Trusty dusty blues

When it comes to choosing a colour for your bedroom, it’s difficult to look past dusted blues.

Often considered to be the world’s single most popular hue, blue is a natural colour we see in the water and sky, one that’s embraced as being representative of everything from divinity, lightness, authority, denim jeans and many corporate logos. In fact, blue is so popular that 53% of world flags feature it in their designs.

Blue is among the most complex and contradictory colours in terms of the meanings and associations that different people and cultures draw from it, with particular tints and shades each being armed with their own unique colour language. Most blues convey a sense of trust, loyalty, cleanliness and understanding. On the other hand, blue evolved as symbol of depression in some Western cultures, where ‘singing the blues’ and ‘feeling blue’ are good examples of the complexity of colour symbolism.

In an interior, blue can feel cold, wet and slow compared to the warmth, fire and intensity of a passionate colour like red. But in a bedroom, where you want to rest, relax and recover from the stresses of everyday live, blues are an ideal choice to make you want to get tucked in and wind down. Because of our harsh natural lighting, dusted blues that have a cooler, greyed undertone are often a more appealing choice. This is partially because of the fact that our light is more ‘bluish’ to begin with when compared to the warmer, yellower light of many countries in the Northern Hemisphere. At the same time, our light can also ‘wash out’ colours and make whites appear glary, so it’s often a good idea to choose slightly darker or more pigmented Resene paint colours for your walls, ceiling, trims and floor than you may think you need – especially if your bedroom gets exposed to a great deal of natural light.

In this soft and sumptuous bedroom, walls in Resene Half Dusted Blue and a floor in Resene Surrender create a solid base for a host of tonal Resene blues to be used as accents. The look is a casual yet sophisticated one, full of rich layers that appear at once to be ‘upmarket’ and complex while coming across as simultaneously effortless. Resene Coast on the arched wall in the foreground and Resene Indian Ink on the pendant lamp provide contrast and depth that gets picked up in some of the darker stonewashed bedlinens. These more saturated hues also offset the lighter ones, creating the effect that the bedroom itself is ‘glowing’ with enticing light, making it all the more inviting to sink into and linger for longer.

Minimally decorated, the bedside table in Resene Avalanche, DIY artwork in Resene Dusted Blue, plant pot in Resene Half Dusted Blue and tealight holder in Resene Periglacial Blue are similar in spirit to the back and foreground wall colours yet are different enough in tone to break things up and provide some variety. If an all tonal space feels too ‘samey’ or ‘matchy’ to you, try bringing in one or two restrained accent colours such as soft suede brown and warm grey like Resene Kina Brown and Resene Heathered Grey and use these hues across a few décor accents or furniture and bedlinens. Or try a more noticeable accent hues such as lavenders or brick reds like Resene Blue Chalk and Resene Chalk Lavender or Resene Wild West and Resene Crail.

You may also wish to mix up the sheen levels of your different painted surfaces to create additional variety, such as Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen for your walls, Resene Enamacryl gloss for furniture and Resene Lustacryl semi-gloss for trims and accents.

Styling by Vanessa Nouwens. Photography by Wendy Fenwick. 2022