Wall paint color?

sky blue?

I did a wall paper.

You may want to consider gray. I painted my walls several shades of gray to simulate an overcast day and have received favorable comments.

I did just what Mike CT did.

Hi Doug,

Here's the color I used

I haven't painted the wall yet but I took the background I purchased from The Border Store to Lowe's and had the sky color matched.  I intend to paint the wall and then apply the background and hope it's a good match.

Wow, I just went to their website and they've retired and closed the store.  I guess no more backgrounds from them for me.

How many crayons would you think it will take to cover a wall?  

It got a blue coat, and then a white fade.

thinking that it might take ½ crayon to do a good size O scale room,

48 x 48 ÷ 2 = 1,152  [ed... oops, blunder... first calculated for volume, not area]

and since you need a box of 32 before the color shows up, @ ~3.75/box...

1,152 x $3.75 = $4,320. [ed. that's better]

on the upside, you could probably invite the neighborhood kids over, hop them up on a few pitchers of Kool-Aid and the walls would be covered in a matter of a few hours.

Get a sample size mixed first of whatever color you choose.  The lighting in the room is going to make a big difference in how the color looks and photographs

Hi Alex, I haven't talked to you for a while.  Is there a name for that color or did you take a sample and have them match it?

Thats a good idea.  Thanks

You can't go wrong with blue, but of course you can always choose the wrong shade.  It makes a difference if you want a western deep blue sky or an eastern cloudy, hazy blue sky.  Deeper is better looking to most, but easy to get it too blue and artificial looking.  If you get it too blue, you can always stop and add white to it to tone it down.  Good luck.

Art

Mine are just a bit lighter than a mid summer day clear sky blue.   When we had an artist do a mural on one of the 4 walls,  the blue tended to work better to integrate with the rural country scene.

Visible on this video if your interested as the train goes around the room:  

I never regretted this light blue color in the old layout room....

It was painted in late 92 and the paint was bought at HomeQuarters Warehouse, now, long gone.

Peter

Hi Doug,

There's no name for this color, it was custom mixed, if you give Home Depot

the number's in the picture above you will get the same color

alex

Thanks Alex 

It all depends on the look you're going for.

I painted my walls with Sherwin Williams White Duck. Not necessarily realistic, but it's  a neutral color that doesn't compete with the bright colors of my prewar Lionel trains that are on the walls.

Thanks for the input.  Which is better, flat, satin, etc?

My train room has two colors as it splits the basement. Sky Blue and Wheat

I also did a sky wallpaper

We didn't use flat--I think we used satin, and now I regret it because it shows the careless job our builder did on the drywall. Flat paint is better at hiding flaws in the taping / mud work. The only thing that saved the poor drywall work in our room is the walls are entirely covered in trains / artwork.

Behr sells a tint called Horizon Blue. It is a great color to use as paint. But, to truly make the sky look as real like as possible, paint the upper third the straight Horizon Blue and then the lower third Horizon Blue mixed with white to make it lighter and then paint the lower two thirds that color and blend in it at the juncture. If you go out and look at a real sky, it is deep blue above you and then gets lighter towards the horizon.

Rick

Thanks Rick.  Your clouds look great, how did you do them?

If you are running one of these then maybe pink would be a better choice.

Thanks Doug. I used stencils that are made by the New London Industries called The Clouds. I just held the stencil close to the wall and spray painted white on it giving a clean edge to the top part of the cloud and more wispy bottom part. I then spray painted some gray on some of the clouds to make them look as if they held more water vapor. On the stencils I taped a thin piece of wood across the top to make the stencil more rigid and easier for me to hold and manipulate. The blue paint was rolled onto darkening window shade material that I bought at JoAnn's at one of their half off sales. It took paint great and was easy to manipulate. I have since moved and am building layout #2 and I have painted directly on pre-painted concrete block walls in the basement. I am pleased with the effect there too.

Dark blue at the top and add white to the mix until you get to the bottom.

Paint clouds as necessary....

Thanks for the feedback!  I painted the walls today.

What!?!?!?!?   No pictures?  

Chris

Please no Pink. I have 2 weeks till my Son moves back to Iowa. Then I go into this pink room and start to relocate into his paneling room and then I can change my Daughters room into another more manly color. Ill probably change it to a blue color. 1st thing is to see what mess my son leaves me.

Chris, long time no see, hope you are doing well.  I'll take some pics soon, hot here, going to jump in the pool.

Scot, are you sure that you don't want to keep the pink

Skimmed the above; just any decent sky-blue (and we all know that the sky is many colors of blue, at many times) will be what you want. I did a medium sky blue then used cheap flat white spray cans paint to spray some "mid-summer" soft, hazy clouds. Worked well,

I think. Easy. Needs maintenance. On my layout it is eternally Noon, sunny/hazy, July 1, 1950. 

Overly "painterly" backgrounds (especially those done with oils) more often that not look

like cartoons, despite the best of intensions. A backdrop should not be noticed; if it draws your eye, it is too much. Good photo-rendition backdrops can get away with more presence, if properly handled and "perspectived" (now a word!).

Lightning, thunder, etc - ah, no.