People will get sick of me posting about these colours....

I live in Vancouver, BC, another Wet Coast native! So I know the kind of light you're dealing with. I use a lot of smoky grays, greens and blues and find these colours really go with nature's pallette here. I know some people like a contrast to the gloomy days, but I found I really got sick of the yellows, beiges, etc. I like feeling as if my interior surroundings extend to the outdoors and I don't get that feeling if there is a jarring colour change between my walls and the exterior when I look out the windows. Does that sound weird?

Anyway, we have BM Silver Satin in our master bedroom. In our living room, we used Titanium which is a light greenish-toned gray. In our dining room, we used Smoky Green (LOVE this colour). My son's bedroom is Wedgewood Gray (this is the darkest of the lot). Our kitchen is Green Tint (all BM colours). To blend everything, we use Natural Cream (a "cool" cream)in the hallways etc and it looks great.

We had our condo painted with these colours also for two years before we moved into our current house. Two years here now as well. Still haven't gotten tired of these colours, which is a real change (and a blessing my DH would say! - we've repainted SO many rooms over the years).

BM has a great selection of colours that suit the PNW. I think choosing ones with a slight grayish/smoky undertone keeps them from being too cutesy or pastel.

Congratulations on your excellent taste! I have two different shades of light blue. In the kitchen/FR, I have Glidden Idyllic Blue, which is a light grayish blue with a slight hint of purple chosen to match my exotic blue granite (I went through 9 different shades trying to find one that wasn't too purple), with natural maple cabinets and "amaretto" stained maple floors. In most of the rest of the house I have Dunn Edwards Sidewalk Chalk, which is about halfway between the trendy "spa" blue and straightforward light blue, with a little green and a lot of gray, with natural maple floors. The DE color was picked based on a faded light denim sofa. I'm hesitant to suggest paint names on this forum because everyone I know uses DE but I know it's a Cal local thing.

kailleanm, I went to Ace yesterday to try to find BM "Smoky Green", after not being able to find it on BM's site, in their virtual fan deck, and the guy at Ace couldn't find it by color name, or color number (Googling found me a color number of CC-700). Has it been "discontinued"? Any ideas for me...I really want to see this tint!
TIA,
Carrie

I think EK Gustavian Gray is a great pale blue/gray/slightly green neutral. Not at all pastel. I am about to have every ceiling in my house painted with Gustavian Gray, that's how neutral it is!

What makes you call blue 'neutral', Cathy? Or are you thinking of it in a different way, like the main color?

A neutral is a color that blends with other colors~I don't see that with the blue. Just wondering....

Thanks everyone! I will use a pale blue gray,BM's whispering springs,cause I'm a bit chicken. I'll put BM's soft chinchilla on as an accent wall. pattycakes, I figured any color that is pale enough will be a background, or neutral. I live on Vancouver Island and I agree the indoors should reflect the out. Isn't that what they do in the sunny south desert?

I have used a light, muted blue as a neutral in my home. I don't like beige, cream, gold toned walls--what most people think of when you say "neutral." I know they are the most popular on this forum, but they just don't do anything for me. I disagree with Patty, I think blue and gray work wonderfully as colors "that blend with other colors." I love the way the blue is a natural compliment to my amber-toned floors, where a beige or gold would have clashed or looked pinkish in relation to the floor.

Cathy, I hope you'll show pictures of your Whispering Springs when its finished!

Here is a link that might be useful: Porter Paint: Blue Dawn

I might be mincing words here but as much as blue is a fine color, blue as a neutral (to my mind, at least) means a taupe or a gray with blue undertones. I have a taupe with green undertones all through my house and I love it. It doesn't photograph all that accurately but it is really a great calming color.. and it works well with so many other colors, including my golden oak floors. It's a color I'll use again and again, I am sure.

I used a pale blue for our computer room and family room, it is a great color called Brian's Song from Walmart. Cheap and good

When decorators use the word neutral, a tan(beige), taupe, gray, white, ivory, or even black has been used. These colors can have a green, red, yellow, or blue undertone, but they are still a neutral color since the base is mostly white or black. I have to agree with funkyart.

In my mind, a neutral is any color that plays nicely with others. And that, of course, is subjective. I happen to think that red is a neutral. There is nothing that red doesn't "go with" in my opinion. Just some food for thought...

Cathy - I'm also in the PNW, between Seattle and Vancouver. I have been kicking around the idea of a blue/gray master bedroom for some time now (I move so slow on these projects). My friend used Beach Glass by BM for her bedroom and it turned out very pretty. It's got more gray to it, which kept it from looking pastel...very pretty and calming. I was leaning towards that color myself. We also have lots of windows, which helps with some of those wet, dark days.

I'm trying to bite my lips on these "blue is not a neutral" posts...the sky is the original neutral :) To me a neutral means "goes with everything that I like/own/want," and for me that's Blue! And Amysrq, you're right -- red actually goes very well with a lot of other colors, but its use is unfortunately linked so strongly to certain seasons that people are afraid to live with it year round. Red is my favorite shade of Not-Blue.

We have BM Pearl River in our breakfast nook and I LOVE it! It is such a subtle, soothing tone.

There's one person over on the Kitchen Forum who is also painting her kitchen Pearl River (I guess she really likes it!) and there's another member who hates my kitchen (although he didn't write "hate" -- he just wrote that he hates anything all-white and cold). Can't please them all, but I certainly love it!

We did our master bed and bath in BM Silver Mist recently, and like rmkitchen says, it's so soothing... I find the room very peaceful and probably the most neutral in the house (and I have tan/latte rooms too).
{{!gwi}}
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Thanks for this thread! It's making me revisit the idea of a watery, misty blue bedroom instead of the oh-so-safe beige I had talked myself into.

Bestyears... can you please tell me where you got your blue coverlet/quilt? Very nice.

oh sure, it's a Pottery Barn pickstitch quilt.

Evamommy: I'm not aware that smoky green has been discontinued, but I could be wrong. They should still be able to find the formula and mix it for you anyway.

Yes, it's CC-700 - It's in my Designer's Classics Collection swatch book. Let me know if you have any trouble, and I can probably find a can around somewhere with the formula on it.

k.

bestyears, I love your bedroom! That is the color of my kitchen and I just love it. It is my favorite room.

rmkitchen, your colors look perfect too. I really like the crisp contrast with the white. It looks cool and cheerful at the same time.

Sorry if this has already been said... rushing through this thread.

Personally, I believe that like a great pair of blue jeans, blue walls can "go" with just about anything.

I had a bathroom with a gorgeous, textured and patterned, denim-blue wallpaper and nothing else in the room was blue. I had actually said the words, "this blue is my neutral in here".

I think it works. Have fun!

Last post for now. Love the silver mist...am going to try the Titanium, because we put up two shades of blue gray and it looks just blue. Beautiful for a bedroom. I 'll post photos..

I just painted my powder room F&B Borrowed light and WOW-it's amazing!! I found the light blues on their palette to be quite neutral & versatile because they have a lot of grey & beige in it.

Some blues are difficult to pair w/ another color: like those purplish blues or electric blues.

Cathy - just curious when you are painting. I have been thinking of using a blue or gray for the downstairs of my house as well as the foyer and up the stairs/hallway. I would love to see more pics of blues as a neutral. :)

I think it was Lynette Jennings who called them "the neutral, white pastels," but she later expanded on that to the neutral earthies and organices, to include mossies and reds, which were green and of course, you guessed the rest, red as a neutral.

I am still looking for that perfect "crisp" colour that's not white but has some gray to it, yet not gray-gray if that makes sense. Thanks for this thread. I got a swatch of Titanium but it looks like it would be too dark for my tiny powder room!

Here's a pic of 2 walls and 2 different shades of blue. The kitchen wall is that Glidden Idyllic Blue that I mentioned earlier (horrid pic but similar to bestyears' -- blue-gray, tiny tinge of purple) and the wall with the door in it is Dunn Edwards Sidewalk Chalk, which is about halfway between classic baby blue & spa blue. Both colors have quite a lot of gray in them.

I've got BM Horizon in master bedroom and son's room. It really goes much better with his blue carpet than our green one. It's a blue gray. I also liked BM Light Pewter (not as blue) - just not in his room. I used it as an accent in the kids' bath (our only bath right now) with Summer Blue and White Satin. White Satin is a very slight blue tinge too. I'm thinking of repainting our room in the Pewter, maybe when we finish the master bath (think I'd like Pewter in there too, though my hubby wants green - we've got maple toffee vanity and bronze faucets with white fixtures). I hung green victory valances on bronze rods to go with our bronze ceiling fan, also will put up wallpaper border (if we aren't going to repaint) with sage green, silver, and blue flowers to pull things together.