Duck egg living room ideas to create a beautifully refreshing colour scheme

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If you’re thinking of redecorating your living room with a soft shade of blue, consider these duck egg living room ideas for inspiration. Duck egg living rooms can be the perfect way to introduce a key colour, without it feeling overwhelming – because duck egg blue is soft and serene.

If you’re planning your own duck egg living room, start by getting out a paint chart. Duck egg is not a single colour, but a palette of glorious shades that ranges from near green at one end of the spectrum to the blue we commonly associate with the name. Having this broad selection of ‘duck egg’ shades opens up the possibilities of designing a room exactly suited to your own personal tastes.

Dreamy duck egg blue living room ideas

If all your room needs to bring it to life is a fresh coat of paint, you can’t beat a soothing duck egg shade. It fits really well with all neutrals, from natural wood and cream to black and dark brown. It also looks great with bolder blues, making it easy to introduce some fun and vibrant accessories.

Remember a duck egg living room idea does not have to feature duck egg wall paint. Consider wallpaper designs too – patterns or plains. Floral and leaf motif designs are particularly suited to duck egg blues. Or leave walls neutral and save those duck egg shades for upholstery, flooring and window treatments or a selection of carefully chosen accessories.

1. Add a lively contrast

Add energy to a living space by teaming cool blue-green with punchy coral red. For a look that’s bold yet calming, team a warm duck egg with a calm palette of neutrals. Steel grey, crisp white and soothing stone.

Add interest with geometric prints on window blind ideas and cushions, then wake up the room with bright hits of fiery tomato. In a room with this kind of colour contrast, make sure the flooring and furniture is simple to keep things sophisticated.

2. Make it modern Miami

Think clear, blue skies and sparkling seas of this beach side destination, team this fresh, duck egg back drop with ramped up pastels in peachy pink with defining shades of sunshine yellow reminiscent of the iconic buildings of South Beach Miami.

Brass accents adds a modern, elevated finish along with shiny finishes for occasional furniture such as ultra luxe marble or a gloss, lacquered polish. Structural house plant ideas like large palms or cacti will bring an urban tropical edge to the room.

3. Paint every surface

For a soothing yet sophisticated finish, choose a shade of duck egg with grey undertones. This soft pastel can create a calming effect, so it’s best to use it in a room where you tend to relax and unwind such as a bedroom or living room. For a surprising and chic accent, go for touches of black to punctuate this wash of grey and blue.

4. Pair with a warm neutral

Create a harmonious combination by pairing duck egg with warm neutrals and off-white for a softer, toned-down contrast. Whilst a brighter white creates a fresh finish for a contemporary, Scandi scheme, stone shades instantly create a country slant.

‘Soft neutrals such as creams and subtle greys are great when paired with pastels, these create a serene setting that looks effortlessly stylish.’ says Hayley McAfee at Villa Nova.

5. Explore the colour spectrum

Duck egg can make a great anchor shade for full-on vibrant colours. This smart modern living room is resplendent in cobalt blue, jade and duck egg. The glorious blue of the chairs is built up by the gradations of duck egg and aqua green of the tiled modern fireplace idea. Paired back wooden flooring helps ground the vibrant aqua tones, while the glam gold coffee table provides a wonderfully eccentric finishing touch.

6. Make it country rustic

Create that artfully undone look that evokes the effortlessly relaxed, French rustic or Tuscan villa look with a duck egg paint effect. To create a plaster effect, slowly build up light layers of lime wash or watered down emulsion using a large brush, leaving each application to dry in between. Adding furniture with a white-washed finish gives an instantly aged look, whilst terracotta brick flooring conjures up that rural-chic farmhouse style.

7. Keep it fresh and easy

This room features several shades across the broad duck egg colour spectrum, and the natural blend of blues and greens makes for a fresh, foolproof colour palette. Perfect for clutter-lovers, duck egg’s calming effect will offset busyness if you like to have a lot of stuff on show.

8. Add country style with wall panelling

Add extra country charm to a duck egg living room scheme by painting wall panelling. A decorative wall panelling idea gives the decorating scheme an extra lift, but adding a texture and avoid the colour from looking flat. Adding furniture in tactile upholstery in coordinating colours helps to add warmth and texture to the look.

9. Introduce colour on the floor

If you’re full committed to this dreamy shade of blue you can afford to introduce the colour via a coloured carpet. A country classic Laura Ashley designed floral, such as this Iona design at Brintons, is a bold way to add interest to the living room scheme. If you know you won’t fall out of love with the hue it’s an investment that will prove timeless, but just be wary of making such a long term commitment if you’re not 100 per cent sure.

In order to make this living room flooring idea the main focus we recommend keeping the rest of the room fairly neutral – to avoid overpowering the scheme.

Buy now: Iona Carpet, in Duck Egg, £83.99 per sq m, Brintons

10. Pile on the pattern

Pattern makes a great alternative to block colour. In some ways, it offers a lighter approach to using colour because of the variations within it. From the living room wallpaper idea to the cushions and rug, almost everything bar a few minor accessories is patterned in this duck egg scheme. What every piece has in common is the use of off-white to create its pattern, which is key to all the various prints working together.

11. Give duck egg a contemporary edge

Duck egg has a reputation as being traditional in style, only suitable for a country home – well, we’re here to say forget that notion. Duck egg is a gloriously soft shade of blue/green that can be seen in even the most contemporary of interiors. This impressive eclectic living room features a striking jagged palm print wallpaper, one which brings the space to life.

The mixed tones of sage green and duck egg filters out to the tables and storage around the room on pottery and china, cushions and accessories. Pops of zesty yellow add further vibrance to the contemporary living space.

12. Be bold with painted bespoke furniture

This characterful living area makes a statement with storage, bookcases and doors painted in duck egg blue. The built-in living room storage idea is highlighted by the use of colour, making it an imaginative living room storage idea. The staircase opposite with grey stair carpet and yellow and orange painted bannisters.

13. Go for true blue

Pick a duck egg from the bluer end of the colour chart and let it shine on walls and rugs. This fern-themed duck egg living room is a breath of fresh air. The sky-like blue of the paint and floor rug is a natural fit with the leaf motifs of the framed prints, footstool and scatter cushions. Other tones in the room are kept to cream and wood finishes, creating a beautiful balance across the scheme that is naturally restful.

14. Embrace all shades of pastel

Combine different duck-egg tones for a pretty living room scheme. The wallpapered walls of this space have a hint of grey, the sofa offers a hit of green, while the armchair is at the boldest, bluest end of duck egg. Modernise the feel with white or glass furniture, a mid-toned laminate floor and fabrics featuring contemporary prints of rabbits and florals. Accents of pastel yellow, pink and grey punctuate this beautiful scheme and are brought to the fore in wall-hung box display shelving.

15. Set the scene with a feature wallpaper

Create a duck-egg feature wall using a distinctive and stylish wallpaper from floor to ceiling. This wallpaper features open shelves and heirloom decanters and vases filled with lilies and honesty and has a retro style that is effortlessly warm and convivial. The primrose yellow Chesterfield sofa with contrast piping is the showy centrepiece and it is flanked by elegant velvet wing chairs in deepest blue velvet and Ercol-style storage that adds another vintage edge.

16. Add key accents to celebrate the shade

Keep a duck egg scheme subtle by using a washed out hue on the walls with brighter flashes of the colour within the wider decorating scheme. Bring in pretty upholstered furniture and key soft furnishings, such as cushions and rugs in a more saturated shade of duck egg. Add further pops with smaller accessories to balance the pops of colour at every eye level, from vases on a sideboard to wall art.  Wooden furniture and flooring provides a clean base to enhance soft colour pairings.

17. Coordinate your prints

Team duck egg blue with natural motifs on walls and fabrics for a country-style living room scheme that feels fresh and welcoming. A backdrop of songbirds and oak leaves is the perfect companion piece for a wooden day bed filled with seat, cushion and throw fabrics featuring florals, stripes, beech leaves, poesies, British birds and even Scottie dogs. What more could a country-style living room need?

If you love duck-egg blue, but don’t want to decorate with it, then bring the shade to furniture and accessories instead of walls, curtains and floors.

Additional words by Michela Colling