MilitaryByOwner Housing Blog

Easy Ways to Decorate with Green...Without Painting!

Written by Dawn M. Smith | Tue, Apr 03, 2018 @ 12:04 PM

Green is a natural color choice to start with for any spring updates for your home

Year after year, home stores showcase design ideas that typically include variations of green because they invoke a feeling of freshness and growth. Using your favorite shade of green is also a cost-cutting strategy because it is easily transferable into summer decor updates as well.

During the spring and summer, a stroll through home decorating stores provides examples of how decorating elements work together. Commercial visual designers and merchandisers work diligently to share with their customers the best way to incorporate the latest trends--often using the color green to showcase the new season’s must-have items.

Choosing well is a simple as buying from the display that resonates with your personal taste. The conveniently located vignettes are like Garanimals, but for decorating! Each piece already looks fantastic put together with coordinating items from the vignette. There is no wrong combination.

If painting walls your favorite shade of green makes you a bit nervous or if a home sale is in your future, check out a few of the easy and affordable ways to intersperse green touches into your home. Professional home stagers even implement some of these techniques to connect with buyers.

Easy Ways to Decorate with Green...Without Painting!

 

House Plants

House plants are the easiest way to spend money to add a bit of green. The trend has been raging for a few years now, starting with large potted plants, like the fiddle leaf fig and transitioned into the smaller sized succulents that are still widely available. There are dozens of medium sized options to choose from. Hanging plants in macramé planters, especially in bathrooms, is also wildly popular.

Photo by Patrick Perkins on Unsplash

The idea of keeping plants alive often puts off potential buyers, but a little research will turn up the varieties that do well without devoted attention. Cacti and succulents are favorites because they require little water. Boston ferns thrive in the bathroom because of the low light requirement and the readily available supply of humidity.

With cautious use, faux plants can be incorporated, but sparingly. Many inexpensive options really do look like cheap plastic replications. Consider an artificial plant as an investment to be used year after year and buy the best quality you can afford to achieve the most authentic replica of reality. Don’t forget to dust! This is a dead giveaway for a wanna-be real plant.

Artwork and Decorative Items

After plants, decorative items are the simplest way to add green into your decor. The options are endless and so varied. Small touches like a translucent emerald vase or a sea foam canister collection are as relaxed as “set and go.” Curating enough green items (without overdoing it) to actually make a statement is probably the trickiest part of decorating without green paint.

Concentrating on table tops or mantels is a technique that is easily mastered. Arranging decorative items at various heights and with coordinating but unlike pieces makes for a strong visual impact. On your mantel, try pairing green glass, either from vases or candles, with a more natural finish, such as a woven basket. By adding a bit of bit of silver from candlesticks or jars, you’ve produced a color scheme dominated by green that looks interesting.

Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash

Botanical prints are the best double duty items out there to show off variations of green. A gallery collection of artwork fills the need for visual interest with height but also provides the freshness plants and flowers provide. It’s almost unavoidable to exclude green with botanical prints; the hue just comes with the territory. Personalization is simple by adding monograms, initials, or family tree motifs.

Linens and Textiles

Sometimes the most time effective and cost reducing way to add any color, not just green, is to buy a collection of already gathered items, like a bed in a bag. This idea gets a bad rap because quality can be poor and they are traditionally aimed at college students, but beds in a bag are a versatile way to get a base of decor going.

These come complete with a color scheme already compiled, so the hard work of choosing from an overwhelming array is done. The potential to personalize is what makes them user-friendly. By adding extra sumptuous layers, perhaps a bed skirt, more blankets, or coordinating pillows, a very cohesive look begins to form.

After a pleasant and calming shade of green, like a moss color, is installed into the bedroom, it's only right the master bathroom get the same treatment. Bath mats, towels, and shower curtains are the go-to fixes, but be careful not to go overboard with green in a small space. Often, green counter top storage and accessories are all you need to complete the transition.

But, If You DO Want to Paint

There’s a reason Pantone made Greenery their color of the year in 2017! Coincidentally, for the adventurous decorator, 2018’s Color of the Year is Ultra Violet, a perfect companion to Greenery to inject energy into a room.

Although not typically included into the neutral color category, many green shades take on neutral color tendencies, meaning many color combinations play well with green. For example, the perfect sage green mixes well with brown and yellow tones. Grey-greens and blue-greens are two other choices that encompass a wide variety of options to add green into your home this spring.

Committing to walls full of green paint will take some time. Choosing the right shade that looks amazing both day and night requires trial and error. Cheat a little bit and start with samples of designer favorites. They are favorite choices because of their compatibility and quality. It’s hard to go wrong with a green paint named Peaceful Garden suggested by a designer. The paint’s names and makers are easily found on Pinterest and home improvement stores.

If tackling the walls is still just too much, go for the front door--you won’t be disappointed. Front door makeovers are often suggested to home sellers to boost curb appeal, but a front door update for anyone is rarely regretted. The instant style added by the perfect shade of kelly green makes for unique character and provokes envy from passersby.

Despite the popularity, home decorating isn’t everyone’s favorite way to spend free time. But, most people appreciate the updated looks designers create. Turn to free guidance from designers or stores whose styles you connect with. Many offer their own blogs, penned by guest celebrity interior decorators.

MilitaryByOwner offers its own collection of decorating advice, created especially for military homeowners and renters.