I am painting my DR and LR (they are open floor plans, so not really seperate room, but there is a clear divider). here is my dilema. i want to tie the paint scheme's together, but do not want to paint all the same color. My wife is dying to try a sueded paint technique, but wants to only do it on the main DR wall which is the focal point. If we do that - what should the other wall be painted in the DR? There is really only 2 walls (since my DR opens to the LR on one side and the kitchen on the other).

Our thought is this - we want to paint the LR one color, but install a ceiling moulding and another moulding approx 12" down from the ceiling and paint a "border" in between the 2 mouldings. So - do we paint the rest of the DR that does not have the suede look the same color as the border to tie both room together?

Also my LR continues into my foyer and then leads up stairs without a real break on the walls - How do I stop the LR paint scheme from going updatirs and not have it look like the moulding is "hanging" in mid air?

Any thoughts on the paint scheme and moulding transitions would be helpful.

Thanks

 

continuing a colour scheme through a home does not mean you need to use the same scheme in every room - the main thing to keep in mind is relating each room to the next one.

do this by choosing a limited palette of colours that all work together, and use a few of them in each individual room/area.

check this url out (nb. the board won't let me submit a working link for some reason):
http://www.colormatters.com/colortheory.html
for a little basic help in choosing effective colour schemes, then go to your paint shop and bring back colour chips and mix them up till you have a small group (say, five colours you can mix with each other and use throughout the whole place) you are happy with.

I really suggest you link a photo here of the living room/foyer/stairwell area for clarity, as it is rather impossible to help you without one; all I can say from your written description of the problem is to either carry the colour of the LR wall up the stairwell or to introduce an artificial break in between the LR and the foyer with perhaps a shelving area carried up the wall or some other kind of room divider.

 

since your dining room only really has 2 walls, i'd do the suede look on all the walls in there. you don't want to ever have a room look 1/2 and 1/2, which is basically what you'd have. tie the rooms together some other way, like by using the same fabric on the DR window as on the pillows on the LR sofa, for example.

the only place you can stop a paint color is at an interior or exterior corner. i've never seen paint (or wallpaper) stopped in the middle of a flat surface that didn't look (sorry for the harsh word) stupid. if you don't have a natural stopping point from your LR to your foyer to your staircase, then you've got to select a color that will go in all those spaces.

same with the moulding - can't just stop it in mid-wall. it's a cool idea, but it sounds like it's just not an option for you in this particular home. it wouldn't be doable in mine either. choices are limited by architecture, etc.

an option for you would be to do a chair rail, which would have a better chance at having a natural stopping point. you could do the suede below the moulding. or you could pick an accent wall near the foyer to repeat the suede.