Ask Julia: How Do I Decorate with Blue Carpet?
I recently received this cry for help:
Dear Abby (I mean Julia),
I know you’re into decorating with black and white, but can you offer any advice for those of us that are stuck with navy blue carpet - yuk- in the master bedroom?
Sincerely yours,
Stuck with the Blues
Dear Stuck with the Blues,
I’m sorry to hear you have to live with navy carpet, but at least it’s not the worst color to have to work with. Pity the people who have pink or teal!
If I were you, I’d go for a simple blue and white bedroom that works with it. You could paint the walls a light yellow, toasty tan, pale blue, or white. I would keep the color scheme as limited as possible–maybe one other accent color, but that’s it. Make the rest of the room fabulous enough, and maybe you won’t notice the navy carpet as much.
Blue with shades of brown or green are also popular right now, but since you already chose a blue and white comforter (shown above), let’s go with that.
Here are some examples of blue and white bedrooms that I hope will inspire you.
In this blue and white bedroom (Pottery Barn catalog), you can see how well the blue and white bedding works with crisp white walls and dark wood, and just a shot of yellow with the flowers:
Here’s a room with yellow walls (found here):
And another (found here):
Another good accent color with blue and white is red. Show your patriotism by decorating your bedroom with red, white, and blue (sold here):
Okay, that was a joke. Please don’t put American flag shams on your bed and tell everyone it was my idea!
Here’s a room from House and Gardens that has blue walls and at a least a little blue in the carpet (so far I haven’t been able to find a room with navy carpet like yours, though!):
This is Jane Seymour’s guest bedroom, featured in her book Making Yourself at Home (why they only photographed half of the bed, I have no idea, but I wanted to show you how it would look with a blue upholstered headboard):
Here’s a more masculine blue and white bedroom. The pumpkin orange color is an interesting choice to go with the blue and white if you want something darker:
Here’s a room with a brighter blue carpet that mixes lots of shades of blue:
This room shows how sophisticated tan or khaki walls can look with blue and white (Southern Living Idea House):
What I wouldn’t do–use any brighter blues like this (via Apartment Therapy). I think you’ll need to stick with pale, powdery, or slate blue tones so that the navy blends into the room better:
If all else fails, you can buy some big area rugs to cover as much as possible. The only danger in that is that you may inadvertently draw more attention to the floor than you want to.
Now I’ll open it up to all of my creative and talented readers. What do you think? Got any good decorating advice for working around navy carpeting? Has anyone had a similar dilemma that they found a solution for? We’d love to hear it!
UPDATE: Here’s what the Bed, Bath & Beyond bedding she bought would look like with khaki walls and pillows (thanks to reader Hairy Weisenheimmer for Photoshopping this together). Looks good, right?
Anyone else got a decorating question? E-mail me or leave it in the comments, and maybe I’ll choose yours to answer next time.
For more decorating inspiration:
March 31st, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Navy carpet is not the worst thing in the world. Teal carpet is! I would suggest a 2 color color scheme. Perhaps all white bedding and drapery with just a few blue accents in pillows or chinese pottery. Paint the walls a blue color as well to make the room look larger as the carpet and walls will not contrast one another. (try benjamin moore’s historical colors) I think the all blue walls and carpet contrasted by the white curtains etc. will give you a high style look. As for the furniture traditional cherry sleigh bed or four poster would be great. You could also go for the English bed and breakfast look and out lots of yello and blue stripes and toiles on the soft furnishings like the curtains bedding etc. . I love the picture on here of the yellow room with the four poster bed. However by the time you do all the things we suggest you could probably just re-carpet cheaper..LOL.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:55 pm
P.S. It is now evident to all that I cannot type!!!!
Sorry.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Love your ideas, JLB! Thanks! -Julia
March 31st, 2008 at 10:25 pm
it seems I am the only one bold (actually vain) enough to hold forth on their personal plan for this poor souls bedroom. I actually think you can do a lot with navy carpet. I totally agree with you Julia that putting area rugs down will only bring more attention to the carpet.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:02 am
I literally gasped when I saw the blue and white toile from the PB catalog! I LOVE it!
I’m going to admit something I haven’t ever spoken aloud before…. when I leased my very first apt almost 100 years ago, I actually REQUESTED the floor plan with the teal carpet. I cringe thinking about it to this day! Please keep in mind it was the tail end of the 80’s so teal was IN. Especially in Florida. (yeah right… was it ever REALLY in?)
April 1st, 2008 at 8:17 am
So often we have to deal with what we have.
Yes, pink or teal would have been a whole lot worse!! Or how ’bout that snazzy two toned green shag that was so poular in the 70’s?? LOL
IMHO, I would neutralize the blue with khaki paint on the walls. The comforter set is beautiful ; add some khaki throw pillows to tie it all together. Maybe a lighter khaki on the ceiling? I’d think white on the ceiling would reflect the carpet and increase the blue effect.
Anyway, thats my two cents. I’m adding a link to a pic describing my color ideas, let me know if it doesn’t show up.
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s240/lostinthgt64/NavyBedroom.jpg
April 1st, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Thanks for the ideas. I’m feeling very inspired.
April 1st, 2008 at 5:15 pm
As someone who is living with bright blue shag carpeting circa 1976 (vintage!), you have no idea how I ENVY the idea of navy carpet. What I’ve discovered is that if you put down enough rugs, you kind of forget the hideousness that lies beneath. Strangers might not, but how often are strangers in your bedroom?
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:18 am
Wow! Did everyone check out the link Hairy W gave us? Way cool. Thanks for taking the time to do that. Andrea–be sure to look at how your bedding would look with khaki walls and pillows. So nice to have a visual. Thanks HW!
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:26 pm
My pleasure!
PhotoShop is like a coloring book for big people
April 6th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
I have a blue and white bedroom. I have a duvet cover and shams (white with blue foral print) from IKEA ($29 for queen) and I jazzed it up with a blue blanket at the bottom and a darker blue patterned throw pillow. I have blue curtains (sheers really) also from IKEA and used the Nesters idea of ‘mistreatments’ to do a valance above them. I took the same fabric and wrapped it around some canvas stretchers stapled to the back) and hung it over the bed. Cheap art. I used several different fabrics, all in white and blues, to give the room texture and interest. It’s a very pleasing and soothing room. If only I had navy carpet.
July 8th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
[...] ever wanted to use different colors in the room. (We all remember the cry for help I got from Stuck with the Blues, who agonized over how to work around the blue carpet in her [...]
November 12th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Blue is more of a dark shade so its more likely to go with other dark colors but then again it all depends on how you want to symphonize your room. I do know that dark blue goes with a tropical shade of yellow to give it that island taste! Other than that I guess we all have to consult with Martha Stewart!
-Samantha