No EK, but I needed a deep, "bright" blue-green for a study a few years ago for a room that has one small window with eastern light - I ended up with BM Tropical Turquoise - depending on light it can look like a Ralph Lauren green, or a true blue-green.

terry

Thanks, bigdtc. I'll look at that today. I am wanting something with an LRV of at most maybe 13.

I just looked up Tropical Turquoise, and it's further down on the card than I was looking--I'm thinking the 10s, iykwim. Something like Bavarian Forest...will go and get real samples today.

Here is a link that might be useful: virtual cards

LOL flyleft, I'm thrilled to meet someone who a)is looking for a blue-green - instead of the obligatory olive and sages - and b)is looking at colors even darker than what I would pick - I can't seem to get above the bottom 3 colors on any paint chip selection. The darker colors like Bavarian just went dull and black in my room, with only one overhead light and no natural light most of the day, which is how I ended up with Tropical Turquoise - and I used Venezuelan Sea in the bedroom next to the study - so our tastes are very similar. Please, keep us posted on what colors you choose and a final pic!!

terry, having just covered Tropical Turquoise with Warm Apple Crisp after I tried to go lighter but couldn't....

I just happened to be flipping through a magazine 'House Beautiful' Nove 2008. I came across a dark blue green and remembered your post. It is called, BM- Naples Blue 2057-30. Take a look.

Here is a link that might be useful: Check it out

Hi Fly. Got your other e-mail. Will try to respond over on conversations side.

Just a little heads up...dark colors, even in matte finish, will tend to have a little sheen. I experienced that with EK Ashen Green and now am seeing similar results with BM Van Deusen Blue in Aura Matte. I think it might be from loading the base with pigments.

I looked for a C2 dealer in your area...sadly, there are none. But, if you're curious, Maine and Malachite might be worth looking at.

EK Emerald is gorgeous. How much light does the room get? I think the Emerald might read a bit too electric in a bright room. I'd probably want to use something a bit knocked back. OTOH, if the room is already dark, Emerald could be fantastic.

Hi bigtdc, judie, and amy,

Yes, I can definitely understand how lighting affects the color...I've just started with the wet samples (got BM Deep Sea Green, evidently a discontinued color, yesterday. In most lights it's not *too* dark (want to see it just in northern daylight with no added light before I conclude that, though)and the family likes it so far, including the DD who didn't like the concept before she saw the actual color) and of course, this color will go in a *variety* of lighting situations, some southern some northern, as I described in the first post. I've got a sample of Emerald coming, too, and I'll look at the color judie recommended as well.

Amy, I found a pic on AT of maybe a meeker tone -- ideally I'd want it SATURATED, but is this what you're talking about? More muted? One area gets this much light, but honestly we're not in that area as much as we are in the area where it will go that receives only northern light, and not much of that...maybe I'll get a sample and try it anyway. Honestly, I didn't know that ICI *made* their own colors! :)

Here is a link that might be useful: it's beautiful in itself, too, in a restrained way

eek, now that I look up ICI Kentucky Blue, I know it must be the bay window color, not the headboard wall color! I'm referring to the headboard wall, which I guess I have to figure out still.

Here is a link that might be useful: I know this website is almost never well calibrated, but still...

No, I don't mean lighter, just more grayed down. EK Emerald is very clear. Look at it in bright light and it just about glows. You could knock it back with just a touch of red. You'd have the same saturation, but a slightly more subtle experience, less vibrant, a bit softer on the eyes if you needed it.

IMO, bright light makes such a color garish. That's when you'd want a grayed down version. In a low light situation, a grayed down version could be muddy and depressing. That's when you can go with the clearer colors.

BM Deep Sea Green is strikingly similar to Emerald. I would always go with Full Spectrum over non-FS. But, start with a gallon to make sure you will be happy with the finish. Sadly, F&B has nothing close to Emerald, but they would deliver a glorious matte in their Estate Emulsion.

Ach, I wish we had bright enough light to make it garish, amy. Our house, for all its windows, is relatively dark because of the tall trees around it (one fewer than earlier this year, but still :)).

I have Emerald dry and liquid samples coming; I will be very curious to see how it relates to the DSG. So did you get the Ashen Green in the Velvet Sheen? EK does say that there's sheen in the darker colors...I really want a velvet NON-sheen...wonder what can be done. I also wonder what she makes the samples up in -- is it the Velvet Sheen, so we can get a true sense of the gloss level? If you don't know, I'll write and ask.

Fly,
FWIW, I have a small accent wall in the laundry room in EK Velvet Sheen Giverny Blue. (It forms the backdrop for a boot bench in Sherwin Willimas Jamboree Jade stain.) The wall has a great deal of texture, unfortunately. There is definitely more sheen than is my ideal preference.

Hey fly -- hope you're feeling well and getting back to full power.

Just driving by today -- haven't been around at all but I saw the post and had a thought.

If you want matte, matte, I'd suggest exploring Farrow and Ball. My house was repainted entirely this Spring, mostly with F&B. I've been thrilled with results. Estate Emulsion is neither bright nor shiny in any way (even the eggshell trim paint isn't shiny). Their blue greens are good (not so much the blues). Had to use 2 light EK colors, which are also matte and look great in rooms adjacent to the F&B (preferred). Surface is not the same but very, very nice and the colors I needed were perfect (even a very tough yellow in the bedroom which had to mix with mustardy yellows in the room.) Just a thought. (My house is very tough with colors as we're heavily wooded and far north so even light colors in some brands went too dark.)

Waving at KD -- hey! Glad to hear you got the laundry room cracked.

Here is a link that might be useful: F&B

Hi, rococo, thanks for your thoughts...sounds like we have similar light situations. I wish F&B did make a color I could use -- I love many of their colors but they don't have one that's just right for what I'm looking for.

amy, I know now that this isn't what you meant, but I found a less intense/saturated version of the same kind of tone in the Deep Sea Green: Pacific Rim (oddly enough :)), BM #678. What do you think of it?

kitchen, thanks. I *really* don't want sheen. Bummer, though, to find out that the Aura Matte isn't sheen-free in the darks, either, as amy reports. To paraphrase poor hapless Oliver, Wheeeeeeerre is Matte? :) (anyone remember that song?)

Yes, I remember. Oops, dating myself again. There's always Fine Paints of Europe--they have everything. Or, how do you feel about mixing your own Farrow and Ball like Bunny Williams does?

Kitchen Detective....spill!!! Where did you find out about Bunny mixing F&B? I am fascinated. What do think about trying Stone Blue and adding some green to it...? Maybe Minster Green?

Fly, if you are willing to move to a lighter color like Pac Rim, you might be able to get there with a "custom" F&B mix. You could probably even get the darker color using Minster. And like Rococo says, you'd get the real matte you covet. (Hi, Rococo!)

Fly, do you have a kitchen scale that measures in grams? That's how I figure out my custom mixes. Okay, I'm getting all excited (get a life, Amy) and thinking about ordering some samples of Stone Blue and Minster Green... :-)

Hi amy! (Waving). Love to hear how things are going for you with the house.

F&B will do custom color but requires something like a 4 gallon order if I remember correctly. FPE can match any Pantone color (which means any color) even in small quantity but the surface of that is very different in water base. Best way to describe it is a "thinner skin".

Experienced painters can mix colors and why not? Bunny Williams likely has her regular painter do that and I know for a fact she uses F&B. It's the most matte and 3 coats will actually improve the look of walls due to the clay base -- the reason I went with it. EK base is ICI Dulux -- also good and matte. We started with BM, which is matte but creates a thinner skin.

Some don't want to get that far into it, or the texture might not be as important as other qualities.

F&B does "custom" with a mixing charge of $40-ish and a four-gallon minimum. My daughter fell in love with the Irish Georgian Blue in the first F&B book but getting it was going to push $300, including shipping. Too risky given we'd only seen it in print. So she found a BM color she could be happy with -- Van Deusen Blue.

House is coming along. Should close in the next week or so. Still several dozen small details and one huge legal matter. So, we'll see.

I am probably going to need about 4 gals, when all's said and done...it's not one wall of any particular room, but rather a slice that wanders through several and up the stairs...

And this is where it can get fun, amy, isn't it? :) I remember as a kid in 3rd grade, I literally made money "under the table" by selling my special custom color which -- oh my gosh, I can't believe it, now that I think about it -- was a perfect green blue! OH MY GOSH!!! I mixed two crayons together and people would actually pay me a quarter, and the color I made is pretty much what I want here!

This is too weird...

Hi, all. Bunny Williams discussed her fine art background and mixing colors in An Affair with a House. She also said that she could never duplicate the colors she concocted. However, a gram scale and note pad would obviate that issue.
I have mixed my own paints, but not with F&B, so I'm unsure how the Stone Blue and Minster Green would behave. Perhaps calling Cox Paints and asking for a suggestion?
I should add to my earlier comment that my wall with EK Giverny Blue faces northwest and gets a shot of sunlight over one corner of it. That's when the sheen shows. Might not happen at your place. Also, the GB is not as dark as Emerald.
Funny about returning to the custom blue-green, Fly.
I have only 2 freebee color cards from F & B. I'm wondering if any of their old colors would be what Fly needs. I assume they can still mix those.

kd, I have an F&B color card from about a year ago, supposedly with the "new" colors -- are there some retired colors on an "old" card that maybe I could consider?

Thanks for the further info re the sheen w/EK. I read on her site that even in the matte, darker colors have a sheen, so she's being honest about it which I appreciate a lot.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the Emerald sample...after seeing Deep Sea Green, I have to wonder if E. is a full-spectrum version of it.

And isn't that bizarre about my mini-entrepreneurial blue-green? As I recall it was slightly lighter in tone, but just as saturated. I gave a lot of crayon for the money :)

I gave a lot of crayon for the money :)

LOL!!!
You'd have to call and ask F&B--I do not have all their colors, but I do know that they have many I've never seen.

This phot may show sheen level.
{{!gwi}}

kd, thanks so much for the photo. The light is beautiful in that area, btw. I see that there's some sheen, and with textured walls (I'm trying to sand them as flat as possible) the texture really does show up more, doesn't it...

I've gotten the Emerald sample as well as a BM Pacific Rim sample, and I have to say that the Pacific Rim is about as dark as I can go in here and not risk it turning black.

But a question about EK samples: are they really paint? Or are they just color samples like SW? Because what I got is fairly dead flat, esp. visible when compared to the BM sample formulation. I sure do love the flatness of the EK sample...

I believe they are real paint. I sure hope so because I used the sample as touch up paint!
Another benefit to sanding: all this texture takes about three times the normal amount of paint for a thorough coating. This room has 14 different vertical exposures; it's a modified dog leg shape. The only wall that faces NW is the one you see. To the right of the EK wall is the mudroom and mudroom bath, to the left is the laundry area. The right is F&B Teresa's Green; the left is F&B Blue Ground. Still debating on ceiling. (DS2 said, "As long as you confine these urges to the laundry room, it will be okay.")

14 different exposures -- I *so* know what you're talking about...it's crazy trying to find a color that works!

I'm going to take the EK sample to BM and see what they have to match the finish. I'm really liking "Pacific Rim", but I want it MATTE.

And your DS2 will be learning a lesson about color creep, I suspect ;) (btw, "confine these urges"? Where did he get language like that?!)

Update: Pacific Rim turned out to be a smidge too green for our purposes (I am really trying to stay away from something reading "hunter" if one is lazy, iykwim) -- I found a Valspar color, of all things -- "Ocean Abyss", which looks like a less saturated version of EK Emerald that got us into this mess in the first place :). Got a flat enamel quart of it and we're liking it.

So my question: anyone ever used Valspar flat enamel? Geez, it sounds like primer in the can compared to other paints I've used, but it didn't technically drip...they say it's a scrubbable matte, but I'm definitely seeing some sheen.

Trying to decide if I should have it done in a flatter flat (still scrubbable). I have about 2 gals to do, and if I can make do with the Valspar I will have much more $$ left over when I'm done, compared to Aura or up...(although I just painted my front door with Aura Exterior Semi-Gloss and I must say it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I wish I had more to do with it, but it's definitely just a spot color--BM Merlot Red).