You can enjoy your own blue period
By Never teh BrideEvery now and again, my mailbox is inundated with home decor magazines. Where all of them have converged in recent months is in their liberal use of blue. It’s not just one particular sort of blue, either. There are Greenwich blues and icy blues and cornflower blues and cobalt blues. Light greenish blues seem to be dominating at this time, but there certainly seems to be plenty of room for other competing blues.
Did I mention that other than black, blue is my favorite color? There are millions upon billions of ways one can integrate a color into a home decor scheme. Sometimes it’s hard to decide what to do because there are so many options, but seeing what others have done can be all the inspiration one needs. Below you’ll find some blue interiors that will get your creative juices flowing.
The thought of painting a floor never really occurred to me until just now. As it turns out, The Beard and I have an unfinished floor in the upper story of our home and I’m sorely tempted to start laying down color!
This kitchen reminds me somewhat of the kitchen in my apartment in Berlin. You’d have to replace all of the blue with a horrid puke orange for it to really be a match…
Nix the bidet and you have my grandparents’ bathroom, minus their totally badass whirlpool tub. They’ve always have the best stuff!
Here’s that bit o’ green I mentioned earlier.
Studies have shown that blue has measurable calming effects, making it an awesome bedroom color. It promotes good zzzzzs!
January 16th, 2008 at 10:57 am
You know, that first room looks a bit like a set for “The Little Mermaid,” but I still love it. I don’t know if the undersea feeling would wear very well over time, but all that soothing blue would be great for a while. And that’s a cool sofa, too.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Really? The Little Mermaid? I was thinking more like Peewee’s Playhouse - the couch reminds me of the chair. Blue is one of my favorite colors, but I tend to not use it on the walls - I use it in the soft furnishings and upholstery - there are so many combos that work - blue and white, blue and red, blue and green, even blue and brown(if you have the right blue - the ones with green in them work best).
January 16th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I wasn’t a blue wall person myself, Toby Wollin, but there was something about the living room in my new house that screamed out for it. Yes, it was that and the fact that we had so much mismatched stuff that for some odd reason all happened to go with a nice slatey blue.
January 16th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I’m a blue wall person through and through. The best-looking apartment I ever lived in was a tiny, dark basement suite whose walls I painted midnight blue. I was only ever home after dark anyway, and with those walls, once you turned on a couple of lamps, the walls vanished. I accessorized with hot pink and metallics. Garish, but somehow it was glam too.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:45 am
That bathroom is totally psychedelic! The light bouncing off the shower and walls creates almost a “disco ball” effect (do you feel me?) *Falls into epilepsy after looking at the bathroom pic too long * j/k The slate grey/blue in the bedroom pic is a very calming application of blue though.
January 20th, 2008 at 9:37 am
NtB: My parents painted the floor in their living room, but they went with a dark blue and then sponged on dark reds (I think…I remember looking at so many tests they did on wood samples that I can’t remember!).
Colors aside, the effect is really very lovely, especially with the sponging on top of the base coat. I’d go for it, but you have to remember to coat the floor after you finish painting. I believe my parents used a car wax, which makes all the colors stand out really well and stay shiny. The floor is a bit slippery; they put an area rug down and they always wear shoes in the house, so its not a problem for them, but just FYI.