My friend Kelley, the one who made me jog for three months, recently finished a gorgeous addition to her home. She worked with architect Laura Campbell, who did Lesley’s beautiful home, to add on a new family room and kitchen downstairs and extra bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. My favorite parts of the whole project are the corner windows in the kitchen – such a lovely detail and attractive way to break up a wall of cabinets – and the navy blue island. Because navy blue. Now that the dust from the construction has settled, it’s time to fill in the family room with furniture. Naturally, we want to pull in navy blue.Just like your favorite pair of jeans, navy blue goes with everything. Orange, check. Yellow, check. Red, check, check. White, most definitely check. And, even black for a chic check. It is one of my favorite neutrals because it can be so versatile. Paint the walls a dark navy in an office for a serious, studious look. Punctuate a kid’s bedroom with navy bedding for a fun, whimsical atmosphere. And, as in Kelley’s case, ground the living room with a navy blue sofa for a family-friendly feel.This week I pulled together three designs to show you how you can use navy blue as your neutral. Using Kelley’s family room as the inspiration, I worked within her parameters, which were a cozy leather chair and a handsome floor lamp. For our purposes today, I assumed we could change the leather chair. Because one of the chairs is leather, I wanted the other chair to be decidedly different in shape but within the same scale. It was also important that it had a pattern in order to further differentiate it and give the room a collected feel.In each design, I used the same five pieces of furniture because they are the right shape and size for the room. Mixing up the fabric, accent furniture, rugs, and lighting gives each room a decidedly different look. Just so you can envision it, the key code to the fabrics is, one for the sofa, two for the leather for the Crescent chair (on the left), three for the Tulip chair (on the right), and four for the little 20” tufted pouf. If you see anything you like, then you can find it at Red Barn Mercantile. All the upholstered pieces are made by Cisco Home and, you’ll be happy to know, are on sale through the end of September! 

Design 1

This design feels very serene. The stripes are easy to do if you don’t love pattern because stripes aren’t too bold and never get boring. The navy blue linen for the sofa is not overpowering, which allows the darker navy side table to work with it seamlessly. Finally, the dark navy blue velvet for the pouf brings in a little warmth and texture. 

90” Louis Sofa slipcovered, $6,510 MSRP, $4,428 Sale Price; Leather Crescent Chair, $4,125 MSRP, $2,970 Sale Price; Tulip Chair, $3,600 MSRP, $2,592 Sale Price; 20” Pouf, $780 MSRP, $562 Sale Price; Floor Lamp, $695; Marble Topped Coffee Table, $2,878; Side Table, $1,950; Table Lamp, $349; Stool, $450; Wool 9”x12” rug, $2,998

Design 2

In this design, I used the same sofa but upholstered it in the same navy blue velvet used in the first design. It’s not a boring velvet. It’s quite handsome with tiny flecks of other colors. It pairs beautifully with one of my favorite rugs - the golden tones of the jute rug pair beautifully with the gray-blue. Stripes for the chair get a little bolder, but not so bold that one would tire of it. 

90” Louis Sofa upholstered, $5,385 MSRP, $3,878 Sale Price; Leather Crescent Chair, $4,125 MSRP, $2,970 Sale Price; Tulip Chair, $3,600 MSRP, $2,592 Sale Price; 20” Pouf, $780 MSRP, $562 Sale Price; Floor Lamp, $695; Marble Topped Coffee Table, $2,878; Side Table, $2,150; Table Lamp, $925; Stool, $1200; Wool 9”x12” rug, $1,514

Design 3

In this design, I went all-in on the blue. As in each design, toss pillows, throw blankets, and art are great places to bring in additional colors, but this room really leaves room for fun color. The sofa fabric is a little deceiving here as it is actually a very dark navy blue. I like it popping off the light marled blue rug. The pouf is a wonderful performance fabric. You can see both fabrics in all their glory on two sofas in the store right now. Finally, I went all-in for the collected look with the pattern for the accent chair. This fabric feels like the chair has been in the family for years. 

90” Louis Sofa slipcovered, $6,015 MSRP, $4,331 Sale Price; Leather Crescent Chair, $4,125 MSRP, $2,970 Sale Price; Tulip Chair, $3,030 MSRP, $2,182 Sale Price; 20” Pouf, $765 MSRP, $551 Sale Price; Floor Lamp, $695; Marble Topped Coffee Table, $2,878; Side Table, $620; Table Lamp, $435; Stool, $700; Wool 9”x12” rug, $1,090