I tend to favour walls painted white throughout. For some of your more decorative architrave features (say, between hallway and major living spaces), those would look striking painted a dark colour, possibly deep grey or charcoal. For the simpler architraves transitioning from hallways to bedrooms and baths, for instance, paint those white.

the photos show a mixture of different eras and one colour scheme throughout would help make the house feel more connected...pick one or two more private rooms where you love the extra colour and, paint the rest white but, then you have to decide "which white?"..my favourite is a white on white look to highlight all the textures of the ornate cornice and trims with contrast provided by the timber floors, brick fireplace and furnishings (eg Anrique White USA for walls and bright white for ceilings and trim)...look forward to seeing the outcome

I do think white throughout is more versatile to restyling as you live in the space. However, you do have some lovely bones in this house and it is always nice to keep the integrity and story of where the place has been before the present.

It may be an idea to keep some of these as 'features' where they are not too intrusive to your overall dream vision. For example, the stunning brick fireplace in the dining - this wall colour could be kept for this wall only in the room, and paint the other 3 the same white as the rest of the house. This way you can remember the essence of the house, but remove the musty and granny feel.

I would do the same with the other fireplace in the bedroom, with the green. But keep green on only the part of the wall that is raised forward.

Another idea is to keep the coloured ceilings that some of the rooms have and keep the walls white. You get the colour pop, but are not overwhelmed.

Other things to keep and re-purpose could be some of the fittings, the gold ones on the doors look lovely. Remove them as you are renovating and then try and find somewhere they could be used again (vanity, drawers, kitchen cupboards etc). Same with the light fittings! Most of them are lovely :)

Good luck

Thank you for your advice. I am surprised that the coloured walls didn't win the day! This gives me something to ponder...

Depends on what you like as a decor. We are in an old house and the previous owner had various cream yellow. With their furniture it looked ok. I redoing it to be contemporary edgy so i'm painting it all white. Why don't you start by painting all the ceiling's white which will be more modern. If you get rid of the carpet and polish the floor boards it will look nice. The colours, pending your type of furniture can work.

I have a soft spot for the Axminster carpets, and understand they are not to everyone's taste. Will you keep them?

Forgot to mention that we stripped all of the original doors back to natural timber which really worked with the white, their beautiful timber had been covered by layers of paint.

If you want to be respectful of the original pallet, why not look at getting some paint matched to the current colours and applying them as accent colours using a more modern sensibility?

EG: Blue cabinetry colour matched to the original walls in a now all-white kitchen, blue recess matched to the original walls of a now all-white hallway etc. If the colours are of similar saturation and you keep your accented areas clean and simple it could add some historically sensitive points of interest throughout

Look I think you should always be guided by your own taste rather than be concerned about what's on trend in magazines. However if you want to make it feel less nannyish, lifting the carpet to polish the (hopefully good!) floorboards and fresh paint in neutrals will work wonders! Without seeing your furniture etc I can only go on what I would do which would be to paint it all a fresh neutral white like Natural White to give yourself a blank canvas. This will highlight the beautiful detailing, at the moment it's so lost in the busy colour scheme, not to mention lots of furniture and clutter.

But if you do really like colour (and there's nothing wrong with that!) once you've lived in it for a while (with the white), why not then choose a few beautiful neutrals to add a bit of interest and drama, still with fresh white (low sheen) white trims. Some of these photos happen to be in my saves and show some example of making a statement with colour but still keeping it bothcontemporary and classic.

Sorry, above colours Dulux Ghosting,

not sure about the mid blue-grey

and below Ticking (dark cabinets),

then Timeless Grey

And some more photos of white highlighting period features (though Edwardian) and then you can always add period & modern shaped pieces and colour.

annb, I quite like the green bedroom and it's very pretty carpet which could work with simpler bedding, ie: soft beige linen and furnishing to compliment the fire place.

Removing any excess (lace curtains on small windows) will make the original features standout in a more contemporary way

Congratulations on your new home! I personally favour an all-white interior, but I think it will also depend upon what you plan on doing with the ... colourful carpets. I'm not sure how they'd all look with white walls as they'd really be attention grabbers!

I'd potentially start by painting the ceilings white - I personally, particularly don't like the darker ceilings in the bedrooms and blue hallway.

I'd also potentially consider picking two or three of your favourite colours from the house (e.g. the hallway blue and bedroom green) and using fewer colours, but consistently throughout the house (instead of every room being a different colour). You could do all living areas in colour X and all bedrooms in colour Y.

Good luck!

Siriuskey, yes that's a lovely carpet. In one of our houses, we replaced the builder's range carpeting with one of the floral Axminsters. We were mad! We loved it and it was truly beautiful (to us), but I think most people wouldn't have liked it or known what exceptional quality it was. When that house was on the market, fortunately a woman loved the carpet and she and her partner bought the house!

The house is lovely with lovely features - I would actually look at colours rather than all white - you have great features to show off - do you like colour? You can create really interesting effects with soft tints - it doesn't have to be to intense. How do you want each space to feel? Do you want drama and impact? I would consider reviewing the floor coverings though to get consistency as the others have suggested. Do you like federation patterns - maybe take this into the furnishings or wallpaper effects. Just some thoughts.

Axminster carpets were made to last, the carpet in the now green bedroom is very French Country, Shabby chic, great for a bedroom but to keep the man in the house happy plan linen on the bed, and windows, no floral, The more colourful red could be removed and used in a study or made into carpet squares.

Top priority is to keep the architectural features of the house but not so the colour scheme, I wouldn't want to live in Federation times and surroundings. cheers

Thank you for your comment :). I agree about the bedroom carpet, and thanks for the tip about linen. I have put a set of dark wood furniture on lay-by, but am now reconsidering. It is so hard to take these first few steps! I am thinking of keeping the hallway and green bedroom carpets in place, but removing the red from the formal dining area, and the burgundy from lilac bedroom (GAWD!). Thanks for your reply :)

Just take your time with the house, it's beautiful, lucky you. I think I would take the hallway carpet and use in another bedroom, polished floor boards in the passage will look perfect. The burgundy!! some photos for you to look at cheers