Help with paint Choosing colour

Using blue paint

Blue is the colour that recedes: deep, it dissolves a room's corners and makes it bottomless; light, it soothes and enlarges; mid and greyed, it makes a neutral livelier than a grey. It loves wood, copper, linen and stone, which warm it; it fears pure white, which chills it. Seven ways to use it, from the midnight blue of a study to the sky blue of a bedroom, with the Mylands blues.

Page updated September 2026 · by the Mylands France colour team

Study with deep blue-grey matt walls, a bookcase in the same blue, walnut desk, brass lamp, caramel leather armchair — Maritime No.236 on walls and bookcase, walnut and brass to warm it

Understanding

Blue recedes, and that is its strength

Of all the colours, blue is the one the eye places furthest away: a blue wall looks more distant than a red wall of the same depth. That recession is what gives it its two talents: deep on four walls, it erases the corners and gives a room the depth of a night; light, it pushes the walls back and enlarges. Its weakness is coldness — a blue with a hint of green or grey in a north-facing room can turn sad. The answer is in the materials: oak, walnut, copper, brass, undyed linen, stone and terracotta warm any blue.

The Mylands blues run from bluish white to midnight, most greyed with a touch of black or earth that makes them liveable; the vivid ones — Wedgwood, Ultramarine, Midnight — are in the FTT collection. The guides Blues for a bedroom, Deep blue: 8 colours compared and Teal and blue-green compare them one by one.

Seven ways

Seven ways to wear blue

1. Midnight blue, on all four walls

A deep blue everywhere, ceiling included, in a dining room, a study or a bedroom: the room has no edge left. White linen, black-rimmed ceramics, a brass lamp so the light has somewhere to land.

Walls & ceiling · Observatory No.34 Linen & accent · Greenwich Time No.8

2. Blue and natural materials

A mid blue on the largest wall of a bathroom or a kitchen, with copper, raw wood, slate or stone: the blue leans towards the sea, the material towards the earth, and the room is calm.

Walls · Bridge Blue No.222 Ceiling · St James No.40

3. Light blue, to soothe

A pale blue on the walls of a bedroom or a sitting room, woodwork in a bluish white: the room opens. In a low room, the alcoves in a pale blue different from the chimney breast's create vertical blocks that lift the ceiling.

Walls · Morning Blue No.32 Alcoves · Walpole No.42 Woodwork · Greenwich Time No.8

4. Blue on the furniture

The back of a dresser, kitchen cabinets in Satin, a window frame in a blue deeper than the open-plan kitchen's: blue gives structure to a lively room and relief to whatever is set against it.

Cabinets · Eaton Square No.232 Window · Proper Blue No.67 Walls · St Clement No.11

5. Blues as a family, and a green

Three blues of one family on walls, ceiling and woodwork, then a confident green on a door or a stool: the slight clash wakes the whole. The darkest blue in the darkest corner, the lightest where the light falls.

Walls · Bedford Square No.229 Ceiling · Morning Blue No.32 Woodwork · Proper Blue No.67 Accent · New Lime No.149

6. The blue ceiling, fifth wall

In a tall room, a deep blue on the ceiling above neutral walls: the room becomes intimate, and under a rooflight or skylight the blue ceiling continues the sky. See Cloud capping.

Ceiling · Mayfair Dark No.218 Walls · Chalk Farm No.53

7. Blue with a wallpaper or a fabric

Pick up the darkest blue of a wallpaper or a curtain on the skirting and the picture rail, and run it to the far wall of the next room: blue links the rooms together.

Skirting & rail · Blueprint No.50 Next room · Lambeth Walk No.210

Dining room entirely in matt midnight blue, walls and ceiling, oak table, black-rimmed white crockery, brass pendant lit — Observatory No.34 on all four walls and the ceiling: the room has no end

The Mylands blues

Ten blues, from the lightest to the deepest

Blue	Character	For	The white that goes with it
Greenwich Time No.8	Bluish white	Ceilings and woodwork for every blue	—
Walpole No.42	Very pale, grey blue	Bedrooms, south-facing rooms	Greenwich Time No.8
Morning Blue No.32	Morning sky blue	Bedrooms, bathrooms, ceilings	Greenwich Time No.8
Lambeth Walk No.210	Powdery, warm blue	Children's rooms, corridors	St Clement No.11
Bedford Square No.229	Greyed sky blue	Sitting rooms, bedrooms, kitchens	Greenwich Time No.8
Bridge Blue No.222	Mid blue-green	Bathrooms, kitchens	St James No.40
Boathouse No.33	Clear mid blue	Furniture, doors, stairs	Saint Johns No.64
Maritime No.236	Deep blue-grey	Studies, libraries	St Clement No.11
Mayfair Dark No.218	Slate blue	Ceilings, doors, bedrooms	Whitehall No.9
Observatory No.34	Midnight blue	Dining rooms, studies, drenches	Greenwich Time No.8

Deeper still: Proper Blue No.67, Blueprint No.50, Bond Street No.219. Vivid: Wedgwood, Midnight, Ultramarine Blue (FTT).

To avoid

What makes a blue cold

Pure white woodwork. It chills any blue; a bluish or a warm white, depending on the blue, holds it.
A verdigris blue in a north-facing room. It goes grey; take a blue with a hint of red or earth, or warm it with materials.
Blue and cold grey. Two receding colours; the room empties. Add a brown, an ochre, a wood.
Sky blue on every surface of a large room. It turns into a swimming pool; keep it for a bedroom or grey it.
Judging a deep blue on the colour card. On four walls it is darker; test on a board, in the darkest corner.

Kitchen with mid blue-green satin cabinets, a deep blue window frame, grey-white walls, wooden worktop, copper — Eaton Square No.232 on the cabinets, Proper Blue No.67 on the window: blue gives the kitchen its structure

Frequently asked questions

Your questions, our answers

Which blue for a bedroom?

A light or mid blue, greyed — Morning Blue, Walpole, Bedford Square — to soothe; or a midnight blue on all four walls for a cocoon bedroom. The comparisons are in Blues for a bedroom.

Does blue suit a north-facing room?

Yes, if you choose a blue with a warm hint — Lambeth Walk, Bedford Square — and warm it with wood and brass. A verdigris or very grey blue will turn sad there. See A north-facing bedroom.

Which white with blue walls?

A bluish white — Greenwich Time No.8 — to stay in the family, or a warm white — Whitehall No.9 — for a soft contrast. Never a pure white, which looks blue beside a blue and chills.

Blue and green, is that possible?

Yes, they are neighbours on the wheel: a mid blue on the walls, a deep green on the woodwork, or a confident green as an accent in a room of blues. Blue-green — Bridge Blue, Burlington — bridges the two.

Which finish for a midnight blue?

Marble Matt Emulsion on the walls, so the pigment speaks without reflection: a satin midnight blue looks lighter and flat. On a door, Eggshell; on a front door, Gloss. A dark-blue tinted primer gives full density in two coats.