Take a look at SW Samovar Silver-6233 or Krypton-6247. They are both icy blue/gray neutrals.

Swing by Sherwin Williams and pick up one of their Arts & Crafts Preservation Palettes (only a few colors are shown online). Also, check out the Bradbury & Bradbury website, look at all the wallpapers (just for the colors) and finished rooms. If you have a California Paints dealer in your area, they've teamed up with Historic New England (formerly SPNEA, the Society for Preservation of New England Antiquities) to designate certain paint colors as best for certain periods; although most of their indications are for exteriors, the same colors were used for interiors as well. Thing is, for the most part A&C colors were deep and rich - mustards/golds, rusts, olive/forest greens, muddy plums - and the rooms were intended from square one to be on the dark end of the spectrum, somewhat denlike with welcoming pools of light here and there, rather than the almost blindingly bright rooms we are used to today. Instead of trying to "brighten" an extremely dark room with a lighter paint color (which can really drab out the color), try going for the midtone-to-deep color and using generous amounts of lighting instead. Make sure you allow for the undertone in the beige couch, too - beiges can be super tricky in that way, skewing to green or yellow, but an afghan or quilt over the back of the couch can minimize that. You can also swing by the library and see if they have any books on bungalows, or just google "bungalow colors". You may not have a bungalow but the bungalow was the predominant architecture of the A&C period. Now, that all said, if you want to go straight-up Mission, rather than leaning more toward the A&C end of the spectrum, although your furniture's stain colors are a bit light for it (fumed oak was the norm, which is quite dark) you can look toward the California Mission style, which has more in common with Spanish Colonial Revival than the English-influenced Arts & Crafts. Lighter walls (white or buff were common colors), dark trim, accents of intense colors (reds, sky blue - think Talavera tiles) and earth tones.

Well I'm NOT a blue person. Indoors I have NO blue. My husband doesn't understand this. I have no idea why I feel this way. Outdoors things are different! I have a blue/yellow/white garden bed which I love. Yes, delphineums, catananche, campanulas, baptisia and more, are mixed with trollius, coreopsis moonbeam, peony Claire de Lune and low growing white clematis and aquilegia. It is a big mix and wouldn't be any fun at all without the blue! There are loads of clematis that are purple or blue/purple, but also some very nice blues I think. You do get into the question of "what is blue?" My husband and I think this could well be a male/female issue! Also, by saying a flower is blue, perhaps a catalogue gains more sales? * Posted by: coolbeans (My Page) on Sat, Feb 2, 02 at 13:12 This is my VERY favorite thread, and I totally agree with all those who feel that there is just "something" about blue flowers; they ARE magical, they ARE very special; and they make me happier than any other color flower. Don't know why...I just started a flat full of Bluebird delphinium seeds I saved from my one lonely plant last year. A bunch of them germinated, so now I can't wait to have a huge stand of them! Maybe they won't bloom this year, but maybe they will. And also "true blue" penstemons, I'm trying for the first time. I can't get enough of this precious color. * Posted by: Anne_Marie_Alb (My Page) on Tue, Feb 5, 02 at 17:47 WOW....... Did anyone realize that this thread started almost 5 years ago... on Feb. 15, 1997!!!!! I am amazed it has survived that long. Probably, the oldest thread still on the top page! I wonder if "Clare B" (who started the thread) is still an active member of the Garden Web!!! I personally love blue flowers (I mean blue, and not purple, which I also like). I can't believe how many blue flowers I am starting from seeds this year... and that was just a pure coincidence! I also love RED flowers.. Maybe, I should start a "red flower" thread! I will first check the archives! * Posted by: Clare (My Page) on Thu, Feb 7, 02 at 20:34 Yes, Ann_Marie, I am still here! I will be a bit sad to see this thread fade away when it hits the 100 posts mark. After that, the threads are closed. I don't think I have any true blue flowers still. "Victoria Blue" Salvia is the closest thing. I use it a lot. It is such a heavy, long bloomer, and about one in twenty of them will survive winter here. Just wish I could predict which would survive so that I could save seed from those alone and perhaps work up a more hardy strain. By the way, the Hydrangeas in Memphis, Tennessee are incredible. Some are so saturated blue that I'd have to call them navy. * Posted by: Dswan (My Page) on Sat, Feb 9, 02 at 22:37 I'm going to add to this extremely long thread only because there really is something to true blue. I grow from seed a very difficult plant to propagate called Penstemon cyananthus or Wasatch Penstemon. I cold stratify and plant these every year in hopes of gettting one or two in my garden every year. Absolutely gorgeous. * Posted by: Rosa (My Page) on Mon, Mar 11, 02 at 10:24 Did no one mention Gentians-now those are blue! (along with my favorite penstemson of course-some are indeed blue). * Posted by: pineshade7b ) on Mon, Apr 15, 02 at 11:02 i agree with gloria mc coy. i love blue and green , they are my favorite colors in anything. just look in my house and closets. blue..ocean, blue jeans, my own eyes are blue and my husband's are green. many reasons to answer -why blue. although i do not "hyperventilate" , if i should go into a nursery and ask for a blue -flowering plant and the staff looks down their nose at me, i'll know now that they are only doing it because they think I'M a snob. until i adopted gardening as a serious hobby i had no idea that blue was a "snob" color. i just naturally began to look into flowers in the colors i liked personally. you learn something new everyday. i would have been hurt and confused to walk into a nursery and be looked at like a pariah, what did i say? now i know, thanks clare. * Posted by: DesertGardner (My Page) on Fri, Apr 19, 02 at 12:38 Wow - I never knew there was such a controversy over the color blue in the garden. After reading all the posts, I now understand why some gardeners prefer the color. And I have to say that I've never met any gardeners whom I would consider snobbish. Most of them are really quite down to earth! (if you pardon the expression...) I recently tried planting a red, white and blue flower bed, with 'Victoria Blue' Salvia being my blue color. It's a little too purple and doesn't look right as a "patriotic" design. I will probably tear out the red and white and keep the "blue" (purple) since it seems to like this desert heat. Someone mentioned black flowers, and I remembered seeing black pansies in the most recent Burpee catalog. They're a beautiful velvety black with a spot of yellow in the center. I think I'll plant some this winter, and start an obsession with black flowers! (just kidding Clare...) -Kara [* Posted by: yeona_sky (My Page) on Mon, Jun 24, 02 at 0:37 I just bought a blue poppy and am nervously watching its progress. My success with blues has been an up hill battle, but that hasn't changed my desire to spotlight it in my garden. Why blue?, again it's a passion with me. Clare, I hope you get the last word on this thread, and I hope you understand Why blue, a little better. * Posted by: Duster (My Page) on Wed, Jun 26, 02 at 23:56 I agree with the many others about getting annoyed when purple is referred to as blue. Maybe that's why I take up the cause of truly blue flowers! 99% of my Delphiniums are the true electric blue ones. I'd love one of the Himalayan Poppies but just not right for my little yard. I like the blue flowers, rather than the blue foliage plants. And no, blue is NOT my favorite color - I have nothing blue in my home decor. I just like the uniqueness of the TRUE blue and my stubbornness to get people to stop calling it purple!!!!

I've been on the prowl for paint colors for all the rooms in the Victorian we recently bought, and have been looking at lot of colors and collecting swatches and brochures and stuff - it's fascinating to see all the nuances in the neutrals these days - the 80s/90s beiges really sucked. I hate all the gray (though it's lovely when it's on the outside of the house), and while I'm not a huge fan of beige/taupe/tan (wouldn't jive with my house, anyway), I'm loving the matchups of creamy off-whites and whites for walls/trim - going to do this for the attic. Otherwise, cool interesting not-gray colors for the rooms (and probably wallpaper). Don't ever feel like you have adhere to trends. If you don't like gray, don't do gray. No one is doing paisley wallpaper anymore, but I'm going to because I want to. Do the beige and screw the trends and those folks that are all about "resale value" and thinking you need to design your house for the next buyer rather than yourself.