Basement concrete wall painting/interior design-esque question (floor, paint, ceiling)

[U2Edge]

First post here...so be gentle.

We bought a house with an unfinished basement in the summer of 2008. We're getting around to putting some finishing touches on it. Everything but the bathroom has drywall up, all of the outlets are wired and whatever has drywall up has been primed and most of it has been painted (ceiling and carpet yet to come when everything else is done).

To my question...

Some of the areas in the basement have concrete walls (some floor-to-ceiling while others are "half" walls). I've uploaded some images for illustration purposes.

The hallways are primarily drywall and we put bead board on the bottom half and chair rail to "edge" the top of it. We primed it with "new drywall" primer and painted the primed drywall "Wickerware" (a Behr shade of yellow). There is a concrete corner where the concrete runs from the floor to the ceiling as seen here.

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/1045/1085297.jpg

How would you paint it? All the same color (in this case, Wickerware)? As an accent wall (i.e. a complimenting color such as grey -- we found one we liked called "Lion")? And when you paint it, would you use any kind of texture first (i.e. a Behr textured paint) to try to hide any of the concrete pores (to eliminate the "basement feel")? Would you bead board it at all? If so, to the same height as the rest of the hallway? Or would you put bead board from floor to ceiling (even though supposedly you can only get it in 8-foot tall sheets)? My wife wants it so it doesn't "feel" like a basement...but part of me thinks that the more you try to "hide" it, the more you have people wondering what we're trying to hide. Then again, I personally think if you have painted the drywall a flat (non-textured) yellow and the concrete a textured yellow, it will feel "weird" since they are the same color but a different texture.

Also, there is a "bedroom" that has a similar situation -- but instead of being floor-to-ceiling concrete, it's only about halfway up the wall and is shaped like an "L" on its side (i.e. the concrete runs higher up the wall at one point along the wall than at another). It sticks out about two inches from where the drywall is (we didn't build the wall out, nor do we want to if we can help it). Same question applies here...would you do the drywall one color and accent color and/or with texture for the concrete? Or just bead board over it and then put a chair rail/edging on the top that would cover the two inch ledge? Thanks for any and all feedback.

Images below. (NOTE: The vertical area behind the ladder is a drywalled "boxed out" area covering some pipes and not concrete. In the last image, you'll see how it really "falls off" in the corner and only goes a few feet along the windowed wall).

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/1075/1085299.jpg
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4308/1085300.jpg
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/3721/1085301.jpg

[Hopes]

Here's the deal. My vote was based on the first picture---where you can beadboard halfway and texture the same color. I chose that option because it's very close to the door, which doesn't allow you to frame in drywall.

The rest of the room needs to be drywalled (with the type that's appropriate for basements). You can use metal studs for your framework. It will screw right into the concrete. The framing will allow for you to insultate the basement with insulation that's proper for basements. You lose energy leaving all of the concrete exposed without insulation between the foundation and finished drywall.

[U2Edge]

Hopes, thanks for your vote/feedback.

If it helps/matters any, we live in the Atlanta area so the "foundation" and the concrete against it stays pretty constant temperature-wise all year round. So insulating would only provide minimal gain. And as you pointed out, there's not a whole lot of room by the door (it is the one that closes off the area underneath the stairs, BTW) to hang drywall, let alone put insulation behind it.

Doing so in the "bedroom" would be an option, though.