Feeling Blue?

a luxury blue lacquered closet with a center island. There's a huge crystal chandelier hanging above the island in the center of the room. The closet is filled with clothes, shoes, and other accessories. The floor is a wood herringbone. — “Feeling Blue”, Created by author using ChatGPT

Walking into this closet, you might say you've got the 'blues'—the kind that come with a luxury walk-in and a crystal chandelier! Oh, blue-hoo 😭

In a room like this, the only 'feeling blue' you'd have is deciding which of your stylish outfits to wear for the day.

Jokes aside, blue is actually one of the most popular colors in interior design.

Why?

Blue is the world’s favorite color!

A graph showing blue as the favorite color of 10 different countries

The image showcases a variety of blue items from home decor to clothing. There's a color wheel showcasing the complementary colors to blue, blue wallpaper with divers printed on it, blue tile, blue napkins, blue jewelry, and a blue swimsuit and dress

How to Design with Blue

Blue is often regarded as a calming hue, seen as a reliable choice for any interior.

Have you ever met someone who didn’t like the color blue?

I haven’t… it’s just that popular!

“Blue is the invisible becoming visible. Blue has no dimensions, it is beyond the dimensions of which other colours partake.”

— Yves Klein, French artist and creator of International Klein Blue

Do you want a pop of color? Opt for a cobalt blue.

Do you want bright yet calming? Select a soft blue.

Do you want to make your space feel whimsical and sophisticated? Lean towards a periwinkle.

It's important to recognize the colors that complement or are split-complementary to blue.

Orange stands as the direct complement to blue. Adjacent to orange, both red-orange and yellow-orange serve as perfect pairings with blue.

Check out these blue/orange color combos below.

I loved them so much on my mood board, I wanted to link them here too!

Retro Divers Wallpaper

Arable 8x8, Fireclay Tile

Aperol Spritz By Jennifer Hohlfelder

**Blue as an Accent**

Reset your bedroom with mauve and plum to bring in warmth and calm as shown by Annie Downing of Annie Downing Interiors.
This coral-colored grasscloth wallpaper provides a beautiful soft texture for this bedroom retreat. Paired with subtle blue bedding and a lacquered nightstand - it’s the perfect combo!

Blue as a Backup Dancer

Miles Redd is celebrated for his unique approach to cozy elegance, marked by playful bursts of color and contemporary touches in his designs.

This particular room showcases his style perfectly. It features high ceilings and intricate crown moldings, with a soft green traditional mural that stands out against the subtle blue trim.

While the furniture, artwork, and mirror in this space are very classic and traditional, the green mural and blue paneling offer a modern freshness to the room.

A light blue kitchen showcasing a custom range hood with a mosaic floral backsplash. — **Blue Front and Center**

This jaw-dropping, periwinkle kitchen, designed by Alexandra Naranjo, showcases a custom mosaic backsplash of cascading cherry blossoms.
Yes, you heard me right, it’s a mosaic! Not wallpaper, not hand-painted, thousands of tiny pieces of mosaic.
Paired with classic marble countertops and custom periwinkle colored cabinetry, this backsplash steals the show.

Alexandra Naranjo Designs

Pro tip: Don’t be afraid to switch up the materials in your kitchen!

This kitchen is the perfect example of mixing wood tones and painted cabinetry to accent certain pieces.

There can be up to three different cabinetry finishes in one kitchen.

1) Perimeter cabinets

2) Island cabinets

3)Tall pantry and refrigerator or appliance garage

Blue in Architecture

All buildings wouldn’t exist without blue.

Dramatic? Probably.

English astronomer, Sir John Herschel, discovered in 1842 that Prussian blue had a unique sensitivity to light, and was the perfect hue to create copies of drawings.

This discovery proved invaluable to architects, who could create copies of their plans and designs, that are today known as “blueprints.” (The History of the Color Blue: From Ancient Egypt to the Latest Scientific Discoveries)

Want to dive into the science behind the blue in blueprints? Check out this article, Why are Blueprints Blue?.

Color Symbolism

Positive: Trust, calm, feminine, healing, relaxation, sports, strength, heaven, spirituality

Negative: Depression, mourning

A colors by culture chart, showing 8 colors and how each culture reacts to them. The four cultures are Western, Far Eastern, Indian, and Middle Eastern.

Chefchaouen, Morocco

Founded in 1471, Chefchaouen was a point of defense against the invading Portuguese. Two decades later, the city expanded with the arrival of Muslim and Jewish refugees fleeing forced conversion to Christianity in Granada Spain. These new residents built Chefchaouen’s signature whitewashed houses and courtyards with citrus trees, giving the city its European flair, which still exists today.

There are a few stories circulating to why the town is blue.

One story says that the immigrant Sephardic Jewish community brought with them the tradition of painting buildings blue because it reminded them of the sky and the presence of God.
A different version of the story attributes the blue to the Jewish community, but this time to Jews who arrived in Morocco fleeing Hitler’s incursion through Europe.
A third—radically different—version says that Chefchaouen became the blue city in Morocco in an effort to repel mosquitoes and prevent malaria.

*Taken from The Reality of Chefchaouen–Morocco’s Blue City.

Fun Facts

Blue is the rarest color in nature
Blue is said to encourage productivity and creative problem solving. This is why many offices use blue as a primary color in their decor scheme.
Historically, blue was one of the most expensive pigments for painters. This meant that the color was only used for important subjects. As an example, in the Renaissance age, the Virgin Mary was the most important subject painted and most of the art from that time shows her wearing blue.
Blue is the second most common eye color globally, with estimates suggesting that 8-10% of people have blue eyes. In the U.S., that proportion is higher, at about 27%. (Eye color percentages around the world)

Origin of Blue

Pigment Colour Index: Blue Pigments, Jackson’s Art

The color blue is associated with two of Earth’s greatest natural features: the sky and the ocean. But that wasn’t always the case.

“Some scientists believe that the earliest humans were actually colorblind and could only recognize black, white, red, and only later yellow and green. As a result, early humans with no concept of the color blue simply had no words to describe it. This is even reflected in ancient literature, such as Homer’s Odyssey, that describes the ocean as a “wine-red sea.””

— Emma Taggart, The History of the Color Blue

Now that we can see them… let’s dive into the blue pigments that got us where we are today!

The Creation of Blue Pigments

azurite pigment in a dust form on a white background — *Azurite Pigment*

1. Egyptian Blue: Made from ground limestone mixed with sand and a copper-containing mineral, such as azurite or malachite, Egyptian Blue is considered one of the first synthetically produced color pigments.

The Egyptians commonly used this blue for pottery pieces, statues, and the tombs of pharaohs.

*“Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Johannes Vermeer, circa 1665.*

2. Ultramarine: Originally made by grinding lapis lazuli, the vibrant, semi-precious stone into a powder, ultramarine was one of the most expensive pigments during the Renaissance. Its brilliant blue was favored by many artists, including Michelangelo and Vermeer.

The origins of ultramarine trace back approximately 6,000 years, when the Egyptians started importing lapis lazuli from Afghanistan's mountains. Although the Egyptians tried to convert this stone into paint, they were unsuccessful, creating only a dull gray color. Instead, they opted to utilize lapis lazuli in the creation of jewelry and headdresses.

(The History of the Color Blue: From Ancient Egypt to the Latest Scientific Discoveries)

The left side of the image shows a tall white vase with blue trees and vegetation at the base which stretches up to the mouth of the vessel. The right side is a shorter wider vessel drenched in blue with white cherry blossoms. — Left to right: Vase, unknown maker, 1662 – 75, Jingdezhen, China. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Ginger jar, unknown maker, 1683 – 1710, Jingdezhen, China. Museum no. C.820&A-1910. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

3. Cobalt Blue: Invented in 1803, this synthetic pigment quickly became a rival to ultramarine. It was created using a process called sintering, which compacts and forms a solid mass of material by heat or pressure without melting it to the point of liquefaction.

French chemist, Louis Jacques Thénard, later discovered a purer version and commercial production of the pigment began in France in 1807.

In China, cobalt blue was used for their distinctive blue and white porcelain.

Two women in a board observing the pond. Two ducks are floating behind them. Both women are wearing dark blue garments, one in a coat and the other in a hat with a blue bow. — *“Summer's Day” by Berthe Morisot, 1879.*

4. Cerulean: Emma Taggart writes, “Originally composed of cobalt magnesium stannate, the sky-colored cerulean blue was perfected by Andreas Höpfner in Germany in 1805 by roasting cobalt and tin oxides. However, the color was not available as an artistic pigment until 1860 when it was sold by Rowney and Company under the name of coeruleum.”

“Artist Berthe Morisot used cerulean along with ultramarine and cobalt blue to paint the blue coat of the woman in A Summer's Day, 1887.” (The History of the Color Blue: From Ancient Egypt to the Latest Scientific Discoveries).

An indigo colored floral textile from England. The flowers and vines are shown in an off white or cream color while the background of the fabric is dark blue. — *Indigo dyed textile (England), 1790s.*

5. Indigo: While utilizing blue pigment in paintings was costly, employing it for dyeing textiles was significantly more affordable. This was largely due to the introduction of a new blue dye known as "indigo," derived from the abundantly cultivated Indigofera tinctoria plant.

The natural indigo dye was superseded in 1880 with the invention of synthetic indigo, a pigment that continues to be used in the present day for dyeing blue jeans.

Fun Fact: Over the last decade scientists have discovered that the bacteria Escherichia coli can be bio-engineered to produce the same chemical reaction that makes indigo in plants. This method, called “bio-indigo,” will likely play a big part in manufacturing environmentally friendly denim in the future. (The History of the Color Blue: From Ancient Egypt to the Latest Scientific Discoveries)

“The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Katsushika Hokusai, 1831.

6. Prussian Blue: This blue was discovered accidentally by German dye-maker Johann Jacob Diesbach. He was working on creating a new red, and one of his materials, potash, had come into contact with animal blood. Instead of making the pigment even more red like you may expect, the animal blood created a surprising chemical reaction, resulting in a vibrant blue.

English astronomer, Sir John Herschel, discovered in 1842 that Prussian blue had a unique sensitivity to light, and was the perfect hue to create copies of drawings. This discovery proved invaluable to architects, who could create copies of their plans and designs, that are today known as “blueprints.” (The History of the Color Blue: From Ancient Egypt to the Latest Scientific Discoveries)

Blue in Art

a large blue square showcasing the vibrancy of International Klein Blue

Seeking to capture the hue of the sky, French artist Yves Klein formulated a matte variant of ultramarine, which he deemed the supreme shade of blue. He trademarked this distinctive color under the name International Klein Blue (IKB), and this deep, vibrant hue became his trademark between 1947 and 1957.

He painted over 200 monochrome canvases, sculptures, and even painted human models in the IKB color so they could “print” their bodies onto canvas. (The History of the Color Blue: From Ancient Egypt to the Latest Scientific Discoveries)