I live in a 1920s house with lots of detail--wainscotting in living room and dining room, lots of crown molding, etc. All of this had been painted many years ago and we didn't strip it when we moved into the house. Everything had been painted "coffee light" and "coffee dark." We painted all of the details white. My spouse would have liked to have painted the walls white, too. He'd always lived in a loft and that was the most comfortable for him. We ended up painting the walls colors. The living room, dining room, and breakfast room, which can all been seen as a whole, are painted three shades of increasingly deep yellow. The bedrooms and hallway are painted a Benjamin Moore color called "cement grey" and two other bedrooms are painted Benjamin Moore "clay beige." All trim in the house is white. I think it looks terrific. If everything is white none of the beautiful architectural detail shows up.

I think painting the walls white (just the walls, not the wood trim) is a fine idea! The existing color scheme makes it look like someone with a hardcore nicotine habit lived there previously. And to me, that taupe color only looks good on walls when it's set off by bright-white trim. I wouldn't worry about the ceiling being a different color than the walls and the trim. I've lived in a place with white walls and a beige ceiling; it never bothered me. On the off chance that combo does look a bit odd, it's got to be less jarring than the tobacco-stained look, right?

Beautiful place, by the way!

I've never dealt with cream ceilings, but live in a brown stone with this exact type of trim just under ceiling height. Our walls are more brightly colored, but when i did the ceiling, i painted it all down to that trim. Could you scrape a paint chip and match the paint down to the trim and then finish the walls off with white of whatever color you'd like? I think once you get an exact match on the ceiling tiles, you can lighten it a shade without looking off.

I think you're right that white-white won't work with a cream ceiling. If this were me, I'd look to almost-white icy blues and cucumbery greens for inspiration. That way, I think you could get the brightness in without clashing with the ceiling.

It looks like the former owners went with a traditional bungalow/Arts & Crafts color scheme. You might want to look through some examples of the traditional colors, then select your white (or cream or alabaster or purple) with nod, if not a bow, to the house's history.
http://www.arts-crafts.com/archive/achomes/interior-color-schemes.shtml
http://www.aspencarpetdesigns.com/Decor_2.htm

I don't think white is going to work in there as long as the ceiling is off-white. It will make the ceiling look dingy in comparison. You do have an advantage since there's a picture rail. You could match the ceiling color down to the rail and then below the rail, paint it a completely different color.

All the warmth from the moldings, floors and the existing paint color are making it look drab. A cooler color would be a nice balance. I nice gray or pale blue perhaps.

That taupe is really pukey. I've seen rentals just like this before, and always wondered what color one would do to liven it up. I think the cucumber green sounds nice. Did you buy this place? If so, I wonder if it would be possible to remove the tin tiles and get the paint off of them? Then you would have more freedom in choosing the wall color.

The simplest solution would be to paint the walls a white that matches the tiles, but is lighter. I wouldn't worry too much about the ceiling being darker.

My apartment was like this- off white/ beige-ish ceilings and even worse walls, with pine trim that has darkened over the years that you can't paint because clearly the landlord has kept it that way on purpose. I hated the way the darkened wood looked against the blah walls.
I went back and forth on colours for a year and a half and settled on River Mist by Martha and decided to live with the ceilings. It was kind of scary at first, as I thought it'd be way too dark with the wood, but it actually brightened things up a lot.
Don't be scared of colour!

Annnnnnd, just noticed that you said you're a white walls kind of person. I'd be inclined to go with Unabridged's suggestion of icy blue whites in that case.

I don't understand why you don't want to paint the tin. Latex paint is simply not going to fill in the tile details. Think about the results you get when you paint over a wall that hasn't been prepared well. The paint doesn't magically fill in the cracks, crevices and divots. It won't do that on the ceiling, either. Just paint the whole thing. Remember, thin even coats.

I agree about not painting the tiles unless you have to. Remember it's one hundred years old. You wouldn't believe how thick multiple layers of paint layered over the years will get. No the details won't disappear but you will be adding to their slow fading away. I did a freelance photo shoot for Meredith Publications (Better Homes and Gardens). They have a studio that had a one inch lip when walked in. That lip was the result of repainting the studio white multiple times.

Try painting those dark squares to see if it feels better if you just get rid of those. I can tell you won't keep them so painting them twice might be worth the experiment. Furniture, accessories, rugs,curtains- are they light or dark? You might not be so bothered by cream if your stuff is light.

Good luck, your place looks like it has great potentail!

Painting ceilings is a pain. I vote for painting the walls the same colour as the ceiling. It doesn't appear to be a very yellow cream so it should be easy enough to live with.

Alternately, you may like to reassess your all-white-walls policy - a new home deserves a new approach. Rich colours on the walls can be surprisingly neutral if there is enough detail in the architecture, and can counterintuitively make paintings and pictures appear brighter and more vivid.

Apartment Therapy -- please, please, please include more posts that highlight vintage homes with preserved wood trim. I have a 1909 Chicago greystone with trim very similar to this and every time we need to paint, we struggle to find colors to match the trim. Design/decorating sources are full of beautiful rooms with crisp, white trim, but images with natural wood trim are few and far between.

As for this question -- I like Talby and Unabridged's suggestions. Since your partner likes white walls, I would find a match for the ceiling paint (per Talby) and then get a much less saturated (whiter) version of the same shade for the expanse of wall below the picture rail.

Is the crown molding painted wood or is it tin like the ceiling?

I've had the best results when I pick paint colors that work for the space, not for my pre-existing preferences. White will likely not work, but light fresh colors probably will. You can do a pale color that harmonizes with the warm ceiling and wood and reads as an almost white. Slightly acidic tones (pale lemon yellow, yellow-green grass, warm green-blues, pale butternut orange, or warm taupey grays). Start with stuff you own and like - clothes, towels, art. See which colors seem to work well. Then get some test colors that you like, paint them onto sheets of Bristol board (buy a pad of Bristol paper at the art store), put the swatches up against the ceiling, the walls, etc. Move them around and see how they harmonize or clash with the trim and ceiling in different light, at different times of day. I've painted a lot of rooms in my day, and the more I paint, the more I realize that colors are completely dependent on light in the space. I've wasted way more time and money buying the whole gallon and painting the entire room only to realize it doesn't look right. Including white paint. It's worth it to test, especially in a tricky situation such as yours.

The darker rectangle panels could be a brighter or deeper tone, practically anything you like, so you can get your thrills from that burst of paint. The important thing is harmony and avoiding harsh contrasts. Whether lighter or darker, the base tone needs to harmonize in the sections you don't paint, and the ones you do. Good luck!

Caitlin's San Francisco House Tour, last week, has a gorgeous colour, Harbor Grey, by Benjamin Moore, that she painted the dining, living and bedrooms. A colour like this could look good under the picture rail, if you painted above the rail the same colour as the roof. It's worth taking a look at the dining room of Caitlin's tour, as the wood on the wall has a similar arrangement to in your house. Good luck
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/caitlins-stylish-san-francisco-apartment-house-tour-168619

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! It is in fact a rental so I can't do anything too drastic like remove the ceiling tiles (or paint the trim, though I wouldn't want to do either anyway). @Honeybee, I was just looking at the SF tour and was totally inspired. I'm working up the nerve for color -- I love the idea of sticking to an Arts & Crafts palette. Perhaps I can post the results in some fashion...

We live in an area with LOTS of houses with original finish woodwork and our 1929 home has original finish woodwork; when we bought it, the walls were white and cream (depending on the room) and it really sucked the life and beauty out of the wood. We have repainted with variations of sage greens and golds and the woodwork has come alive.

You may not want to do that, but as you look at colors, remember that the wood finish you have is quite warm and that cold colors may actually detract from the wood--that's been something we've seen in many houses we've been in. So if you go with whites/creams, you may want to focus on warmer tones, while avoiding yellowy/orangey whites that tend to bring out the not as nice tones in the finish. (And yes I know that I said we have used golds and they really do look spectacular with the wood, but we tired and soft organey color in a couple of rooms, and it really didn't compliment the wood).

I would paint the walls above the picture railing in an exactly matching cream with the ceiling, but then with that brown line of division created by the molding, you could get away with painting the lower portion of the walls a brighter white. Just make sure the two whites look good together - i.e. both within the warm spectrum. I think it could be very interesting to use two whites in this way - to really highlight how much color does exist within white.

I'd be concerned about trying to match the existing ceiling color above the picture railing. It's old and often matching colors doesn't go as hoped. I would paint it the same as the rest of the wall.

I had an old house like this that I painted a very, very light clean yellow. Not cream which can be muddy, but yellow, like Benjamin Moore Lighthouse or Candelit Dinner. It brings out the warm details in the wood but is neutral enough and understated to go with anything. It makes the house really sunny feeling.

I would, however, try to come close with the ceiling color for any painted molding and maybe the radiators. Remember, you need high heat paint for the radiators, not just normal enamel.

I live in a really new/contemporary house now and I miss such beautiful architectural detail. I love your place! Good Luck!

I didn't read all the responses, so if this was said, forgive me.

There are lots of "whites" out there. (Someone at work brought in a whole swatch book of JUST white paint options.) You can probably find a white that both complements the ceiling and suits you.

When I moved into a rental condo with 2 rooms that were painted with dark brown painted walls, I hated them and wanted to paint those rooms. It was a trendy brown, friends loved it, but I didn't. I didn't know how long I'd be there, and I didn't want to invest a lot in the place as a result (I would have had to not only buy the paint, but pay my landlord's prof. painter, no DIY or choice of labor allowed.) So I decided to decorate around them and found the walls make great backdrops for colorful paintings and artwork. Hold something up there, and you'll see the brown becomes like a mat in a frame, and you don't see much of it. It also looks great with colorful couches and rugs...in brick, blue, yellow, or green. I've actually come to appreciate it.

That said, if you want to paint those panels, you need some color to stand up to that woodwork...no pastels here. Look at samples for victorian or arts and crafts palettes...sherwin williams has one or both pallettes. Look at bungalow magazines for pics of paint colors you like in homes with brown woodwork. Go with olivey, mossy, medium purples, dark tans, or a yellow with a tinge of green. Yes, you need warm colors...cold colors (blues) will not look good with that woodwork.

We have a 1922 Craftsman style home with original wood trim and choose a great neutral-warm color from Benjamin Moore- "Crown Point Sand" It goes well with the rich wood patina. Our ceilings are not pure white but "20% French Canvas & ceiling White" We get lots of compliments with this color combo.