First-time decorator, trying to think long-term - is it madness to buy a deep green sofa?

[loonyloo]

Slightly dramatic thread title!

DH and I have recently bought our first house. Having rented for years, I'm very pleased to be able to finally decorate a house to our taste. Right now, we are thinking about furniture and colour schemes for the sitting room. We've spotted a sofa which we both really like, it's a deep green colour. This isn't the actual sofa but it's the same colour: www.houzz.co.uk/photos/63175166/little-venice-contemporary-living-room-london

I'm trying to think long-term - whatever we go with, the look will inevitably date and we'll need to redecorate. Buying a new sofa would be much more expensive than changing the paint colour on the walls, so I'm a bit worried that a sofa in this colour will really restrict our choices later on.

Should we just go with more neutral colour for furniture? Or should we be brave and go for the one we like? Has anyone bought a piece of furniture in such a strong colour and regretted it?

I actually think that's a fairly neutral colour in many ways - it'd work with almost any colour. Easy to work into a scheme with different cushions; it'd be different with toning green cushions, yellow, grey, pink...

Buy what you love, sod the trends. Life is too short not to just enjoy what you have. Doesn't matter a fig what anyone else thinks of it now, or in 10 years time. Honestly.

Be brave. Think about nature - most colours go with a deep green.

That is a very now quite of piece of furniture. That said, if you focus on quality it shouldn't age too badly.

Gorgeous colour sofa - will look great with most colours of wall

We had a deep green sofa for years. I loved it. Now recovered..in brown. ( sigh).

Yiu can recover.

Thanks for the replies. I hadn't thought of the nature aspect SwedishEdith, but that's a good point.

I know we should go with our tastes and I don't harbour any serious ambitions of having a magazine-ready house for all eternity or owt, but we'd still like to avoid ending up with the avocado bathroom suite or the artex ceiling of the future!

That is a very now quite of piece of furniture.

It is, Dina1234, that's why I was a bit concerned (the style is a bit different though, more like a Chesterfield or similar). That said, I've always liked strong colours, so felt that was why I like it, rather than it just being fashionable, if you see what I mean.

I suppose if we go off it later we could always put a throw over it, or re-upholster as OrlandoFurioso suggests.

You know what though? Everything will look like the avocado suite to someone in 10 years time. That's why you should just go for what YOU love and not worry about it. Remember what William Morris said: Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.

I had the same conundrum a couple of years ago as I wanted a deep green velvet sofa but decided on a mustard neutral sofa in the end. A common rule in interiors is that you have usually no more than three colours dominating a space and so if you have a green sofa it kind of means that green is always going to be part of the theme. What happens if you decided you're sick of green in a few years time? I would go with something more neutral and then bring colour in through the cushions and throws. Much more flexibility that way and allows you to change the whole colour scheme on a whim. But that's just me and if you really love the couch then who cares!

Lovely sofa and colour. I'd go with it! But then I've got a deep jade velvet sofa and plum walls! 😁

I had a dark green leather sofa (DH choice) it was very difficult to work with as in some lights it looked almost black.

Eventually we brought in a designer and she said in that room it sucked all the light out!

We now have buff sofas and the dark green is banished to a room that has several velux roof lights.

So it very much depends where you are going to put it.

I love it. It will go with neutral and also grey, yellow and certain blues. I have similarly coloured velvet curtains and they go with my gold/green walls and faded terracotta sofas. The latter two colours are actually fairly muted and the green just adds something more punchy.

I think it will be fine longterm- a plain colour, even if non-neutral, will last better than a pattern. Maybe just be sure that green is a colour you love anyway. My favourite colours have always been blues & greens so I know I would!

I love that colour. I think if an object brings you real joy then you will find a way to make it work. Better to be surrounded by what you love than to try to do what someone else would like.

Sofas get saggy anyway, you will probably have to replace it in 10-15 years (less if you have children/pets!).

Thanks everyone! I think we will buy it :-)

Yay! I'm glad you are going for it OP!
Also v tickled by the PP who got mustard instead as it's more neutral?! (Nothing against mustard, it's an ace colour and I'm sure looks gorge on her sofa. But a neutral??)

I think it would be lovely. Look up the blogger girl with the green sofa- she has amazing taste

I like it.

You like it.

You intend to live with it - you're not decorating a house to rent out.

Omg I love it!
So jealous (my kids would wreck it in 30 seconds flat)

Just to echo most pps - it's a gorgeous colour and I was going to say look at how often you see green in nature with lots of other colours.

The William Morris quote got me wondering whether Marie Kondo was a fan of his?!