21 green living room ideas in every shade you can imagine
It's no surprise that green has had a major comeback in the last few years. With its ability to bring the outside in, or to create a soft, cocooning feel in a cosy snug, we can't help feeling that we've been sleeping on its powers of transformation. ‘We are reassured by green on a very primitive level,' says Karen Haller in The Little Book of Colour, ‘Where there is green, we can find food and water – it equals life.’ It makes sense, then, that we might wash our walls with the life-giving shade, particularly in a room designed for ‘living.'
‘Invisible Green’ is a surprisingly popular option in our archives, from Rita Konig's smart County Durham farmhouse to the book-filled walls author Andrew O'Hagan's former artist’s studio in Primrose Hill (above). It has an air of confidence, but somehow still feels classic. Gentler apple shades such as Farrow & Ball's ‘Cooking Apple Green’ or ‘Breakfast Room Green’ have also proved popular, and can work well in a calmer, more traditional atmosphere. If you're not ready to go full green, then dirty whites with lots of green pigment, like the drawing room of this Georgian townhouse in Spitalfields painted in Farrow & Ball's ‘Old White’ is a lovely way to add earthiness to a space. Rooms with plenty of nooks and crannies or architectural details will particularly benefit from a light shade of khaki because it casts pretty shadows across the walls.
We've compiled a list of 21 green living room ideas to spark your imagination.
Christopher Horwood1/20The living room in Francesca Gentilli's 18th-century farmhouse is painted in ‘Breakfast Room Green’ from Farrow & Ball. The bright, light wash of dusty green goes wonderfully with her pink and red upholstery. The wall panelling casts light shadows across the walls, creating a whole selection of green shades. It also provides a great backdrop for Francesca's antique art collection. The rug is a vintage Beni Ourain sourced in Morocco by Francesca, while the ottoman is upholstered in Penny Morrison's ‘Tulkan’ fabric.
Christopher Horwood2/20The Court House in Wiltshire was Robert Kime’s first decoration project forty years ago, so the redecoration project by Rosie Hayes and Orlando Atty had to be done with the utmost care. The sitting room was painted a custom green (an option to remember if you can't find just the right shade). Its earthy tones work well with the cosy feel of the room, and the natural wood beams. The walls pick up the green tones in the ottoman (from Robert Kime), the existing crewelwork curtains and two chairs (covered in ‘Indian Pear’ by Robert Kime). The striped green sofa is in the company's ‘Larsson’ design.
Paul Massey3/20This vibrant living room of Rita Konig's County Durham farmhouse is painted in the very popular shade ‘Invisible Green’ by Edward Bulmer Natural Paints. The bold, leafy green is set off by the sofa from David Bedale Antiques in a vintage fabric and a yellow-upholstered Gillows armchair.
Owen Gale4/20When choosing the colours for her living room, Sandra Barrio von Hurter wanted it to be a more grown-up space. She landed of ‘Lichen’ by Farrow & Ball on the walls. The gentle shade of putty green is a strong but subtle option for those looking for something bolder than a neutral. The pink colours in the furniture and the couple’s collection of books and some of their art complete the scheme.
Øivind Haug5/20Farrow & Ball’s ‘Breakfast Room Green’ paint is similar to the original colour of the 1820s drawing room in a rectory by Ptolemy Dean, giving the scheme a heritage feel. The neutral upholstery on the sofa and curtains have a green base colour, meaning the room all feels very coordinated and serene.
Boz Gagovski6/20Daniel Slowik selected 'Cooking Apple Green' from Farrow & Ball for the living room walls of this 1930s Chelsea flat. The artwork on the wall pulls out the colour of the walls and the turquoise sofa, and the hints of coral provide a healthy dose of juxtaposition.
Christopher Horwood7/20If you're not ready to go full bottle green in your sitting room, then opting for a dirty white with lots of green pigments is a lovely option, particularly in a room with lots of period features. The drawing room of this Georgian townhouse in Spitalfields proves how widely a colour like this can vary depending on the light. This is Farrow & Ball's ‘Old White’, which can read as grey in some lights, but here its green tones really come out to play.
Christopher Horwood8/20Cassandra Ellis, of paint brand Atelier Ellis, transformed the entrance hall of her former Battersea flat into a little mock living room, adding a dusty sage green to the walls and a denim blue sofa, a deeply moody colour combination. Cassandra used Atelier Ellis' ‘Tirzah’ shade on the walls. “I really loved a dark green room with a blue sofa,” says Cassandra, “so I thought, 'why not make the entrance hall a special place where I'd want to spend time and not just wasted space?'”
Paul Massey9/20Walls in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Ball Green’ are balanced by an ottoman in Claremont’s ‘Straub Twill’ in celery, a club fender in ‘Hampstead Verdure’ by Watts 1874 in this grand country house by Henriette von Stockhausen. The colour is mixed with a lot of white, and feels clean and crisp, without a lot of pigments ‘muddying’ the shade.
Simon Upton10/20The eclectic living room of Jane Ormsby Gore's Welsh house is painted in 'Invisible Green' by Edward Bulmer giving a sense of cosiness in the Welsh winters. Though it's a popular colour (as seen in this gallery), ‘Invisible Green’ is a very strong shade, which complements Jane's bold, bohemian irreverence.
Ben Pentreath11/20Glazed and lacquered olive-green walls – painted by Mathew Bray and Matthew Collins – glow in an astonishing way in the afternoon sunlight of Charlotte Dellal's house, decorated by Ben Pentreath. The fireplace adds to the earthy colour palette, in a stripped neoclassical pine. He added a new club fender with a bright turquoise horsehair seat, which contrasts with the yellow undertones in the wall colour.
Sarah Griggs12/20Tiffany Duggan of Studio Duggan has transformed this London terrace into a coolly elegant family home for a young couple. The walls are painted in Paint & Paper Library's ‘Apple Smiles II’, a sophisticated backdrop for colourful upholstery and contemporary forms in the furniture.
Luke Edward Hall13/20In Luke Edward Hall's flat, the large main living area is painted in Leyland's bold 'Forest Storm', which makes the space feel moody and atmospheric. Although there was initial concern about how dark it was ('I did think for a moment, what have we done - we're living in a dungeon,' comments Luke's partner, the designer Duncan Campbell), the final result is very beautiful. The room fortunately benefits from two large sash windows, so it remains bright and light.
Boz Gagovski14/20When decorator Benedict Foley set about transforming creative consultant Max Hurd's London house into a humorous take on country house style, this space at the front became known as ‘the library’. The full-bleed green colour scheme is based on Mark Hampton’s scheme for Denise Hale in San Francisco. The walls are in Farrow & Ball's ‘Sap Green’ with the woodwork in ‘Bancha,’ a slightly darker shade with the same undertones.
Paul Massey15/20Farrow & Ball's Archive colour ‘Castle Gray’ is a dark green-grey that can look different depending on the light. In his former London flat, Brandon Schubert has used it to great effect as a backdrop for hanging art, with contrasting moments of orange from the chair and ottoman.
Paul Massey16/20From another angle and in a different light, ‘Castle Gray’ looks lighter and more dusty. On the wall above the chimneypiece, Ian Grant’s painting Two Girls in Deckchairs is paired with Pitlochry, a romantic landscape in oil by Francis E Jamieson, both of which pick up the green tones from the wall colour.
Mark Anthony Fox17/20The sitting room of this former vicarage near Bath with characterful, layered interiors by Anna Haines is painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘French Gray’, the perfect dusty green for a light-filled living room. The colour tones gently with the vintage furniture, including the deconstructed antique armchairs upholstered in Claremont’s plain oyster ‘Toile Chenonceau’ and Bennison Fabrics’ ‘Benjelloun’ linen complement a vintage Tabriz rug sourced from Farnham Antique Carpets.
18/20In this bright and comfortable family home in the heart of Bath where old meets new, the walls painted in ‘Garden’ by Little Greene are vibrant but still sympathetic to the period of the house. The bright white woodwork makes the green look more dramatic, where a dirtier, darker white would create a more subtle look.
Michael Sinclair19/20If you're not ready for fully dark green walls, a green bookshelf is a popular choice on the pages of House & Garden. The shelves in designer Nina Litchfield's London drawing room are in Paint & Paper Library's ‘Hunter Dunn’; the bottle green shelves form a nice background for the colourful book spines.
Simon Upton20/20The green living room of this country house decorated by Fiona Shelburne is dominated by two monumental works by Anselm Kiefer, one from the 'Alkahest' series; the other, from 'Palm Sunday', is a collage of palm leaves. 'We thought a vibrant, lettuce-green colour would be a good backdrop for them and would bring a freshness and femininity to the room.' Painted by Colchester Lister Associates, this vivid green colour was mixed to Fiona's specifications, but 'Green Melon' by Designers Guild has a similar pep to it.
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