How to Work Navy into Your Decor – (Plus Vote on Your Favorite Paint)

I love navy (and all shades of blue) but up until now, I have only added it to my home with accessories…

Ways I Have Decorated with Blue and White

If you have read my blog or Instagram lately, you know I have been babbling on about painting my dining room navy.  It’s been red for years and I am finally moving ahead with that decision.

What has held me back?  Well, besides my usual decorating procrastination, I wanted the room to flow with the rest of the house without having to change too much.  I had to really think about the best way to make the navy work.  Now that I have a plan, I will share my thoughts with you.

Here are some tips to work navy (or any new color) into your decor:

1.  Assess which pieces are staying.  

In my case, I will be keeping the china cabinet, table and possibly the chairs.  I will probably end up changing the head chairs to something different but overall the furniture will stay the same.  I like the idea of the dark cherry furniture against the navy walls.  The rug has a tiny bit of navy in it so it could stay but I have had it for about 19 years so I want to change it eventually.

2.  Decide if navy walls will work with the paint colors in the adjoining rooms.

The last thing you want to do is repaint the entire house!  Luckily, my kitchen is Manchester Tan, the foyer is White Sand and the living room across the foyer is Bone White so yes, the navy will work with those.

3.  Make sure nearby rooms have some navy in them.

This was easy for me since I do have some navy accessories in my kitchen and family room.

My home office down the hall has some navy in it as well.

4.  Consider getting rid of the old color from the whole color sche

Since my dining room walls will no longer be red, I will slowly eliminate the red in my home.  Like I said above, the dining room rug will eventually go and I also plan to change the foyer rug to something with some navy in it.  I am still working on a few simple changes in the living room and getting rid of most of the red in there will help too.

5.  Bring one of the colors from the other rooms into the navy room.

Yes, I will be getting rid of the red in the other rooms but I will keep the tans and the greens.  Both should work well in my navy dining room.

And because it’s always fun to share your opinions, I would love for you to vote on your favorite paint color for the room. 

(I usually use Benjamin Moore so those are what the samples reflect.  The Decorators White below the chair rail will stay the same.)

I always paint samples on large boards so I can move them around the room to test out the lighting during different times of the day.

Here are what I have narrowed it down to:

Hale Navy

Deep Royal

Newburyport Blue

If you think I should trash the navy paint idea and just go with something light and bright on the walls (and use navy accessories instead), here is how Winds Breath could look in the room:

Winds Breath

You can leave your vote in the comment section below.  Feel free to be honest.  You won’t hurt my feelings…After all, it’s only paint!

As you can see by this recent text, one of my best friends was not afraid to voice her opinion…

Thanks for your paint color opinions!  I appreciate your help! 

** Click here for the update to see what color I chose!

Hopefully my tips above helped you if you are also deciding on adding navy or any new color to your home!

Do you have any navy in your home?

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