11 Perfect Purple Paint Shades

Weekly Color Fix by Miriam Schulman, @schulmanArt

Which one is your favorite shade of purple?

In a Purple Haze

Valspar Regal Plum:

What makes purple a great interior color

Benjamin Moore Inspired: This is on a single wall in my gallery kitchen.  That way you don;t feel like you just fell into  a berry smoothie. Violet draws out a higher  consciousness, so they say, because it's nearest  to black. And it's simultaneously warm and  cool, vibrant and relaxed, vintage and fresh.  It makes me a mellow kind of happy. ~Noelle Lake

Martha Stewart Dusk by Glidden: {for hanging art on walls} I just don't  think white has the personality and  warmth that makes you feel invited  into a room, I want something a  little stringer, and this dusty lavender  has a soft powdery feeling. It's rich  and mysterious. antique velvet.  Anything you hang on it looks  more special~Hal Williamson

Valspar Purple Royalty: I find it relaxing whenever any dark  rich color is used throughout a room.  Your eye is not jumping from dark walls  to light trim, and you sink into the color  just as you'd sink into a comfortable sofa.  Its almost as if you're swimming in it.  And it opens up the space, because  you can't see where the boundaries are. ~Eddie Lee

[Farrow and Ball's Brassica is]  hard to describe- not aubergine, not purple,  not gray. Maybe a stone lavender?  If you do the trim in the same tone,  you get this warm cocoonish, sensual space.  I see it in a master bedroom or study,  paired with chocolate brown linen  velvet upholstery and deeper pops of aubergine.  ~Robert Passal

Benjamin Moore Passion Plum:  There's something mysterious and magical  about purple. A den or a library of a family  room--where you might traditionally go to  a sage green or a blood red--would feel  more modern in this shade, which is like the inside of a pansy. And darker colors are  always sexy, because they warm things up  and make everyone look better ~Kirsten Brant

Benjamin Moore Eggplant: There's something about paintings,  If you hang them on a light wall,  they blend into the wall and you're  not aware of them. Against a dark  wall, they jump right out. This  eggplant brings out their colors  and seems to intensify them. The  dark bacground purts a frame  around the painting that makes  it look stronger~ Mario Buatta

Farrow and Ball Brinjal: (another color great for hanging art!) I have some 18th-century Swedish  engravings in gilded frames, and  this dark, penetrating color makes  them radiate off the walls. It's sexy  and mysterious, somewhere between  purple and brown, and the darkness  brings out the precision of these lines.  Add acid green, lemony yellow,  or pink. ~Marcy Masterson

Benjamin Moore Sleepy Hollow: Maybe you'd actually use your  living room if you painted it this  dusty purple, It's cheerful and  bright in the light and at night  it gets moody and just wraps  itself around you. White moldings  and hot magenta or chartreuse  fabrics would make it come  alive. Or try silvery grays and  washed out blues. Throw in some  sparkle with mercury glass. ~Eileen Kathryn Boyd

Other blog posts you might like:

• Five Reasons to Love the Color Purple
• Autumn's Romance with Purple.

Which one is your favorite shade of purple?