Almost Blue Living Room – Blue Door Project

Welcome to the Blue Door Project and happy to have you join me for a walk around the almost blue living room. We struggled with the colour scheme of this space for quite some time. The client loves blue, yet was also looking for a burst of colour in her home. After some back and forth, I think we managed to balance both just right. Which brings us to the name… and this beautiful almost blue living room.

The Plan

But before we start talking about the colours, let me first show you the layout.

As you enter the home, you step into a narrow passageway and look at the kitchen door straight ahead. I loved the privacy this provides as no visitor can look directly into the living room. But looking at another door straight ahead didn’t seem like a very good idea.

The main living area is a regular, rectangular space with the addition of a little niche in one corner. We divided the rectangular space into the seating and dining areas. We decided to push the dining table against the wall so that the space as you enter gives you an unobstructed view of the living room. This makes it look more open and spacious.

The bar fit in neatly into the corner niche.

The Entrance

This bright blue door gives this home a beautiful entrance.. and gives this project its name. Though we went through many options for the colour of this door too, the blue was quite firmly in the client’s heart and I’m glad she stayed with what she really wanted.

If you look closely, you can see the faint outline of the kitchen door on the paneled wall opposite the entrance door. We paneled the facing and left walls to conceal the kitchen door in front, and conceal a shutter to hide all the electrical boxes on the left, within that paneling.

Painting it all white and lighting it up well means that the small passage looks bright instead of dark and dingy.

Though the colour that stands out most on first look is blue, it isn’t the dominating colour in this space and you can see other colours popping up from various corners. Which gives our client exactly what she wanted – a blue living room full of colour. Or should I say, an almost blue living room!

Since the dining table is to one side, it doesn’t block the passage or the view as you enter and makes the living room look so much more open.

The Dining Area

As you enter the home, the first thing you lay your eyes on in this stunning bone inlay sideboard. Though it wasn’t planned that way when we bought it, this single piece of furniture helped us finalise so many design elements in the dining space.

The black and white angular lines from the sideboard carry over to the fluted glass window by it’s side. We used that to cover an ugly window right in the middle of the living room. We also lit up the fluted glass from behind, so even in the dead of the night, we have some light streaming in from that window.

The angular lines of these two are contrasted by the flowing curves of the mirror above. The chic black and white lamp completes the vignette with the greens adding just the right amount of colour and life.

Opposite the sideboard is our dining table. We spent the maximum amount of time finalising this wallpaper. If we went with a blue wallpaper, we would end up with an all blue living room. If we picked any other colour as the primary, the blue was being underplayed. All the confusion ended when we laid our eyes on this wallpaper. The fine black and white linework fit in perfectly with the vignette on the opposite side. And black and white meant that we could use any colour at all with this wallpaper.

The teak wood moulding made a beautiful frame for the wallpaper. The corner bar fit in perfectly into the little niche. We lined it with mirrors to visually expand the space.

The concealed light behind the frame lights up the wall in a warm glow and sets the perfect mood for a drink with friends.

The Seating Area

The window in the middle of the living room served as a visual divider between our seating and dining areas. We placed the TV unit beyond the window, and the seating went right around it.

I was most excited to have the Samsung Frame television play the hero here. For all of you who hate big black rectangular boxes on their walls as much as I do, this television is an answer to your prayers. When you are not using it as a television, you can use it to display artwork. It comes with some pre-loaded art and you can select and download more if you like. And so it works as much as wall decor as your source of entertainment.

A large, three seater sofa on the opposite wall with some easy chairs around completes our sitting area.

The Balcony

The living room opens out, through sliding doors, into this long, narrow balcony. The balcony is common to the living room and the guest room which is right beside it.

We swapped the decking for these beautiful screen printed tiles which add a pop of colour to the balcony.

A planter box with a trellis divides the balcony into two visually and physically. As the plants climb up further, it will help to green both areas and also give privacy to one from the other.

A pair of easy chairs with a small table make this the perfect spot to watch the sunset or the twinkling stars at night.

In fact, the sunset views are beautiful from the inside too.

The Almost Blue Living Room

The colour scheme for our almost blue living room started with this stunning rug. It has a deep blue base with pops of various colours to brighten things up. It allowed us to do exactly the same with the rest of the living room.

The greys in the drapes and white sofa kept our colour palette mostly neutral. That striking blue piece of art defined our predominant colour, supported by prints in blues on the chairs. We were more flexible with the cushions, adding pops of colour as we wanted.

The dining area again stayed predominantly neutral with the black and whites on our entrance wall…

… and this wallpaper behind the dining table.

We added a pop of pink to our dining area with the bench and artwork. The fabric on the dining chairs is the perfect mix of pink and blue to tie it all in.

Before And After

On to my favourite part.

The seating area as you see it from the entrance.

Transformed into a warm and cosy living area, perfect for family and friends to get together.

The large sofa wall with the balcony to its right and the passage leading to the bedrooms on its left.

The comfortable seating and cozy vibes make it the heart of the home, with the stunning piece of art playing the show stopper.

The dining area with the odd niche to one side.

We framed the niche and the dining wall together as a single unit, to bring them together to make a cohesive dining space.

The entrance wall with the oddly placed, ugly window.

The sideboard takes care of shoes and crockery and the window makes a dramatic focal point.

Get The Look

You can find some of the products we used in our almost blue living room by clicking on the links below.

| – 1 – Water Lilies: Acrylic on canvas | – 2 – Ethnic Bench | – 3 – Solar Flare Mirror | – 4 – Cane Planters With Textured Matt Black Finish | – 5 – Stainless Steel Wine Glass Rack | – 6 – Kilim Cushion Cover | – 7 – Blue & Green Cushion Cover | – 8 – Dublin Ceramic Tile | – 9- Samsung Frame Television | – 10 – Rattan Arm Chair |

We got blue, we got colour, we got style, we got comfort, we got function and aesthetic. I think we nailed it all in this almost blue living room.

Remember to put in your comments and questions below because I’d love to hear what you think.

And sign up here for updates as I’ll be back with more of this beautiful home soon.

Until next time,

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Photography: Biju Gopal of @bizou.photos    

NOTE: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.