How to lighten up my living room

Here is a pic of my living room with no furniture. There is a chair rail and beams on the ceiling. I am thinking of painting the beams a white since the ceiling is low. I am thinking about painting the chair rail and trim white also. Will this make the living room lighter? It feels so dark since I put in new windows even though my furniture is beige.

Also what color would you suggest other than white? The fireplace has a dark green tile.

I think painting the beams white would definitely lighten it up, I think any other colour with beams like that can make the room feel dark and closed in. I would go with white or at least a very neutral colour

Thanks what if i remove beams. I think they are making my room small

I'd get rid of the rail and whatever that is under it....wallpaper?. it's dividing the wall and making the height of room look smaller.

I am gonna leave it as it is. About decorating my house I am going to hire http://www.ninaathome.com/ . Let's hope they can do something good in my budget.

So you’re using someone from the States to do you’re decorating for you?????

I might be wrong, but I am assuming this is spam, and will remove this post tomorrow if you don’t confirm for me that its not.

I don't know what you call spam. I am living in Bucks County PA and she is good reputed in our area. Any way i beg your pardon if I did something wrong. Good day

harmonSmith…..you have to relies, as a moderator we get all sorts of post that are what we call spam….unsolicited advertising.

You don’t have a location in your profile, so I didn’t know where you lived.
So I assumed it was advertising.

I apologise if your post is not spam, and here is my reply to your post.


Here’s my thoughts –

Paint the ceiling beams and timber cornice white.
Take the dado wallpaper off.
Paint the walls and chair rail an off white.

Don’t paint the chair rail a different white (pure white like the ceiling) this will make them stand out again; you need them to blend in with the walls.

Question, how old is the house, or what style of house is it?

Well, the photo is over 3 years old

lol I think it is my camera fault.
Mitchel I check your site and found some good ideas to work with. I really like this kitchen
. I wish I live in Australia so I cold have a chance to work with you. I think interior designing is truly a creative field and only a creative person can work as interior designer. By the way I really like your ideas and will share some more pictures after having some decoration.

Thank you harmonSmith ……that kitchen is my old boss’s kitchen from ********, it came out well.

That’s a Quartz bench top.

Sorry, harmon smith, wasn't meaning to pick on you

But maybe time to adjust your camera settings

I like that kitchen too, I like white kitchens and the timber floor softens the harshness of the white, nice balance.

Helyn…..that’s Bamboo flooring.

Of which I’m not allowed to speak about…….she hates it!
Her choice….not mine, but very disappointing!

Ohh and the view from that kitchen is to die for.

Michelle can you show us some more pictures of your work. It will be very informative.

harmonSmith….I’m not feeling very flash today, so I’m trying not to do much.

What would you like to see?
I am very bad at going back and taking photos of work I have done in the past.
So my website is probably the best for now. I’ll try and add some photos here for you later for you.