tapper

Our house is a type known as a split entrance. On entering, there is a small area with steps leading to the basement and another set of steps leading to the main floor.
At the top of the steps, you can go straight into the kitchen, turn left into the living area, or turn right down a narrow hallway to the bedrooms and bathrooms.
My living room area, kitchen, dining area are all separated by open arches.

There are 2 entrance area walls....one to the left, separating the upward steps from the living area on the main floor and one on the right, separating the steps from the main floor bedrooms.
Example...
http://www.houzz.com/discussions/814...y-entry-way-in
Where the rails are in the photo, I have a solid wall.

We will be painting throughout the house. I need ideas for the walls. I now have the same color for the living, entrance and upstairs hallway. I liked it well enough but want a change.
Should I stay with one color? Should I go with different shades of one color? Should I change it up and have all different colors that play well together. Baseboards and ceilings are now white. I would prefer to keep the ceilings white but am open to other colors for the wide baseboards.
I have searched the internet but I am suffering from information overload.
Would appreciate your input. Links to relevant sites would be appreciated but I have probably checked out a lot of them.
My real need is to get ideas from real people like my QB friends...the 'been there done that' people.
I also want a bit of pizzazz but not too much. I am thinking that I could get that with colorful furniture and/or quilted accent pieces
Thank you.

Tartan

I would go with shades of one colour you love maybe taupe or caramel and add a punch of a coordinating colour to my kitchen wall where my table is? What colour is the flooring?

Neesie

I also like the shades, idea. Choose a color you love and then go with the 'next step' colors, on either side. Join the two colors at a wall corner, so that they seem to flow into one another. I would leave the baseboards and ceiling white.

Barb in Louisiana

What I see is that you have too matchy, matchy of a house. There is no pop. The walls sort of fade into the floor. Everything seems to be beigy and soft. You don't have anything that says "Look at me". If yours was my house, I would try some pops of color. Some dark woods. Some bright paintings. Bright throw pillows. Buy something you can take back if you hate it. I find that color of light camel yellow is hard to work with for me. Something in a taupe or sage green would be easier to work with in my opinion and be more warming.

Now, having said all that. Let me tell you about my house. People walk in my front door and find a room that has Burnt Orangey Pink walls, light beige floor with a dark green sofa and see thru navy blue sheers over the large double windows. I, also, have a Medium oak Bombay chest with a mirror framed in black over it. A Fleur de Lis rug, light brown with darker brown framing covers part of the floor. The two chairs are medium oak, one with a rust cushion and the other with a dark green, but not the same green as the couch. We have covered at least 50% of the walls with photos of our children and grandchildren. All the frames are dark. To be such a dark color wall, it is surprising how the whole effect is calming.

To the left, is our living/den. It is painted a sage green, white tiled floor, red print rug with a flowery couch that is going away soon. I want a camel or brown solid color. All my pictures on the wall are large, full of color and framed in dark frames that pop against walls.

The next room is our Dining room. It is painted Ford engine blue. Yep, you guessed it. Hubby picked out color and had it half painted by the time I got home. It was a surprise, but it works. My dining furniture is medium oak and the floor is light wood. The table and chairs sit on an Indian style rug, that is beige in the middle and a dark blue frame for the outer boarder. There are some red and green flowers and leaves in the rug. My valances over my double window are framed in dark green, with red and blue Jacobean flowers. We have white baseboards all through the house.

Then you go down my hall, which is a textured wall that shows tones of tans, lights and a bit of rust. The bedrooms are full of color too. I know that all this would sound garish to someone else, but my home is welcoming, definitely not bland and the exact opposite of yours. A lot of people prefer matchy, matchy, calming, but I would never get a warm, exciting feeling from it.

My husband and I have tried to change the entry room paint several times, but nieces and nephews and our children all say "no". They love it when they come to our house. It's rich looking even though the cost was minimal. It makes them feel good and me too.

It looks like you have been trying to figure out what to do for a while. I wish you luck, and hope that you find what you are looking for.

Prism99

We owned a split-level for many years. Personally, I think it is best to stay with the same neutral color throughout the adjoining areas. The shade of neutral is very important, as the overall effect of different whites and different creams varies. I ended up with a pinkish white because pinks seem to improve my mood.

You do, however, need to add color somewhere. One way is to paint an "accent wall" in a dramatic shade (or at least a darker shade). Again, I prefer staying with neutral versions of colors. There is a huge difference between, say, an electric blue and a neutral blue. Too much gray makes the color dull, so I try to avoid those. For wall paint, I think it's best to think of it as a background color. Then add paintings, pillows, glass bowls, etc. that stand out well from that background color.

Do you have any leads on a decorator who could help you with color choices? It can be well worth the money. When we built a new house, our builder had a decorator who came into our old house and re-decorated for us. Wow! The paint colors she chose for both houses were absolutely wonderful, and nothing we could have come up with for ourselves. The trick is finding someone who has a good eye, as I think part of it is inborn talent.

Tothill

When my brother and his wife bought their house it needed painting. They were able to have an in home consultation with a designer from a local paint store (even though they were only buying the paint, not hiring painters). She can twice and helped them to choose their colour palette.

My Mum and I did much of the painting for them as a house warming gift.

I like Pinterest for finding interesting colour palettes.

I think what will happen with the responses you get here is you will hear from those who prefer a neutral background, off white, cream, taupe etc, those who love colour and contrast much like there are people here who love bold colour in their quilts, and those who like quieter colours in their quilts. No wrong answers, but perhaps not the correct answer for you.

My living room, dining room and bedroom hallway are orange with a sage green feature wall. I plan to repaint (if I stay in this house) a coral and have turquoise accents. So you can see which camp I am in.

My grandmother's house was much like yours with a split entry. Every wall in her house was white (and smoke stained, yuck). She had a maple dining room suite, dark neutral upholstered furniture cream, coloured drapes. No colour in the decor to speak of. When she moved to a single level house it came with cinnamon coloured drapes. They were beautiful and she could not afford to replace them. They worked with her neutral furniture and finally there was some colour in her home.

She was not without colour in her life, she had an incredibly beautiful garden, knit wonderful sweaters and did exquisite embroidery.

It is your home and you have to feel comfortable in it.

starshine

I would suggest you do the entry and wall along there at least in the same color family and if you want some variety different hues or tints, and then if you want some pop pick one wall in LR or DR for that. And you can have some accent pieces pick up some of that color to tie it together too.

After living in neutral colors for more than 10 years before buying our house, I couldn't wait to have color on the walls! Lighter shades will make the entry way feel more spacious, and paint chips show the different variety of the same shade so it can make it easier to get compatible variance. Tape some on the walls to see how they appeal to you. Pick the colors you like best!

tapper

I have dark wooden floors in main hallway, living area and entryway and steps. Kitchen floor is light brown laminate.

Snooze2978

When I bought my present house, I used a pinkish taupe thru the living room, dining room, hallway going up the stairs and kitchen. The largest rooms (living room & dining room)got the darker shade, kitchen the next shade lighter and the hallways the lighter shade as less windows opening up to it. Most folks wouldn't notice its not all the same shade. Its a 1900 built home with natural wood on the 1st floor and painted wood on the 2nd floor. All worked well for me.

KenmoreGal2

If I understand your house description, I grew up in a house like that. Do you have one wall which runs front to back and serves both the living room and dining room? If so, I echo someone else and think painting that one wall a contrasting color could be interesting. I'm thinking something that goes with the other walls but has more punch to it. You could pick up that same color with accessories too.

(I lived in that house in the 70's. We had multi colored daisy wallpaper in the kitchen and white/gold flocked wallpaper in the other rooms. Ugh.....)