I am trying to find the right blue for a large bedroom, 10 foot ceilings. Lots of bright sunlight, mahogany furniture and an oriental rug in blues, greens and browns.

Tried a tourquoise...beautiful color, but it is too bright/modern, and goes industrial green at night in anything but pure white light.

I want something that reflects the beautiful Hawaii beach outside, but that feels warm and elegant in any light. Any ideas on how to correct what I have or choose the right blue. It seems everything comes off "baby" blue, green or gray. Help?

 

you probably need to be looking at the more muted colors. with more gray to them. that'll tone down the color and they'll seem more subtle and soft.

also, you should be pulling a color out of the colors in that rug.

 

I did pull it out of the rug...but it did not come off nearly muted enough, more like swimming pool blue! In retrospect, trying to find the warmer of the blues backfired. Will look at pulling a greyer tone, or maybe even one of the earthtones from the rug.

Yeah, now I get to re-paint a giant room ...good thing I like to paint.

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

Well your number one problem is how you are looking at color. all color is, is pigment, or reflection of light. Colors will look different at different times of day, when you add or subtract lighting, when you add other colored items to the room. The key is too take a whole bunch of blue paint chips and tape them to the wall, Look at them in the morning, star the ones you like, do the same in the afternoon, evening, under the artifical lighting and for a few days. When you find one you like under every light, that is the one you use. Know that it will look different at different times. When I think of calming beach blue, i think of a light slate blue, but everyone has different visions of color. Good luck!