Decorating
Why No Home Should Be Without Some Retro Green
Earthy greens are enjoying a classy comeback, but which hue to choose – and where in your home would you use it?
Soft, sludgy colours are having quite the style moment right now, harking back to a late midcentury period when all things earthy were in. One of the easiest of these hues to work with is green – from sage to forest and even (gasp!) avocado. (Yes, the shade that dominated 1970s bathrooms is in the mix, too, but no green sanitaryware in sight… Phew.) Find out how to pick the perfect shade and use it in just the right place.
Link to the garden
Blending indoors and out is very much of the moment – and here’s how to get it just right: paint the wall adjacent to your garden doors in a muted, avocado-skin green, and plant right up to it. That way, your eye is drawn along the wall and outside, helping the two spaces to become one – visually at any rate.
Considering a bright green instead? Don’t – it will compete with your planting rather than complementing it.
Check out how one couple gave their open-plan kitchen-diner a cosy feel
Blending indoors and out is very much of the moment – and here’s how to get it just right: paint the wall adjacent to your garden doors in a muted, avocado-skin green, and plant right up to it. That way, your eye is drawn along the wall and outside, helping the two spaces to become one – visually at any rate.
Considering a bright green instead? Don’t – it will compete with your planting rather than complementing it.
Check out how one couple gave their open-plan kitchen-diner a cosy feel
Reflect light
There were, broadly, two shades of the (in)famous avocado bathroom suite: a zesty, bright yellow-green and a darker, more serious, grey-tinged hue. While they both tended to make the smallest room feel ever tinier, putting the lightest version of that non-zesty, grey version on your walls will actually help to bounce light around, just as white does.
Up the space-enhancing effect by painting woodwork, floor and ceiling in chalky white shades, and keep furniture pale and interesting, too. Max out the green theme and tie the scheme together with an abundance of houseplants.
There were, broadly, two shades of the (in)famous avocado bathroom suite: a zesty, bright yellow-green and a darker, more serious, grey-tinged hue. While they both tended to make the smallest room feel ever tinier, putting the lightest version of that non-zesty, grey version on your walls will actually help to bounce light around, just as white does.
Up the space-enhancing effect by painting woodwork, floor and ceiling in chalky white shades, and keep furniture pale and interesting, too. Max out the green theme and tie the scheme together with an abundance of houseplants.
Alter your bedroom’s mood
Ooh, the atmosphere-changing effects you can conjure up by using a soft, earthy green in a bedroom. By day, it will look cool, calm and collected; by night, and especially if illuminated with warm-coloured light bulbs in low-level fittings, the colour will turn a deeper, more dramatic shade that creates a cocooning, comforting mood.
Use it on all four walls and tie it in with other forest floor neutrals – mushroom, deep greens and pale wood. Opt for the cooler spectrum to keep things feeling contemporary.
Ooh, the atmosphere-changing effects you can conjure up by using a soft, earthy green in a bedroom. By day, it will look cool, calm and collected; by night, and especially if illuminated with warm-coloured light bulbs in low-level fittings, the colour will turn a deeper, more dramatic shade that creates a cocooning, comforting mood.
Use it on all four walls and tie it in with other forest floor neutrals – mushroom, deep greens and pale wood. Opt for the cooler spectrum to keep things feeling contemporary.
Bring it back to the bathroom
Green is a colour to be used cautiously on bathroom walls. Why? Choose a darkish shade and it will cast a hint of that colour onto your face when you’re looking in a mirror (not the most flattering tone).
So stick to a shade that’s at the palest end of the sludgy spectrum, go for a large, space-enhancing mirror, and ensure lighting – both natural and artificial – is complementary and practical without being harsh and in-your-face functional.
Green is a colour to be used cautiously on bathroom walls. Why? Choose a darkish shade and it will cast a hint of that colour onto your face when you’re looking in a mirror (not the most flattering tone).
So stick to a shade that’s at the palest end of the sludgy spectrum, go for a large, space-enhancing mirror, and ensure lighting – both natural and artificial – is complementary and practical without being harsh and in-your-face functional.
Think Scandi
Understated style and monotones are the perfect partners for a room that’s decorated on all four sides with the palest of sage greens, so adopt a Scandinavian approach to your room’s design and you won’t go far wrong. To stop the space feeling cool and unwelcoming, add touches of luxury with faux fur, knitted throws and deep-pile rugs in warm, neutral colours.
Understated style and monotones are the perfect partners for a room that’s decorated on all four sides with the palest of sage greens, so adopt a Scandinavian approach to your room’s design and you won’t go far wrong. To stop the space feeling cool and unwelcoming, add touches of luxury with faux fur, knitted throws and deep-pile rugs in warm, neutral colours.
Splash avocado on the kitchen
Really? Well, yes, but there are a couple of conditions to guarantee success. Firstly, you’ll note the wall colour here is different – and, importantly, lighter – than the shade on the cabinetry. Secondly, it’s matched with glossy accessories in could-it-be-more-understated black, which creates a sophisticated finish, rather than one that harks back to the colour theme park of the 1970s.
Discover how painting one piece of furniture can transform a room
Really? Well, yes, but there are a couple of conditions to guarantee success. Firstly, you’ll note the wall colour here is different – and, importantly, lighter – than the shade on the cabinetry. Secondly, it’s matched with glossy accessories in could-it-be-more-understated black, which creates a sophisticated finish, rather than one that harks back to the colour theme park of the 1970s.
Discover how painting one piece of furniture can transform a room
Lift with playful shades
If a muted colour scheme isn’t really your thing but you’ve been won over by the idea of green walls, you can liven up your room with a whole range of brighter tones in fabrics, painted furniture and accessories.
What works? Yellows, turquoise and bronze add warmth. What to avoid? Anything that drags your retro green of choice back to the bad old days, so steer clear of orange and brown.
If a muted colour scheme isn’t really your thing but you’ve been won over by the idea of green walls, you can liven up your room with a whole range of brighter tones in fabrics, painted furniture and accessories.
What works? Yellows, turquoise and bronze add warmth. What to avoid? Anything that drags your retro green of choice back to the bad old days, so steer clear of orange and brown.
Go deep
If you want to add a touch of drama to a room, go for a deep, bluish green – and put it on just one wall to create a focal point. Matching it with warm wood in flooring and furnishings plus a smattering of copper accessories will up the comfortable glamour of the space. In this room, the greenish-blue stripes in the rug tie the scheme together, too.
If you want to add a touch of drama to a room, go for a deep, bluish green – and put it on just one wall to create a focal point. Matching it with warm wood in flooring and furnishings plus a smattering of copper accessories will up the comfortable glamour of the space. In this room, the greenish-blue stripes in the rug tie the scheme together, too.
Dip into the trend
Not quite bold enough to decorate an entire room in avocado? Nominate a piece of furniture to paint instead and put it against a darker background, so the walls recede and the furniture advances.
Which dark wall shade to use? Navy blue, as here, and dark grey work well with the more muted shades of avocado – or, for a bedroom, a moody grey-lilac.
Tour the whole of this house
Tell us…
Which of these shades of sludgy green are you drawn to? Share your thoughts (or photos of your green walls) in the Comments section.
Not quite bold enough to decorate an entire room in avocado? Nominate a piece of furniture to paint instead and put it against a darker background, so the walls recede and the furniture advances.
Which dark wall shade to use? Navy blue, as here, and dark grey work well with the more muted shades of avocado – or, for a bedroom, a moody grey-lilac.
Tour the whole of this house
Tell us…
Which of these shades of sludgy green are you drawn to? Share your thoughts (or photos of your green walls) in the Comments section.
Greens are quite rightly reputed to be calming and restful when used on walls, but bouncier, brighter shades can edge uncomfortably close to enlivening yellow – not what you want for a laid-back living room where you go to unwind. So seek out a chalky deep green that’s almost grey, then add warmth and brighten it up with the odd leafy green or mustard-coloured accessory.