Live Breathe Decor

Remember that design series on tv last year? I can’t even remember the name of it – maybe Homemade? Anyway, you might remember that the eventual winner, Jason Sullivan, used a dark navy blue shade from Wattyl quite a few times throughout the series. See the living room and bedroom above and below.

It seemed to me that this combination of dark navy blue and crisp white paired with different natural textures was a real winner.

I remember liking it a lot at the time and I have been thinking about navy blue walls again lately. Navy is such a classic colour, elegant yet enveloping, and has always been my go-to colour (thinking mainly clothing here I suppose) – though I’ve never painted my walls with it.

I love that it’s a masculine sort of colour, but look how beautiful it can be paired with delicate, feminine-patterned wallpaper with subtle hints of lilac (above).

I’ve posted this room before (above), the navy dining room where the white really pops in chairs and curtains, but it’s one of my favourites.

jan showers

Now, here’s an idea that I’ve really been stewing over: a navy blue kitchen, with stainless steel, white and charcoal to add different textures and play against the blue. Sophisticated, no?

Of course, when thinking dark blue kitchens, Windsor Smith’s is the benchmark. Remember her floor of tiny white marble tiles and the dark blue shelving across the windows? This is my kitchen dream!

mary macdonald

Lots of white to relieve the blue: check.

windsor smith

A true marriage of classics: navy blue and white calcutta marble look so beautiful together. Powder rooms are really a great place to be brave with pattern/brights/dark colour, and this is fabulously moody. Moody spaces are just what I feel like on freezing and rainy afternoons like this one!