Gauntlet Gray looks good - we have Anonymous in our DR and love it. Lots of white trim so it's not too dark.

PP again. I don't think entire colors get dated but if you think so, then I would avoid gray. It is kind of the color of the moment. It is the tan of 2005. Blue and yellow go really well together. I think if yellow is icky to you, look at warm beige or cream colors. I think that a dark blue sounds good but it can be hard to pull off unless you have extremely high ceilings. I also feel like it is kind of 1985.

Maybe get a few quarts of deep greys/navys to test out in the room? Lighting makes a huge difference.

PP here again. Love the idea of the light blue silk drapes. Velvet sounds too heavy if you feel the room is feminine. Will you have a rug? I just went through decorating my rug. I also have mahogany furniture--table, chairs, ceiling height cabinet. All old so not hulking and huge. My walls were light, drapes, light, brass fixtures (yes I have bright brass in my formal areas!) and standard medium colored oak floors. Honestly the room always felt too bright and too warm. I got a very nice cool colored (mainly federal blue) oriental rug. Cooled and anchored the room.

So my view is figure out what is your most important thing. For example, if you love the color light blue for the drapes, then start with that and let the other colors develop. I think Velvet is very heavy and I don't love it for drapes. Silk is so much more elegant. So I would start with those as the inspiration and put them on the table and think about what they would look well with. I maintain a nice pale yellow is the answer.

OP here. Not really a fan of yellow. It seems pretty dated to me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:you need something brighter. Not dark. And not gray. You can work in gray in the rug or drapes so that it all connects but no more gray walls if the next room has gray. Navy blue like PP mentioned is good if you have a lot of light. if not, then too dark.

What is the floor like? I suggest a yellow or warmish beige.

I agree - a gold-leaning yellow would be lovely and work well with the grey paint in the adjacent room, as well as the furniture you describe.

Example color? What I'm picturing is very dated.

I would like yellow & light blue accents with a dark wall though...

Anonymous wrote:you need something brighter. Not dark. And not gray. You can work in gray in the rug or drapes so that it all connects but no more gray walls if the next room has gray. Navy blue like PP mentioned is good if you have a lot of light. if not, then too dark.

What is the floor like? I suggest a yellow or warmish beige.

I agree - a gold-leaning yellow would be lovely and work well with the grey paint in the adjacent room, as well as the furniture you describe.

OP here. The floor is a dark oak. The room has tons of natural light and is rather feminine so that's why we were thinking dark gray. We were thinking light blue silk or velvet drapes.

Anonymous wrote:SW Foggy Day. Or Uncertain Gray if that's too dark for you.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/-RZKb8RdWmo4/UdukMTN5qbI/AAAAAAAADk4/RrNR9LkzKus/s1600/Foggy%252520Day%25255B5%25255D.jpg

you need something brighter. Not dark. And not gray. You can work in gray in the rug or drapes so that it all connects but no more gray walls if the next room has gray. Navy blue like PP mentioned is good if you have a lot of light. if not, then too dark.

What is the floor like? I suggest a yellow or warmish beige.

SW Foggy Day. Or Uncertain Gray if that's too dark for you.

oh wait - I guess the stencil would be overkill with wainscoting. I would consider removing it.

I really wanted a dark navy blue for my dining room but DH was against it. Now we have cream, which I dislike. I think dining rooms should be dark.

BM Wythe Blue?

Dark gray sounds very very drab.

A moroccon or other geometric type of stencil sounds exciting. You could do the wythe blue for instance, and then stencil using a white color. So it's not as boring as paint, but not as busy as wall paper. If you really like the dark gray, you could stencil white over that.

Am searching for a paint color for a dining room. Bottom half is white wainscoting. The furniture is a very traditional antique mahogany set from the 1920s, but we don't have absolutely anything else in the room. Connecting living room is a light gray and I think we're doing light blue accessories/curtains in that room. We were thinking about a deep gray for the top half of the dining room- gauntlet gray? Any opinions?