The photo I have isn't a main living area, but the kid's bathroom. It's an interior windowless Jack & Jill bathroom, so I like to have more of an intense color in there. We used BM Fairytale Blue. It's a very happy turquoise color. The adjacent bedroom is painted BM Hawthorne Yellow. I really like the way those 2 colors look in adjacent rooms.

Binsd, I think it's a wonderful idea! There are many different shades of turquoise (just as in the rock itself), so the trick will just be in finding what works best in your space. Lately I'm amazed at how a little swatch of paint can look so incredibly different once it's up on all walls!

My LR is green now, but my DR is a deep turquoise. I do love the color, but am thinking of painting (yet again) in the same Agave shade as the LR to unify the area a bit more. Anyway, here's a shot of BM Venezuelan Sea:

The picture auntjen posted is what I think of when I think of turquoise. Pretty, but I don't think I personally could relax in a living room that color. A softer shade of blue-green, in the robins egg blue range, could be pretty. But of course, it's your home. Some people want to be surrounded by more color than others.

I perused House of Turquoise, and it seems like most (not all) of the rooms pictured have the brighter colors as accents and if a blue-green is on the wall, it's a softer, slightly grayed shade. You might want to look at BM Quiet Moments.

Funny, Jessicaml - I never thought I'd get tired of living with vivid colors on my walls, but lately I find I crave the softer shades. The dark turquoise in my DR makes such a bold statement that sometimes it feels like it's competing with the artwork on the walls. Your point about going a bit softer on the walls and allowing accents to provide the punch is quite valid. I likely will end up repainting that room - if my painting hand ever uncramps from the claw it's become. (Still painting my kitchen - almost done!) ;-)

Here is my entry in BM Grenada Villa. I have had it up for 3 years and have nob tired of it yet. Very similar to one of the rooms in House of Turguoise.

I don't have a picture to show yet, but I just painted my living room in Sherwin Williams Rainwashed. It "reads" more green in my space. Still looking for curtains, more artwork and carpet to finish the space. So far I like the color.

The plan is to paint my adjoining dining room in Quietude. My kitchen adjoins my dining room and it is painted in Lowe's Valspar Waverly Butter (yellow).

I think you are on the right track!

I don't have time right now to upload the image but if you google Bunny Williams turquoise living room (no quotes) the House Beautiful website should come up. Bunny W did a gorgeous formal-tropical living room painted light turquoise blue.

There are a lot of different tones of turquoise or aqua that you can go with, are you looking for bold like Aunt Jens dining room or are you looking for something a little more soft?

We did our office in a bold turquoise and honeydew green. It's a bright and happy space my daughter calls the Easter room. LOL I needed something to keep me awake cause I work from home and I got it! (Blue is Rhapsody Blue by Behr). Sorry this pic is old & from when we were working on the room.

In our guest bath we used SW Tradewinds, also an aqua / turquoise type of blue but as you can see it's much softer. I think for a more public space you may want to consider a softer blue to help people feel at ease and relaxed.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.housebeautiful.com/decorating/bunny-williams-design

Thanks for all the replies! We have had a new development since I posted and that is that our neighbor is giving us their barely used olive-colored sofa. I thought that was going to throw a wrench into the works but I think all it means is that I need to go with more of a greenish-blue aqua and find a few pillows to accent.

dk4mich - would love to see pics when you're able to post some!

jerseygirl - I love that color! I just looked at it on BM's site and it looks like it has just the right amount of green.

braider, jessicaml & auntjen - I've always been all about bright colors - mostly because we gravitated that way when we owned a 1929 Spanish Colonial Revival house. However, my favorite room in the house was the living rooms wall - painted a white I can't seem to find again (we had it professionally done).

Now...I'm wanting more soothing colors - cooler as opposed to warmer. I'm a little reluctant to get too deep into painting the entire house as we're looking into putting an addition for my parents at which time their circa 1970s Scandinavian furniture (talk about timeless!) is going to be moved into our living space.

My uncle, who is an architect & did the interior of their house, has plans for the entire house. However, the time line is so all over the map and I just want to have some colors that please me. :)

doonie - I am also planning on doing our bathrooms in turquoise - more of a seagreen color. That looks like a very pretty turquoise in your bathroom.

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Jenny, forboys2 & lukkirish - sorry! Missed your posts while trying to write mine (took 3 hrs between trying to get the kids fed, watered, bathed & to sleep).

The HB photo is actually one that got me to thinking of turquoise walls but it was this photo that I found:

Would love to find a throw or pillows with those colors and go from there. Thanks for the link for the whole room.

Hello,

here is my basement in BM Wythe Blue. It is a perfect blend of blue/green. I see more green than blue in it. The space has just been finished that is why it is currently empty. I'll add that I wasn't thrilled with the way the color looked on the paint swatch. I'll also add that I wasn't thrilled with the small paint sample on our walls, however I went with it anyway, and I sure am glad that I did! We love it!

Here are a few pictures I took this afternoon. Please ignore the lamps/tables etc. This room is no where near done!

It is hard to get a good picture of the color. The last picture looks very turquoise, but it doesn't look that way in person.
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Still undecided if I'm keeping the color. May go with Sherwin Williams Tradewinds instead. Once I get the new carpet and start looking for artwork, I'll make my mind up!

mom2Sethc - I've always admired the photos I've seen of BM Wyeth blue and it looks terrific in your space. I may have to get a sample.

dk4mich - thanks for posting the pics! I have to admit that I'm liking how color photographed in the last photo. It looks like Tiffany blue! Why do you think you might change colors?

binsd - I probably won't end up changing the color.

My foyer is painted Kilim Beige (Sherwin Williams) so I thought the Rainwashed would look best with it (rather than the Tradewinds). I had a colorist from Sherwin Williams come out and she recommended the Tradewinds, but at the time I really wanted to get away from blue. My foyer used to be Silvermist by Benjamin Moore and was really a lot of blue.

I only have two windows on a South facing wall (with a covered porch) so it doesn't get a ton of light. I think once I get stuff on the walls, new carpet and curtains it will all come together nicely.

By the way, the pictures were taken without a flash, so the light coming in the windows probably made it photograph more turquoise.

Ugh.

Well, would you believe after all that, DH starts in with a strong opinion? He NEVER does that. If it were up to him, everything would be painted builder grade white.

His opinion? He likes Aunt Jen's living room; in particular, he loves the BM Agave.

ROFL only because that was very much our style when we owned a 1929 Spanish Colonial in San Diego.

I think I'm about to give in because a) he so rarely has an opinion about color and b) I really do live the BM Agave. But I also like BM Wasabi. Decisions...decisions...

I still really like the turquoise and might do something crazy...like use it in our small formal living room (really - nothing is formal around here when you have 2 pre-schoolers).

Honestly. I feel so schizo. We finally bought the house and now all I can think of is painting all these Band-aid flesh colored walls.

Thanks for all the responses...I will be taking them into the living room (instead of the family room). :)

Well...we're off to BM to get samples of....TURQUOISE!!!!

Yep. Green doesn't seem to go well with the couch which at times looks brown, khaki, olive or drab. :)

Here's our dining room in BM Waterbury Green:

Gobruno - what a lovely dining room! I love that you have a fireplace in there. That must make for very cozy meals! Do your drapes have an orange liner or sheer? I love the combination of turquoise & orange.

I went to our local BM for the first time. Ever. I'm in love with their colors!

I chose this as my free sample:

It's Blue Seafoam. I'm going to paint a canvas board & see how it looks through out the day tomorrow in the different light.

One thing that you should take notice of is that in the successful turquoise rooms, the furniture is also very strong and capable of standing up to an intense wallcolor, or near white and able to contrast with an intense wallcolor.

You may be making a shift from what I call a "contents-based" scheme to a "paint-based" scheme, where the wall color takes precedence in the design of the room. This is okay, but I think it is least successful with beige-neutrals in the upholstery and rugs (which many people have) because the furniture just doesn't hold its own any more against the wall color.

Wow Palimpsest, I almost always learn something from your posts. There are great examples of your point in the thread about non-neutrals and large rooms.

I lived for a few years in a lovely renovated 1907 house with 12 foot ceilings and 10 inch baseboards. The rooms were not 20X30, but the downstairs had a big foyer that was only separated from the front parlor by two large columns, no walls, and the front parlor and back parlor were separated by pocket doors that we never closed, so it felt very, very open.

My living room furniture never looked right in there (dining was OK), the walls were a deep, strong pink, now I understand, my sofa was a pale pink blue and cream stripe, very Williamsburgy, which made sense because we had moved it from Virginia. It did get swallowed by those pink, pink walls.

Another appreciative nod to Palimpsest for your interior design education. Thank you for sharing your insights. It really matters!

Palimpsest - you are so right - I am going from contents-based to paints-based in all our rooms right now because we just don't have the furniture for all the rooms. We basically went from a 2bd/1ba 1200sf Spanish Colonial Revival to a 3ba/2ba 2100 sf cookie-cutter ranch. Everything we've bought was geared towards our first house.

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to this:

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(not our furniture & the paint looks like Band-Aids IRL)

That's about the extent of our furniture. We've had twins (now 3) since then so we're also struggling with not having that home day care theme overtaking our living spaces. ;)

I don't really have anything in the beige-neutral category but the new "old" couch is a an olive color that just didn't work with the earth tones that it "should" go with - at least not for me. I was really surprised by how well we liked the fabric up against the turquoise tiffany blue colored box I held up to it! It's a south-west facing room so it gets sun the majority of the day through sun-set.

The housebeautiful photo I posted shows it much lighter than how it shows on the canvas I painted earlier this evening. I'll be interested to see how it looks throughout tomorrow's light.

And as anniecat & cangelmd already expressed - your insights and experience are so helpful and valuable to us! I feel very lucky to read and learn from your perspective.

I just wanted to add that one of the elements I have noticed in successful turquoise room is how much white is necessary to pull it off. When looking at inspiration pics, take notice of the application of (usually) bright white so that you can implement it into the room.

Here's the color-scheme I'm playing with right now:

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BM Blue Seafoam (family room)
Valspar mixed Behr Kansas Grain (kitchen which adjoins family room)

I'll use a bright white for the trim.

What is the print fabric for - pillows or drapes? I like it.

Just before you posted that, I was going to say if you are using an olive sofa (do you have a pic of it?), and are going with some shade of turquoise, I would find material that has dull/olive greens and blues. I am having a hard time seeing turquoise with olive, but the key will be your accessories. Pottery Barn usually has some very nice pillow covers that have a good mix of blues and green. Take a look at those.

Tuesday

I like your color scheme. I can't wait to see pics of the rooms with your new colors and your lovely furniture!

I think I'm remembering you were working on your kids' rooms?

Your house is going to look great.

Dk4Mich., LOVE that paint color, it is beautiful!

kswl...Thanks!

I found artwork for over the couch and have a couple of samples for curtains. Still need to decide between refinishing the wood floors that are under the wall to wall grey carpet or purchase new wall to wall carpet in a beige tone.

I really need to kick it in high gear to finish this room so that I can start on the dining room.

I've lived with turquoise walls in my LR and adjoining DR for a year now. My kitchen...instead of yellow (almost did that) is granny smith apple green. I love all of it as much today as I did the day it was painted and don't find myself craving softer colors. Someone posted that happy colors are not usually used for living rooms. That's the honest truth and exactly why I craved something that would make my heart sing the minute I walked in the door. I'm personally sick of neutrals and beige and have always loved color. I could be related to Toby Fairly. I don't love everything she does, but when it comes to ramping up the "happy" factor with color, she is right on target in my opinion. Color is often just what the doctor ordered. I really shoud take pictures on normal days and not just for holidays. There is one photo using orange as a pop of color and several using red for Christmas. The tree caused me to move things around and rearrange some of the furniture, but it gives you an idea of strong turquoise walls and how (at least in my opinion) it can be balanced. The color comes across as more blue in the photos but it's a true turquoise...not as dark as auntjens (I LOVE her dining room) but it is turquoise. Lastly, I change out the pops of color in the room often. Imagine the room without the red accessories for Christmas. I have white orange, lime green, hot pink and yellow pillows and slipcovers for the seats of the rattan chairs. A few pillows have some pattern, but mostly they are solid. It's a very inexpensive way to not lock yourself into a pattern on furniture. I could easily paint the walls any color, icnluding drab army green, and not have to worry about matching the sofa or chairs because they are neutral and the walls are easy to change with paint and time. It's a much cheaper way to change your home than having to start again with upholstered pieces. At least, that is my opinon and what works for me. I have quite a few turquoise inspiration rooms. I�ll try to find them and post them for you to check out.

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Turquoise inspiration. First room by Tobi Fairly. Have no idea the source for others. But they are all beautiful IMO.

Turquoise is one of my favorite colors and I have it as a color in my home in several rooms, but I'd be hesitant to paint my walls turquoise. For me, turquoise is better as an accent color. I'd go something very soft (a light blue, light grey or light green) and then use turquoise in the fabrics -- either drapes, a turquoise chair, and the accent.

I like the fabric you've picked out. What about painting the walls a soft butter yellow to pick out the color in the flowers?

Hi, all! Sorry I've been TMI to my own thread and haven't responded to your suggestions or comments.

We are in the throes of escrow-absolute-hell. We were supposed to close at 11am today but found out yesterday there's a problem with PMI and the underwriter STILL has questions!

I am trying to think positively so we went to BM again.

After living with the Blue Seafoam for a week or so on a canvas board that we've moved around the room, we've come to the realization that it's just too vibrant for us (shocking, I know!).

So we're back to the drawing board and looking at White Rain, Glass Slipper, and Opal Essence for the family room.

I am looking at caribbean azure for one wall (with windows) in the small formal living room.

I'm not feeling it right now - I think because I am so stressed out about falling out of escrow on this house (that we're living in/leasing). It is going to be a disaster if this doesn't work out.

Please keep your fingers crossed for us!

Thanks!

I love turquoise!! I also tried Seafoam for our living room and although soft it was too clear of a color and thus came off too vibrant for our space also. We ended up with BM Whispering Spring. It's pale and soft and gorgeous as a backdrop for our space. Our dining room is a brighter shade that I'll post later as I can't recall now. Our master bed and bath are BM Quiet Moments which is a very muted greyed blue green. You may want to look at the lighter version of that?