Need help on picking a wall color/wallpaper?

Personally, I think wallpaper is always wrong. This highly textured wallpaper/wall decoration is even worse to me – I can appreciate it in a period drama or a museum, but I would find it too depressing to live in. There’s a stuffiness and a pretentiousness to it that I can’t stand. Also consider that it tends to darken a room (especially once the dust starts to settle), and will inevitably clash with anything you’d like to hang on your wall (unless you plan to re-frame all your pictures). So, if you have art to hang… I wouldn’t do this.

I do like the wainscoting in the last photo – I have a fair bit of this around my home, and it offers more flexibility in terms of colour and picture-hanging options. If you get the colour wrong the first time, you can change it easily. My choice would be to go for something like this, so that you have the texture you seem to want, and choose from a palette of historical colours, which will give you the classical feel that you like.

And all that being said… these are my tastes, not yours. Be sure whatever you choose will make you happy – not just on the page, but in your home. There can be a huge difference between what looks good in a photograph and what looks good in your own home, which is full of your own furnishings.

@glacial Yes I actually agree with what you have to say—what colors would you suggest though? I also think a wallpaper might be too much unless I can find the right one.

Well, I’d consider your furnishings first – what colours are repeated there? Also, are there some hues that you’re drawn to? And what rooms are you considering, other than the bathroom? And for the bathroom, are you going to replace towels, etc., or work with what you have?

Furnishing colors (mainly): Brown. Wooden basically. I’ll try posting pictures when I can.

I’m drawn to creams/off-whites, brown, toned-down gold, I’m not sure if I can think of any more..Anything light would be nice..Except green. And orange and red. Would simple wall decorations be nice? Like the simple shapes on the corners of each wall or not?

Bathroom—trying to change everything inside it
As for the rest of the house I’m still not 100% certain, but I’m guessing all of upstairs. (Living room, guest bedrooms, etc.)

I agree with what @glacial has said.

Painted cornices could be tried. They could be taken down if you don’t like.

Paint samples In the colors you mentioned. They have tester sizes. I would recommend those. No one else can tell you what you personally like or what is right for you.

Those are some beautiful rooms. Let me look around a bit.

@Adirondackwannabe yay you like them!

@Luiveton I like classical style. Modern stuff is plain and boring.

I like the second one for lightening the room.

Three is too busy. Four is gorgeous.

@Adirondackwannabe a to the mennn. amen. Love love love classical style. It’s just so beautiful. I should have been born in the 18th century. What am I doing here? Is it socially acceptable to wear gowns all the time?

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdwwr3m9BU1rxvan9o1_500.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/f584574cff3215e5e1310aa84b6e5e4d/tumblr_mk2ky8rXgj1r7858ro1_500.jpg
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lytu7rKsbe1rof1d5o1_500.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/0addcc3c53a3f4a1d9ab79cde574afd1/tumblr_mhaccd3erb1qckcjqo1_500.jpg
http://24.media.tumblr.com/51771866f6d22b68a4bc0285266d47c5/tumblr_mjqh7iGRrQ1qki0i9o1_500.jpg
I will live in places like these even if I have to sell my soul.

@Luiveton Oh my god. Those are so so beautiful. You can have my soul for sharing that with me. Wow that touched me so much. Thank you.

@Adirondackwannabe Seriously? I have more pictures haha. Let’s go live somewhere like that together :) yay
Also I’m not sure if you like murals on museum walls or grand houses etc, but I certainly love those. If you do tell me I’ll show you some pics of those too.

@Luiveton If you want victorian simple is not really the answer.  Ok.  With that said I have not actually ever decorated a victorian home.  I am an interior decorator and I graduated with honors.  And I have decorated homes.  My advice is going to come from memory and a little bit of looking my college notes ;) 
Ok I told you this wasn’t going to be simple lol, I need to jog my memory anyway.

So for your curtains and other materials you can choose materials like velvet, toile , silk damask , printed floral chintz

So guess what?  Victorian’s loved color so to actually stay true to the victorian way you may want to actually add some.  They preffered colors in the tertiary color pallette, primary and secondary colors mixed equally.

You could probably get away with creamy but color is nice right? Maybe grey blue, dusty rose, grey, greyish lavender as your wall color?  Other colors could be deep purples like plum and reddish brown like mahogany, even as accents.
There are others but I won’t name them all.

So if you like baroque style I am going to say you lean more towards jacobethan style of the victorian era.
I hope at least some of this helps?  Talk about diving into a long and overdue lesson!  lol. Thanks for keeping me on my toes!
Where I live most people are not interested in this style.

I am not an art expert, but I think of Baroque as having more vibrant and more primary colors than what you linked. Rococo has the colors and hues you seem to lean towards unless I am not understanding what you are going for. You might google Rococo decor and see if it helps.

What exactly does the interior of your home look like? Are there distinguishing architectural details, high ceilings, specific types of windows, etc. that give you the skeleton on which to hang your design? When was your home built?

I can’t see using Baroque or Rococo designs (both elaborately ornamental) unless they fit the overarching scheme. To design one room to look like the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles would take a lot of nerve in a normal, contemporary mod.con domicile.

Can you send us some photos of your actual rooms?

^^ Agreed. If you’re going to try this, make sure that your furnishings and the architecture of your home fits these styles, or it will look quite ridiculous. There’s nothing wrong with loving a particular style and yet recognizing that it isn’t appropriate for where you live.

@JLeslie It usually has darker colors, I mentioned i’m not set on a specific style so I sort of posted a random combination of links.
@gailcalled Yup will do when i get the chance

This just popped in my activity because of the recent answer and I realized I hadn’t told the OP about the website houzz. Check it out. It’s wonderful. You can search style and colors. You might also like an old world Tuscan look maybe?

My house is old world Florida-ish. Gold and marble with some modern pieces too. I like heavy furniture. I think you like more ornate with thinner legs on pieces.