Paint colors for your home, inside and out
Light blue · colors from 5 paintings
A sky blue room works best when the blue is soft and the partners are earthy. The painters here put light blues next to olive, gold, dusty rose and moss green, and those pairings give you a ready scheme.
Quick answer
Paint the walls #BACBCB, an LRV 58 light blue, and bring in #8E7B35 gold and #725152 rose in furniture and textiles. Keep #403C2D for small dark details.
A light, cool blue with an LRV of 58, good for bedroom or living room walls. It comes from Springtime by Théodore Rousseau.
From Springtime, Théodore Rousseau
At LRV 51 this is slightly deeper and more lavender than the first blue. It suits a ceiling or a second room; it comes from General Garibaldi's Residence at Caprera by Frederick Richard Lee.
From General Garibaldi's Residence at Caprera, Frederick Richard Lee
A mid-tone blue at LRV 40 that reads as true sky. Use it on a feature wall or curtains; it comes from Landscape with Hunters by Paul Bril.
From Landscape with Hunters, Paul Bril
A cool, slightly greener blue at LRV 44, good for a bathroom or a sunny room. It was measured from New England Headlands by Childe Hassam.
From New England Headlands, Childe Hassam
A mid-tone blue with a gray-green feel at LRV 41. It works on cabinets or a bedroom wall; it comes from Madame Cézanne in a Red Dress by Paul Cézanne.
From Madame Cézanne (Hortense Fiquet, 1850–1922) in a Red Dress, Paul Cézanne
A very dark olive at LRV 5 for door frames, picture frames or a small table. It sits next to the sky blue in Landscape with Hunters by Paul Bril.
From Landscape with Hunters, Paul Bril
A deep olive at LRV 10, best as a bold piece such as an armchair or a rug. It shares a canvas with the blues in Frederick Richard Lee's Caprera painting.
From General Garibaldi's Residence at Caprera, Frederick Richard Lee
A mid-tone gold at LRV 20 that warms a cool blue room. Use it in wood, brass or textiles; it comes from the same Caprera painting.
From General Garibaldi's Residence at Caprera, Frederick Richard Lee
A deep rose-brown at LRV 10 that adds warmth without pink. It appears beside the blue-green in Cézanne's Madame Cézanne in a Red Dress.
From Madame Cézanne (Hortense Fiquet, 1850–1922) in a Red Dress, Paul Cézanne
A mid-tone green at LRV 21 that links blue walls to plants and wood. It comes from Landscape with Hunters by Paul Bril.
From Landscape with Hunters, Paul Bril
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pale Sky Gray | ||||
| Soft Dove Blue | ||||
| Clear Sky Blue | ||||
| Bright Harbor Blue | ||||
| Misty Aqua Gray |
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 Springtime.
Start with the lightest blue, #BACBCB. Its LRV of 58 reflects enough light that the room feels calm instead of cold, and its cool undertone looks like a hazy sky.
If you want more color, #87B8C9 and #8BADCC sit around LRV 40 to 44. They look clear in daylight but can feel strong on all four walls, so many people use them on one wall or in a small room such as a bathroom.
The gray-green #92B1AF is the quietest of the five. It works well where you want a blue that behaves almost like a neutral.
Pick one blue for the main walls and use a second one only in textiles or cabinets. Too many blues in one room can feel scattered.
The painters give a clear answer: earthy warm colors. The olive #635A2F, the gold #8E7B35 and the rose-brown #725152 all share canvases with the blues, so the pairing already exists in the paintings.
For a bedroom, try #BACBCB walls with a #8E7B35 gold throw and a #725152 rug. For a living room, a #635A2F armchair against #B4BFCE walls reads rich but calm.
Use the green #768266 to connect the blue to wood floors and plants. Keep the very dark #403C2D to small things such as frames, lamp bases and window hardware.
For trim and ceiling, a warm white keeps the blue from feeling icy. Pure bright white can make a pale blue look gray beside it.
Blue changes more with light than most colors. In north light, a cool blue such as #BACBCB can turn gray and flat, so choose the warmer-leaning #92B1AF or add gold accents to balance it.
In south light, the same blue looks fresher and lighter. A mid-tone like #8BADCC holds up well because strong light does not wash it out.
Under warm evening bulbs, blue loses some of its brightness and moves toward gray. That is why the gold #8E7B35 and rose #725152 matter: they stay warm after dark and keep the room welcoming.
If your room has little daylight, pick a blue with an LRV above 50, like #BACBCB or #B4BFCE, so it does not look heavy.
Buy sample pots or use large peel-and-stick samples. Paint or place them on at least two walls, because the same blue looks different next to a window than in a corner.
Check the samples in the morning, at midday and in the evening with your lamps on. Look at them next to your floor, your sofa and your curtains, not on their own.
The closest paint matches in the data are near-identical for the lightest blues, such as Sherwin-Williams SW 6225 Sleepy Blue for #BACBCB and Behr MQ3-54 Dayflower. Use them as starting points, not promises, and compare chips against your sample.
Live with the sample for two or three days before you decide. Blue often looks different once the novelty fades.
Try #BACBCB on the walls with #8E7B35 gold in bedding and #725152 rose-brown in a rug. The cool blue stays calm and the warm colors keep the room cozy.
Warm earthy colors work best, such as olive, gold, rose-brown and moss green. These all appear next to the light blues in the paintings.
A soft warm white usually looks better than a bright white. It keeps a pale blue from looking gray.
It can be in north light. Choose a blue with some gray-green, like #92B1AF, and add gold or wood tones to warm it.
#8BADCC has the lowest LRV of the five blues, at 40. It works on one wall or in a small room.
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.
