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Olive/warm green paint

60 replies

PaintingPains · 27/09/2023 15:56

Help! I have a small, West facing living room which receives very natural little light and I'm struggling to find the perfect paint. I initially decided that white would brighten the room up but unfortunately, it has the opposite effect and makes it look gloomy , flat and like a dirty grey. I then went for a feature wall ( chimney breast) in a deep forest green but it looks unbalanced and lacks cohesion.

I'm thinking a warm green on May be two walls would liven things up, but which green?! I'm liking overtly olive by dulux but is that a warm green? I should add that I have also painted the walls in pebble shore which promised a light grey but looked purple in the strong afternoon light ( only get this light for a couple of hours in the late afternoon / early evening due to the house surrounded by talk buildings). So anything grey based looks weird and cold.

It's quite a quandary as I've always had South facing sitting rooms so paint colours was easy peasy before! My furniture is largely mid century modern so essentially dark wood, and the sofa is charcoal French connection zinc.

Can anyone recommend colours that may work or even better, have some photos they wouldn't mind sharing ? Thanks!

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MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 27/09/2023 16:03

Overtly olive is just beautiful, I have it in the front room, bedroom and hall.

Chypre · 27/09/2023 16:03

I have Dulux Old Time Olive in the master bedroom and Dulux Wild Wonder in the kitchen/diner/living. Both are north facing rooms. Old Time Olive is a bit darker/moody (all walls all over) which is fine for the bedroom, Wild Wonder is much lighter (a cross between olive and magnolia) and I love the warm glow it gives to the room.

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PaintingPains · 27/09/2023 16:05

Ooh, see I love that green but realistically , it's not going to work in my small Victorian terraced living room. It's got to be a bit lighter and more muted somehow

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PaintingPains · 27/09/2023 16:06

@Chypre off to check those out!thanks

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MindatWork · 27/09/2023 16:08

farrow and ball vert de terre is really
nice, we had it in our bedroom at our old house and will likely paint our new bedroom the same colour. It has grey undertones which I thought would make it cold but it’s really cosy
Vert de terre

Vert De Terre

Richly pigmented paint and handcrafted wallpaper.

https://www.farrow-ball.com/paint-colours/vert-de-terre

PaintingPains · 27/09/2023 16:08

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

Would you say it's a warm green? I can't face painting it and getting it wrong again! Such strange light in this room

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minipie · 27/09/2023 16:09

Yes Vert de Terre is warm, it has yellow undertones (unlike lots of the other F&B grey greens)

Bluevelvetsofa · 27/09/2023 16:10

I love Wild Wonder. It’s in our living room and I liked it so much it’s in the bedroom too. It’s a warm and gentle colour and gets a little darker as the light changes.

PaintingPains · 27/09/2023 16:14

@minipie yes! That's the type of colour im after, like a soft muted green so it has a little depth and impact without being too rich as the room can't take it. I'm just a little concerned with the grey undertones description though after my previous disaster with polished pebble!

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PaintingPains · 27/09/2023 16:18

@Chypre old time olive could work. I've just read the description and it definitely mentions warm toned. One for the list

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Kam610 · 27/09/2023 16:19

I recently painted a feature wall in my living room, I bought overtly olive as a sample but found it was slightly too dark, I went with Dulux Tranquil Dawn. It is beautiful!

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 27/09/2023 16:34

It's very muted, which is what you want, it's worth painting an A4 piece of paper and hanging it up as it's slightly different in each of my rooms depending on the light. I'd say it's a neutral sage, not too yellow and not too blue either.

loobylou10 · 27/09/2023 16:35

Overtly olive. It's lovely - we have it everywhere!

crumpet · 27/09/2023 16:49

Appreciate this is not a green, but I have a west facing room in dulux denim drift (not dissimilar to F&B de nimes), which has worked really well.

ThreeB · 27/09/2023 16:52

I have overtly olive in my north facing bathroom and I love it. I would certainly class if as a warm green as I have it mixed with terracotta tones and it complements them brilliantly

PaintingPains · 27/09/2023 16:56

@crumpet

That's a lovely colour !

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Chiswickgal · 27/09/2023 16:59

Zoffany fennel or hessian green are both lovely warm greens that are not TOO green

PaintingPains · 27/09/2023 17:01

Quite a few of you have recommended overtly olive so I'm going to try the tester pot. But also liking the f &b someone posted and the old time olive . I can't stress enough how strange the light is in there - in the morning it's horribly flat and dull and now I'm sitting in bright golden light which makes the white look yellow and the forest green chimney breast looks sickly!

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Chiswickgal · 27/09/2023 17:02

These are great in smallish north facing rooms

Olive/warm green paint
Olive/warm green paint
PaintingPains · 27/09/2023 17:05

@Chiswickgal definitely the right tones, but jeez the price!!!

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Mimilamore · 27/09/2023 17:13

Same Rob with a North facing living room... making notes, love the lighter olives... mine is like Crypt at the moment!

PaintingPains · 27/09/2023 17:19

@Mimilamore lol !I feel your pain. The amount of times I've thought, yes I've done it, I've found the perfect paint only for the light to shift and the room once again descends into gloom! It's be coming a bit of an obsession of mine!

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Brieandbeetroot · 27/09/2023 17:56

We have Little Greene Boringdon Green in a west facing room. It's a described as a grey green but all the recommended complementary colours are warm muted and it really isn't grey at all in our room. I'd describe it as warm sage/pale olive. Our blinds in that room have mustard, burnt orange, teal and other green shades in and it works really well. If you're looking for something a bit bolder but not as dark as Jewel Beetle (which is a beautiful colour but we have it on our porch doors and it is strong), we have Garden in our living room, with dark tan/chestnut coloured furniture, and paired with off-white and mustard tones and it's a lovely warm, but not too strong colour.

PaintingPains · 27/09/2023 19:18

@Brieandbeetroot

Boringdon green looks beautiful and thank you for describing how it shows in your West facing room. I'm reassured to hear it doesn't appear as cool toned! Who'd have thought light plays such a huge part in choosing paint colours, but then I'm not an interior designer! I'm feeling inspired by your accessory colours too. I do actually like bold colour but I'm wary as to exactly how far I can push it, given the size and orientation of the room. So a happy medium would be perfect. I'll add this to the list!

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