Banking on a Profit

Before, the bold green walls didn’t blend with anything in this room or the adjoining dining room. Now, a cohesive color scheme in both rooms makes for a unified, open floor plan. The chair rail from the dining room is continued in the living room. A darker color is used below the chair rail to help ground the space, and a lighter color is used on top to elongate the ceiling. To pick two tones for one wall, start by selecting the darker shade. Then go up two or three shades lighter on the same paint-chip strip.

New cornice boxes over the windows help add height and elegance to the living room. The large hutch in the dining room (not shown) is replaced with a small buffet table, and the old light fixture is replaced with a new chandelier.