Well, you didn’t ask it quite that way…here’s how it went down:
Q: Could you help me with deciding on a color to paint a daylight basement. The sofa is a red wine color and floor and wood pieces a med oak. The husband wants dark for theater side but wife wants earth tones that will help brighten the basement….What about one accent wall? but which one?
A: I was working up to bossy’s colors #3 when this perfect question fell out of the virtual sky. As fate would have it, I do have a favorite color for basements. It’s Benjamin Moore‘s 2153-70 (or OC-91) Ivory Tusk:
Doesn’t look like much, does it? But it’s a lovely soft ivory color – not light yellow, but a sophisticated, warm off-white with some presence. I generally like this color for basements because they’re notoriously dingy, but it would be a terrific choice even for your bright walk-out.
Paint the ceiling and trim the same Ivory Tusk or a lighter white, such as OC-17 White Dove. (Columns should be the wall color.) Here’s a basement where we sprayed Ivory Tusk on anything that would hold still. The color looks washed out in this picture, but in real life, having the walls, ceiling, and closet doors a uniform warm color is appropriately unfussy:
Now, as for the husband/wife difference of opinion about light and bright versus dark and theater-y: this is a job for the accent wall. I don’t make that recommendation willy-nilly (please see a previous post on the subject), but I do think an accent wall could be effective in this case.
Based on the pictures you sent – and thanks for those, by the way – the big solid wall across from the windows would be a great place for a single, earthier color. Don’t go too 
dark or constrasty, though; think cafe au lait rather than espresso. Benjamin Moore colors to consider as long as you’re picking up the Ivory Tusk are:
– 2165-50 Pearl Harbor (golden)
– HC-48 Bradstreet Beige (a warm taupe, which could look great with your sofa), or
– HC-80 Bleeker Beige (greenish taupe).
Also, even though you’re installing new recessed lighting down here, placing several floor and table lamps in the sofa area will enable your husband to make the “theater” space feel cozy by controlling the light. Also consider putting a plushy area rug in a rich color in front of the sofa, whether on top of wood flooring or wall-to-wall carpeting.
