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January 14, 2011

Smitten with Green

At some point in the last few years I have become smitten with green.  Most of my life, my favorite color was blue. I still like blue, especially in clothing, but for decorating, I'm keen on green.  

I've been wanting to find a nice shade of green for painting furniture.  I'd sort of been keeping my eyes open for pretty greens.  Now, I've decided to get serious about it.  My kitchen counter has now been taken over by Project Green.

He [She] had that curious love of green, 
which in individuals is always 
the sign of a subtle artistic temperament, 
and in nations is said to denote a laxity, 
if not a decadence of morals. 
~ Oscar Wilde ~ 


The main thing I want to paint green are my dining room chairs.  I don't have MY dining room chairs yet. I have two sets of chairs I don't like in my attic. They will be sold.  First they need some fixin' up. One set of them are going to be part of my green experiment.  I'll paint them green and use them for a bit to see how I like that color. If that color isn't My color, then I'll paint chair set number 2 a different shade of green.  Then when I find MY chairs ( I know they are out there somewhere - maybe at the next auction I go to) surely I will know which way to go.  Who knows, I might even decide that green won't work after all and I'll go in a completely different direction.

I had been considering green for our chairs and then I came across Erin's dining room chairs.  She shows before and after's and by looking at those photos, you can see what a difference the green chairs made.


Erin's green is perfect for her room, but I think I need a different shade of green.  Greens are very tricky. I found that when I picked out the color for the exterior of my house.  I'm certain that whole experience took years off my life. 


Karen's hutch that I blogged about yesterday is another wonderful green that I'm drawn to, but again, it's not MY green.  


So - where is MY green?  Is it one of these?


Or maybe one of these?


Or one of these?


Greens can be so peaceful... or lively... or retro and fun... OR the wrong green can be totally jarring and horrible and remind you of bad childhood experiences with vegetables.  I want a happy green, a soothing green, a lively green.  You see, that's my problem.  I want a green that is everything good. If there was such a green, everyone would use it. 


Green is the prime color of the world, 
and that from which its loveliness arises.
  ~ Pedro Calderon de la Barca ~


Here's a white kitchen with just a few touches of green.  Mmmm.  Nice.  But I don't think I can be that restrained.  I like other colors too much.


Greens can be very energetic, especially the citrus-y greens.  This is pretty and fun, but it's not MY green.


I came very close to having retro green countertops in my kitchen because of the photo below.  The kitchen is in the beach house of the owners of the t-shirt company - Fresh Produce. 


Tina from Cherry Hill Cottage has a kitchen island with a shade of green that may be pretty close to what I'm thinking of.

Sometimes an unexpected green surprises everyone at how perfect it turns out to be.  This room from Country Living (I think - it's a pretty old scan) would be much less interesting without those painted floors.  And would you just look!  Those chairs don't go at all - it's such a different green.  But the whole room works and makes you want to choose colors that clash!  Maybe I don't need to worry so much about which green I choose.  I just need to find a green I like and use it with attitude!


 Here's another example of several greens being used together that are not in the same color family.  If they were closer on the color wheel, it wouldn't be as interesting.  Oh yes.  I am definitely not as worried about my color choice now.

Now I can just find a green I can enjoy.  Meanwhile, enjoy these other Green photos from my files.  These are very old - before the days when I kept up with where I got them from.  If anyone knows the source, I would love to give credit.





Hmmm - This may be the green I'm looking for!!!
Or maybe I need to layer on several greens using dry brushing and/or sanding to allow each to show.  Looking at a number of greens together is rather pleasing. That may be the best idea for me! 


Be sure to check out the latest RE- Party!
We RE-do, RE-decorate, RE-organize, RE-pair,  RE-upholster,  
RE-member, RE-finish, RE-purpose, and of course, we love to RE-lax!   
This party celebrates ALL the RE-'s in our lives!  

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