Spring has finally sprung, and I am celebrating with a new palette today! Green has always been one of my favorite colors, full of life and hope and sunshine.
After putting this palette together, I realized it’s almost exactly the color theme I chose when designing my blog. (Guess I really do like green!)
Greens can be a little difficult to work with, when designing a palette for a room. I doubt you’d want to do your whole bedroom in the third color, for instance. But they can make great accent pieces, and you can pair green with almost any other color successfully. In fact, some designers call green a “neutral” because it can go with so many other colors.
Hues towards the bluer end of the “green” family tend to be calming and beachy, while the yellow end of the spectrum infuses a space with energy. When grayed down, greens become sophisticated and grounded.
In this palette, I imagine that you’d paint the walls of the room in the first color, and reserve the other three colors for all the decor: curtains, pillows, furniture, etc. But if you’re the adventurous type, try drenching your walls in several high-gloss coats of the fourth color, and using the first three, plus white, as your accents.
As always, I recommend Valspar, and these colors are as follows, left to right:
- Grasshopper
- Sonic Lime
- Can’t Miss Lime
- French Olive
If you’re having trouble pulling together a color palette for your room, or your whole house, I’d love to help! Also, if you have a photo that you think would be fun to use as a base for a palette, please let me know and I’d be honored to feature it.
Do you love green, or hate it? I love to hear what you think.
Photo credit: @Doug88888 / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Paul Graham says
Meredith, I love green and definitely regard it as a neutral though except for a very grey version I am not prone to use large amounts of it indoors, just enough to connect with what I can see through the windows. I like your approach of using the stronger versions for accessories
Meredith says
I like that – to connect with what you see out the windows. That’s a great use of green.
crystalzakrison says
I am a big fan of the greens that are on the bluer side. I love turquoise and that minty cyan green. I agree with you that they bring a sense of cheeriness. I like the green in your palette because you can mix and match with fun colors. Thanks for the info! =)
Meredith says
Me too! I love blue-greens and anything beachy. (I’m impressed, not many people know what the color cyan is!)
Carlye Daugird says
Huge fan of green. As an artist painter it s one of my favorite colors to paint with. It s both reassuring and comforting but also full of life and hope.
Meredith says
I love how you describe it! Thanks for commenting (and I’m working on an email for you!).
Anita says
My whole kitchen, breakfast room, and den area is in a light green which I call Laduree green, after the signature color of the famous French tea room. Reminds me of being in Paris every day! Macarons, anyone?
Meredith says
Laduree makes it sound so lovely! And makes me hungry…
Dee says
I have a lot of browns and neutral colors in my home, but I usually bring some green shades out in the spring and summer. This year, I’m adding beachy colors in a desperate attempt to pretend I have a beach house! 😉
Meredith says
Me too! If I can’t have a real beach house, I can at least pretend… 🙂
Tim says
Green to me means life and have always loved it. Green means bringing nature indoors and can be used as a “pop” of color or an accent. Either way it is gorgeous. That said, as with everything, moderation is the name of the game. No need to make a room look like a salad 🙂
Meredith says
Yes! Salad has its place…on a plate. Everything in moderation. 🙂
William Rusho says
Green does make me feel better when I am down; I guess it is the color of spring and of rebirth.
Meredith says
Yes, it’s this time of year that it becomes not just pretty, but symbolic as well.
Doreen Pendgracs says
I love green as it’s the birthstone for my May birthday. But I lean toward the blue-greens you call “beachy” as there’s no place I’d rather be than a beautifully serene beach. So blues and greens mixed together is my preferred colour palette.
Meredith says
Happy Birthday Doreen! 🙂
Beth Niebuhr says
I like green inside in limited quantities. I like the bluer, but not too blue, ones. I do have a guest bedroom that is green with lots of other colors in pictures and a quilt.
Meredith says
That sounds lovely Beth!
Catarina Alexon says
What a nice leaf palette, Meredith. Love it! Green is a good colour, not least since it stands for go:-)
Meredith says
Thanks Catarina! I wonder if that’s why it seems so energetic, because we’re so used to stomping on the accelerator at a green light?
jacquiegum says
I love green! I actually view it as a complementary color to almost everything. After all, it comes straight from nature! Also interesting…I recently heard that the human eye can detect more shades of green than any other color! Due to the evolution of predators!
Meredith says
That’s so interesting! I guess it makes sense when you think about how many shades of green exist in nature.
Lenie says
I love the greens. I’ve always stuck with blue because its such a safe colour but I recently received a couple of green decorative pillows as a gift and have been redoing my living room in my head around those pillows. The pillows also have lemon yellow embroidery on them so I think maybe 3 light green walls , one darker green and lemon yellow sofa. Maybe.
Lenie
Meredith says
Yes, greens can be kind of tricky to work with on the wall. If you have trouble committing to greens on the wall you could always go with an even more neutral color, and all the real color could be in your sofa and cushions. Have fun!
Michele Harvey says
Green seems to follow me as a theme. Both my eyes and my birth stone (peridot) are green. Pablo Neruda, (one of my favorite poets) did all of his writing in green ink, believing that green is the color of hope. I definitely prefer hues towards the bluer end of the “green” family or a bright Kelly green.
Meredith says
I used to write in green ink too! Nice to know I’m in good company. 🙂
Arleen says
I like green. It is calming color. I have a khaki green in my bedroom and I love it. They use green in hospital rooms because of the calming effect of the color.
Meredith says
Hmm, I remember my hospital rooms (giving birth to my kids) as an awful mauve color. Green would have been so much better!
Jeri Walker-Bickett (@JeriWB) says
When we first moved into our house ten years ago, I went on a painting spree. The color of green my husband and I settled on for his office ended up being a tad too dark and was a bit overwhelming, but it stayed that way for eight years until we moved out for two years to go to NC. Now it’s white again, but with a dark gray accent wall.
Meredith says
Funny how long you can live with a not-quite-right color to avoid having to repaint again, huh?
ballnchainz says
This is Jay,
I have to say that I am a primary colors kinda guy and usually will stick to the Grey, brown, black, and blue families. My wife on the other hand is into anything bright so as we embark on painting some rooms there are a lot of discussions that need to be had.
Meredith says
When I’m helping people pick colors, I often say that I’m acting as more of a marriage counselor than a designer. 🙂 Maybe you can compromise on a grayish-green?
Laurie S Hurley says
I love green – it’s one of my branding colors. And I love the names the paint stores come up with for all the hues and tones. I want that job! And yes, green is the new black!
Meredith says
Me too! Those people are a special kind of creative.
tuhinmech says
True…green signifies life.I find the lighter shades of green very smooth and soothing…I read somewhere that having green around you improves the positive energies. Is it true, Meredith?
Meredith says
That makes sense. I’ve never studied the actual psychology of it, but most people I talk to find it a happy color.
Happy Skywalker says
I love having lots of green around. My bedroom is all greens with white walls, sky blue ceiling, and wood furniture and floors. Super outdoorsy, lots of plants and some mounted butterflies. Then, BAM! My bed is bright red. I promise you that it works. It feels calm, but not tired. It’s the green (yellowish leafy greens) that makes it feel fresh and clean.
Meredith says
That sounds gorgeous! Sounds like a happy place. 🙂
Welli says
I am wearing a green top as I comment. I wont say its my favourite colour, but I also have it onmy blog. It is just a refreshing colour in the right tone and so I like its soothing outlook.
Meredith says
Refreshing is good word for it!
Limeade Gal says
Love green! I tend to use it more in my clothing & accessories than as a home decor color. I also love finding different shades of green to use in my shade gardens. After reading this I must ponder why I haven’t incorporated green inside :). Looks like you have inspired me to try this!
Meredith says
Great! Your shade gardens sound wonderful…