I think painting the walls lighter and brighter is the right move but don't be restricted to white necessarily - although that would be the safe option and you know for sure it would work! You could introduce a contrasting colour on the ceiling if the walls were white obviously dependent on your furnishings and other colour choices. How about a soft grey or "greige" as an alternative to the white? Finally, you could introduce a dado rail at approx 1m from the floor - painted white the same as cornice and ceiling and then paint the upper and lower sections in contrasting colours of say charcoal on the base and white above or 2 shades of the same colour.

Hi Maria, we love the wood but it is a little overwhelming in that space with the timber floor. A liming white is a great idea as mentioned by a few people here. This will let you have the best of both worlds, a lighter, brighter finish while still allowing the wood grain to show through. You could try Feast Watson Liming White Floor Finish (yes, it's not a floor but it has the size of a floor!) and build up the number of coats until you are happy with the amount of timber grain showing through. You'll probably need to give it a light sand first as it's most likely already got some type of coating on it. The other option would be to leave the walls as is and consider a large, light neutral coloured rug as pompom suggested on the timber floor and perhaps a good sized piece of art on the wall or white wall shelving instead of the dark side unit you have to reduce the amount of timber in the room.

Yes, Antique White USA is a bit dated, and it used to be the go-to colour for anybody painting a rental property. Tired, cliched and your painter has probably done a hundred homes with Antique White USA. Don't listen to your tradesmen when making your selections. I would be looking at an off-white with a slight green undertone to soften the terracotta and provide more balance. Keep the green undertone subtle and understated. Get paint samples of the following Dulux neutrals to see how they work against your terracotta tiles : hog bristle, hog bristle half, buff it, buff it half. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

Really hard to tell. I like the lightest one but I'm not very adventurous. You may need to choose one and paint a larger area and see what you think.