How to Use Green in Interior Design for a Calm Home

You cannot go wrong with using green in your home and I will challenge anyone to a duel who says otherwise!

If you take a look around your home, you will probably see green already there.

That spider plant sitting all lonely on a shelf? Green. The glimpse of your garden through your bifold windows? Green. You probably already know how to use green in interior design!

how to use green in interior design pinterest pin

Any blog post I have ever written that includes green in them, whether that be green paint colour, sage green bedrooms or garden posts, people have always gone crazy for them!

dark teal green in the living room with walnut dresser, TV, fireplace, white fire surround and autumnal wreath
My old green living room. We loved this colour so much, I will probably use it again in our new house.

Green has always been my favourite colour.

It is extremely versatile, goes with pretty much every colour on the spectrum and most importantly, it helps to connect you with nature and bring the outside in.

Depending on the shade you use, it can have an extremely calming effect in a room, it can act as a fabulous neutral or it can be dramatic and provide a vibrant background in your home.

dark green walls in a small bathroom with plants, white tiles and an abstract print
Our downstairs bathroom in our old house was plain white. This Harley Green paint by Little Greene certainly provided a dramatic backdrop!

It is the perfect colour to represent nature and the natural world and is often associated with tranquillity, good luck, optimism, health and money.

But it can also represent envy and jealousy – hence the phrase “turning green with envy”.

gallery wall in the living room with green velvet sofa and pink peonies
I think the only thing the green sofa has to be envious of here is the pink peonies!

How to use green in interior design

If you want to bring more colour into your home, but don’t know where to start, I think green is the perfect colour.

You don’t have to go over the top with it and paint a whole room, you can start with soft furnishing, plants and ornaments which can easily be changed. 

Plants – the perfect place to start

You can start by bringing in small and easy-to-look-after plants to bring a pop of colour into a room.

Start with a Mother-In-Laws tongue or spider plant which are more or less impossible to kill.

Read more on Houseplants >>>

7 Easy and Low Maintenance House Plants for your Home

Houseplants – Bringing the Wonderful Outside, In

pink bath, monochrome patterened tiles, grey walls, metro tiles and plenty of plats in the bathroom
My bathroom is always filled with plants. I find it very calming
gallery wall, mid century style bookcase, green velvet sofa and plenty of plants in the living room
Just a “few” plants in my living room

If looking after plants is a step too far, try faux plants.

There are plenty of homeware stores and shops that now sell them and we have definitely moved on from the plastic-looking faux plant looking sorry for itself in an office corner. 

Read more on Faux Plants >>>

Bringing the Outside, In – Artificial Plants

faux pink peonies and a wood burner in the living room
Faux plants can look like the real thing. Image credit: Little Buds

Green Soft furnishings

It doesn’t really matter what colour your living room is already, or what shade your sofa is, green will effortlessly fit into your décor.

Soft furnishings are the easiest way to add colour to a room without moving away from an overall neutral palette.

Introduce cushions that have a splash of green in them, or try out throws, curtains, lampshades and rugs.

moodboard of green soft furnishings
A few of my favourite green things

Ornaments and Artwork

Not ready to commit to changing your soft furnishings?

What about bringing ornaments or art pieces into a room to give you a pop of green?

I think my love of green in the home always started with plants, but it wasn’t until I bought a large abstract print for the living room that my obsession with the colour grew.

Wallpaper

As you all probably know, I absolutely love wallpaper!

Wallpaper designs and choices have really evolved over the last couple of years and there is something for everyone.

Wallpaper is the perfect way to introduce a bold print into your home and keeping the base colour green, will help create a wonderful natural theme. A brilliant way how to use green in interior design. 

boys bedroom with botanical wallpaper, wooden house shaped bed, fluffy carpet and industrial style furniture
My Sons bedroom had jungle wallpaper from Rebel Walls

I love jungle, woodland and floral wallpapers. They can be extremely dramatic and effective and it is easy to keep the rest of the room quite neutral so they can take centre stage.

Sage green bedrooms are calming and work for boys, girls and adults!

sage green wallpaper with oversized pink flowers in the bedroom with parquet flooring
Blissful by Komar
dark green floral wallpaper with dark green panelling and purple velvet sofa in the living room
The perfect example of how green goes with everything! Glasshouse Flora Emerald wallpaper by Graham & Brown

Green paint colour

After I bought the below abstract print, I started entertaining the idea of using a green paint colour.

I think this has been one of the most difficult colour choices I’ve had to make when decorating a room and it took me almost 6 months to settle on a colour.

There are so many green paint colours to choose from, it can be slightly overwhelming, and not to mention the choice of eggshell vs satin sheen

teal green wall with gold mirror, fireplace, pink and green velvet sofa and industrial style furniture in the living room
We loved this green paint colour so much, we will use it again in the new house
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The beauty of green, however, is that there are so many different shades to choose from, each shade can create a completely different ambience in a room.

Lighter shades like Sage and Olive are perfect for larger rooms like kitchens and living rooms.

Creating a sage green bedroom can have a positive impact.

It is a beautiful earth tone which can bring tranquillity and peace to a room and make you feel relaxed.

It is also the perfect colour if you don’t want to stray too far away from neutral shades.

Sage green kitchens are currently having a moment and I can see why!

selection of sage green paint samples
1. Botany Paint Graham & Brown | 2. Little Greene Aquamarine | 3. Santorini Martini Graham & Brown | 4. Sage Green Dulux Heritage | 5. Soft Fern Benjamin Moore | 6. Green 01 Lick | 7. Sage Neptune.
sage green panelled walls and oversized bed in the bedroom
Sage Green Bedroom – Dulux Heritage
sage green wall and burnt orange velvet sofa in the living room
Santorini Martini Graham & Brown

Mid tones like Aquamarine and Grass Green are still wonderfully relaxing tones which can be used in the bedroom, living room or office space.

These colours are closely connected to nature in the form of the sea or sky and can provide a Spa-like environment to your home.

mid green paint samples
1. Green 07 Lick | 2. Calke Green Farrow & Ball | 3. Thyme Fenwick & Tilbrook | 4. Hopper Little Greene | 5. Aquamarine Deep Little Greene | 6. Dalloway Rockett St George | 7. Grass Green Dulux Heritage | 8. Webster Green Benjamin Moore
dark green walls in an office with industrial style furniture
Calke Green Farrow & Ball
mid green walls with green velvet sofa in the living room
Grass Green Dulux Heritage

Dark shades are extremely dramatic and by far my favourite shades of green.

Emerald, Jade, Dark Teal and Forest are fabulous backdrops in any room and one of the best paint colours for a bedroom. 

These green paint colours also work well in bathrooms and offices, especially when they are mixed with dark mahogany or walnut wood

dark green paint samples
My favourite dark green paint colours 1. Emerald Dunelm | 2. Harley Green Little Greene | 3. Teal Ripple Dulux | 4. The Perfect Storm Fenwick & Tilbrook | 5. Tasmania Graham & Brown | 6. Lisa Basically Fenwick & Tilbrook | 7. Amalfi Coast Valspar
dark green front door with monochrome tiles
Tasmania Door Graham & Brown

These dark green paint colours tend to represent ambition and wealth so can be inspiring and motivating, but I also think they have the ability to be calming and encompassing too!

We had dark green paint colour in our living room and it was such a rich, velvety colour it enveloped you during the day and became extremely cosy and inviting at night.

dark teal wall with gold bar cart, plants and art in the living room
It was such a dramatic backdrop

Furniture

Finally, if you don’t fancy painting or wallpapering a room, but want to take a step further than introducing green in the form of art and ornaments, how about bringing in some green furniture?

You can still keep your décor relatively neutral, the green will provide a pop of colour and become a real statement piece in any room.

dark blush pink walls, gallery wall, mid century bookcase and green velvet sofa in the living room
My Olive Bluebell sofa bed from sofa.com always gets a lot of love.

Green velvet sofas are immensely popular and definitely provide a wow factor, but there are plenty of other wonderful pieces of furniture that you can add to your home.

You can try a green statement chair, or a large velvet headboard or maybe try and upcycle a wooden piece of furniture by painting it a rich teal colour.

dark green velvet bed with pink walls and floral throw in the bedroom
Our gorgeous new Green bed from sofa.com
pink panelled wardrobes with wallpaper and a green velvet chair in the bedroom
Our velvet chair in the bedroom

Paint your furniture!

This leads me onto painting your furniture!

Sage green kitchens have seen an insurgence over the last couple of years and you don’t have to go out and buy a new kitchen!

There are a huge number of products to choose from when it comes to painting your kitchen cabinets and it can completely transform your kitchen and give it a new lease of life.

Any green paint colour will work.

kitchen before renovating in dark wood and colourful tiles
Nat went from this…
sage green kitchen with panelled island, grey flooring and white walls
To this beautiful sage green kitchen! Image credit: @homeatvictoriaroad
sage green kitchen with red and blue floor tiles
Mel used a green paint colour to paint her kitchen cabinets in Rustoleum Leaplish. Image credit: @melanielissackinteriors

You can also paint your hardware green instead of painting your walls.

Leave the walls neutral and give your skirting boards and doors a fresh look by painting them in a contrasting shade.

sage green island with matching skirting boards, grey kitchen cabinets and monochrome tiles in the kitchen
Caro cleverly painted her skirting boards to match her sage green kitchen and island! Image credit: thetwinklediaries.co.uk

Well, I’m all greened out! Haha, only kidding.

I can never get enough of the colour green. I think it is such a calming, natural and happy colour it will easily fit into any home décor style.

Where will you use it in your home?

More on Colour in the Home >>>

Pink Bedroom – 10 Ideas to Use this Versatile and Pretty Colour

The Top Paint Colour Trends in Interior Design

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how to use green in your home pinterest pin
Green paint colours

6 Comments

  1. 28/09/2021 / 4:33 pm

    Great blog just what I was looking for as, thinking of doing our me living room a teal colour. It’s quite a big room for a new build and has easy facing window and west facing French Doors. Not sure whether to do the whole room teal or certain walls, your advice would be appreciated. Also what cokour was the green in your old living room please? It is gorgeous

    • Melanie Boyden
      Author
      04/10/2021 / 12:15 pm

      I think when you are using a bold colour, you either have to paint a feature wall or go for the whole room! I painted a feature wall first to see if I liked it and decided that I didn’t want to paint the whole room as I thought it would make it too dark. The green I used is Blue Jade by Valspar

  2. tamsin
    26/12/2021 / 5:12 pm

    Hello, I’m not sure if you can help me. I love your work!
    I wanted to paint my bed frame (velvet) with annie sloan chalk paint. Is this possible and do you have a favourite of the greens?
    Thank you!

    • Melanie Boyden
      Author
      05/01/2022 / 3:25 pm

      Hello

      Is your bed frame velvet? Anything is possible… 🙂

  3. 20/02/2022 / 11:39 am

    Melanie, I love this fabulous green post. I’m going to share it on my blog in a green spring inspiration post this week.

    • Melanie Boyden
      Author
      21/02/2022 / 4:28 pm

      Thank you 🙂

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