I have a 3 year old house with an open fllor plan--2 story foyer with LR and DR on either side. Family room is straight ahead, 2 story, just a catwalk upstairs separating the foyer from the FR. Kitchen is off the FR, separated from it by just a half-wall. The carpet in the LR and FR is continuous, a blue berber that I probably wouldn't have picked, but works well in the house. Countertops in kitchen are blue to match the carpet. cabinets are light oak, FR furniture is honey oak, sofas are a warm medium beige/tan. What colors would work best to paint the walls for this type of house, and does it need to be uniform throughout all the rooms? I'm tired of white walls but have no idea in which direction to go!!!!

 

any color you choose will be an improvement over the white - even just a creamier white will do wonders! i'd probably go a little lighter than your warm medium beige sofas. if it's a very open plan where you can see most of the areas at the same time, then you'll want to keep it all the same color, for the most part, so it does all flow together. it'll seem it's most spacious that way. painting each wall a different color would only work against the natural architecture and make it seem smaller & chopped up. but you can accent different areas (entry or kitchen or a window wall or the fireplace wall, etc) by painting accent walls in a different color - maybe just a darker version of the wall color, or maybe the sofa color, or the blue carpet color, or another color altogether like navy or burgundy. you'd want to pull an accent color out of a painting or rug or something in the room, and make sure it works with any of the other rooms from which it can be seen.

 

Just my .02 worth, but in the open floor plan homes we've owned (my favorite kind!) I've never done one color throughout, but always used lots of different colors that you can see from one 'room' or area to the next, but the key thing is to stick with the same tones. If you don't stick with the same tones, the colors can look really funky (and not in a good way!) next to one another.

I think that there are no hard & fast rules for this type of thing, it's all a matter of what we each love to live with in our own homes! I prefer lots of color on the walls, but then simple furniture...clean lines, no patterns, etc. The walls provide the drama, and I use accent rugs here & there to provide pattern and pull in colors from the walls & furniture.

The thing is, it's only paint! You can always redo it if you don't like it. No big deal, really.

 

You are not as limited as you think when painting an open floor plan. Three really good painting schemes include:
1. Paint entire home in one color with the occasional accent wall as Annette suggests. The main color does NOT have to be white or cream, but a color will work wonders. The accent walls should ALL be of the same tone throughout the house (see No. 2 below).
2. Use different colors for different parts of the home, but all within the same "tone" as Carly suggests. If Carly is suggesting what I think she is suggesting, that means you pick the colors all within the same range. When you go to the paint store, colors are arranged on the strip, typically 3-5 colors per strip. If you choose the color two-down on the strip, the other colors you choose should also be two-down on the strip (or 3-down, etc.). Success is practically guaranteed when picking colors with this method. Just keep the same level on the paint chip card.
3. Use different shades of the same color is the third paint scheme possible. Using the paint chip card, pick multiple shades of the same color. Oh, and we aren't talking the same shade of white, either.
Relook at your space with new eyes, minus the limitations you thought you were to in painting an open space.

 

What Deb said!