The Best Places To Put Ina Garten's Favorite Purple Paint Shade In Your Home

In a recent interview with House Beautiful, stylish food maven Ina Garten revealed her spirited efforts to find the perfect deep purple shade of paint for her library. Her paint choice, "Approaching Storm" by Benjamin Moore, is a deep neutral purple with charcoal undertones and hints of plum. It is rich and sophisticated, with a subtle, understated quality. In addition to providing a wash of color in a library, this daring color trend can work in a number of other room settings, including the bedroom and bathroom.

Purple can be a somewhat intimidating color for home decor. Although available in a wide range of hues from pastel lavender to dark indigo, and in tones from neutral to bright, purple's symbolic associations invoke a spectrum of dramatic imagery, including royalty, glamour, spirituality (due to its association with the crown chakra), and the occult. Purple also conveys cultural meanings, including military bravery (the Purple Heart medal is given to soldiers wounded in battle), as well as gay pride and LGBTQ resistance.

Choosing a rich purple shade like Ina Garten's recent discovery suggests a bold and classy approach to home decor. A deep neutral plum purple like this one can be a powerful base wall color for the bedroom, its soothing dark tones softened with pale mauve furnishings and a grey-toned plum headboard. Lightening up dark wall colors with pastel accents in a close color family is often an effective method to prevent an overall "too dark" feeling. Pale slate blue, a muted dusty rose, or pale dove grey would also work well in this design.

The bathroom is often a room that lacks, well, drama. The standard color palette for bathrooms is usually centered on white, with occasional neutral accents like blue or grey. There seems to be an almost fear-response to color in the bathroom, which is odd, given how elaborate many bathroom renovations are these days. Color is a powerful element in room decor, and the bathroom is a worthy candidate for vivid shades like deep purple.

There are a number of ways to utilize this hue in the bathroom, from tile to fixtures to cloth furnishings. Why not let your walls be the inspiration you build upon? Even one wall in purple can be a dramatic backdrop to be accessorized with a range of add-ons. The nice thing about cloth furnishings like shower curtains, linens, and rugs is they allow you to experiment and decorate the bathroom on a budget. Choose a versatile neutral shade for the bathroom that will let you play with color over time. Garten's favorite, Benjamin Moore's "Approaching Storm," is one to try, but you could also opt for similar shades like Farrow & Ball's "Pelt," or "Noblesse Oblige" by Valspar.

Combine deep purple accents with warm colors and natural textures to help tone down the effect, or go all-in with more modern and glam accents if you're feeling regal. Bringing art into the bathroom is another approach to decor that considers color: imagine watercolor prints with rosy sunset hues. Linens in shades of aqua, periwinkle, burgundy, mauve, gold, or terra cotta are all good potential accent colors for dark purple walls.