5 Blue Interiors That Show How Designers Use the Calming Color

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At once punchy and calming, blue appears often in residential interiors, though the ways designers apply it vary from project to project. In some homes it covers the walls from floor to ceiling. In others it appears through wallpaper, cabinetry, or upholstery. As Kendra Cherry notes in this article for Very Well Mind on the psychology of blue, “It is often described as peaceful, tranquil, secure, and orderly.” This might be why blue rooms are both powerful on their own and easily layered with other bold colors or complex patterns.

The rooms below demonstrate how versatile the color is by highlighting several designers’ approaches. A Breckenridge guest bedroom uses dark blue paint to frame large mountain-facing windows. A Napa showhouse bathroom pairs pale blue walls with a hand-painted botanical mural. Elsewhere, a Martha’s Vineyard daybed room wraps nearly every surface in blue-and-white toile. Each designer works with the color differently. Some rely on paint. Others introduce pattern through wallpaper or fabric.

Below are five blue interiors that maximize the design potential of a color often dismissed as over-done.

5 Blue Interiors That Show How Designers Use the Calming Color

Stephanie McLaughlin’s Breckenridge Guest Bedroom

DesignDash Community member Stephanie McLaughlin of Elevation Interiors painted this Breckenridge guest bedroom in a saturated blue tone that covers the walls and trim. The color sits beside a curved leather headboard with nailhead detailing and a dark-stained wood nightstand. A sculptural table lamp with a bronze base and white shade sits beside the bed. The bedding introduces softer tones. Gray pillows, a pale quilt, and a rust accent pillow create contrast against the darker wall color. A wide window fills the opposite side of the room with daylight and opens toward pine trees and snow-covered mountain slopes.

McLaughlin divides her time between Denver and the mountain towns of Summit County, where she has spent years designing homes in Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and Keystone. Her background in construction and design began early. Growing up in Holland, Michigan, she was surrounded by family members working in those fields. That familiarity with building presents in projects like this one, where painted surfaces, wood furniture, and durable upholstery form a straightforward composition suited to a mountain setting.

Elle Cole’s Napa Showhouse Bathroom

This bathroom from the Napa Showhouse by Dallas designer and DesignDash Community member Elle Cole pairs pale blue walls with a mural that spreads across the room in delicate branches and blossoms. The painted scene climbs around a faceted mirror framed in mirrored panels and brass trim. Two shaded sconces sit on either side of the mirror. Below them, a white vanity with paneled doors supports a marble countertop and polished nickel fixtures.

Cole describes her work as focused on spaces that support everyday life while still feeling considered. “My highest achievement is to successfully create places our clients can call home,” she says. The room demonstrates that approach clearly. Marble tile, a freestanding tub, and a simple vanity establish the structure of the bathroom. The mural introduces decoration without overwhelming the architecture.

Vyara Johnson’s Houston Bedroom

Vyara Johnson of Aveon Designs used a patterned blue wallcovering throughout this bedroom. The wallpaper repeats a small geometric motif that forms a regular grid across the walls. Light wood nightstands with marble tops sit beside the bed. A velvet armchair in dusty rose introduces a warmer tone that offsets the cooler palette. Pale drapery softens the window while a framed print above the dresser adds another layer of color.

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Johnson founded Aveon Designs in 2020 after more than a decade working in high-end residential interiors. Born in Bulgaria and now based in Houston, she often incorporates details drawn from both European interiors and Texas homes. Her studio focuses heavily on collaboration with clients, building projects around the way people actually use their spaces. The bedroom reflects that approach. The furniture is relatively simple while pattern and color provide visual interest.

SEES Design’s Martha’s Vineyard Daybed Room

This daybed room by SEES Design covers the walls, ceiling slopes, cushions, and skirted base of the built-in bed in blue-and-white toile. The printed fabric depicts pastoral landscapes, classical figures, trees, and celestial imagery. Because the pattern appears on nearly every surface, the room reads almost like a fabric-lined interior. A small brass side table and a slender floor lamp provide the only breaks in the pattern.

SEES Design described the house as “layered, bohemian, colorful,” with an approach that avoids the pale palette often associated with Martha’s Vineyard homes. The studio itself began more than four decades ago and now operates as a second-generation design practice led by the See family. Their projects often mix traditional references with contemporary interiors. This room demonstrates how far pattern can go when it replaces paint or paneling as the primary wall surface.

Ghislaine Viñas’s Southampton Study

In this Southampton study, designer Ghislaine Viñas applied several shades of blue across the architectural elements of the room. Built-in shelving, crown molding, and ceiling beams appear in coordinated tones that move from pale blue to deeper hues. A black chandelier hangs over the seating area. Cream boucle lounge chairs and a light wood coffee table soften the palette, while a patterned rug ties together the blue, burgundy, and green accents on the floor.

Viñas described the house in an Elle Decor feature as a project meant to bring an immediate emotional response from visitors. “I want to put a smile on your face as soon as you walk through that door,” she said. Color plays a significant role in her work, though she distributes it carefully from room to room. In the Southampton house, blue appears in multiple spaces, sometimes through paint, sometimes through textiles or rugs.

Written by the DesignDash Editorial Team
Our contributors include experienced designers, firm owners, design writers, and other industry professionals. If you’re interested in submitting your work or collaborating, please reach out to our Editor-in-Chief at editor@designdash.com.