Aqua Color Palette With Belgian Inspired Paint Colors spotlights dreamily timeless and tranquil interiors curated and created from a favorite muse of this blog. For me, these less used colors are utterly engaging, calming, and inviting. Reminiscent of the sea and hazy heavenly skies, color me charmed. Designer Desiree Ashworth (@beljarhome) masterfully mixes these in Swedish, Belgian, and French moments in combination with raw wood and woven textures.
Aqua Color Palette & Paint Colors
Interior Design: Desiree Ashworth – Photography: Eliesa Findeis & Decor de Provence
These lovely tones inspired by nature have a mystique on their own yet are elevated when artfully combined with the rich warmth of stone and wood.
Weaving this rich color palette with sophisticated finishes, furniture, antiques, and treasures within a European country influenced home?
Simply and gracefully, they usher in a peaceful backdrop for love.
What sets such a color story apart?
Belgian Blue Green Paint Colors & Chalky European Tones
The coastal-suggestive blue-green colors mixed here are chalkier and less precious than pastels.
Wouldn’t you agree? In so many American shabby chic style interiors, there’s a more saturated, bright, and ice cream shop (even retro) mood. In contrast, this level of understated color suggests age, decades or centuries of fading from sunlight, and an authenticity that is difficult to reproduce.
Another layer of unexpected loveliness within this stone cottage?
The sheer reality that it resides outside of the South of France. My heart is warmed by the reality that is a new build since it suggests WHAT IS POSSIBLE. So many times we view historic properties online or in person and feel the ache that such beauty is beyond reach. Beljar Home seems to challenge that notion; Desiree proves it may be possible to soothe that ache with new creation.
Do these glimpses also have a watercolor essence? Oh, the prospect of living within art is a lovely one, oui?
Serenely Euro Inspired Color Palette
While many shades of green continue to have a moment all across social media (we need extra doses of nurturance, fresh growth, and cash (ha!) in the 2020s!), my heart is drawn to whispery celery tones such as that on this patina-pretty lantern.
I can’t imagine how many followers have messaged Desiree about the custom stains she has created for her homes.
And will we be at all surprised if her own line of paints and stains are right around the corner? So lovely and unique!
While many of the pieces in this home are collected European antiques, others (bed, dining room chairs, etc.) were found at Alice Lane.
It’s such an incredible source for quality-crafted pieces meant to be used and enjoyed forever.
I can imagine building a design around this incredible antique gold bed (above), and there are so many places a gorgeous table lamp such as this one could live:
Right?
When Muted Greens and Blues Are the Colors You Choose
If cool blues and greens are calling your name, don’t forget about their muddy, chalkier counterparts.
Something magical happens when the bright quality is quieted with age, with greige, with sage.
There are all these quieter, faded, subdued, and complex hues that are so atmospheric and ethereal, they aren’t easily articulated.
Is it more grey than blue? Does it land somewhere between a hazy sky and a kitten’s velvety coat?
Maybe it is so very cashmere-like, it calls to you to take a metaphorical nap inside it?
What a lovely world of mysterious color alive and able to soothe weary souls!
For me, such chalky blue-greens and blue-grays are also the colors of dreams.
While they exist in nature, there is a misty mystique about them that I suspect appeals to dreamers and horizon types.
By horizon types, I guess I mean those among us who hold an optimism in spite of present danger and discouraging news. We need these dreamers who are energized to make the world more beautiful in small yet significant ways.
Our Muse to Set the Tone
Who can sing a cowboy lullaby summoning greens and blues better than James?
Swedish-Belgian-French Cottage Inspiration
Desiree of Beljar Home and Decor de Provence designed the interiors and dreamed this Gustavian French cottage into reality.
The kitchen’s subway tiles are Aqua from Ann Sacks, and I’m sure she must be exhausted from so many questions about them. I wonder if the interest in them is due to the fact that most homeowners designing their kitchen are too fearful to commit to this color, believing it is not neutral enough for years to come.
We tend to wonder if we will tire too quickly of a particular color. And it’s such a valid concern.
BTW, HERE are some budget-friendly ideas for minty green subway tile.
So there’s a boldness when one decides to diverge from white subway tile or white marble in favor of something less common.
But it’s also true that some of us know full well we won’t be staying in a particular home forever. *ahem* Some of us are often dreaming of the next adventure even as a current one is near completion. How about you? Are you a horizon type or less of a horizon type?
Lovely Grey French & Belgian Paint Colors
When Desiree shared daily inspiration on her beautiful blog Decor de Provence years ago, we learned she favored colors from Flamant. Any experience with those hues from across the pond?
I peeked at Flamant and thought about similar hues more accessible in the USA and for which I’m more familiar.
Here’s an idea for a neutral gray, although Wickham Gray has a bit less green undertone:
Another option with cool undertones you can’t easily detect by simply looking at these online swatches…
That’s why it is so important to sample them! And Samplize makes it easy.
Need more ideas for atmospheric blue-grey paint colors to sample?
Idea for a Green or Grey Tile
Chalky Blue-Gray, Blue-Green, and Soft Grey Paint Colors to Sample
Sometimes looking at grey paint colors online gets confusing. They all seem to look alike, and it’s not easy to detect undertones or discern what their differences may be.
Sampling a handful of a similar tone will help since you’ll be able to view them side by side in different lighting situations. The four colors above may appear similar at first blush, but you can sort of begin to see the variation on the palette.
Flamant Colors & Ideas to Get the Look
It can be tricky nailing a soft pale and tranquil blue or blue-grey that doesn’t feel nursery-like. Angel has a lot of grey with blue.
Glass Slipper has a bit of green in the formula’s undertones.
Blue Horizon feels like a peaceful sky, though it may be too blue in a particular lighting condition. Quite often, we’re better off looking in the range of gray paint colors and sampling a few. Inevitably, many of them read blue when we test them at home.
Flamant Blue Paint Colors & Ideas to Get the Look
Sometimes it is blue we’re after!
I find it helpful to look at European paint lines such as Flamant and begin to see the qualities that feel more European inspired.
While SW Rain has more green/teal, it also reminds me of a European hue that works with a Swedish-Belgian-French mood.
Wouldn’t these next deep blue-grays be lovely on kitchen cabinets?
Remember too, you can vary the saturation of a color if after sampling, it feels a bit too bold. You can ask for a sample with a reduced saturation (70%, 40%, etc.) and see it if is closer to what you see in your mind’s eye as the perfect tone.
And isn’t this a lovely tile in that family of colors?
Here’s a light blue tile I’m crushing on for its color and glazed appearance. It has terrific reviews, and I can imagine it feeling so cheerful and fresh yet chic.
European Inspired Color Stories With Green
Easiest way to see if a paint color will work? Order samples with Samplize and have them delivered straight to your door.
Aqua and Green Tiles: Get the Look
Ideas for Trim Colors
The trim in this French cottage is stained a custom a blue-grey-green…so unusual in American homes and lends such Nordic charm!
Trim was also stained this color in her prior French home (so interesting with those creamy walls).
It can take years to hunt down the perfect vintage piece for your French country home – the cupboard above, for example. However, sometimes you can score a replica – see this post with a chippy vintage style glass front pretty blue cabinet.
Decor & Furniture Ideas
As for sources for the beautiful furnishings and decor in her home, the homeowner is also owner of Beljar Home.
The majority of the pieces in this home are collected, antique, and vintage (a favorite source of hers was Brambles and Blossoms in Provo, UT).
Desiree says reclaimed light fixtures are one of her must-haves so you will have to hunt down these European fixtures! But maybe you’ll be able to score them at Bell Jar Home too!
Swedish Belgian French Modern Looks
Sumptuous & French Blue
Rustic French Gustavian Lighting Ideas
Rustic French Cottage Accents
French Country Kitchen Accents
Books With More Ideas
Psst. Ever see this tour of the guest house at Patina Farm?
Shopr Carousel will be displayed here. Click this text to start editing options in the right hand panel.
Peace to you right where you are.
-michele
I independently selected products in this post—if you buy from one of my links, I may earn a commission.
Thanks for shopping RIGHT HERE to keep decor inspiration flowing on Hello Lovely!
Hello Lovely is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
