Decorating With Green – Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, here are a couple of quick tips on how you can decorate with the color green – either as the main palette or as a pop of color in your space.

As defined by color-wheel-pro.com:  “Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety.”  “Green has great healing power. It is the most restful color for the human eye.”  “And, it is one of the most commonly used colors to decorate with because it is easy to use.”

I started off thinking about green this morning, as I realized that I have nothing green to wear on St. Patty’s day except an old, Kelly green, Polo T-shirt.  Then I started thinking about the color green and how I might decorate a room with it.  I’ve put together some examples of some color and fabric families below to give you a visual on what I’m talking about.  In the first picture below, in the simplest case, I envision a white duvet cover in a bedroom with Kelly green and chocolate brown accents—pillows, sheets, window treatments, blankets, for example.  Then, I went through fabric samples that I keep on hand, and I put together two fabric families with green as the key color.  You’ll see in one fabric family that I leveraged a brighter palette (notice the white background on two of the samples)—perhaps to be used in a bedroom or an enclosed porch area.   And, in the other fabric family, I toned things down with a soft lime and chocolate vibe—perfect for a family room.   Although I did use white as a complementary color in this family, white was not a key background color of the fabric.   

If green doesn’t suit you as your main color, kick things up a little with a touch o’ the Irish and accessorize with green where it makes sense.   Add some new pillows to your family room or sofa that have a little green in them.  Find a seamstress or have a fabric store make them for you.  They really shouldn’t run you more than $75-100, and it’s an inexpensive way to change up the room instead of changing out expensive furniture. 

How do I decorate with green?  In my early childhood, my mom decorated with green as her key focal color in the family room and kitchen.  Then she took a rust detour for a few years, and eventually, she went back to green as the main color of the home.  I can’t blame her.  From the definition above, green is one of the most commonly used colors to decorate with, and who doesn’t want to portray growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility in a home?

Like mother like daughter, my second round of sofas that I purchased were green, too, consisting of a comfortable, casual twill fabric that was olive green and piped with a rust paisley fabric.  I’ve since deviated from green as the main color of my home, but I do have an apple-colored inspired room in my house .  One of my sisters loves green, and I wanted her guest room to feel comfortable and at home when she visits. 

As far as accessorizing, one of my favorite things to do is to use vibrant, green limes as a centerpiece on the table or one of my kitchen islands when I am entertaining weekend guests or throwing a dinner party.  First, I use a simple wood bowl toss in a dozen limes.  Or, I use a large glass square vase, arrange my dozen limes inside the vase, and then I pour in some water to add another element to the arrangement.  Using the limes will highlight a dark table and bring in a feeling of spring and summer to the space.  As I was doing some research, I did come across this picture where lime slices are lined a glass vase.  This centerpiece was suggested for a wedding reception, but you could do something similar to add that touch o’ green to your home. I think it’s absolutely gorgeous!

For you leprechauns, lads and lasses, green may or may not be your favorite color, but it can easily be used as the main color in your space , or you can add a touch o’ green to symbolize many things—St. Patty’s Day or not.  Make a space that you love, everybody, and enjoy the holiday!