Have you considered taking a color off the accent pillows on your couch? Like one of the 2 yellow tones... It would work with both the green couch and pop off the darker tones of your kitchen cabinets and as long as you stay away from overly bright canary yellows it shouldn't be too out there for your landlord.
If not I'd say a nice light and/or silvery grey...

I was eyeing those colorful pillows, too! Maybe a pale blue from the pillows? Best of luck!

Agree with Cookiechick, a light yellow would be pretty and so warm.

A warm gray would probably look nice. The couch looks a little cramped on its current wall - is it possible for you to switch the couch and tv? The couch doesn't necessarily need to be centered with the tv to look good. If you put the tv on the current couch wall it will open up the walkway a lot more, and then you can put a desk or reading chair in that wall space next to the kitchen entry for extra seating/conversation space.

+1 for the yellow in the pillows! I was going to suggest the same thing.

I just painted my living room Lion by Behr. It's a soft greenish brown and its really easy to balance a lot of colors off.

My bedroom is mountain haze by behr - it's another green tone and super light and refreshing.

Oat Straw by Behr

Yellow!!! And, wow, that's great you were able to find such a good deal in the North End. I've casually looked in that area for an apartment, and haven't found anything larger than a shoebox without being wildly expensive.

I think a medium grey would go perfect with everything. The couch, pillows, the dark wood cabinets and the wood floors.

Hi Lisa

I'd actually suggest that you go with a light aqua tone and chose an accent wall, rather than painting the whole room. Looking at your photos, I'd probably go with the wall right behind your couch. Don't go beyond the corners so it creates almost a little niche for your couch. Then, after painting, hang some pop color art. You can either go with colorful art in plain frames (black, white) or you chose less colorful art but use bright and bold and colorful frames.

If you still feel up for doing some more decoration, maybe you want to consider painting your little side table either in yellow or coral, two colors that work very well with aqua.

Another tip: center your rug rather than having it underneath the couch - this way it pulls tv and couch better together.

If you like the aqua accent wall, chose more accessories in the same color pallet of aqua, yellow and coral for the rest of the apartment to spread the fresh feel. Examples for this could be: The planter pot (easy spray paint project) the chairs around the table, kitchen towels, curtains, and a colorful tray on your coffee table would probably already do the trick.

For some aqua walls check out this post here which gives you an idea of the freshness and feel: http://breadboxme.blogspot.com/2012/05/aqua-walls.html

happy painting & styling!

Pick a couple colours from those pillows (or even the artwork over the couch) and paint the living room and kitchen, and even the room off the living room. I agree with wriglyhogsthebed, a little rearranging is in order. TV's should never go in front of a window for sooo many reason. Try it cattycorner (sp?) and tild the couch, or just switch em! Also I noticed you have rock band cymbals. Me too. My hubby haaaad to have them. Good luck storing them. They are such an eye sore in my living room!!!

Although outdated, you have a really sweet floor plan.

I too really like your pillows. I would start with that really pretty blue then maybe wall paper one of walls with a pattern that would match not only the blue but the graphics in the pillows; not necessarily floral if you think that might be too much.
Otherwise, I'd go bold with that pretty red/orange in your pillows but I understand the landlord not wanting you to go bold/deep in colors.
Have fun and it would be nice to send us a 'house-tour' when you have completed this project.

As soon as I saw the pillows I was thinking of some colour from their palette. Either the blue or the darker (burnt) orange although that one may clash with the flooring. I would go for the blue.
"Nothing too dramatic" - that's very ambiguous. What's not too dramatic to me could scare the bejesus out of other people. I was just paint which ever colour I fancy and I would repaint the original beigy or white before moving out.

Agree with buttery yellowish.
How about those dark kitchen cabinets, they should be white.

Another suggestion, besides updating the wall color to something a little more flattering, is to take some of the colors from the pillows and make your own art, large enough to really make a focal point for the place (I would put over the couch and maybe move that framed art to another wall). You could buy large canvases (or foam-core board, or find old art at thrift stores) and paint or put a cool design on it to liven up the place, like this or this. Or cover in fabric. Or even cluster smaller, thrifted frames (painted all one color) filled in with fun papers or fabrics (a la Martha Stewart). Or hey, maybe a cluster of mirrors, instead, to reflect the light! So many options!

Knowing that Boston light quite well, I'd only do a gray tone if you have enough sunshine. Ben Moore's "Marilyn's Dress" 2125-60 would be subtle but give you color, combining a gray with a lot of blue in it - comforting. To go more towards blue, Ben Moore's "Glass Slipper" 1632 or as dark as "Santorini Blue" 1634 both come to mind. If yellow, I wouldn't go darker than "Weston Flax" - HC -5. And because your sofa seems to have a lot of blue in the green, I'd pull out that sort of royal blue to use as an accent with some art on the walls.

I painted the living room in my last apartment "Dreamy Space" blue by Sherwin Williams. It was a nice sky blue and garnered lots of compliments for being a calming, warm blue that wasn't overpowering. Even after a fire, i got to choose all the paint colors and I repainted the living room and did all the window and door trim in a bright white.

That darker blue from the pillows, if they are staying,mould mark a great accent wall.

Definitely agree with the buttery yellow suggestion, pulling the color from the pillows. Also agree with Wrigleyhogsthebed, the couch would be way better on the TV wall, where it doesn't block the hallway.

Very pale aqua, like Farrow & Ball's Pavilion Blue-- here's an example of how it looks: http://us.farrow-ball.com/bedrooms/content/fcp-content. I think yellow would be nice in a general sense but in that small of a space, with all that warm wood and light, you're going to feel like you're living inside a piece of toast unless you go with a very light shade, and in that case it's basically beige, which you already have. Plus you don't like the yellow bathroom, so that would be a lot of yellow. And +1 for switching the couch and TV walls, definitely. And if you like yellow, I would get a nice yellow lamp to put next to the couch (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Yellow-Ginger-Jar-Lamp-Oriental-Asian-Mid-Century-Modern-Light-Ceramic-/170838287684?pt=Antiques_Decorative_Arts&hash=item27c6c16544), or a you could get something more neutral with a fun shade like this: http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/shopsale-decorative/S23766108.jsp. Lamps instantly make any room look better and more grown-up. :)

Wow, that is a NICE place! I just got done with my fourth Boston (area) apartment hunt in four years, and I have to say, definitely jealous that you found such a great place in the North End!

I agree with folks who are suggesting that you move your couch and TV. If you switch the two and make the TV stand a bit off center, it'll be easier to walk through that space.

I'd vote for either a soft, bright yellow (nothing neon) or a grayish light blue. I'm not a fan of yellow in general, but it does brighten up rooms very easily. If you're not the type to think that a steely blueish gray makes you feel cloudy, I'd definitely go for it; it's understated and classy, but it'll give your place a personality.

Just avoid ANYTHING too dark. Our apartment for September is wonderful, but the current tenants painted the living room a very dark gray-blue and keep the blinds drawn, so it's like walking into a cave even on a bright, sunny day.

Whoa! Those kitchen cabinets are rough on the eyes. Can you paint them? If so, go with a creamy white. I LOVE the color of your sofa. It reminds me of my grandmother's shade of green. In her house, the walls were white and she punctuated with accents of a peacock blue. Blue and green, perfect together. A few other things: Swap out your TV for a flat panel, lower the picture over your sofa and think about doing a grouping, and put something in the corner by the window, like a small chair. Your coffee chest is going to get in the way of traffic. Here's one crazy idea: move your sofa perpendicular to the wall it's on now. place your TV on the back wall. Put a sofa table/desk behind your sofa. Now you won't be tripping over your coffee table on the way to the bedroom. You should have a nice corridor that doesn't interfere with your living space.

Head down to the hardware store on Salem St and pick up a nice; long piece of wood strapping (about 4 or 5 feet long). Then head over to WinMil Fabrics on Chauncey Street in Chinatown and get some nice fabric remnants in a colour/pattern you like (personally, I see chocolate brown or deep grey to give the room some width). Buy about 6 yards of it. Get another one in a co-ordinating print or colour, just a little bit less, maybe three yards.

Cut the 6 yard piece into two, wrap around the wood strapping, and secure with either staples or hot glue. Hang using a picture hanging kit (just screw the screw eyes into the strapping and then hang on picture hooks). Try it behind the sofa, almost like a colour block. Use the coordinating fabric to wrap around cushions, or as a tablecloth or perhaps a curtain. No paint, no landlord issues, and you can change it out when you get tired of it (I spent most of my young adult life living in either Back Bay or North End apartments that never allowed any paint at all).

Fernwood by benjamin moore

With those floors, I think you would really regret blue. Blues in general suck all the light out of a room. I know everyone's favourite colour is blue, but I'd stay away from it.

Your floors will reflect onto your walls. A creme will look slightly sandy or beige during certain times of the day.

I would use a Farrow and Ball colour to accent a wall. It's expensive, but you won't believe how wonderfully the colour applies and how great it works. I've worked with all different sorts of paints and believe me there is a difference.

I would choose something kind of warm and retro-like Farrow and Ball String or if the room can handle it, Hay. It's yellow, gold, green...gorgeous. I would paint the other walls a creme...like maybe Calming Creme by Benjamin Moore. And SORRY-you have to get samples. Forget some place like Home Depot. Find a decent local paint store that has samples of every one of their colours-like Guiry's. Take your samples home, put a big splotch on all four walls and watch the colours change through the day and night. See how they look at night under artificial lights-in morning, in afternoon, etc. They will change. Farrow And Ball paint samples are $8. It's a bit more expensive to do it this way, but believe me...I wish someone had told me before I did the work...all beiges are not created equal. Take your time and do your samples.

p.s. Don't paint your cabinets. It rarely works out. You have so few cabinets. If the backs are fine, go to a cabinet store that a contractor uses. They're usually in the warehouse district of a town-near the Kitchen Aid Factories and what not and then just order new doors. Make some of them glass so you don't have so much dark.

The beige that's up there is too pink. If you do beige again, do something warm.

Lord have mercy, don't do yellow it's just not a good idea (i dont care whats on the throw pillow - the "toast" comment is right on) and blue is the trickiest color on earth on which to get the hue right. Go for a bold color that's still neutral: gray. And NOT pale or silvery, warm, rich and deep like Dark granite by Behr or Down Pipe by Farrow and Ball. This type color is sophisticated makes the walls recede and everything pops off it. And, yes, DO paint test patches and live with them for a week or so, there is no substitute for doing that.

Lucky to have a landlord that flexible - we have the same color walls in our duplex (and it's beige tiled throughout as well - nice tiles, but too much of the same color) and our landlord said technically we *could* paint, but he'd have to approve the color ahead of time... and, not trying to be mean or anything, but he is a bit of a fuddy-duddy, so I'm pretty sure my paint color ideas wouldn't fly. :/

I totally agree with everyone else here about picking one of the colors from the accent pillows (if you plan to keep them) and go with that - maybe think about accent walls or some alternate color to help keep the room feeling open yet separate from the other spaces (like the kitchen area, etc). I'd love to see some "after" pics once you get done, just so a gal can dream...

Aqua

I think the living room is a little narrow for yellow but I'm afraid of a lot of colour. Blue would be tricky but you can't screw up grey...

First: super cute apartment! You'll be able to do TONS of fun stuff with that space. Personally, I'd go with a sandy beige color. Also, I'd paint the dark wood furniture in your living area white. It'll really lighten it up. Would your landlord let you wallpaper the cabinets? Maybe the inside section of the doors something light and fun? Good luck, it's adorable so far!

I think a yellow might look nice. We painted all the main areas of our condo Butter by Devine paints (at Hirschfield's) and I love this color. In certain lights it's beigey, sometimes cream, sometimes pale yellow. Always very flattering. We have the same dated kitchen cabinets... I painted them white and they look awesome that way! You can see some of the pics on my rarely updated blog: www.underwatercondo.blogspot.com.

What everyone else says: pull a color from the accent pillows.

Here's what my plan would be. Grey is the hot new neutral, and for good reason. I would paint the walls a warm grey (get a lot of test strips to see them in your space) and then let your own furniture bring in the colors you love. Show the landlord how awesome and up-to-date the new look is, and while s/he is loving you for increasing the value of their property, ask if you might be able to paint the kitchen cabinets a "fresh white that will be easy to clean." The answer will be yes, and you will have a nice, simple color base to work from. And helpful hint - get color chips for the white too to make sure it goes well with the appliances and countertops. A bad pairing of whites can make both look very dingy.

If possible, I would switch sides with the couch and the tv, as some of the others suggested.. I also like the idea of the fabric that someone submitted - fabric as artwork above the sofa. Right now, I think your artwork is hung a bit too high. I would add some books and accessories (not too many) to the tables.

I like your floors and the light coming into the apartment. If it were me, I would keep it warmed up with a sunny tone. Now I don't mean yellow - I'm talking a pale gold or a beige with gold undertones. I don't know what that shade Oak Straw looks like that someone suggested, but just the sound of the name, I'm thinking something along that line.

I wouldn't go with gray or blue. It's too hard to find just the right shade that would look good in all kinds of light - and seasons.

It's a cute apartment. I wouldn't worry about the kitchen. The landlord would probably not let you do anything to it anyway, and if so, it would be a lot of work. So I'd just brighten it up with rugs and accessories. Tie it all in with your dining area and other rooms.

Good luck. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Those floors are really beautiful!

I know a lot of paint stores have a variety of "historical" colors which have been approved for use in historical, city-owned buildings. Many of these shades are quite colorful but not terribly bright, and I find a great deal of inspiration checking out this color palette before a painting project. Also, I can picture some of the blue/green hues going really well with your current decor/color palette.

Good luck!

Go with all of PortlandRules suggestions. Congrats on being allowed to paint - happy you and envious me.