Alternative to the Overused Shade of Lime when You Want to Decorate with Green

A simple stroll through any retail store will quickly clue you in the fact that lime green is the new black. Or red or ochre or violet or whatever the hip color was before this shade of green became omnipresent. The fact is, however, that lime green can way too easily be overdone. Like red, which is a fantastically versatile color when it comes to decorating your home or office, lime green is best utilized by being rather more discriminatory than you might with eggshell or light blue. You can still add a more than a healthy dollop of green to the décor, but realize that lime is not the end of it all when it comes to introducing this natural, earthy hue to your home.

Forest Green

Forest Green is that shade that is deeper, darker and richer than almost any other usable shade of green. A room that is tastefully decorated in forest green can instantly achieve a look best described as dignified or, if used with the maximum degree of efficiency, imperial. In order for forest green to achieve its power, you have to use it in combination with a complementary shade for trim. A room decorated with forest green paint or wallpaper will pop if you tackle things like window and door time or wainscoting with a lighter shade of green. You need to keep the perimeters lighter in order to gain the utmost dramatic effect from your patrician use of forest green. This is a case where lime green could be introduced not only for its complementary power but also for its shocking boldness.

Get all Mad Eye Moody With Your Green

One of the best reasons to add green to your home or office décor is to reap the benefits of the psychological effects of this color. Properly applied and carefully chosen, the right shade of green can be used to enhance your sense of calm and even instill a rejuvenation of the soul. Green has long been the color of choice in schools and hospitals because of the calmative effect is can have. This means eschewing any plans you might have for using lime or any other shade of green in any room that calls for active engagement of the intellect and the need for energy. In other words, unless your worksite calls for an anesthetic effect on clients or patients or students, you will likely want to forget about it. Those working out of a home office should carefully the effects of color on their psychological state of mind with a great degree of certainty before diving in. As a writer, for instance, the last thing I need in my home work space is a color that reminds me I'm just a few steps away from a bed or relaxing chair. On the other hand, if you've got a hyperactive elementary school age kid or a teenager who seems to wake up every morning with a chip on the shoulder, going green may be your answer. Green is also about as appropriate a choice for color as you can for a library where you seek an escape from the stresses of the world within the universes to be found within those pages. Hmm, do you suppose that home libraries are about to become completely obsolete thanks to technology like the Kindle?

Grass

The single best utilization of the various shades of green, with a notable exception being lime, is its used as the foundation for a color scheme or décor based on nature. Step outside and take a look down and what do you see? Well, unless you live in one of the concrete jungles that is the naked city, you should see grass. Grass is our natural flooring material and any decision to base your décor on recreating nature indoors has to begin with laying down a foundation of green. The point to keep in mind that you really need to take a good long walk around town or head out to the country for a stroll. Grass, contrary to the belief of some, isn't a color in and of itself; it's not even a proper shade of green. Grass comes in an amazing number of colors, textures and thicknesses. Get a good strong feel for the type of natural flooring you with to replicate before making any decision. The shades of grass green range from that which is closer to blue to those expensive grasses that are almost unreal in their bright vivid hue to darker shades closer to forest green to those relatively unpleasant but potentially quite useful brownish shades of green. As far thickness goes, you have the choice of going with thick shag carpeting to bring the outdoors indoors or you can choose to delicately paint your wooden floors to simulate the fragile beauty of a freshly mown baseball field.

Minty Green

In theory it is possible to go overboard with mint green, but most people are equipped with a natural tendency to know that mint green should never become the leading player in any décor. As with Republican politicians, there is a time and place for the use of mint green and if used with the utmost care, you can actually exploit it to great effect. One of the most effective ways to introduce mint green into your home décor is with window treatment. Curtains, sheers and shades are all appropriate decorating elements for choosing mint green as long as you are not talking about an oversized window area. Remember this elemental decorating imperative about mint green: the less space it takes up, the more effective a part of your décor it becomes.