Makeover Guide: Blue Living Room Ideas

When styling a living room in blue, the question you need to ask is “how much blue?”. Do you want to go all out and have every wall (and ceiling blue)? Or would you want a white base and style the space with pops of blue? In this post I’ll go over the blue living room ideas that will help you transform your space.

How Much Blue?

So if you want to have a lot of blue in the living room, then paint all of the walls blue – just like the living room in picture (1). You could even paint the ceiling blue. Now this might seem a bit much, but there are ways to break up all of these solid blue surfaces (like using crown molding), which I will go over below.

Another option is to paint only 1 wall blue, and have all of the other walls painted a neutral color like white, cream, or light grey. This 1 blue wall will be a feature wall, and will stand out in the room.

The 3^rd option is to paint all of the walls a neutral color, and then decorate the space with pops of blue (blue couch pillows, etc.) – like the blue and white living room in picture (2). And I go over all of the ideas and design tips on how to do this below.

The Right Shade

The shade of blue that you choose to decorate your living room will depend on the kind of feeling that you want to create. A dark navy blue paint color for the walls will create a cozy, intimate feeling living room. While a light blue, like the living room wall color in picture (3), will create a more airy, spacious, and bright feeling space.

And don’t forget to try and take away any colored pieces that are in the living room. If you want to create a strong design, then you don’t want a green trash can, a yellow candle stand, or a red stool in the space.

Adding Another Color

A blue and white living room would be the easiest and most straightforward way to style the room. But you could always add in another color into the design palette. You just need to make sure that you stick to it. This means taking out pieces in the room that don’t align with the color palette you’ve chosen.

Some good color combinations include:

Blue and green
Blue and brown
Gray and blue
And light yellow and blue

Breaking Up A Blue Wall

Some people would like to have their whole walls blue. While others might feel it is a little too much. So here are some ideas on how you can break up solid blue surfaces:

Half of the wall can be covered in wainscoting, just like the living room in picture (4). Traditionally you would have white wainscoting and then a blue wall above it. But you could always have both the wainscoting and the wall the same blue color – this adds depth and style to the room (5). Or how about using two different shades of blue. A dark blue painted over the wainscoting, and a lighter blue for the walls
Neutral colored curtains can also help break up a solid blue wall
And how about hanging up some picture frames, or create a gallery wall (6) with black and white photos

How to Style a Neutral Blue Living Room

To create a tamed down blue living room, go with a neutral base color. This means having white painted walls (or light grey, cream).

Get rid of any colored pieces in the room.

And the you can style the space with a few pops of blue, and they will really stand out. These pops of blue could be:

A blue lampshade
How about repainting the media cabinet doors blue
Hang up some blue art pieces or photographs
Or just paint a large frame blue and hang up a black and white design
You can easily color a living room blue with a blue area rug
See if you can get blue storage containers
And if you have open shelving, you could paint the backs and insides of the shelves blue
Most living rooms the focal point will be the seating area. Now you don’t have to have a blue couch to style the living room blue. A neutral colored one will do. And you can add blue to it by: using blue pillow cases, or throw a blue blanket over the back of the couch

The same can be said about the coffee table. You could go with a blue coffee table. But a more toned down way of styling this area would be to have a neutral colored coffee table, with a blue tray on it to group items together.

Here are some other living room posts to get ideas from:

1/2/3/4/5/6