Ooh, I love, love, love picking out paint colours!
You could go with something in the sage family if you want contrast, but you have to be really careful not to choose too blue or silver a colour, because the contrast with the oranges in the fireplace brick would be far too harsh. I played around a bit with the Benjamin Moore Colour Viewer and came up a few options. Soft Fern gives you a lighter, more neutral wall, where a colour like Rosemary Sprig or Eucalyptus Leaf is less neutral, but still fairly subdued. Just type the names into the search engine to see the colours.
If you want a more neutral wall, something in the warm beige family would be perfect. Because of the tones in the fireplace, the paint needs to be in the warm beige family, and not the cool beige (heading towards grey) family. The challenge is going to be finding a paint colour the coordinates with both your furniture and the carpet. If the floor was hardwood, you could go with a beige a couple shades darker than your furniture, but with the carpet in there, you may have to experiment a bit (bring home lots of paint samples) to find a colour that matches both. Beiges are difficult to suggest without having your furniture and carpet to compare, but something like Pale Almond, Sandy Shores or Featherbed might work. Just make sure you’re staying in the warm beige family, and not heading into pale yellow (unless you love yellow, of course).
In terms of colours to avoid, I think anything in the blue family (which includes the bluer greens), or anything in the orange/red family should be off-limits.
For the record, I do not work for Benjamin Moore. They just happened to have the nifty Colour Viewer thing. Also for the record, without actually seeing your room, the light in the room, your furniture or your carpet, I can’t tell if any of the paints I suggested would actually work. I did the best I could with the two photos you posted.
Have fun, and congratulations on your new house!
