5 Tips for Styling a Blue Sofa in your Living Room

FEB 25, 2022

Strike a blue note and channel some colour confidence into your sofa and living room.

A new blue sofa crew has arrived to shift the dial towards more adventurous interiors. Rather than disappear into the background, richly hued blue lounges are back in the spotlight and have ignited our sense of escapism. Expansive and uplifting, furniture in shades of indigo, aqua, lapis lazuli, teal, and cobalt speaks to our imaginations. So unleash your living room’s wanderlust and discover the new rules of styling a blue sofa.

1. HOW TO MAKE A BLUE SOFA FEEL MORE OPULENT WITH GOLDEN HUES

The endless neutrality of interiors has given way to a new appetite for rich combinations, such as the popular duet of cobalt blue and natural tan or mustard yellow. The contrast between boldness and nature encapsulates our desire for discovery and simplicity, and it’s best expressed through furniture, wall colours, and home accessories.

In a recent fashion colour report, Laurie Pressman from the Pantone Colour Institute said, “timeless tones and artful brights embrace our contrasting desires for serenity and stability with energy and excitement.”

In its wake comes a contemporary opulence in living rooms adorned for elaborate entertaining with sofas in lichen, azurite, smalt, and Prussian blue.

Further, the need to express our individuality without restraint has shown itself in accessories such as lighting, footstools, and side tables.

Felix Coran’s home reflects this duality. His imaginative taste mixes a satisfying colour combination of his Song sofa in cobalt blue with a mood-boosting orange footstool and dramatic painting. Some may feel nervous about pairing navy with strong colours. However, Felix loves its boldness and advises, “Homes are transient spaces. To embrace the movement within them, I hang art that accentuates the feeling or activity of the space.”

Stylist Tip: take your interior on a grand tour and consider a versatile palette offering both calm and bold clashing combinations. Team your blue sofa with golds, tans and apricot shades to ground the palette, joined by vibrant pinks, soft mint and bejewelled greens.

2. BEST APPROACH TO MIXING NATURE-INSPIRED TEXTURES AND A BLUE SOFA?

The movement of bringing nature into our homes has led to an array of biophilic designs, tones and textures. Our nature-centric interiors, centred on peace and wellbeing, come alive with “deep blue velvets, like our Indigo Spice, contrast beautifully against stonewashed linen or slubby cotton textures,” advises Rebecca Skelton, Maker & Son’s Lead Designer Textiles & Homewares.

“I would combine darker shades of blue, for example, our Obsidian or Hawkseye upholstery fabrics with natural or undyed linens – a classic colour combination which should give a harmonious feeling to a room.”

Styling Tip: For those who can’t resist the lightness of an all-cream or all-white space, adding hints of blue will help ground a room and modernise it.

3. DISCOVER WHICH WALL COLOUR WORKS BEST WITH BLUE

Do you prefer your sofa to stand out? Or, do you love an immersive setting where the couch and walls harmonise together?

“If I were to use blue as a continuous, enveloping colour story in the room, I would try to mix and match different tones of blue, in different textures or as accents within patterning,” Rebecca says. “This should break up the monotony of only using one colour and give richness and interest to the room.”

For more contrast and to make your sofa the standout piece, she suggests “a bold blue on a sofa to give a neutral room a focal point and inject some personality.”

“I would balance the blue with some warmer-coloured cushions in rose, terracotta, or orange, but stick to the lighter-coloured wall colour to maintain a certain level of calm-eggshell, white, or ecru.”

“The rules of colour theory dictate that yellow is the complementary colour to blue. With this in mind, I would choose some mustard accessories for some pops of bold colour. “

4. IDEAL RUG TO PAIR WITH YOUR BLUE SOFA?

When it comes to adding warmth and comfort, a timeless ruganchors your sofa and stops it from floating in a room. Using design elements such as lighting and soft flooring, creates connections from which you can build a truly unique space.

When it comes to finding the perfect match for your blue chaise, think about the impact you want the rug to have on the overall interior.

We know rugs can completely change the personality of a room. But which one pairs best with a blue chaise or corner sofa?

“I would combine a blue sofa with our Jute or Uneven Looped rug. The subtle natural tones and deep textures will add to the calming effect of the blue,” shares Rebecca. “Consider understated neutral rugs in gentle shades such as grey, sand, cream, and beige to complement your blue lounge without overpowering it.”

“While a rug woven from natural materials such as jute or stoney-hued wool will make for an understated and beautiful combination, you could break up the blue with an unusual texture, pattern, or stripe underfoot to make a solid blue sofa pop.”

5. WHAT FURNITURE BEST COMPLEMENTS YOUR BLUE SOFA?

Functional furniture colours that reflect the natural world continue to dominate, but balancing this is a new confidence to add footstools and coffee tables with more distinct texture and personality.

When it comes to essential pieces to pair with a lounge, there’s also different interior genres to consider, such as coastal, country, and city aesthetics.

When it comes to the coastal side, “I would echo the natural hues of the coastal landscape by combining lighter shades of blue with paler furniture,” advises Rebecca.

For a country home feel, she believes, “blue sits well with more rustic, wooden furniture such as walnut or oak Dove table.”

Finally, for a city aesthetic, it’s time to “go bold, combining stronger blues such as cobalt with brightly coloured art on the walls.”