Those cobalt blue Christmas decorations in another post got me to write about this color.
How can you be bold, intense, and deeply calming at the same time? That’s cobalt! Just a dash of this color brings an electric energy to any room.
Technically speaking, this particular blue color in paint is good to use because of its lightfastness. This means that the blue pigment in the paint is not prone to photodegradation, resulting in a paint that is stable and that resists breaking down when exposed to light or UV radiation. In other words, this paint color resists fading.
Cobalt Blue in Interiors
Because of its high impact, the color can be used to define spatial logic in a space, like circulation and flow to map out how people walk from point A to point B, or zoning to divide open plans into functional areas just by using paint and not walls, or heirarchy which makes it intuitive to define what are social spaces and private ones.
Cobalt can also be used as a bold design element even if it is only 10% of the color palette in a space.
Circulation
Despite the thinness of the cobalt lines, they still can loudly say how you can go around in a space. There are the baseboards and the door frames to guide you.
Zoning
You would know that this is a separate functional area just with the color. Because it is also said so boldly, you don’t question its function in an open space. Cobalt says it is and there’s no arguing about it. Because it is surrounded by a bigger expanse of white, the zone stands out.
Heirarchy
Paint your staircase cobalt to define heirarchy, which is to indicate what the public and private spaces are. In this photo, it silently signals that the upper floors are private spaces.
An Accent Color with Impact
This high-vibrancy blue jewel of a color, even in just a small side table, demands attention and creates a supremely confident vibe. Despite its minor ratio in the color story, it still packs a deeply luxurious, dramatic aesthetic.
Bright Blues in Boysen Color Trends
We’ve got bright blues in some of the past years’ color trends. These may not be cobalt, but they also carry a lot of impact.
Blue For You (BCT18-7415S)
Blue for You is a personal favorite, even to this day, eight years after it was launched in 2018. It is such a bold and immersive color that pulls you in and grounds you at the same time. This cobalt blue will fit in any part of the house, from an entryway to an inner sanctum.
Marine Sanctuary (BCT21-7441S)
Another deep blue is Marine Sanctuary of Boysen Color Trend 2022/2023. Use the energy of this blue to enliven a space, to create impact, and to express yourself. This is bold and can perfectly complement an intense color like orange. Check out the LIVE color palette.
Blessed Blues
If you’re stumped when making a color story for your home, start with blue. It carries a higher frequency and more energy than the warm colors of red and yellow, which is probably why it is the most popular color in the world.
There are so many blues, of course. A good starting point would be to go to the Boysen Color Trends website and go through the palettes since we started in 2015. If that’s too much, a good introduction to Boysen’s bright blues would be this snippet of familiar blues that remind us of sea and sky. Check out this post on cerulean blues.
If you want a paint match for cobalt blue, visit a Boysen Color Mix and Match color station. Find the one closest to you in this link. You can have your cobalt shade mixed into popular Boysen product lines depending on your surface:
- BOYSEN Permacoat Latex (for concrete walls and drywalls)
- BOYSEN Healthy Home (antibacterial interior latex)
- Virtuoso Silk Touch (luxurious matte, low-VOC interior paint)
- Titan Superflex Elastomeric Paint (self-priming paint for interior and exterior concrete surfaces)
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