Kate--

Considering your floors and mantelpiece are already in the Brown/Orange range - I'd consider your BF's color choice covered.

I'd choose wall colors in the cooler range to contrast with the wood elements, but bring in some more of the warmer brown/orange/red colors in the draperies, rugs, upholstery, bedding, artwork, etc. to bring his color preferences up into the room too.

Never underestimate the power of Gray. I mean, it comes with so many color undertones... greens, blues, even purples. It might just satisfy both of your tastes.
Another way to combine two styles is to break up the wall with a chair rail (some available now are super vintage inspired and would go great with your beautiful period fireplace). He can have his dark color above, and you can go that shade but much much lighter below.

There is no right or wrong color. It simply boils down to your own personal choice(s). And your style. It is difficult to suggest colors when we don't know anything about your personal style, or what your existing furnishings are like.

That said, I LOVE the white. It makes such a lovely, simple counterpoint to the historic architecture. But I also immediately envisioned the apartment in subtle shades of lavenders, blues, periwinkles. So serene and cool. Clean and expansive, but comforting. And would make a lovely backdrop to whatever you put in the space.

Just my feeling right now. Next year, I might say deep library red. And that's the beauty of paint: You can change it out later.

I would base this in large part on the furnishings you already own. You can pick the most beautiful, amazing, inspired color imaginable, but if it doesn't accent/mesh with/help/enliven your decor, it won't work. We have a bright, limey-grassy green in much of our apartment, but I think it only really works because we have many pieces of light, neutral furniture and accent pieces that coordinate really well with our particular green paint. It's not matchy-matchy, but it all works together.

Is it possible to live in the space for a bit before painting? Or at least bring in some of your furniture to get a feel for how things will come together? You could also start with just one "accent wall" in whatever color you think might work, and see how that sits with you before committing to painting the whole room (or apartment) that color.

ETA: All that said, though, the one color I've used in many places and always been really, really happy with is a buttery, warm-but-bright yellow. It's not exactly neutral, but it goes with lots of things and is just a happy color to live in- particularly in a room with lots of natural light.

I second the buttery yellow. It sounds like it would be a good compromise between you and your boyfriend.

Benjamin Moore
1587 Gibraltar Cliffs
1588 Gray Pinstripe
or
1589 Kitty Gray

i like the idea of sage green. not too dark, though. something a little lighter and less formal. you can then add some of the other colors in with accessories.

Have you considered something in the ochre family? It's falls into your partner's earthy color choices and some shades can also be bright and cheery.

My home has similiar wood accents to yours and I opted for cool shades to offset the yellow tones of the wood. I love the icy pale blue and putty gray I chose--a vast improvement on the clashing salmon pink and yellow ochre they were painted when I moved in.

Can I also suggest painting the color only as far as the picture rail and leaving everything above white.

The way I see it, none of your colors are mutually exclusive and all occur within a spectrum, so why not try and meet in the middle of the spectrum. The way my boyfriend and I do it is we go to the paint store, and we each choose our favorite colors and then all the colors between them in the spectrum. Then we cut them up and place each individual color on the floor in the room to be painted. We then take turns throwing out colors we HATE - given the light, fixtures and space of the room. Eventually the pile is reduced to a handful of colors we mutually like. Then from that we come to a consensus. I have to say we sometimes choose odd colors we would have not thought of, BUT we always have BOTH been equally impressed with the ultimate selection. You will be surprised how often you have a common hatred of some colors, if not a common love of one.

Yes, the warm tones are covered with the floors and mantel.

A gray with a purple undertone is really hot right now. I would leave the trim white as it is. This color is enough neutral that it can go with almost anything in regards to furnishings.

I would suggest not adding a chair rail and splitting colors. Walls should be a clean back drop that makes your artwork pop.

Why not use more neutral colors on the walls and use the brighter punchier colors in the accents (ie: rugs, pillows, etc.)? Or each pick a color for accent walls in separate but adjacent rooms. Maybe a nice sage green in the living room for his taste and a soft blue in the bedroom for yours. Don't you just love compromise!

Why not use a lighter color like a robin's egg blue for most of the apartment, and then find a wall or two that travel throughout the apartment to paint an warmer, darker accent color like burnt orange? Or find similarly contrasting colors that work with your furniture.

You don't have to stick to one color to have 'flow'.

lol at Pretentious. Ouch!

What colors is the rest of your stuff? For example, what color couch and chairs and coffee table are going into the living room for example?

I think it is best to look at color schemes that work well together. Choose some that contain the colors that you already have in your interior decor furniture pieces.

Here are some color schemes that I love: http://tiny.cc/IxvM0

Oh and by the way I like white in the living room and color in bedrooms and dinging room.

It is easy for a living room to look cluttered, and there is something to be said for a clean space with white walls too. :)

I'm with the others who are leaning towards gray.

Like your boyfriend, I favor reds/bricks, but I've painted rooms in Ben Moore's Palladian Blue and Atmospheric, and they look great. They coordinate with earth colors, as well as whites, creams, grays and warm colors. Good luck!

I second ck8go's suggestion of grays. You already have a picture rail, you could do as ck8go suggests with the two tones, but rather than install the chair rail, use the existing picture rail to divide the space. Grays with a grey-white trim would be lovely.

What a beautiful fireplace!

You have a lovely apartment and gorgeous wood floors and fireplace so I am loving gray but what gray and even what color depends on other factors - your furniture and the amount and quality of the light to start with. So invest in some of those little pots of paint and paint up some sheets of cardboard and tape to the walls. Eventually one color will jump out as the right one, but don't touch the ceiling or the trim for now. Painting is so easy so don't be afraid of making mistakes since you can paint a room with two or three coats in a day. Invest in a large roll of that blue tape - it is a wonderful thing!

My initial instinct was some shade of yellow, something deep, mellow and golden, not too orange. Though gray might work too since you guys get a lot of light.

I think you should take jbfant's suggestion above and sort through colors together. Then buy a few test cans of mutual favorites and test them out. You both might find yourselves budging on your initial preferences. Color preferences don't always correspond with what may work for your home.

Go with gray! Love the fireplace and good luck.

How about Restoration Hardware's Silver Sage or something similar from another source? It's an ethereal color, more neutral than you'd expect, and complements warmer-toned accents. It would look great with the warm wood floor and fireplace--and also with the white molding, trim, and kitchen cabinets. It's worth a visit to their store to check it out. I would love to paint my apartment that color.

others have said that the warm tones are "covered" with the mantel and floor - I would say that you should continue with something more in that vane. If you contrast it, it'll make that beautiful mantel stick out. something between your two preferences would seem perfect. what you seem to prefer - a light, soft color - would be awkward with that strong woods, but what he seems to prefer - deep, masculine colors - would overdo it with all the deep color in the room already. think of muting or softing his preferences or bringing a little more depth and greys into yours and I think you'll find a very suitable compromise.

Your place looks like it might be in the Arts and Crafts style, to which I would say, your boyfriend has the right color scheme going. On the other hand, I gravitate toward your colors a lot more-lighter, more neutral. I would suggest choosing a neutral-like the gray others have suggested or a white with different undertones in it for the different rooms (forget about painting all the rooms one color!) You'd be surprised at how many different whites there are. To satisfy your boyfriend and you, change out pillows and throws seasonally-so you can get the yellow, purple and blues in the summer and spring and he can get the cozier warmer colors in fall and winter-like orange, red, and green.

Warm reddish or yellowish tone in living room to go with the arts & crafts fireplace. Cool ethereal tone in the kitchen to make the white cabinets look more modern than boring.

Gonna agree with a previous commenter above and say gray! Several different tones (warm-cool), just make sure you keep some white accents (the moldings). Then you can basically pick and choose the colors you like in small doses to make the place punch.

You can't go wrong with Restoration Hardware's colors. There's only like 12 of them and they match everything.

WAIT! You don't mention which direction the rooms face.

Rooms facing north, east, northeast need warm colors, ie gentle off whites with ochre, or something more bright perhaps.

Rooms facing south, west, southwest can tolerate grays, light blues etc much better than rooms facing the other directions. Keep that in mind so you don't end up living in a cave.

@jbfant, what a great idea! I'll have to remember that one.

I agree with one commenter that seeing your furniture and other personal effects to get an idea of what you have to work with would help a lot.

With that said, I think white gets a bad rap. Recently, there seems to be a surge of people creating very interesting and some fabulous rooms based on white walls. The key there is choosing the correct white.

The rooms I have seen in various decor sites and blogs have run all lines of decor from modern to vintage to everything in between.

However, I also think that once you get your stuff in there, while it's a pain to do after, is to live in it a few weeks to determine how the space feels and how you want it to feel, then paint. Often I think people regret their color choice(s) when they really haven't gained a sense of how the personality of the architecture (windows, walls, etc.) and their personal items gel together.

Just a thought.

With such huge fireplace and small space i'd rather wait to get everything in the room before picking a color that might make the room too claustrophobic or too sparse....

I'm not a particular fan of white.. .but in this case i would really consider keeping it that way....

My grandma's living room is a soothing mint green. If I had walls I was allowed to paint, that's what I would go with.

I'd go wtih a gray color because it can be blended warm or cool. I've seen grays that look nearly brown and other grays that look blue, some even green. FInd a spectacular gray and use that as your background color. It will be like a neutral.

Then, add MORE color -- colors you both love -- through layering and accessorizing. So many options to add color: rugs, drapery panels, upholstery, painted furniture, lamps and lampshades, art, pillows, cushions, etc.

If you love blue, that doesn't mean your walls get painted blue. Accessorize with blue.

I agree with many of the above posts... You already have the "warm" colors from the fireplace and floor....Gray would look beautiful in that room.

select one of the lighter colors from your pallet to use as the "neutral", then select a complementary color from his pallet to use as on an "accent wall". two birds. two stones.

Probably repeating much of what's already been said but I'd either go with a color you both love, but in the middle of the dark/light range or chose a lighter color for the walls but use a darker, more earthy shade for say the curtains in the same color to create layers and add texture in fabrics etc to make the room interesting.

If you DO end up sticking with white, I'd get rid of the stark white you have now and go with a warmer shade of it instead. That said, I'm not a super fan of white, but there again, it largely depends on what its paired with and the architecture so as an example, some modern homes with cedar paneling as accents can get away with a nice shade of white and let the colors pop against that. Also, the 60's Mod look with bright colors such as true red against bright white work great and the white intensifies the red.

In this case, I think 2 complimentary shades of the same color that you BOTH love may work well in the space - and as has been mentioned, look at your furniture and accessories, the lighting, both artificial and natural for if you have mostly east/north facing rooms, a warmer tone is preferable, if your rooms are south/west, cooler tones to help offset the light cast. Nothing worse than a colorful room who's life gets sucked out by too much gray light, believe me I know how it is and how much gray light can do that to a room and it just leaves me tired and listless (I react to light tempurature and light itself, or the lack there of and it effects my mood and energy levels).

Good luck!

You haven't mentioned what else is going in the rooms. Is there furniture/area rug/art going in the living room or the bedroom that needs to be taken into account? I think you should start with that and let it be your guide. Also, I think the cooler tones you like are ideal for the bedroom (more soothing) and some of the warmer colors are better for the living room and kitchen. How about you choose the bedroom, he chooses the kitchen and you split the difference with a warm neutral in the living room?

At least in the living room, paint the walls a mushroom color (like Behr's Wild Honey 760C-3) to give the room a neutral backdrop while keeping with the style and color of the wood flooring and mantle and then accent the room with some of the colors you both love since a lot of them work well together and offer both a warm and bright feeling (red, orange, bright yellow, bright green, sage green).

Note: Always check your paint samples under different lightings in the room since they can look drastically different. My boyfriend's mom tested a color in her living room that she won't be using because it looks gray in dark corners, beige in sunlight, and peach under lamplight.