Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
In honor of the holiday, it’s time to do a post about some of my favorite green paint colors.
However, this is the problem with green paint colors.
About a quarter of the colors in the fan deck are some shade of green. There are a zillion shades of green paint! It takes nothing for green to pop out of colors that don’t look green UNTIL they go up! In fact, here’s a post with some of my favorite shades of green that don’t say “green.”
I bet a good many of you have had this surprise after you painted your room.
For example. Several years ago, I got a panicked phone call from a prospective client.
“HELP,” she said. “I just had our large family room painted in Benjamin Moore French Canvas, and it’s GREEN!”
I went over to her home as soon as I could. And yep, she was right; what looked like a warm, creamy white on the chip went up looking like a pale celery green. But, not a healthy piece of celery. It was like the celery that you find in the back of your fridge six months later, forlorn and limp.
green, green, green
The “green effect” is common in north-facing rooms.
One more story, I know I told recently, but who knows where. But, I was helping a client with her bedroom. Everything and I mean everything we sampled, looked green. Even pink looked green. It was the weirdest thing ever, and I’m sure my client thought I was a total fraud. Finally, we went with a lovely cream which took on a very pale but healthy-looking celery color, and it was lovely. Phew!
With that in mind, I’m going to give you the usual 9 fabulous shades, but I will steer clear of some of the less obvious shades of green paint for the most part.
But, there are too many fabulous shades of green paint! I could probably list 200! But I won’t. When I was creating the Laurel Home Palette of colors, green was the most difficult color to narrow down.
Therefore, this post will center around unabashedly green shades of green paint—nothing to make you go blind, but 9 really great shades for you to try out.
What is the common mistake with shades of green wall paint?
I’ve been through this mistake before, but if you missed it or this is the first time with us, here it is.
You get all nervous that it’s going to be “too much,” and you dilute it with white. (mixing it at “50%” or something like that) Or, you wimp-out and pick that really sickly, icy tooth-pasty minty-green. AKA: Hospital green. Or Crest Toothpaste
Please don’t. There’s an excellent chance that you’ll hate yourself if you do. So, be brave. You won’t be sorry.
One thing to always keep in mind, and I forget it too, is that unless the room is a basement or something, most rooms have windows, doors, furniture, and stuff on the wall. Usually, the paint color is a backdrop, not the main event. (If your room doesn’t have windows, please check out this post)
Many of the greens today are not ones that I have done; however… they came highly recommended by people I trust, and I checked them out scrutinized ’til the cows came home, and I approve.
And, several are in the Laurel Home Paint Palette Collection.
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Antibes Green with a dark wax finish and gold leaf accents.
Annie Sloan is one of the top chalk paint companies. And, she provides lots of tutorials to help you with your projects. I posted this because I think it’s a cool bed.
Okay, time to dive into the 9 green paint colors for walls.
Benjamin Moore AMAZON MOSS 2037-10
I adore Miles so much!
He can take a hideous green like this and make it glorious. I mean, it really IS billiard cloth green. Remember his Mom’s home?
Another thing I’ve realized is that green loves itself more than any other color, I think.
If you don’t like the green you’ve chosen, select art with other shades of green, and it’ll start to come together.
Another Miles Redd super-saturated green. I want to point out that Miles makes this intense green paint color work with art to break it up. And then, there’s that stunning ceiling.
Benjamin Moore 416 TASTY APPLE
Benjamin Moore CHIC LIME 396
I love this cheery chartreuse in this room by the late, great Mario Buatta.
Benjamin Moore PEACEFUL GARDEN CSP-830
John Loecke and Jason Oliver Nixon, the guys behind this company, gave a charming talk at the Design Blogger’s Conference last month. They’re all about traditional elements expressed with exuberant colors and fun fabrics. This green is a classic sage but not boring.
I couldn’t resist sharing this charming dining nook featuring green Chinoiserie wallpaper.
Hotel Particulier in the Marais en Paris
FARROW and BALL BREAKFAST ROOM GREEN 81
Gotta have a little Chinoiserie detail from this fabulous chest.
Above and below by the extraordinary Sheila Bridges. You may recall that she’s one of the top 20 interior designers that I would hire. This color is said to be
FARROW and BALL CHURLISH GREEN 251
which is a fabulous green-yellow. The original images looking nothing like Churlish, so I edited them. They were both far greener than this lovely yellow-green.
The lesson is: Never trust a color from an image. 9 times out of 10, the real color will look very different.
In fact, we discussed that here, at length.
For a conversion of Farrow and Ball into Benjamin Moore, please check out this post.
Windsor Smith brings the outdoors inside in this lovely room with a spectacular view.
FARROW and BALL STUDIO GREEN 93
This green is almost black, but it’s not; very sophisticated.
I love this enigmatic painting by Malcolm Rains.
Photo by Julie Bidwell for the Wall Street Journal
Benjamin Moore FRESH CUT GRASS 2026-50
A very yellow-green paint, but fresh and lovely as you can see here.
Benjamin Moore GREEN THUMB CSP-870
a true grass-green from Benjamin Moore’s newest collection of colors–Color Stories. I’ve been following Charles since I was a student back in the 80s. Fabulous interior designer!
FARROW and BALL CALKE GREEN 34
It is a true English library green, but it could be used in other rooms as well. In fact, you can see Farrow & Ball Calke Green in this beautiful kitchen!
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For Fun, I made a shopping widget filled with green home furnishings to go with all of the green paint colors.
Some are new pieces and some vintage. Please click on any image for more info.
Spring is on its way in the northeast!
For more outstanding shades of green, please click here.
xo,
Please check out the newly updated HOT SALES!
To order Farrow and Ball samples and paint, go here.
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