Two-Tone Walls & Painted Brick Fireplace — Ringgold, GA

Older homes in Ringgold often have the kind of details worth keeping, and this living room had plenty: a chair rail wrapping every wall, a wide cased opening into the sunroom, tall double-hung windows and a brick fireplace. The existing scheme paired a pale wall color with navy below the rail and a white-painted fireplace. We reworked it into a warmer greige above and a deep, nearly black tone below, so the room feels grounded and more formal.

The fireplace brick, mantel and corbels went to the same deep charcoal, which makes it read as part of the architecture instead of a bright block on the wall. The chair rail, baseboards, crown molding and window and door casings were all brought back to crisp white. During the work we patched the walls, wrapped the sofa and furniture in plastic, and laid drop cloths at the hearth before cutting in.