Blue Color Schemes:
Shades Of Blue Color For Your Home
Blue color schemes can work in almost any home. However, many blue paint colors look & feel cool, so blue-heavy palettes are best used in bright, 'warm' rooms that get plenty of sunlight - or in spaces where warm colors dominate.
Apart from this caution, though, there are only positives. Blue color schemes are almost foolproof because ...
- Blue is more versatile than most other colors. Plenty of colors that go with blue!
- Blue color palettes are reliable crowd pleasers. I've never, ever met anyone who didn't like blue.
Shades Of Blue Color:
More Interior Color Schemes With Blue
Navy blue color goes with everything. Absolutely everything. Have a look:
Navy blue + cognac + cool brown + cerise + rose
Tomato red + light cobalt blue + pale olive + navy blue
Navy blue + lilac + yellow-greens/blue-greens
↑ Navy blue has so much black in it that you can add it to most interior color combinations for value contrast (e.g. as an unobtrusive, dark blue background color to show off the brighter hues).
In a room color scheme, navy blue works as a "soft black": you can use it as an 'eyeliner' to draw attention to a gorgeous shape (for example through piping or trims), or to add importance/interest to, say, a curtain or a picture.
Other blue (paint) colors you could use for dark blue color schemes:
- Midnight blue (just add some more black to navy blue or any of the other shades of blue color in this list),
- Deep indigo, Prussian blue, dark slate blue (see below for examples)
Best wall colors that go with navy blue: Well, never mind the navy blue. Choose wall paint colors that go with the other color elements in your interior color schemes.
Best wood stains: Ditto!
Wild Iris
Aqua + dove grey + iris blue + desert sand
↑ This can be a very intriguing palette. If you have honey-colored (leather) furniture, or wooden flooring in golden hues, consider combining them with aqua, grey, and a deep (but brilliant) purplish iris blue. (The whole thing's an extended blue-orange complementary room color scheme).
Best wall colors: Pale grey, ivory, or pale gold.
Best wood stain: Golden oak.
Brick & Slate
Brick red + cotto + slate blue + bright olive green + cool pink + lighter slate
↑ What color is slate blue? It's a natural bluish-grey rock color, often with a smidgen of green in it. (The roof slates on my house come from a quarry in North Wales and are called 'Bangor Blues'.) The perfect complement for slate blue is a warm, earthy, reddish orange. You can spruce up a slate blue color scheme by adding a warm green and/or a cool pink.
Best wall colors: Cool grey, milky white, pale terracotta.
Best wood stains: Teak, limed oak.
Windy Skies
Chocolate brown + pale misty sky + white + duck-egg blue + grey + terracotta
↑ A grey-brown-and-blue color scheme for a soothing, calming space. Looks wonderful with a lot of natural white, neutral/warm greys and a few small red accents. This blue palette would be perfectly at home in a Cornish fishing village or on a Swedish island.
Best wall colors: warm grey, milky white, pale terracotta.
Best wood stains: Teak, limed oak.
True Grit
Taupe + washed denim + Venetian red + vintage leather + deep indigo
+ misty sky blue + maroon + pale indigo
↑ Blue denim meets an extended family of browns in this brown-and-blue color scheme. For a rustic 'tack room' palette like this, it's important to use several tints and shades of blue color, as well as several hues of natural brown. Reddish and orangey browns look great with shades of blue color; as the complementary of blue, orange can warm up even the dullest gathering of washed denim.
Best wall colors: pale taupe, as well as any tint/shade of indigo blue or terracotta.
Best wood stains: Antique cherry, cedar.
Greek Holiday
Royal blue + French blue + eucalyptus green + misty sky blue
+ pale mauve + deep ocean blue + mint
↑ For a room that gets loads of sunshine, this Mediterranean blue color palette would make a lovely, fresh analogous color scheme. Back it up with 'seaside' neutrals like sand, cream, white. For small accents to ocean blue color schemes, nothing beats orange (the complementary of blue):
Ocean blue color scheme + bright orange
Best wall colors: white, palest misty blue.
Best wood stain: Weathered pine.
More Color Schemes That Go With Blue:
(Click A Pic)
Finally, you may also want to check out some of this inspiration for interior color schemes:
- Color Dictionary: All the important color terms you will need to understand & create interior color schemes.
- Interior color schemes can come from nature, fashion, textiles, ethnic crafts - learn to 'read' them with the 3-primary color mixing wheel or with the 4-primary color wheel!
- Understand how you can play off warm and cool colors against each other. (Very important for blue color schemes!_
- Learn some of the best color combinations from the French (lots of blue paint colors there!) or the Tuscans.
- How to get interior color schemes right: Take care of the basics with Interior Design Colors 101 and Choosing Paint Color 101.
- Neutral Color Schemes - The
Book:
Learn about using neutral color schemes in your home. Understand what makes neutral color combinations look their best, and what happens when you inject 'real' color into neutral color schemes. It's FREE!!
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