I highly recommend you find a pillow, drapery, kitchen linen or accessory that has the color scheme you have invisioned so you can use it as your inspiration piece. If it has the exact blue green tone in it, your local paint store like Sherwin Williams, Lowes or HD can match the color for you. That's the easiest and most cost effective way to change a color palette.

I was also thinking the Palladian Blue that mldao just posted. There's a new thread today about her painting being finished, to see pictures.

F&B has "French Gray" and -- oops, I see sarschlos beat me to it. I agree with her, though; they're really stunning. I actually opened this thread hoping that someone woulod have suggested something that could touch F&B's colors, because I'm going to use just such a color in my powder room and I want to scour the possibilities completely before I decide. There are some astounding pics of French Gray posted here. I'll try to find them.

I went to Lowe's today (found toggle bolts for my crappy plastic wall anchor problem) and picked up a sample of Olympic Aqua Smoke. It is a medium hued blue-green (more blue than green) with a shot of gray. I like Palladian Blue, but it seems kind of pastel-y on the chip. I DON'T want pastel-y.

I really like the Aqua Smoke. I wish it maybe was a tad more green, though. It looks almost totally blue at first glance. Looks much more current than the SW Ryegrass (a yellow green) I had up there before. I might end up with this color. For some reason, I get blues right almost on the first try, while browns and tans take dozens of tries before I find something I like--why is that?

Make sure you get a sample pot of BM paints or F&B. The color chips are not accurate to what you will get on the wall. This is particularly true if you use their aura paints (which I HIGHLY recommend. Love the finish.)

In the event the one you picked up doesn't work out ... don't know how neutral this is, but here's a pic of the Palladian Blue just posted. Doesn't look pastel to my mind, but maybe another nearby on the strip would be closer to what you're thinking, if so to you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Palladian Blue - First Image

A color I absolutely loved was BM Smokestack Gray. I saw it in a bathroom on Rate My Space and fell in love. It wouldn't have worked in my PR and my DD liked BM Palladian Blue more for her BR. The Palladian Blue is really not pastely at all. My DD is 16 and steers clear of anything pastely.

I have BM Quiet Moments at half intensity on the walls in most of my public areas-foyer, LR, DR, and hallway. I just love the color and after over a year still find myself just looking at the walls relishing them. Here is a picture of the LR.

This was taken in full morning sunlight. Later in the day and in the evenings, it is a deeper yet still relatively light blue/green mix.

Ann

And another note re the Palladian Blue: I'm really not a pastel person at all either, and I put Palladian Blue in our kitchen and family room back in NC, because I wanted a color that would connect to nature. I can't tell you the number of compliments I got on that color, even from friends who would come over and say "I just love this color" repeatedly :) It's very much worth considering. Not exactly smoky, but it's definitely a blue-green.

It's lighter than the F&B colors I was thinking of.

Ach, I tried to find the F&B thread that (blanking!) had posted with her gorgeous blue-grays -- anyone have that thread? A very nice poster whom I respect greatly (and whose name I can't remember but then again it was before the MI when my memory came back :)) posted her kitchen, a hallway...lots of people loved the colors...I'm hoping someone clipped it or otherwise saved it.

F&B's Borrowed Light is my favorite -- it's the palest one I could find with them.

runninginplace -- did you have the paint mixed at the BM store at half intensity? That is a gorgeous color.

Here are a few ideas (I've looked at a lot of these colors in the last six months):

Restoration Hardware's Silver Sage (Benj Moore equivalent is Wisp Grey)
SW Sea Salt (really lovely)
Ellen Kennon Aqua - there are a few other colors in her line-up that may also fit the bill. Just check her website.

Good luck!

Please take a look at SW Comfort Grey (or Gray, I've forgotten.) First off, it doesn't read grey, but more like the shade described in your subject line.

People who step into our family room always ask what the paint color is. It blends well with the wood tones in our floor as well as being a nice, but not too stark, contrast with the white painted trim.

I was gonna mention SW too...the whole strip that starts with Spare White, then Sea Salt, Comfort Gray, Oyster Bay...that whole strip is really pretty. Grayed down blue-green shades. I'm dying to use one of these somewhere myself. I saw Sea Salt & Oyster Bay in a showhouse a couple of years ago & they were both gorgeous colors.

OKAY I stand corrected--Palladian Blue does not look pastel-y. I love it in the pics. Actually I was just showing the chip with Aqua Smoke to a co-worker and what color did she recommend? PALLADIAN BLUE!!! I couldn't believe the coincidence. It seems like PB is one of those universally loved colors on here.

I couldn't stop going in the kitchen last night to stare at the Aqua Smoke. The only thing I'm worried about is getting tired of the whole blue thing after a while. What if I paint the whole big LR/K combo and get tired of it? I find I really am loving the look of dark woods with light fabrics in creams and whites mixed with touches of black and pops of gold and crimson. I love the West Indies look which fits in so naturally in the New Orleans area where I live as I look out my windows at the bananas and gingers planted outside.

I just love decorating and picking colors and furniture. I just wish I had the money to buy the stuff I really want!

Farrow and Ball Blue Gray?

{{!gwi}}

This is from Domino.

I have SW Coastal Plain in my bedroom. It's a little dark, but I absolutely love it.

Lisa

I've had a medium-toned blue in my bedroom for about 3 years, and as much as I love blue (really love it), I'm tired of it in the bedroom -- I want something softer. I'm looking for a super-soft white-blue or an ivory now. There's something about intense color that just gets old after a while.

That F&B Blue Gray is really pretty. Thanks lisa for posting your photo. That looks similar to BM Rhine River, which I'm considering for my bedroom. It helps to see a photo.

"runninginplace -- did you have the paint mixed at the BM store at half intensity? That is a gorgeous color."

Yes, I'm very lucky that our nearest BM dealer, an Ace hardware store, has a fantastic paint guy. He and I really worked on getting that color right! I started out with the BM equivalent of Silver Sage (Grey Wisp). It was waaaaayyyy darker on my walls than I liked. So he suggested going with the BM Quiet Moments. First batch, still too dark. His idea-cut it in half. Voila.

Then going on suggestions from this forum including Brutuses' pictures of her ceiling I decided to paint my ceilings a variation of the half-mix on the walls. Well, my paint wizard ended up doing a completely hand mixed version to get the right shade for that, and it is perfect.

Anyway, babbling here but one take-away might be: find a good paint store and get someone to work with you. One thing I've discovered reading the forum is that color is so much more complicated than what you see on those itsy teeny chips. For me, seeing people's actual walls painted X color is worth so much more than trying to guess what something will look like.

Ann

After trying tons of paints, I have come to the conclusion that I have to go with something with a lot more green than I thought. I thought I had a winner with SW Oyster Bay, but at night it looks too muddy and gray. I think BM Saybrook Sage might be it. I never really thought I wanted a "sage" color, but it has a good hint of blue to it and doesn't look yellow-y like I usually think of sages. If that doesn't work, I'm thinking SW Softened Green may be the next try. For some reason, the lighting in my room really pulls out any hint of blue so strongly. Anything that reads blue on the chip looks totally blue on the wall.

Anybody have some pics of Saybrook Sage or Softened Green I can look at?