Julia Ryan Pawleys Island Realtor & Lifestyle Blogger

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Men's Study: a masculine den | Paint Choices

On Wednesday I posted about our new den and how paint color and textiles were going to play the biggest role in achieving the look we are after.  This room is for Matthew, a dedicated man-space if you will, and I want it to reflect his style and his hobbies.  It's located just off of our front hall, in the old dining room, so it really has to flow well with the rest of the house as well.

I first mentioned using a dark navy on the walls.  We eventually plan to close off the cased opening with french doors and rehang the door to kitchen which will help close off this room, creating a more intimate atmosphere.  That would also decrease the need for this room to aesthetically flow as well with the rest of the downstairs. 

I mentioned navy blue in this post and several of y'all suggested looking for a shade of blue in the same hue as we've used in the rest of the house.  Great advice.  I will absolutely be doing so if we go this route.  You can see in the top image below, it's pretty kickass.  I had completely talked myseld out of this option by yesterday afternoon but now that I can visualize it better, I'm in love.  The navy reads really young and fresh to me which some of y'all were concerned about.  It's not too old-school at all.

There were several suggestions for charcoal gray, which I love, but just don't think would work with all the warm tones in our furniture.  We had a warm tone charcoal gray in our master bedroom in our last house and I got sick of it really quickly.  I also venture to say that charcoal grey might read too young in this space.  I will probably regret saying this, but I have a feeling that grey is on it's way out in favor of more color.  Now, clearly based on the whole furniture arranging lately I don't give a hoot about rules or what's in or out.  Do what you love.  I just thought I'd mention that point.

In the bottom picture, I've used a much lighter shade of blue on the walls.  Sea Salt, cut to 50%, like we used in our master bedroom.  I love this option as well.  Without the addition of doors to close off the room, this color really flows with the rest of our house.  It's a soothing and easy color.  I love it.

Now that I've got you interested, please share your thoughts.  I'm so indecisive.  I've convinced Matthew to paint the light blue first and go back in a few years to do the navy.  But that's crazy right.  We need to just fall in love with a plan and execute it!


As for the textiles, I'm pretty in love with the pillow covers I found for the space.  Much more masculine and out-doorsy than I usually select.  But they're perfect in here I think.  Also, the gallery wall grid I've placed above the leather sofa will be created with wood tone Ikea Ribba frames.  The 8x10 openings will be filled with Matthew's pictures.  Mostly hunting, fishing, or golf with a few cabin pictures thrown in I assume.