of the area rug - you definitely need something more casual looking - maybe a simple shag rug, think casual, relaxed, comfy, like the rugged stone fireplace - or even FLOR carpet tiles for that casual elegant feeling...good luck!

laurahahe Read Maria Killim's blog, she has lots and lots of articles on how to work with pink undertones. Painting your walls green will make the stone look more pink.

Carefree mommy Ha! I have a very similar fireplace stone on our main floor. I have found a new go-to colour: Rona Collection's "Concrete", a warm grey with greenish undertones. I know it sounds hideous, but it really works and makes art work pop. http://ronacollection.rona.ca/colours.html

karenb683 The rug doesn't match the room style. Go for a berber rug. Same size. Walls could be a dark muted tone. The fireplace wall could be a shade darker than the others to balance out the wall. Don't hesitate to use darker colours in an evening room. I had a chocolate living room once that never seemed dark but always cosy. Add a couple of pillows in a shade darker than you paint the walls. They will bring the room together.
The room could use a few things to soften it up. At this end of the console how about a tall vase with just some long narrow branches. and or another one on the left of the fireplace. These would accent the earthy feel of the room. Have you considered having a mantle installed over the fireplace? It would warm up the wall of stone. I have the same kind of fireplace. My mantle has crystal vases with twigs and a collection of pine cones.

decoenthusiaste Lots of ideas for color already, so I'm sure you'll find the right one. The photo limits our view (no stairs, no desk in this shot.) I can't see what extends right of the FP, but if a wall is behind the sofa now, I'd suggest flipping the room. Can the TV be installed where the sofa is now and the sofa moved out in front of the sliders? With the large sofa on the same side of the room as the massive stone FP, things feel out of balance. Pipe shelving may feel even lighter so may cause a less balanced feeling. Post again when you paint and get the new shelves. I think you're going in a good direction, but one last idea is to find out how much trouble it would be to retro-fit the TV over the FP. That could cover up a great deal of the pink issue. Love the coffee table too!

pjdanluck Thank you once again.
I really like the idea of using the earth tones (and accents) that I already have with more of a brown (or grey/brown/taupe) color. I totally agree. The rug is much to formal. A more casual rug would be better.
If I were to do a muted tone on the walls could I bring in a color with throws and pillows? If so, what color would someone suggest? I'm thinking a neutral rug?
And I like the idea of the vase with branches. Especially at the end of the console. That space always seems lacking and it would help soften it. Thanks!!!

pjdanluck Sorry. This photo didn't seem to post.
Unfortunately, there's a large window above couch so putting the tv on the other side isn't feasible. Also, since the sliding glass door is there I think that having the couch on that side would interrupt the flow. :(

Rebecca Behrent You have a color palette right now at your fingertips! Take a close look at the rock of your fireplace. I'll bet if you look closely enough, colors will begin to pop out at you! I'll bet there's some beautiful oranges, greens, and even blues. If you have a sample of the stone, take it to the paint store with you and pick out a bunch of paint sample cards - have the paint area person help you if need be. If you don't have a sample of the stone, try to take a very good close up of the rock and take your camera or the printed image (if it prints colors accurately) to the store with you, and use that to pick your color samples. Don't try to "guess" or remember a color in your head, and really look to see if the color sample truly picks up the color in the rock. People tend to go too bright or too intense with color when matching natural materials.

Elizabeth Minish Design I totally agree with Rebecca about the inspiration for the colour palette being drawn from the stone itself. This is the main fixed element in the space and it already has at least 7 colours in it. Unfortunately, none of them are what one would describe as green, so adding yet another colour is not likely to get you where you want to go. The suggestion for a gray with a green undertone would be about as close to green as I would recommend. It could be quite dark like Benjamin Moore's Chelsea Grey HC-168 because this room looks like room that is mostly used after dark. If that's too dark, something more taupey like Benjamin Moore's CC-490 Stone Hearth or CC500-Ranchwood would be something to look at.

Besides colour, you have mentioned that you are replacing the desk and entertainment unit. As it stands now, there is a style clash going on here with that amazing rustic/organic table on top of the busy Persian-style rug. As others have suggested, the rug is too formal and it is so busy we can't really see the table. As you are replacing the entertainment unit, I would look for that was more casual and light in colour in something like pine to enhance the rustic look, This will also help balance the light-coloured upholstery in the room.

I'm not sure what you mean by "pipe shelving", but I hope you're referring to something that might be described as industrial to reinforce the rustic aesthetic, rather than tubular modern. If you are eliminating the desk in that position in favour of shelving, you might consider putting a desk surface under the stairs to give the space a more defined purpose. It looks like you could also use an end table in the square created when the sofa and loveseat meet.

Make sure to add some artwork or an objet d'art to the blank wall beside the windows above the sofa. Because you can't center the sofa under the window, it needs something else to balance it. And finally, lighting in this space looks to be almost all overhead from pot lights at present. To make this space glow at night, you need to layer the lighting with lamps down low.

Good luck!

pjdanluck Wow. Thank you so much.
I'm so appreciative of the time that people volunteer to this forum. Amazing.
I feel so much better about the room and the direction I need to go in (even I I don't have the details nailed down yet)
Regarding the artwork, I was planning on framed pictures but should I match he frames to the darker wood furniture, go with white to match trim or black for a contrast?

Elizabeth Minish Design Re: frame colour, I wouldn't restrict yourself to the any of the tones of wood in the room. White is too cottage-y and doesn't really add to the rustic look. I'd go black, following that old design addage that suggests every room can use a little black. Think mascara.

lbl71 If it were my space i would maybe lean toward the silvers. It would pick up the darker tones in the stone and pretty much ignore the pinks. We are in the process of gutting and redoing our entire home and funny enough, greens are our color. After much searching, Restoration Hardware had two amazing green/silver tones. One called Silver Sage and the other called Light Silver Sage. I hope this helps!!!!!!

anitajoyce A tan or light grey color would be nice for the wall color. Pick out a tone from the stone in the fireplace.

motpurple company what you have looks like 'cultured stone' which is a directly adhered manufactured cast veneer colored mainly with iron oxide tinted sprays. suggestion is that it be replaced with Vermont grey-green natural slate tiles cleft/gauged to a 1/4th inch thickness. you can also get a fireplace surround cut to size, and ticker flagstone for your hearth all made from the same slate.

jessieferrell A hint for pulling colors from something... copy and paste the picture in "Paint" program. Use the magnifying glass tool and zoom way in until you see all colors in pixels. You can use the eye dropper tool to select a pixel and get a better idea of the color.

Marie Hebson's interiorsBYDESIGN Inc. Hi pjdanluck, Marie here. To address your second question of what accent colour to bring into the space - you could pull that dark purple-plum out of your stone colour and throw that around your neutral backdrop - or, you can make tone-on-tone very interesting - that would be in properly layering your tones of cream, charcoal and brown hues.

IF you are into experimenting, you can layer lots of colour - but, you need an inspiration point. I've attached an image of a fireplace surround i staged two different ways to show you how accessories can completely change the look of a room. I did have an inspiration point for each look - start with that (picture, fabric, favorite bowl or your fireplace stone) YES keep the area rug neutral.

Christine I like the idea of green. Your fireplace is fine but you may want to have it acid washed to perk it up a bit (hire a pro for that). No photo for under the stair but I would suggest putting in a small office area as long as the chair or bench wont encroach in to a tight walk way. The coffee table needs to be addressed I think the top can be repurposed but the bottom looks like an extension of the FP so I would go for some simple wrought iron legs. I think if you are going to bring green in to the room you need to put the rug elsewhere in your home and find a lighter more contemporary rug that has elements of the colors you want to bring together and if you are lucky it has a variation of a green you can use on the walls. The entertainment center needs to be jazzed up with pops of color so photos, vases, book, etc. something to break up all the dark wood and the tv. Then try adding some art to the left of the shelf unit. Above it and maybe over the fp mantle.

Jane Stafford Because of your ceiling height I would suggest using a light updated wall color. I love SW Amazing Grey. I think it would neutralize the fireplace a bit. Secondly I have seen some fireplaces like yours on Houzz with a large white mantle and corbels supporting it. Just warms up the space a bit. I agree that the rug doesn't work. A simple clean look for a new rug and then add accent colors in some new fun pillows. What about mounting the tv on the wall and just having a simple cabinet underneath. I think with the scale of the room and existing furniture a clean, bright space will really update the current look while using many of the existing items. Good luck!

lmlahners Remodling our 1976 lake house now...have the same fireplace that runs from the top floor to the basement...painting top floor stone gloss white for elegance...and sledging the stoop down stairs, capping all gas lines, framing it all in, making it square modern wood slat design, and recessing gloss black modern fireplace instead...see attached.

garden state tile i think the rug appears to be the wrong style and color for the room. i LOVE the fireplace and think it looks stunning! my suggestion is to take out the rug, any accents (that are easily changed) and that way you are not thinking of those colors in the room. leave only what you keeping in the room to clear your mind of other distractions.
Because green/red are opposite on the color wheel they are complimentary, but many people prefer colors that are closer on the color wheel because there is less contrast.

i would suggest to go with the fireplace instead of against it, and the warm tones in your sofa and cabinet (which are staying). my suggestion is a taupey color with purple undertones- even darker than you think you might like. i can see the colors in the natural stone fireplace that i think would be perfect. then i would go more in the brown/purple family for accents and pillows. you could even throw in a few bright green accents.

if you are trying to go more modern, obviously baby steps, but i LOVE the pipe shelving from brick house blog. it has a rustic yet contemporary feeling. some kind of a geometric pattern/Aztec/moroccan style rug (do a quick search on houzz for aztec rug.) this style could put you on the right track for a modern/rustic appeal. AND it will make the sofa look like it belongs.
i think doing green will make your look more tradtional because it is more expected.
RE- frame color: i would wait til you are done renovating/changing things out and then address that. i like the idea of Black but not realy polished black. i would go for more rustic black. maybe industrial/natural wood, etc. mix up the materials in the frames. mix up shapes.
good luck!!