Paint colors for your home, inside and out
Blue · colors from 2 paintings
Colors that go with blue are easier to choose when a painter has already done it. Here, two blues sit beside sand, clay, green and a near-black brown, all from the same canvases.
Quick answer
Use the sand #D1C6AF on the walls, the blue #7B86A0 or #6D9AB7 as the main color, and add the green #606330 and the clay #B9917D in small amounts.
A mid-tone cool blue at LRV 24 from Pissarro's The Place du Havre, Paris. The closest match measured is Sherwin-Williams SW 6543 Soulful Blue.
From The Place du Havre, Paris, Camille Pissarro
A mid-tone cool blue at LRV 30 from Lorenzo di Credi's Portrait of a Young Woman. It is brighter than the slate.
From Portrait of a Young Woman, Lorenzo di Credi (Lorenzo d'Andrea d'Oderigo)
A very dark warm brown-black at LRV 2 from the Lorenzo di Credi portrait. No close commercial paint match was found, so use it for fabrics or fixtures.
From Portrait of a Young Woman, Lorenzo di Credi (Lorenzo d'Andrea d'Oderigo)
A deep green at LRV 12 from the same portrait. Use it on a door or a chair, where it meets blue like foliage meets sky.
From Portrait of a Young Woman, Lorenzo di Credi (Lorenzo d'Andrea d'Oderigo)
A light warm neutral at LRV 57 from Pissarro's painting. It is the suggested wall color.
From The Place du Havre, Paris, Camille Pissarro
A mid-tone clay at LRV 32 with a warm red-orange undertone, from Pissarro. It is the warm contrast to blue in rugs and wood.
From The Place du Havre, Paris, Camille Pissarro
The same paint reads differently in cool north light, warm south sun and under evening lamps. Find the column closest to your room.
| Color | Neutral daylight | North light | South light | Evening lamps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dusty slate blue | ||||
| Clear sky blue | ||||
| Warm sand | ||||
| Soft clay |
Pick which color goes on the walls, the big furniture and the bold piece. Floors, shadows and trim follow your choice.
The framed picture on the wall is The Place du Havre, Paris.
Neutrals that lean warm work best. The sand #D1C6AF at LRV 57 is the color Pissarro used beside the blue, and it makes a calm backdrop for a blue wall.
For contrast, use the clay #B9917D. It is a warm red-orange family color, which sits opposite blue. A rug, a sofa or a wood table in this tone makes the blue look cleaner.
For depth, the near-black brown #262017 works in small things like a frame, a lamp base or a chair. Keep it in small amounts, since it has an LRV of 2.
Wood is the quiet partner here. A warm wood table or floor, close to the clay #B9917D in tone, gives the blue wall a base. If the floor is gray or cold, add the sand in a large rug to warm the room.
The slate #7B86A0 is softer and grayer, at LRV 24. The sky blue #6D9AB7 is cleaner and lighter, at LRV 30. Both are mid-tone, so they suit a room that gets decent light.
If you want a calm, traditional room, choose the slate. If you want a fresher look, choose the sky blue.
Blue tends to look darker on the wall than on a chip, so go one step lighter if you are unsure. A feature wall in the slate is also a safe way to try it.
Look at the light too. A room facing north often suits the sky blue #6D9AB7, since it has enough brightness to stand up to cool light. A south room can take the slate, since the sun warms it.
Blue and green sit close on the color wheel, and in the Lorenzo di Credi portrait the deep olive #606330 appears next to the sky blue. The green is deep at LRV 12, so it works as a grounding color.
Use it in a door, an armchair, a plant pot or curtains. Do not use it on a large wall next to a deep blue, or the room will feel dark.
For trim, keep to the sand or a light tone, so the green and blue stand out as separate notes.
In practice, a little goes far. A single armchair in the deep olive, or a plant in a pot of the same tone, is enough to bring the green into the room. The deep green also pairs well with the sand wall color.
Blue is easy to misjudge. It can look purple in some lights and green in others. Paint a large sample and look at it in the morning, at noon and at night.
Place the sand beside the blue to see how they relate. Hold fabric swatches of the clay and the green next to them.
Check the samples next to your floor. Warm wood floors make blue look cooler, and gray floors can make it look flat. Try the slate and the sky blue side by side before choosing.
Take a few days. Blue sits in the background of a room, so you notice a wrong shade only after you have lived with it. Look at the board in the morning light, in lamp light, and on a gray day, before you buy the paint.
Warm sand, clay, olive green and dark brown all appear beside the blues here.
A warm sand such as #D1C6AF (LRV 57) is the suggested wall color.
Yes. The deep olive #606330 pairs with both blues here.
Warm mid-tone woods, close to the clay #B9917D, contrast well with blue.
Only a little. The brown black #262017 is best in frames, lamps or a chair.
A card with every color on this page, its LRV and the paintings it comes from. Pin it, or take it to the paint store.
Painting images: The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain (CC0). Colors measured by Light & Pigment. Paint names belong to their brands and matches are approximate. Colors look different on screen than on a wall, so always test a sample.
