I looked at RH subtle velvet, part of the Bay Laurel collection, but samples are back ordered. Anyone by chance have a photo of a room done in this? Very difficult online, because the colors look so different. The online glidden China rain looks very gray online and not at all on the wall.

Sue

Have you looked at Ellen Kennon Paints? They are marketed as 'full spectrum' paints, but I don't know whether they are really any better than any other premium-quality paints. There are people on GW who swear by them, though, and there has been some lively debate about how great they really are. You order them online -- link is below. I ordered a full set of their swatched for something like $25.00 and would have used them for my bedroom that we just painted but they did not have the shade I wanted (I ended up using BM Aura in 'Soft Sky' and love it). They did, however, have several really nice sage-y greens and similar colors --you might try 'Gustavian Grey'. They are expensive but what isn't? I think its worth it to get a color you really love -- your are going to be living in it, after all. Good luck

Here is a link that might be useful: Ellen Kennon Paints

Sherwin William's Austere Grey, I'm not really a green person, but I just love this color...Good luck!

Green is such a tricky color to get right...because it changes more than any other from season to season. The green of the leaves on the trees outside reflects into the room and affects the color in summer...in autumn, if you have deciduous trees outside, the oranges and reds neutralize the green a bit, and so on...
And the sage greens are the hardest, I think. It is incredibly easy to suddenly find you have what we call the "VA Hospital Effect." Yick! Depressing...
It is much easier to use a green with more yellow in it, and head toward the olive shades (even in the paler values) to avoid the mint problem and still keep the neutral value that I think you want.
The only way to know is to see the color on your own walls, in your own daylight and lamplight!

Try going to the House Beautiful site, and see their interactive paint color testing thing...of course it won't be exact, but it can help steer you in a direction, and it's fun to play with, once you figure out how it works!
Pick a room to color, choose a white trim and ceiling...then for the walls, under "Classic Colors," look at "Shades of Spring" #537...in the Sherwin Williiams group, look at "Dancing Green" #6716, and under Valspar, look at "Fiddlehead Fern" 6003-6B.
Have fun!

Here is a link that might be useful: Paint Picker

BM Grecian Green is nice. Here is a link from the Decorating Forum.

Elizabeth

Here is a link that might be useful: Brutuses Grecian Green

I bought the little sample jars of Benjamin Moore greens, probably about 8 of them before I finally picked one that would look good on all the different facing walls. I too have dark cabinets, and a dark countertop. Selected Saybrooke Sage. The sample bottles are nice, because you can paint a large enough swatch to really see the color, instead of taping up little cards.

This may seem obvious, but I didn't start doing this until recently: buy some white poster board and cut to a good size, like 2 feet by 2 feet. Then, paint your samples on that instead of painting the walls. You can move your sample from wall to wall and room to room, and you won't have to re-prime.

We went through the same thing when we redid our kitchen family room. We ended up with Sherwin Williams "Grassland" . It is hard to tell the color on the computer but here is a picture

I painted my kitchen Muralo's Prairie Path.

As I write this, I've got 3 different sage green samples on my kitchen walls and have to make a decision. The painters will be here 8 am Monday! The front runner in BM Saybrook Sage. I have a sample card of SW Clary Sage, which I think I like a little better. They're very close.

Wow, great suggestions so far, I like all of them! I love how the Grecian Green looks against the dark wood. I need to find somewhere online I think that I can order cards and sample for several of these. Esp. the SW and BM ones. Ellen Kennon Paints I have heard of and visited her website before, but I had forgotten about it. I have never seen a room done in those paints in person and don't know if it would make a big or difference or not. Now that I have a reminder in this thread, if the more easily available ones don't work I will get a sample of hers. Thank you, I never would have thought of her.
My sofa is Taupe with a lot of gray in it and I don't think greens with yellow in them would go very well with it, so it kind of limits my choices somewhat.
Mdmc, your kitchen looks gorgeous! I will certainly try to find that color to look at in person.
Thank you all for the suggestions. There are some really nice greens here, none of which I had seen locally. If you have others, please feel free to post, I will try to get all the samples I need from one brand of paint at one time.

Sue

We have BM mosaic tile - my kitchen is in the FKB, if you haven't decided yet and want to check out the color! Looking forward to pictures of whatever you choose!

Beautiful kitchen, thank you Novemeber, I have added that to my list. On my monitor it is reading only a slight green tint, but it is a hard color to catagorize. It looked yellowish until I realized it was the lighting in a couple of photos. That one I am definitely going to have to see in person to get a real feel for, I think. Its subtle. Very pretty. Thank you.

Sue

My bathroom is painted in Sherwin Williams' "Sagey", which is the perfect gray sage color. I have brushed nickel fixtures and gray tile accents, and it looks great.

I used BM Fernwood Green in my master bedroom and I absolutely love it. I also have a friend that swears by BM Georgian Green--she has used it in at least one room in the past 3 houses she has owned. Good luck, green can be difficult.

BM Camouflage. Wonderful color. Not too green, not too gray.

One of my favorite green kitchens belongs to kmcg85. She used EK Edgewood Green. You can see her kitchen on the "green" post in the gallery.

Laurie

Here is a link that might be useful: green post

One trick I use is to start in the grays of the fandeck, not the greens, when I need a sage. I tend to lean toward the sophistication of grayed down colors, and this method saves me time. Hope this helps.

I like the sages with brown underneath, like the BM Baby Turtle I have in much of my house. But here are a bunch of greens in the GardenWeb gallery and one might be for you.

Red

Here is a link that might be useful: Decorating (Gallery)

Citron Agave would be beautiful.

I just got back from my local BM store and had them make up SW Clary Green. Painters should be here soon. I'll let you know....

If you get a chance, try BM's Flowering Herbs - I have fallen in love with the color and even DH likes a lot. We will also have a room in BM's Baby Turtle (mentioned above, alot darker) and it will complement the Flowering Herbs.

I used several greens from the BM Aura line when I had my house repainted. I tend to choose quite saturated colours.

Flora in the bathroom...

And Elemental in the front hallway ...

Have you looked at Restoration Hardware's Signature Color, Silver Sage? They sell it at their stores and on-line I believe. Also, every store that I've been in is painted this color. Very soft and soothing. Good luck!

I had my kitchen painted today - SW Clary sage, but BM paint. I really, really like it!

We used BM Georgian Green taken down a notch using their pastel base. But I've also see BM Flowering Herbs and that is also very pretty. BM Flowering Herbs ended up looking too brown with the lighting in my kitchen. So it's really important to get samples and paint them onto your wall and look at them with day and night lighting.

My kitchen was painted yesterday in BM Nantucket Gray and I love it--just thought I'd throw that out to you since the name doesn't sound "green" yet it was the exact sage/beige/green tone I wanted.

Great thread from the decorating forum on greens! So many wonderful suggestions. Janran, pitterpat and others, pictures, PLEASE??????? Thanks for so many wonderful suggestions, everyone! Its going to take some time to narrow this down. :)

Sue

I have BM Saybrook Sage in my dining room with dark cherry
wood. I love it and get alot of complements on it. It is kind of a grey green not a yellow green.

Earlier I mentioned I was about to paint my master bath in SW Softened Green. It has been done!

SW Sawdust
BM Dry Sage

Between my camera and your computer monitor, I'm not sure these photos are very helpful. The paint color is SW Clary Sage, very similar to BM Saybrook Sage--slightly darker and slightly less grey.

I'll post again when my kitchen is finished..hopefully in about a week.

{{!gwi}}
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