Feeling blue? Us, too. At J.T. McDermott, we love bold colors and exciting, unique interior design. It’s long been believed that different colors can evoke certain moods, thoughts, and emotions, and blue, in particular, is an incredibly powerful color.
Blue is found in nature—think the Pale Blue Dot, or the ‘ocean blue,’ ‘sky blue’—flowers, butterflies, and even bioluminescent animals. There’s something magnetic about the color blue: it is simultaneously energizing and soothing. It can make us feel sad, serious, peaceful, awe-inspired, energized, or even enlightened.
Let’s Get Blue!
So let’s try some blue-sky thinking: together, we’ll envision the potential of using the color blue in your home.
Navy
The darkest of the blue tones, navy can be considered quite a ‘serious’ shade. While navy can be a little more subtle and mature than other blue tones, it’s far from boring! Despite what people say, it is possible to use dark colors in small rooms – but just make sure you keep it balanced with lighter-toned accessories and plenty of illumination.
Because navy blue takes its name from—you guessed it—the Royal Navy, this color has long been associated with all things nautical. While white pairs gorgeously with this saturated hue, a palette dominated by white and navy can evoke images of sailors and shiplap. If that’s your style, awesome! But if you’d rather forgo nautical inspiration, try pairing navy with charcoals, grays, creams, tans, and ochre hues. If you’re feeling adventurous, why not try colors like burnt orange, maroon, or even dusty rose?
Teal
Teal is the perfect balance of light and dark. It’s bold without being ostentatious, both welcoming and soothing simultaneously. It’s kind of hard to beat teal for sheer versatility and flair.
Teal contrasts magnificently with warm hues like cream, mustard yellow, metallic gold, cinnamon brown, tan, and burnt orange. However, if you prefer a sleeker, more contemporary look, it’s easy to modernize teal with cool-toned colors like charcoal, silver, black, white, and dove gray. Or, for an eclectic look, you can mix and match warm and cool tones. Teal makes a great all-over backdrop or even a beautiful accent. It can look chic and playful, or elegant or mature – it’s all up to how you dress it!
Turquoise
Turquoise is just such a joyous color. What comes to mind when you think of it? For us, it’s sparkling coastal water and the semi-precious gemstone. This bright blue-green shade is not for the faint of heart, but if you love the look of turquoise, here’s how you can incorporate it into your living room.
Because turquoise is such a bold color, it must be applied judiciously to come off as tasteful and mature. Personally, we think that turquoise is best used as an accent color: walls with this all-over color can be loud and visually overwhelming. Instead, consider using it on a focal wall or another design element that you want to highlight. Turquoise looks good with white, black, grey, silver, gold, dark wood tones, and other subdued, black-tinted shades. Unfortunately, the trio of turquoise, black, and white can end up looking a bit juvenile. To combat the color-block effect and tone down the turquoise, we recommend adding hints of other shades for aesthetic variety.
Baby Blue
There’s no denying that pastels are making a splash this year – and with good reason. After a challenging year, people are looking for a bit of peace and playfulness in their homes, and baby blue brings that in spades. In addition, this blue shade is mixed with plenty of white, adding a sense of Zen and neutrality. By lightening and brightening the color palette, baby blue brings a sense of serenity, joy, and innocence to your space.
But despite the name, baby blue isn’t just for babies. In fact, this shade can actually be quite mature when mixed with more subdued shades like cream, beige, grey, and tan. Minimal black accents can look nice with this shade, but too much can come off as stark and heavy-handed, so it’s best to stick with lighter shades here. Likewise, too many bold accent colors can be a bit overwhelming with this gentle hue. Don’t be afraid to play around with other colors like purples, reds, browns, and golds, but make sure it balances out with the baby blue walls, or else it can look off-kilter.
Don’t be afraid of bold colors! Blue can be an incredible addition to your home—whether dark or light, subtle or punchy, mod or mature. So if you’re feeling blue, let the design gurus at J.T. McDermott help you make it a reality in your home. Connect with us today.
