Obsessed with Green
Greens can feel healthy, optimistic, comforting, and creative. It is the color of growth. I think, especially after the past two years, these are all elements that really resonate with people. Color trends tend to come in cycles, and since shades of pink have dominated for the past few years, it seems like people are ready to neutralize all the pink with its complementary color, which happens to be green!
COLOR BASICS
Color is a really interesting and complex phenomenon. There are two main elements to color: the Value (the relative lightness/darkness, a scale of black to white), and the Chroma (purity or intensity of color, a scale from grey to vibrant color).
With paint colors, Value is described by the LRV, or Light Reflective Value. This is a rating that paint companies use to quantify the percentage of light that is reflected from the surface. If you were to take a black and white photograph of the space, this would determine how the surface will register on the black-white spectrum. However it doesn’t tell you which color wavelengths are reflected, so a grey-green and a saturated green that both have a rating of 35 will appear wildly different, and they won’t work in the same circumstances.
The Chroma can be harder to quantify, as it’s a much more complex mixture. A green color might be neutralized with mixing in its complementary color, red, or its vibrance could be strengthened with yellow or blue. We really just need to rely on our eyes and to perceive how different color combinations work together.
GREEN IS AN EMOTIONALLY CHARGED COLOR
With greens in particular, we tend to gravitate towards shades that are less saturated (meaning the chroma, not the value). Since there is so much green in nature, I think the eye is really sensitive to slight differences, and a little really goes a long way.
Green mediates between the warm and cool colors on the wheel, which means there is a lot of variation in how it makes us feel, from the warm springy yellow-greens, to the deeper moodier turquoises and teals. Purple is the other color that transitions between warm and cool, and If you’ve ever tried to match two shades of purple together, you will know it’s somehow harder to get good combinations than with more simple colors, like reds and blues.
CONSIDERATIONS WHEN CHOOSING PAINT COLORS
We always start by considering the materials that can’t be changed in a room. Is there an existing wood floor? What tiles are used in the space? Is there a stone fireplace? Is there a reflection from a bright red building across the street? Paint color is often the thing that can unify all these elements when chosen carefully. Your paint color should look pleasing next to each of these elements. We always test out several samples in the natural light of the actual room being painted, and review the sample during the day time, with all artificial lights turned off, if possible. We review the color samples in the brightest parts of the room, and also the most shadowy.
FAVORITE GREEN SPACES
Photography and Styling by Kate Sears
NANTUCKET GRAY, BENJAMIN MOORE
This room is the entrance to an apartment that was inspired by a mid-century color palette. This space is the main connection between the front door, the roof terrace, and the rest of the apartment, so it’s a really well-used area. This tone of green is quite earthy, I would classify it as a warm-neutral green. If I were trying to mix this color with oil paints, I would probably add a tiny bit of red, or Burnt Sienna, to achieve this color which is both neutral and rich. We thought it was a nice counterpoint to the Douglas fir cabinetry.
Photography by Hagan Hinshaw
SEA HAZE, BENJAMIN MOORE
This photo is a kitchen on the parlor floor of a brownstone in Brooklyn. In the adjacent living room, there is a wonderful mossy green-grey marble fireplace mantel, and we wanted to carry that tone through to the kitchen, to tie the whole floor together. The light grey wall color that we chose, Silver Satin (also Benjamin Moore), has cool undertones that skew toward green, so we thought going slightly more grey, and more green, for the cabinetry would be nice.
Photography by Hagan Hinshaw
NARRAGANSETT GREEN, BENJAMIN MOORE
Narragansett Green is a really fascinating color, and we have used it several times, in different projects and lighting conditions. It is quite dark, and it’s about halfway between blue and green, skewing one way or the other based on the lighting. In this room, we wanted something quite moody, that complemented with the enormous tree outside the window. Aside from the wall color, there are a lot of warm furnishings and linens in the room that balance the deep green.
Photography by Hagan Hinshaw
KITTY GRAY, BENJAMIN MOORE
In a similar vein, this bedroom color, Kitty Gray, is a green-grey with undertones that are squarely green, not skewing towards blue. Our intent here was to match the base tone of a historic slate mantel in the room, to make everything feel unified. The furniture was a very warm wood, so the room still feels balanced and cozy.
Photography by Hagan Hinshaw
GREEN SMOKE, FARROW & BALL
This bathroom was a bit tricky because it doesn’t have its own window; it steals all its light from the adjacent bedroom. Because of this, the green we selected is more saturated. Incandescent light is quite orange, so greens often appear less colorful in incandescent light than they do in ambient daylight, which has a lot more blue.
Photography by Hagan Hinshaw
Gray Owl, Benjamin Moore
This kitchen is from the same project as the previous bathroom. The owners came to us wanting a bright, enjoyable space that visually connects the kitchen with their garden, so we introduced green elements into the kitchen. The countertops are Calacatta Turquoise, which has turquoise green veining. The cabinet color we chose is a light gray with green undertones. We have used this shade in several different projects, and it is a great go-to light gray.
MORE FROM SHAPELESS STUDIO
