Blue has got to be the most popular wall color right now. But there are so many blues to choose from so how do you know which one is right for your home?

What kind of blue do you want? A light blue? Dark blue? Baby blue? Red blue? The list can go on and on. Choosing the wrong blue can really be a costly mistake so pay attention for this really easy way to choose a color for your home.

There are several ways to go about this. First of all, and the most obvious way, is to just pull out a color that is already in your home somewhere. If you already have it in your home, that means you already like it. Here’s what I mean.

Today at my color consultation  in Baxter Village, Fort Mill SC, my clients were thinking about a blue for their family room. They had a rug that was rolled up in another room that they were thinking about using in that room so I asked to see it. Once they brought the area rug in to the room and unrolled it, there it was, already in the rug, the perfect blue for their family room.

I don’t have the exact picture of the rug they have but it doesn’t matter. Let’s say you have this Capel Rug that has several blues in it. There are a few ways to choose the right blue just by looking at this rug.

You can choose a blue that’s very close to the blue in the rug which is A. Or you can go a bit lighter which is B or you can go darker with C. It’s REALLY easy to do!

I know what you’re saying now, “But I can’t match the colors that are in the rug exactly!” That’s fine! You don’t and you shouldn’t. Your decor shouldn’t be matchy matchy but certainly coordinate with your decor. The blues I have are VERY close to the rug colors but what other blues would work? Experiment and see! Take your rug to the store (hopefully that will be a Benjamin Moore store because they have amazing blues) and go to that paint department. Yes it’s going to be a pain to lug this rug into the store but this is what you need to do if you’re doing this by yourself.

Go to the section of blues that are closest to the overall blues in your rug and take one of each blue chip.

Now go home, place the area rug on the floor in the room it’s going in and look at the blues that you just picked. Hold the chips vertically, not flat, and see how you like it. I would  even tape a piece of white printer paper (and I do this at my color consultations) on the wall and then tape the color chip on the paper. Step back and see which one has the best overall “feel” or direction you want to go in.

Do this over and over until you get close to a blue that you like. Don’t paint on the walls and don’t go for an exact match, coordinate the color for the best look.