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The best green paint colours for small spaces — from calming sage to deep 'Hunter boots' green
These hues – from bright to barely there – are a ideal for a hallway, boot room or guest toilet
Green remains perennially popular when it comes to decorating – and for good reason. It's incredibly multi-faceted, ranging from bright, vivid shades to deep, dark hues that, at first glance, may not look like green at all.
It's also a colour we strongly associate with nature and its grounding, calming effects. In short, green is a great choice for any room, but some spaces particularly benefit from it: the small, often unloved enclaves of our homes like hallways, tiny toilets and utility rooms.
"Too many people reach for white in a tight space thinking it will open things up, but what you often get is something that feels clinical and unresolved," says Simon Mayhew, founder of Manchester-based interiors design studio TXTURED.
Green, on the other hand, can give a compact, overlooked room a sense of presence. Here are three of the best shades for small spaces.
Green 170, Lick
This brand-new paint from Lick has been created in collaboration with Hunter, on the occasion of its 170th anniversary. It's a deep forest green with blue undertones – the same shade as the original pair of Hunter wellies.
"The shade naturally lends itself to the spaces where everyday life begins and ends," says Tash Bradley, Director of Interior Design at Lick. "Hallways and boot rooms, where muddy boots are kicked off after countryside walks or rainy city days, feel like a natural home for ‘Green 170’."
Park Life, COAT
On the opposite end of the spectrum – far lighter and less vibrant than forest greens – sage hues are great to open up a tight space while still using colour.
"Park Life by Coat, this is the colour I keep coming back to for small spaces," says Simon. "It's sitting in that beautifully ambiguous territory between grey and olive. What makes it so clever is that it doesn't fight the architecture. Rather than shrinking the space or making it feel box-like, it seems to absorb and soften the light, creating a sense of depth that a brighter or starker colour simply can't achieve."
Invisible Green, Edward Bulmer
This vibrant (and hardly invisible) grass green was inspired by the 19th-century practice of painting ironwork to make it disappear into the greenery of the surrounding landscape. Because of it's adjacency to the greens appearing in nature, it's a wonderfully uplifting shade to use in the home, while its vibrancy makes it the ideal choice for small or transitional spaces.
Wanda Sachs is the Multiplatform Writer for Country Living and House Beautiful, exploring the latest in gardening, wildlife and sustainable living alongside interiors and property. She is particularly interested in human-interest stories, the intersection of design and pop culture, and the evolving relationship between urban and rural life. Previously, she served as Associate Editor at The Berliner in Berlin, where she reported on culture and fashion. Wanda studied English and German at the Goethe University Frankfurt and Exeter University.
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