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Design 101
Green Living Room Ideas for Every Shade of Green
Published: September 26, 2024
The color green invokes thoughts of nature and the outdoors. Just like the many shades of green seen in nature, many varieties of green appear in living rooms. The vast array of greens available for interior design inspires green living room ideas for any ambience — from calming and peaceful to energizing and cheerful. Â
Is Green a Good Color for a Living Room?
The adaptability created by the many unique shades of green makes it a wise color choice for living rooms. Â
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From serene to lively, there is a shade of green for any mood you hope to create in your living room.
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Soft green hues blend well with neutral colors to provide a more uniform aesthetic.
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Muted greens can serve as a neutral background for brighter colors. 
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Vivid greens can deliver a pop of color, providing contrast against milder colors to create a focal point.
What Does the Color Green Represent?
Green is most commonly associated with nature and the outdoors, which makes sense when you consider how abundant the color green is in nature. However, different shades of green symbolize different concepts.Â
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Brighter greens found in nature, like grassy greens, symbolize growth, evolution, and new beginnings. 
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Dark, woodsy shades of green represent nature, plants, and the outdoors, which are associated with balance, and harmony. 
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However, dark greens can also bring about images of money, wealth, and prosperity. 
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Softer, lighter greens represent health and wellness and are associated with peace and relaxation. 
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Some brighter greens — like kelly green and lime green — are fresh, lively, and cheerful, embodying luck and hope. 
Different Shades of Green
Understanding the various hues of green can help you decide which shade builds the ambiance you want for your living room. As with most colors, lighter shades make a small room feel larger, while darker hues work well for creating a warmer feel in a larger room. Â
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Earthy, brown tones
Forest, hunter, olive, mossy, artichoke. These neutral greens invoke feelings of tranquility and peace. They pair well with mustard, blues, rust, coral, gray, and black. They complement many design styles, including modern, contemporary, rustic, and mid-century modern. 
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Jewel tones
Bright, deep, and dark hues of emerald. Conjure feelings of wealth and prosperity with these clear, clean, elegant colors. Emeralds work best with other jewel tones, like ruby red and sapphire blue, as well as other rich, dark green tones. Emerald hues appear in traditional-style homes but are more common in modern and glam living rooms.
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Gray greens
Sage, smoke, fog. Gray greens like sage are associated with health and wellness and are often used in spas. Use sage in your living room for an understated, soothing vibe. Pair with peach and tan. 
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Pale greens
Mint, pistachio, sea foam. Pastels and other soft greens are nicely balanced by other pastels, like pale pink, baby blue, lilac, and lavender, as well as pale neutrals and mustard yellow. These breezy, calm colors work well in coastal and cottagecore color palettes.
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Bright greens
Kelly, lime, grass. These medium, vibrant greens bring energy and life to your living room, invoking the lush Irish countryside and the luck of the Irish. Pair with primary colors like red and blue for contrast in a modern living room or with neutral colors for a minimalist aesthetic. 
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Blue greens
Teal, aqua. These blue greens blend into the blue color palette, but are still solidly green colors. With a nod to the blues, they bring together land and sea, invoking stability and growth with a calm energy. Depending on the brightness and depth of the shade, teal and aqua colors complement a variety of design styles including coastal, rustic, and modern. 
How to Incorporate Green Into Your Living Room
Bring green into your living room with paint colors, furniture, and accent pieces. Â
Green Living Room Walls
Green living room walls can serve as a neutral background or can bring in greens from furniture and accent pieces. To bring green to your walls or an accent wall:Â
— Select a complementary shade of green paint
— Apply green shiplap
— Choose wallpaper with green print
Green Furniture 
What color furniture goes with green walls? Furniture comes in a wide variety of shades of green to blend nicely with a neutral palette or provide a contrasting pop of color to make a statement. Greens pair well with other greens, which means you do not have to choose whether you want green furniture or green walls. You can have both. Â
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Select a shade of green for your base color.
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Choose among the shades of the base color for your wall.
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Select other shades of the base color for furniture and accent pieces. 
The Best Green Living Room Furniture 
Because green is so versatile, there is green living room furniture for every style. You can find understated green furniture to blend into a traditional living room and bright green pieces to make a statement in a modern living room.  Â
Green sofas and couches
When you search for green sofas and couches, you will come across shades of emerald, sage, olive, and even lime in various sofa materials. A velvet green sofa may come in an emerald tone while a linen sofa is more likely to be sage. Â
Green recliners
Green recliners for your living room may be neutral greens, including gray greens and brown greens, to take a backseat to statement pieces in the room. Brighter middle greens and blue greens transform your recliner into an extra-comfortable accent chair.Â
Green rugs
Search for green rugs or green-patterned rugs to tie various shades of green and other colors together. A Persian rug with forest greens and rust reds can pull together the colors of a dark green living room with a traditional vibe. A solid green, shag rug in kelly green can serve as a focal point in a glam-styled living room. Â
Green storage bench
Green furniture can be functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. Both wooden and upholstered storage benches come in a variety of greens, both solid and patterned. Consider a pastel green gingham-patterned upholstered storage bench for your cottagecore or farmhouse living room. Or add a sage green wooden storage bench for a coastal vibe. Â
Green accent chair
Choosing the right shade for your green accent chairs will make your green living room come together with elegance and style. Consider dark green velvet accent chairs for your traditional living room. Create a tranquil vibe with comfortable, forest green upholstered accent chairs. Â
Living Room Color Combinations
Greens work well with neutral colors, making it easy to work with various living room color combinations.Â
Gray and green living room
Greens and grays complement each other nicely, allowing for a soft blending of colors for an understated look or sharp contrast for a more energized aesthetic. Greens and grays can also blend into each other creating green-gray colors like sage and smoke, building a muted, calming feel for a traditional living room. Pairing greens with a dark gray to give a mid century modern living room its minimalist feel. Â
Brown and green living room
Living rooms with brown and green palettes embody nature and the outdoors. Combine browns and greens in your living room for a woodsy feel reminiscent of the trendy country club aesthetic. Pair sage green with a deep brown leather sofa and a vintage wood coffee table for a traditional vibe.Â
Green and white living room
Green contrasts well against white, giving a green and white living room a distinctly clean, crisp feel. Add deep green and black to your white living room to elevate your modern style. Combine seafoam green with bright whites for your coastal living room.   Â
Shopping for Your Green Living Room
Whether you choose earthy, brown tones of green to bring the outdoors in or bright, vibrant greens for a more lively feel, these green living room ideas will help you use green to create a living room you will be proud to share with your family and friends. Â
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