We have several oil paintings we plan to use within a “gallery wall” in our living area. Lots of colors. I suppose I could pull a single color out of one of them. They are canvases we have collected from our travels. I’ve never really thought that art had to to match one’s decor per se’.
@Joblue – I feel as though I looked at every single BM color in that range, but I do not recall that one. Or it is not among the 40 samples I bought. Love it.
@Hoggirl – no, I don’t think art work has to match; I think that was just a suggestion to pull one color out as the ‘pop’ color. Or maybe I interpreted incorrectly. I noticed it at a friend’s houses recently, and it was really cool, and subtle.
We have two bathrooms painted Sherwin Williams “breaktime”. It is a lovely pale sea glass color with some green in it. One of my favorite colors in the house.
If you go to SW you can get a little sample (about a pint) for $5. It makes it worth it to buy a few and try them on your walls and see how they look in various places. Light and color can be thrown around in unexpected ways and may surprise you.
I would stick to one of the soft beach glass colors. Since you love blue make sure to stay away from the colors that lean toward green.
@Kajon - that’s what I’m trying to do. 
I will say this…try a couple colors as suggested above with small samples. I mentioned sea glass above - well I have it in two different areas and it looks different in each one. One spot it shows more green, one spot it looks more blue/gray - just depends on the lighting!
Have you see plantation shutters for sliders, like these: http://www.shutterblinds.com/SlidingGlassDoorShutters.html
I’ve seen other SGD coverings like these panel track shades from Smith & Noble, even from JCPenney: http://www.smithandnoble.com/search?q=panel%20track
@Silpat - those sliding shutters are groovy! I love them! bet they are cha-ching expensive, though! Our doors are basically the entire 12 ft wall. $$$$$
I love plantation shutters - are they white? Any wall with a little color will look great around them!
I have a navy bedroom and bathroom (the previous owners chose the color). It is lovely, but way, way, too dark. And navy is very difficult to cover once you tire of it. Start with a sea green or sky blue, and if you still want something darker, you can paint over it very easily.
@silpat, those window and door coverings are lovely, but I wonder how you remove the dust and clean them? We have sliding glass doors on our patio that are nearly floor to ceiling and cover a very large span. I have liked having drapes that I can wash periodically, even though I don’t wash them that often. They are starting to show age and I ought to find something that replace them.
@abasket - yes, my shutters are white-ish. Haven’t been down there in a year, so I can’t remember just how white they are.
@HImom, I’d probably just vacuum the sliding shades with a soft upholstery brush and spot clean any odd dirty marks with a sponge & some Dawn. We wipe down our plantation shutters with a damp microfiber cloth and they haven’t needed anything else in nearly a decade.
A simpler and less expensive alternative would be Sunbrella fabric curtain panels, maybe with grommets as mentioned by others earlier, in white or a light color. As long as the rod can extend beyond the casing it should be possible to pull the panels back far enough to expose the entire slider. I use outdoor curtains made of Sunbrella fabric in our sunroom and they’ve held up very well.
Thanks, @silpat. We haven’t really exerted the energy to do anything about our lovely sliding glass doors, but they do let in a LOT of radiant energy which is unpleasant in the summer heat. Will give it some thought. We were thinking of adding a coating (removable) to the glass so that less UV would enter the house, but read the warning that it COULD crack the glass, especially if it was older than a decade or two old (I believe ours is original from the 1950s or so). That stopped that train of thought!
My art.professor would get really salty about a navy blue art wall. The studio white wall has only been around since abstract expressionism became popular, though. It sounds like you have art you’ve collected because you love it vs. decorative art, so a studio white wall for your art would not be inappropriate. Get some good spotlighting for your pieces and that will make them look better than any wall color.
I wouldn’t do the entire space in studio white, though, too stark.
I would not do a saturated color like navy in a small space. Plus it takes multiple coats not to look like crap, you see every mistake you made with the brush, and it’s a bear to paint over.
If sea themed kitsch makes you happy, then go for it.
Without seeing your space I can’t make suggestions, but like others have said sea glass is a safe color to play with.
Ha ha @MotherOfDragons - No; Sea-themed kitsch does NOT make me happy at all.
It is curated art over many years. Mostly impressionist from places we have traveled.
I will abandon the notion of navy. Looking at the Benjamin Moore site (which is great, btw), I am drawn to Lake Placid and Ice Blue. I am just not s fan of anything greenish at all.
I appreciate everyone’s suggestions! Thank you!
I will warn you that paint can look so much different in your home than the website. Pick out some colors you like (more than you think!) and then go to the BM store and ask to borrow some 8" x 8" paint samples. Take them to the space and see how they work. When you narrow it down to a couple, buy some pints and paint a good 4 x 4 foot swath on a wall to give you an idea how it will really look.
Excellent advice @doschicos !
Yes, I agree that painting a large space (an entire wall) one color can definitely make things MUCH darker than you may expect. Back in the day, I painted a wall of my bedroom (with my parents’ blessing) a blue that I thought was light. Unfortunately, it made the small room even tinier and DARK, so I had to add clouds and sun peeking out behind them to brighten the room. It worked and we kept the room like that for many years. It has since been repainted to a cream/off white. 
Glad you won’t be painting navy–dark colors are especially bad for small spaces when you’re going for an airy look and feel.
I suggest you paint your sample colors on a piece of sheetrock, then you don’t have to worry about coverage when you do paint and you can move it all over to see it in the various types of lighting