Choosing Paint Colors

A few years ago, I never would've dreamed of painting walls burnt orange, lime green, or bright blue. Now, that's all I can think of. Yet, I find myself with a dilemma. Here we are with our beautiful new (old) house. It's a Victorian - built as a summer cottage; not a heavy, formal type of Victorian. I love the taupe walls with burgandy paper that goes through all three floors.

And that's the problem. Here's the 3rd floor hallway.

The colors are off of course - the front part of the hallway looks as if it's a different paint color than the area closer to the stairs. Trust me - they're the same. The "problem" is that there isn't a door on the office, just an opening. So you can see the office from the hallway and the hallway from the office. That means that I'm having real problems figuring out how to paint the walls in shades of orange or lime green.

Here's the view peeking into the office from the hallway (top of stairs at the left).

And here's the view peeking from the office out into the hallway.

I could just go with a yellow-y white and then hang lots of brightly-colored stuff (quilts!) on the walls, but that just sounds like the "safe" thing to do. It's my office - I spend a *lot* of time here, and I'd like it to be bright and cheery and conducive to creativity.

I'm open to just about any and all suggestions, except a) change the hallway color scheme/paper, or b) put a door on the office.

HELP!