Paint colors for your home, inside and out
Blue · Living room · colors from 3 paintings
Three cool blues work well in a living room: a soft light blue for walls, and two mid-tone blues for upholstery, curtains and rugs. Each was measured from a public-domain painting and comes with its LRV and the closest commercial paints. Below them are three companion colors for trim, wood and one bold accent.
Quick answer
Use the light blue #B7C5DE on the walls, the stone blue #84A1B0 on the sofa, and the brighter #8BADCC in pillows or curtains. Add warm brown wood and a soft white on the trim.
A light, cool blue with an LRV of 55, so it sends back a good share of light. Use it on living room walls, as in the sky of Monet's Cliff Walk at Pourville.
From Cliff Walk at Pourville, Claude Monet
A mid-tone, cool blue with an LRV of 40. It is brighter than the other two, so it suits curtains, pillows or a rug. It comes from Paul Bril's Landscape with Hunters.
From Landscape with Hunters, Paul Bril
A mid-tone, cool blue with an LRV of 34. It is deep enough for a sofa or armchair and calm enough for walls in a bright room. It comes from Cézanne's Bathers.
From Bathers, Paul Cézanne
A very light, neutral white with an LRV of 77 and no clear undertone. Use it on trim and the ceiling so the blue walls stay the focus. It comes from Monet's Cliff Walk at Pourville.
From Cliff Walk at Pourville, Claude Monet
A deep brown with a warm red-orange undertone and an LRV of 12. It stands in for wood furniture and floors beside cool blue. It comes from Bril's Landscape with Hunters.
From Landscape with Hunters, Paul Bril
A deep green with an LRV of 17, best kept for one bold piece such as an armchair or a painted cabinet. It comes from Cézanne's Bathers.
From Bathers, Paul Cézanne
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soft Sky Blue | ||||
| Clear Mid Blue | ||||
| Quiet Stone Blue | ||||
| Soft Chalk White |
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 Cliff Walk at Pourville.
Start with how much light the room gets and how bold you want the walls to feel. The lightest blue here, #B7C5DE, has an LRV of 55. It reflects a good share of light and keeps a soft, cool look, so it is the easiest wall color of the three.
The two mid-tones sit lower. #8BADCC has an LRV of 40 and reads as a clearer, brighter blue. #84A1B0 has an LRV of 34 and looks quieter. Both can work on walls if you want a color with presence, especially in a room with large windows. They also work well on a sofa, an armchair or curtains.
A simple plan: paint the walls #B7C5DE, choose #84A1B0 for the main upholstery, and bring in #8BADCC through pillows, a rug or curtains. That gives you three steps of the same cool blue, from light to mid-tone, so nothing fights.
Blue walls need a calm partner on the trim and ceiling. #E8E2DD is a very light neutral with an LRV of 77 and no clear undertone. Use it on baseboards, door frames and the ceiling. It is lighter than all three blues, so the walls stay the main color and the edges stay soft.
For brown furniture, #7A5B42 shows the wood tone to aim for. It is deep, with a warm red-orange undertone and an LRV of 12. Warm brown against cool blue is a natural contrast: the blue looks cooler and the wood looks warmer. Use it as a guide for a coffee table, bookcase or media console, and choose a floor in a similar warm tone.
For one bold piece, try #4B7E4C, a deep green with an LRV of 17. An armchair, a large plant pot or a painted cabinet is enough. Keep it to one or two items so blue stays the main color.
Paint changes with the light, so check your room at different times of day. In a north-facing room the daylight is cooler, and cool blues can feel cooler still. If that is your room, lean toward #B7C5DE or #8BADCC and add warmth with brown wood and a soft white on the trim. In a south-facing room the light is warmer, and all three blues will feel softer.
LRV tells you how much light a color sends back. At 55, #B7C5DE bounces more light than the mid-tones at 40 and 34. In a dim room it keeps things open. The mid-tones take in more light, so they feel snug, which can suit a den or a room used mostly in the evening.
Lamps matter too. Warm evening bulbs add a yellow cast that softens cool blues. Check your samples under the lamps you actually use.
Test before you buy gallons. The paint matches on this page are the closest commercial colors measured from each painting, so a sample is the only way to see the real color in your room.
Paint a sample board about two feet square, with two coats. Move it around the room. Tape it to the wall you plan to paint, then to a second wall that gets different light. Hold it next to your trim color, your floor and your sofa fabric.
Look at it in the morning, at midday and in the evening with the lamps on. Give it a day or two before you decide. If you are torn between #8BADCC and #84A1B0, put both boards side by side. The 6-point LRV difference is easy to see together and hard to judge alone.
For walls, start with the light blue #B7C5DE (LRV 55). For a deeper look, try the mid-tone #84A1B0 (LRV 34) or #8BADCC (LRV 40). Choose by how much daylight the room gets.
All three blues here pair with warm brown wood. The deep brown #7A5B42 has a red-orange undertone, which sets off cool blue. A soft white such as #E8E2DD on the trim ties the two together.
Not if you pick a light one. #B7C5DE has an LRV of 55 and sends back a good share of light. The mid-tones at LRV 40 and 34 are better kept for a sofa, curtains or one accent wall.
A soft, neutral white works well. #E8E2DD has an LRV of 77 and no clear undertone. The closest matches measured are Sherwin-Williams SW 7077 Original White, Behr N190-1 Smokey Cream and Farrow & Ball No. 2001 Strong White.
The closest matches measured for #B7C5DE are Sherwin-Williams SW 9066 Agapanthus and Valspar 4002-5B Lilac Macchiato. For #84A1B0, they are Sherwin-Williams SW 9070 Baby Blue Eyes and Behr BXC-88 Cool December. For #8BADCC, they are Sherwin-Williams SW 6528 Cosmos and Behr PPU15-12 Bluebird. Always test a sample.
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.
