Kittiwake

Kittiwake is a clean, cool mid blue. Farrow & Ball says it was inspired by the wings of seabirds seen in bright sunlight, and places it between Parma Gray and Lulworth Blue on its colour card.

What separates it from those neighbours, according to the brand, is a touch more black pigment. That small amount of black takes the sweetness out of the blue and, in Farrow & Ball's words, gives it a warmer, more relaxed feel. It is still a blue, not a blue-gray.

Farrow & Ball's main claim for Kittiwake is that it stays truly blue in all lights. Many soft blues drift to gray in cool, dim rooms; the extra black here is meant to hold the colour steady rather than let it wash out.

In the Marina Hanisch Interiors living room on this page, the walls and ceiling are both painted, and the blue reads consistently from the sunlit window wall to the corners away from the light. Sample it on two walls of your own room before committing, since the brand does not publish an LRV.

Farrow & Ball recommends Kittiwake for living spaces, and says it suits contemporary kitchens because it complements stainless steel.

The real rooms here show it wrapped over walls and ceiling in a family room, with blue upholstery, white woodwork and natural textures. Taking it onto the ceiling makes the room feel enveloping without the weight of a dark colour.

Farrow & Ball's complementary white is Strong White No. 2001. Its sample schemes use Cornforth White, Calamine and Strong White as accents, with Wine Dark, Sulking Room Pink or Blackened on trim, and it names Wine Dark and Borrowed Light as good companions.

For something similar from another brand, compare Little Falls by Benjamin Moore, a very close gray-blue on screen, or Wythe Blue, which leans greener.