No accent walls, please - The materials in your loft and your great furnishings are "accent" enough.

One shade of ivory on all walls, with white trim and ceilings...
...and hanging the curtains at the ceiling level will add to the appearance of height and volume within the room. For fabric, I'd select a nice raw linen or burlap to contrast w/ your walls (preferably lined) As for width, you want double the width of fabric for the length of the rod: ie. both panels are each the width of the entire rod.

Hi,

We are doing a renovation of a breakfast room/kitchen/den. It has the exact same exposure you have.

I am using the colors from a beautiful wallpaper from Romo-

http://www.romo.com/collections/wall-coverings/kimura-wallpapers/kimura-wallpaper.html The linen color.

I matched the wall color to the background beige, the trim is Benjamin Moore's China White. It is on different levels and the effect is gorgeous and harmonious,

I would take the grey from the silver and do either the linen or even better- use the cellulars I got From Budget Blinds that convert from sheer to opaque for better light control.

Levelor makes a nice one called Transformations. http://www.levolor.com/products/cellular-shades/options.php

Not as expensive as you might think and they are great for saving money on heat or air conditioning.

Budget Blinds has the right grey.

As I have learned from Asian art- they play all sorts of colors against this neutal backgrond and you won't be stuck working with an accent color already prepainted.

I am getting a grey ultrasuede sectional with black, shocking pink, fuschia and black accent pillows. Another chair is upholstered black with ivory and grey pinstripes.

The den rug will be floral and ivory, the other rug will be fuschia and pink. My kitchen will be black and white with a pink Durat countertop .

You could use this for starters and go in all directions. Plums, purples, turquiose, reds, oranges, kiwi etc the options are endless.

Hope this helps

Hi,

You will have to copy and paste the URLS- they don't seem to come up without doing that.

Sorry

I'd need more information about your style before making any recommendations.

Are you going for drama? Then have the curtains go up to the ceiling. And definitely go for the gray wall.

Are you going for something more conservative, then stick with the window height and the white walls.

What type of furniture is going in the room? What sort of accents?

After looking more closely at your current furnishings, I'd say you're going for a shabby chic look. So it's really up to you; do you want more drama or more homey. In a loft, I prefer drama.

A softer, chalkier white would be good. RL's Modern Studio for example. Perhaps just the one accent wall on the main level, and do without the one on the upper level. RL's Cobblestone or Soft Earth as an accent. If you were going with richer brown shades, then Prince. A white drape can look cheap if not done well. A true linen color with a fair amount of texture would be more striking. Black hardware, hung from the ceiling. However, that is a LOT of fabric, and considerable expense. Have you considered shades of some type? Textured linen roller shades, bamboo blinds, etc. It looks like you have the space for an inside mount, which would give it a very clean and architectural look. I would not put anything on the window above the sliding door.

From what I can see in the photos, your furniture seems to be warm browns, tans, and reds, and so on, so I would go with a warm white for the walls; I would stay away from slate.

I second bepsf. The way those walls jut out + accent color = too much.

Keep everything the same color so that the varied wall surfaces look more cohesive. It's some very pretty architecture, and the color change distracts (and detracts) from it.

I have seen condos on multi-levels done in all white- they can look like the inside of a fridge.

With all those windows you can knock it down to a darker color like the beige I sugessted and it will look almost like a light bleached cafe in the brightest areas and warmer in the darker areas.

That Northeast lighting is, trust me, very cool.

Don't go with an accent wall, go with a warm white that will have some depth to it and compliment the wood floors and brick.
I would not do decorators white its so boing and flat, especially with the amount of walls and natural light you have you will need sunglasses.

Check out Farrow & Ball "Pointing", expensive paint but you could have it matched by a BM retailer or Home Depot in a eggshell finish. Its a beautiful white that adds depth.

You can see it used on the cabinets in this photo, its still light even with this exposure-
http://brookegiannetti.typepad.com/.a/6a00e554d7b8278833010536be37d6970c-pi

You could create a different feel by adding a nice grey or pale blue to compliment a buttery white in the dining room or bedroom- something like Benjamin Moore Silver Fox or
Benjamin Moore Silver Marlin- you can see them here from this lovely tour
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/house-tours/stefanies-house-tour-house-tour-109564

I think that a white with a bluish tint would compliment the floors and fireplace and I would take drapes to the ceiling and maybe do a double rod with one set sheer. Or a crisp white wall with black drapes would be nice too. And hang a lot of art on the accent wall and skip the paint.

Oddly enough I like the color some of the walls have been painted - the rustic red or whatever one would call it.

I would paint everything a soft, neutral yellow to give it a little color but not overwhelm and to jibe with your furniture. I agree with bepsf -- no accent walls. You've got enough drama with the ceiling height, windows and fireplace.

I'd say the height of the curtains is your own personal preference. Either way should look fine. On width, just keep them the same, so you might have to go somewhere at 8 or 9 inches and then open up the fabric as much as possible to make sure everything's covered. You might be covering more wall than anything on the smaller window, but it will look more balanced.

Suggestion for a budget friendly drapery solution. Painter's drop clothes at Lowes or where-ever. These natural cotton clothes come in a variety of sizes that can be clipped to curtain rings for hanging, they come pre-hemmed which would be a big help for such large pieces. example: 2 - 12x16' panels would make a pleasantly full cover for your 10' window.

I do not like to crit other well meaning and well thought out suggestions- but remember north light and northeast light is rather blue and very cool. It can turn yellows or cream yellows quite greenish..

The blues and grey suggested would be, I
think, too cool.

Get a paint you like- paint large cardboard swatches with it and place the swatches in various areas to see how the color works.

You can buy large swatches of colors fron C2 paints to try before you paint. One good color is Marine Canvas.

Othe companies like Benjamin Moore offer you the option of buying small sample jars of paint to try. Paint large squares of cardboard and try them in different ares,

I'm not a fan of the current accents walls they seem far too jarring and make the staircase look disconnected. I'd go for a white with tan or sandy undertones, as I think they'd stay warm in the northern light. If you must do accent walls, do go subtle. Take the wall color, then go 2 shades down on the color card.