How do I choose a paint color that will compliment light cocoa walls?

If I were in your shoes, I'd pick one of the colors you like the best out of your furniture and go with the very lightest version of that color. Use the cocoa/dark brown/plum colors as accent pieces (like pillows or knicknacks).

Go to paint store and get color paint cards in colors that you like and a few out of the box ones. Tape them on the walls then look at them at different times of day and in different kinds of weather. Colors will change with lighting. Darker colors will make a hall really dark. After you pick a few colors possibilities, get sample pints and paint them on the walls and do the same thing you did with the cards until you choose the one you want.

Dining Rooms alike Kitchens should be of a Color you find in your Spice Rack. Already having Cocoa Brown Dominant limits you to a Decreased color Palette involving intensity of that Dominance

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Dark Cocoa Brown=Antique Gray+Red+Yellow+Blue2

Cocoa Brown=Light Antique Gray+Red+Yellow+Blue2

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Which mix in:

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Antique Gray=Black + Antique White or Vanilla

Light Antique Gray=Gray + Antique White or Vanilla

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So, I agree very limitedly with other respondents that say: 'you should get Color Cards and May tend to desire a Darker Hue':

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A. You have Options, aplenty, but not the beyond 16 Million that you get with white, gray or black.

B. The Human Mind percieves a Color Matching and to a great degree, the reason why Matching even Occurs is: A Color Match uses at least two Elements of the Dominant Color, and the Mind percieves that as a Match.

C. Darker hues are only for Saving Monies, because Buckets with Saran Wrap are Cheap at a Place Like Dollar Tree for a $1, so, the actual Darkness of that Color when you apply it, is Best To Modify by yourself at home, mixing in that Dark Custom Color into a Lesser Cost White, Antique White, Antique Gray (see above) or Light Antique Gray.

D. Mismatch or Clash will exchange Blue1 where should have instead been Blue2 alike

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Hazy Aquamarine=(Yellow+Blue2)+Blue1+Hints of Gray

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Differs much from the More Green Dominant

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Antique Mint Julep=Antique Gray + Blue2

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E. What May go well limitedly with Tan or Beige due to Yellow+Gray in those Elements looking like Sand on a Beach, without an Introduced Sand Element those colors against a Cocoa Brown much less matches than

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Antique Beige=Gray+Light Pink+Antique White (or Vanilla)

Antique Cinammon=Antique Gray+Red+Vanilla

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Or just plain: White or Vanilla.

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So basically when you select those color cards, you look at the Lighter Colored Colors for How it Will look after mixing it into White to Stretch that pigment Far, but you purchase the Much Darker Version with 3 Gallons of White.

Try finding your cocoa paint color on a paint website, for example Sherwin Williams. Once you find a color very similar to yours, see what other colors the website pairs with it. This can help you decide what you do and don't like. Also what will and won't work as a color combo.