Inspiration for a Bold Blue Bedroom

Full title of this post: Inspiration for a Bold Blue Bedroom that I Personally Am Not Using Because it Looked Terrible in My Space. So you see why I cut it off, right?

Pinspiration doesn’t always work, and here’s the reason: Pinteresting is a lot like window shopping. And as everyone who dresses herself knows, the clothes always look great on the mannequin, but sometimes, when you put them on your own body, something’s not quite right.

The same thing goes for rooms you see on Pinterest. Not only are the photos there often professionally designed, styled, and shot, but your home is just a different space. Maybe the ceiling height or architecture of your room is different, the exposure of your windows gives different light, or the flooring varies in color or material. Whatever the reason, Pinspiration doesn’t always translate seamlessly into your space. Case in point below.

When I presented my tale of paint woe in the guest room, I said that I had a bold new direction picked out with some fresh, inspiring images pinned to set me on my way. Here are some of those images:

 (William Waldron for Elle Decor via Daily News)

 (via with apologies--I wasn't able to track down the original source)

(Lisa Sherry Interieurs via Lonny)

(Patricia Goijens via A Beautiful Mess)

(via Better Homes & Gardens)

Photo by Jessica Buckley Interiors. See more living room designs
(via Houzz)

Beautiful, no? I’ve been seeing these blue rooms everywhere, and I just love them. I thought it might be nice to play into the darkness of the guest bedroom and go for a cozy, dramatic vibe. Many of these rooms have green undertones, so I headed in that direction and picked a swatch in a deep blue-green to test out in the room (paint color #6).

It was bad.

And not just because that’s a bad picture. I mean, it is a really bad picture, but it wasn’t good in real life, either.

If I had emptied the room of all our possessions and started fresh with this color in mind, it could have worked, but that was not the plan for the guest bedroom (I was going to DO NOTHING, remember?).

In fact, I had a bedroom this color some years back in a rental house. I’d just dropped out of grad school and had to move at an odd time of year. I ended up living with a friend of a friend who had been in the house for some time, and the entire house was filled with her stuff save a small bedroom with old but fabulous floors and tall white baseboards. I had a futon for a bed and a dresser with zip ties for handles, but I painted the walls a color just like this, and it was awesome. But as I said, it had tall white baseboards, and it also two large windows, so it was a much different room than our guest room, too.

After paint color #6 didn’t work out and I gave up on the idea of the deep blue walls for now (some day! some room!), I took a break from thinking about this room for a few days. And wouldn’t you know, in that time, I ended up coming back around to one of the first five colors! I’m really happy with how that decision turned out, so be sure to check back for that story and the after photos tomorrow!