http://blog.devinecolor.com/Color-Advice/133/can-light-wall-colors-brighten-dark-rooms

I decided on Devine Color’s Le Pot D’Or.

I’m painting our master bedroom BM “silver sage” this weekend, I hope to avoid the fate of your halls

I ‘m working on a 1918 Cape Cod Colonial Revival. I put in soapstone and mahogany (big splurge) for the kitchen countertops. The soapstone is a gray green, and the wood is reddish, so the two colors compliment each other beautifully. I picked up the gray green on the walls with Behr’s “Rhino”. It looks great with the stone and the wood, especially when seen through the dining room, which is golden yellow. Everyone who comes into the kitchen loves the color, (and its name). We seem to have similar things going on color-wise, so you may want to check it out; it may work for you.

Keep up your great work and please keep posting!

This is not a post for the website, but a wonderful resource that I thought you may enjoy (if you have not seen it already). http://www.antiquehome.org. It is a little hard to use, but has information that researching bungalow fanatics like ourselves dream of. It has scanned floorplans from several catalogs (Sears, Aladdin, Sterling, Radford, etc), and the “millwork & houseparts” section has a scanned catalog for kitchen cabinets, doors, millwork, windows and other amazing built-ins! I am sure that you will enjoy it!

Oh, it also has period color suggestions and such, which may help with your stairway dilemma

Carrie

Loving the upstairs restoration as much as I’ve loved watching the downstairs evolve!

I’m writing in sympathy for your green dilemma. I painted my dining room a “beautiful sage/silvery green” that turned out to be so very “baby nursery mint green” that my eyeballs almost popped out. And that was my realization AFTER three coats. Ahem. Anyway, I went a bit more gold/olive and one shade darker, and it turned out to be exactly what I was after. My mom thinks I’m insane for reaching for that one particular color, but I think she’s insane for not reaching far enough to get it Exactly Right. …Takes all kinds, I guess!

I echo everyone else’s sentiments–you’ll get it right, and hang in there!

Another green that I’ve used twice now and love. . .is Behr Grasshopper Wing. It’s a good saturated olive-y green that I’ve used in my office at both places, oh right, the new one being our 1925 bungalow. I have a mission desk, chairs and nifty lamp from eBay, and we’re supposed to be working on built-in shelves. I want to use the Silver Studio’s Peacock Feather (also available as Liberty “Hera”) fabric for roman shades. . . there are just more pressing issues than curtains for my office at the moment.

I’ve been lurking on your site since shortly after we moved in April and wanted to use this opportunity to tell you how apreciative I am that you share your story of your house and the process. Numerous loose parallels make you feel like a familiar friend. By day I’m a curator of an historic house museum (Federal era), and I have two Jack Russell terriers. . . I especially loved your living dog house. Puppy Winston is adorable!

Best wishes!

For what it’s worth, in my dining room I have woodwork very similar to yours and BM’s Powell Buff, which in my lighting comes out looking like your color (Shelburne Buff, right?). Anyhow, I just finished the kitchen a few days ago, which adjoins the dining room, and used a warm sagey color from Restoration Hardware (It was Sycamore Green or Sycamore Sage, definitely Sycamore something, not Silver Sage). It holds its own very nicely against the warm gold in the dining room and doesn’t look washed out or minty. Of course, your hallway lighting is probably different from my kitchen lighting and that can change everything. I should have pictures in a few days, but in the meantime, you might want to swing by Restoration Hardware and pick up a small sample can of the stuff ($5). You and I have pretty similar tastes and color preferences, so I’m guessing you’ll like this shade. Good luck.