you could also soften the apple green with some gray, so its a sagey apple green. I'm a huge color lover too and totally understand it being a safe choice for you, but for me, my safer colors are the ones I am most comfortable in so whenever I try to switch it up a notch, I eventually end up going back to what I love. I sort of relate it to traveling. Going somewhere new is always fun at first, but in the end there is just no place like home.

How about this? I adore this room & this green...it is the 2013 Southern Living Idea House designed by Phoebe Howard. I am trying to find the name of the paint! Will post when I do.

I found it!! SW Palm Leaf!

Oh my daughter used palm leaf in her main floor half bath, it's a pretty green too! Itisn't that dark in her little spot tho

Nini that Palm Leaf is gorgeous & the light upholstery looks great with it. My room has west facing door/window & one north facing window. It's dim in the morning but very light in afternoon. No overhead light at all - only lamps & the sconces on dimmers. I usually use SW paint so will make a stop there on my way to BM.

It reminds me of Mary McWilliams home featured in Southern Living many years ago. As soon as I saw your photo I got my idea folder with these pictures & she even gave paint colors (SW Vert Olive). They probably don't even have that color anymore but thank you for reminding me how much I liked her room. Hers was an older cottage and she use olive, red & gold beautifully.

You just can't go wrong if you stick with what you love & I so, so do not love grey!

SW Avocado

SW Artichoke

sw saguaro

Here are Colonial Verdigris & Timson Green...more or less. The colors & shading aren't exact. But you can get an idea of a darker green versus a yellower green at least. Click on the picture to enlarge. Pretty room. I'm wanting wide Pickwick paneling just like yours for my family room redo.

And here's Georgian Green on the left and Artichoke on the right to show a gray green and a soft sage green.

Awm, can you try it with the Greenbrook? I love that color for that room; would love to get an idea of it.

Awm thank you so much for the samples - I need to learn how to do that. I was quite taken by the Artichoke & the Verdigris looks wonderful ... not as dark as I thought it might be. I'm trying to narrow down the suggestions to 5 or 6 to get samples. Those 2 & the Palm Leaf are on the list for sure. While I think some of the lighter greens are lovely I'm really set on something darker.

I had no idea what the paneling was called ... will have to google Pickwick & learn more. I've been trying to find out what this strange stuff is but no luck. Had some water damage a few years ago and it was awful ... it just dissolved. It almost seems like some kind of compressed paper & it is tricky to hang things. The previous owner had wallpaper & liner over all of it (it's everywhere in the house) & I spent weeks removing that stuff, but promptly re-papered the kitchen & bath!

Take a look at Benjamin Moore Color Stories line. They use no gray or black in their mixes so you are getting true color, not dead color. We chose a deep blue for our pub ceiling and it is so alive! About 10 shades of blue from reflections. We love Benjamin Moore Color Stories. http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/for-your-home/color-stories/elemental-greens

We also love color and painted our adjoined front room and living room BM Winding Vines. It is a dark color, but we love it! The rooms don't get a ton of light either, but it just feels cozy. Especially in winter. I say go for it.

Farrow and Ball has a new green out that i like called Calke Green.

Here's Greenbrook on the right. Remember, these renditions aren't 100% true, just close enough to give you an idea about light, dark, yellowish, grayish, blue-ish, or olive-ish greens.

Thanks for doing that, Awm.

Yes, I really like the Greenbrooke. I think it's very sophisticated.

From your description, I'm wondering if your walls are homasote? My in-laws have homasote on their walls, and it's similar to what you describe. We have deep green walls in our bedroom, a Behr color put on by the previous owners. It's so rich and cozy. It's a dark color, but with our south facing windows, we really like it.

Gigi, I have a lower level rec room and office painted in a color very close to BM Colonial Verdigris; both rooms have dark wood wainscoting. (I love the dark green). With your light colored furniture, the squares of light colors in your rug, and some of your accessories being light, or having light colors within them, ...I can envision these items popping. Plus, your dark wood furniture would look great against this classic color. I think you should go for it. Besides, if you decide you don't like it, you can always repaint. But, I have a feeling, that won't be the case. :)

Homasote sounds exactly right Laughable - thank you. One upside is hat there is solid wood behind it so no stud finding ever needed.

I appreciate the encouraging words for the Colonial Verdigris from everyone. I've just got a feeling about that one. Awm's mockup really helped. Actually you have all been very helpful & I can't wait to get some sample boards up. Will post some pix for sure & take a totally impartial poll (think verdigris) Lol!

My mom just did this exact combo -- strong red with a green. She used Olive Branch by Benjamin Moore and it's beautiful. I would be careful about the undertones with the green so it goes with the red. Red has a warm undertone, so you want a green with a warm undertone -- think olive (brown or yellow undertone) rather than a gray-green or a blue-green. Also, you need something deep enough in tone to hold it's own against the red -- no "wimpy" greens. Now this doesn't mean it needs to be Christmas-tree green to go with your red. It just needs to be dark enough to not look washed out. I would go with a green that looks almost brown on the chip to avoid the Christmas problem. The brown undertone will also give you the warmth and coziness you want. My mom's Olive Branch has that feel but definitely reads green. Another popular color is BM Baby Turtle, this reads browner but still green. Even further brown, some other pretty deep browns with greenish undertones are Northampton Putty or Clarksville Gray from BM's historic collection. You'll be surprised that the right green will likely look brown on the chip, but green when you hold it against white or especially red (across the color wheel). Being next to the red room will make any green tones in your paint look even greener.

Not sure if you'd be interested in Behr, but I checked and our bdrm is Bahia Grass. Have fun sampling! : )

I apologize that I haven't read the whole thread, but as I scroll through, I see a lot of olive green. Unfortunately, it is probably my least favorite shade of green. Mom and I always used to disagree as it was one of her favorites.

Be that as it may, I'd like to suggest a deep green that is not in the olive family. This is a BM affinity color....boreal forest. I think it has wonderful body and would contrast nicely with the light colored furniture in your room.

We did Behr Truly Olive in our master bedroom. The online swatch is very similar to SW Artichoke. I planned to go one or two lighter on the strip but DH wanted to go darker and I'm glad we did. I'm surprised how much I love it. We decorated with a blue rug and quilt, black picture frames, orb hardware, and our furniture is a dark reddish stain.

I love the Colonial Verdigris! I think the mock up looks great. Go for it!

UPDATE with samples:

What a difference tha samples make. Again, thank you everyone for your suggestions - they were all good. The lighter colors I didn't sample simply because I've had similar shades before, know they will look great but I'm looking for something darker & different this time.

Very pleased with the olive, bronze samples - they really look wonderful in the room.

Colonial Verdigris is a bit scary at first but I'm going to give it a few days in different light before a final decision.

Here's a pic of the samples - I don't think it really does them justice - they're so much richer in person. The final four are:

Upper left is Palm Leaf. A dark olive with strong brown undertones.

Upper right is Relentless Olive. I had this mixed from an old SW color from Southern Living. Olive with yellow undertones.

Lower left is Artichoke. A medium green that looks great on its own but takes on blue undertones here,

Lower right is Colonial Verdigris. Darkest of all with decided blue undertones.

i could be happy with any of these but there are 2 that are especially calling to me. What do you say Garden Webbers?

One more pic in different light

Palm Leaf! Definitely! Relentless Olive, if you want more green and the Artichoke is taking on blue.

(But I do wish you'd sample that Greenbrook! Something about that color is telling me it's the right one! :-))

In the second picture, the top left looks almost brown. I like top right or bottom left, but on my monitor they look almost identical.

Wow, TL and BR don't even look like part of your quest.

BL and TR look identical. I think I prefer TR. What the heck can be Relentless about Olive? Maybe they mean Olive Kitteridge.

Jeeze, mtn, it took me forever to figure out what TL and BR meant. I thought it was the paint name and thought I missed something.

I like RO. :)

And this is why we should always try samples! I do wish colors could show a little truer on a screen. Even sitting here with the samples and the picture on screen in front of me they look quite different.

Tib. I didn't sample the Greenbrook because it looked to brownish to me but then the Palm Leaf also has a lot of brown & I am, surprisingly, quite taken with it. The sconce shades will have to change though!

Nosoccermom those two do look the same in the picture but the TR is really a yellow green and the BL a blue green. Both are lovely in person.

Mtn who names these colors? Lol! I love the Relentless Olive but I wasn't really looking for relentless, persistent maybe but that's as far as I want to go. It does have a yellow undertone in strong light but is a true olive otherwise.

When I first saw the Colonial Verdigris on line it looked very olive green to me but in person it skews strongly blue - at least in my room. Sadly, not the look I wanted.

As said above, I will be dithering over these for a while but I have a strict limit on dithering - 3 days max.

Wow...good to know that we need to rely on samples. I will definitely keep that in mind.

Your room is very nicely decorated, awesome indeed. Living in a cottage
like room is very cosy especially in winter months. When it comes to
colour I'll prefer bottle green somewhere in the room with the peach
coloured curtains.

3 days of dithering. What's the decision?

Good choice, looks great.

Nice! So much better with the red walls and dark wood than blue-toned greens.

It looks beautiful.

Looks great!

Looks great!

Oooh, Relentlessly pretty :-)

I love it, it looks gorgeous!

What a beautiful home! And I love the green you have chosen.

Please post a picture of your couch area when you're done painting the walls. It looks great so far!

Love it! Great choice!

What color is the celing in the green room? Ive been on an eternal quest for green and would love something besides white abpve the picture rail... but WhAT. The possibilities are endless.

looks great! it's a different look than I was picturing, but a very nice one! :)

Looks wonderful! Enjoy.

Kashka the ceiling is white. Will post more pix as progress is made but it's moving slowly. Ah, for the days when I could get this done in just hours. Lol!

Gigi, first off I love your home. It has a cozy elegance about it that just is so enticing. So many of your beautiful belongings remind me of my DM's home. She had lovely taste as do you.

The Relentless Olive looks perfect! I am so anxious to see your room when the painting is finished.

Mtn, LOL over your comment on Olive Kitteridge, she was indeed relentless.

ET change a word

It's hard to do red & green w/o it looking like an explosion in a Christmas outlet Factory but man when it's done right!!!!!!! Always been jealous that I couldn't pull the red/ green combo off so I learned to live vicariously through other homes done this way. Your place is beautiful!

Holly-Kay, your words warm my heart & your love for your DM comes through!

Foxes,lol, yes the whole Christmas explosion thing was a factor in this decision but I remembered how happy these colors always make me feel...so I just went for it.