How to Combine Blue and Gray in Your Living Room

December 15,2017 Jim McLeod 0comments

Let these 10 versions of the versatile color combination inspire you

Your living room is the place in the house where you want to feel calm — but not catatonic. To that end, the elegant color combination of gray and blue couldn’t be more perfect. Whether you go for indigo and charcoal or mix in bare wood or glossy white, there are ways to present this palette so it works for every style and state of mind.

Studio Morton

1. Add light and white. If you want a bright, fresh look to your living space, a reflective white background is a lovely foil for a blend of blues and grays. Add wooden features and a dash of brass and you’ll create a subtle nautical feel.

In this kitchen-living area, the soft gray of the sofa and gentle blues in the rug and pillows help take the edge off the shiny white cabinetry. They also provide a layered backdrop for the brighter blue accents, which, on their own with the white, could create a rather cold effect, as could using one of the other primary colors or adding more hard, glossy surfaces.

If you don’t have kitchen cabinets like this, consider a few living room storage units or a TV console in glossy white; if a less contemporary look is your thing, try painting some vintage wood furniture white. A glass-front cabinet would be ideal, as it provides reflection without the need for a glossy paint. Add an antique mirror or two to boost the effect.

John Lewis

2. Take note of tones. If you love inky-blue walls like these and are pondering which sofa color would go with them, notice how well this mid-gray number works.

One of the many rules about pairing color is that if you pick two hues of a comparable depth of tone, you’ll be on the right track. Here, however, a super dark sofa would get lost. To connect the two tones, the designer has chosen a sofa fabric with streaks of very dark gray on a mid-grey background. Smart move.

For a cozy effect, think lots of different textures. This streaky sofa adds to the feeling by not being a completely flat color.

When sofa shopping, take paint swatches with you to hold up next to potential purchases. Better yet, paint larger sheets of paper using sample pots so you can stand back and get a good look.

11 Reasons to Love a Gray Sofa

LEIVARS

3. Start with art. Artwork is often a good starting point for a room’s color scheme. Here, the blue-gray painting really sets the mood for this snug, seaside living room.

Designer Rebecca Leivars wanted to give a subtle nod to the cottage’s location, focusing on stormy grays and blues. “I wanted an emphasis on lazy, rainy days — sitting there with a hot chocolate or a nice glass of wine in hand while the wind’s howling outside,” she says.

The palette builds out from the painting, but not too literally: Blue is central to the artwork, but it’s picked up in only one pillow. Instead, what dominates are the neutrals — a soothing wash of pale biscuity walls and several shades of gray. The spikes of golden yellows add warmth, but so, perhaps surprisingly, does the blue. Certain blues’ warming powers are one of the reasons they can be such a good partner for cool grays.

John Lewis

4. Go au naturel. With a view as leafy as this, it would be hard to resist adding in lots of bare wood accents. A pale wood like the oak that features here perfectly complements the dark walls and fairly dark sofa, adding a pleasing lightness to the combination.

Speaking of which, part of the reason the navy walls and gray sofa don’t visually cancel each other out is that each has a distinct texture. Try this yourself if you’re pairing colors that risk running into each other. Here it’s wood paneling and a flecked fabric, but you could pair wool with stone or a matte, one-color patterned wallpaper with glossy, foil-wrapped furniture.

John Lewis

5. Channel the New England look. Another light and bright way to use tones of blue and gray is to tap into classic East Coast beach style. But rather than going down the super crisp and pretty route often seen with this look, forgo the typical red accents and let gray and sky blue be the bridges between navy and white.

The gray curtains here are particularly effective. Note how they’re hung. If you’re tempted to go for a modern grommet style instead, bear in mind that this would introduce a potentially chilly, solitary chrome feature and a drape that isn’t as soft.

Roger Oates Design

6. Add warmth. Deep grays have a coziness about them, and a small room or light-starved space can often be given a new lease on life by using charcoal shades to emphasize the snugness.

Certain grays (those with more blue in them) can be on the cool side. (The more yellow in the mix, the warmer a gray will be.) So a rug like this one, featuring stripes of blue, pink and red, adds a large-scale shot of heat. Now it’s just about lighting that fire.

CWB Architects

7. Pick a pattern. If you have a lively feature you love but don’t want it to dominate your design, a cool mid-gray for the wall color is a good choice.

Here, two highly patterned and vibrantly colored chairs in shades of teal and turquoise look classy. To see how much this has to do with those walls, try picturing the chairs against a bright white background or a yellow one — they’d be much more in your face.

Penman Interiors

8. Crush on velvet. Because of the way it catches the light, velvet can really highlight the richness in certain blues, especially the almost regal hue seen here. Blue velvet sofas are a growing trend (hot on the heels of, you guessed it, gray sofas), and if you’re considering one in this type of luxurious hue, be prepared to let your walls complement rather than compete with such statement furniture. Here, the delicate gray of the walls and footstool ensure the effect is stylish, not overdone.

The balance between opulent and elegant in this room is delicate and just right. There’s also something lovely about how the velvet emphasizes the matte paintwork and footstool and vice versa, with those details boosting the glow and glamour of the sofas. So if you’re drawn toward a sparkly wallpaper or glimmering silk curtains, a competing velvet sofa may not be for you unless you’re a confident maximalist.

Town House Interiors

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9. Look to nature. When picking the perfect grays and blues to pair, you might find the answer in the great outdoors. In this room, cerulean blue — essentially the color of the sky on a beautiful summer’s day — and pebble gray are perfectly complementary.

The pairing does conjure up a bit of a seaside feel, but to keep that subtle, these homeowners have steered the design away from the informality of coastal style and gone for woods with a polished rather than a sun-bleached look. Symmetry can also be a shortcut to a more formal style — note here the lamps, pillow arrangements and matching armchairs.

Your turn: Do blue and gray feature in your living room decor?Post your photos in the Comments.