Paint Your Room Green: This Is Why You Won't Regret It

Fourteen interior designer-approved buckets, from emerald to cabbage green.

ByAmanda Sims

Published OnMarch 17, 2016

Some St. Patrick's Day traditions are worth partaking in throughout the whole year: bright yellow butter slathered on homemade soda bread, corned beef breakfast sandwiches, believing in leprechauns, beer). Others are less popular. Think pinching, drunks thinking they're leprechauns, and—worst of all?—an unwelcome abundance of kelly green.

But in the spirit of the holiday, which does not discriminate against the good greens but only brings out the worst of them, we rounded up some of the favorite green paints of a variety of interior designers. As Chloe Redmond Warner put it, "People are fearful, but living in a green room done right is pure pleasure."

The Numbers

Out of the ten interior designers I polled, one didn't have a favorite green paint at all (?), but all the others gushed (responding at record-breaking speed) over 14 go-to buckets. Of those, three were Benjamin Moore, one was Donald Kaufman, another was Portola. The rest? Eight of the suggested 14 green paints were Farrow & Ball—that's over half! For some reason no one does greens like F&B," Warner says, "they are dusty and skew towards blue/grey. Maybe that's why they're so easy to love? Let's evaluate the evidence.

See that sliver of green in our office phone booth? It's Farrow & Ball's Calke Green.

The Dusty Blue-Greens

Every bucket will turn out different depending on the specifics of your space and its lighting—and such unpredictable subtleties are especially true of blue-green paints, whose very nature is to look like two colors at once. Double the reason to love them.

On the trim, above left: Blue Gray by Farrow & Ball. "A perfect muted, weathered green when on walls." —Will Cooper, Ash NYC

On the wall, above right: DKC-19 by Donald Kaufman. "For a gentleman’s den or a wooded countryside mudroom." —Cate Caruso, Studio C

The Very Quiet, Nearly Neutral Greens

From mossy khakis to white tinted the color of cabbage, the more neutral set of green paints brings a little life to a room in a more subtle way.

On the wall, above left: Vert de Terre by Farrow & Ball. "It's a really soft muted green and looks very chic with beige moldings." —Alyssa Kapito, Kapito Muller

On the wall, above right: Cabbage White by Farrow & Ball. "For the walls (with a patterned, papered ceiling!) in a nursery." —Cate Caruso, Studio C

On the wall, above left: Quartstone by Benjamin Moore. "This aqua is crazy happy... bright, young, and soft enough on your eyes." —Emily Henderson, Emily Henderson Studio

On the cabinets, above right: Tunsgate Green by Farrow & Ball. "It's a super light almost white-green." —Emily Henderson, Emily Henderson Studio

The Unabashedly Green Greens

Whether they lean more emerald or grass green, these super-saturated colors bring richness to a room—but that doesn't mean you have to be brave to try one! A mix of warm, neutral furnishings and lots of clean light will keep things fresh.

On the walls, above: Green Smoke by Farrow & Ball. "I'm obsessed with this color (but green is my favorite color, so I can go on for days). I call it the neutral of greens. It goes with virtually everything. It's unsaturated and soft, and transitional across all styles. —Brad Sherman, B. Sherman Workshop

On the walls and built-ins, above left: Calke Green by Farrow & Ball. "Has the perfect amount of grey in it."—Chloe Redmond Warner, Redmond Aldrich Design

On the walls, above right: Amazon Moss by Benjamin Moore. "It’s like being submerged into the center of an emerald." —Miles Redd

On the bookshelf, above left: Ming Jade by Benjamin Moore. "For a lacquered bar alcove." —Cate Caruso, Studio C

On the hutch, above right: Emerald Isle by Benjamin Moore. "It's a rich green with a hint of teal in certain light, perfect for an accent wall or as a backdrop to a ton on junglacious house-plants." —Justina Blakeney, The Jungalow

My childhood bedroom had a ceiling the color of pale, pale potato vine. Have you ever painted a room green? Share your favorite buckets in the comments!