Help choosing a F&B green for the living room
I'm trying to choose a F&B green for my new living room. I've got samples of Breakfast Room Green and Calke Green. Sometimes I lean towards one and sometimes the other, and sometimes think neither will work!
I like the richness of Calke Green but I'm worried it will overpower the room and may clash a bit with the honey tones of the floorboards.
The room has big windows and is NW facing, so it's not dark but doesn't get much direct sunlight. It's a small/medium size room with big sized ceilings.
I'm planning to do the bookshelves, mantle, windows etc in white - I've seen a lot of pictures of people doing the woodwork green too but I find that too heavy and flat.
I find it really hard to visualise things - I'm sure I could pick what I like if it was fully painted but impossible to tell from even a large sample. Does anyone have any advice or preference???
Comments (23)
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Comments (35)Firstly, Happy New Year fellow Houzzers! Hope 2019 is happy, healthy and generally good for everyone. Want to again pass my thanks to you all for all the responses, advice and inspiration. Without you I don't think we would have got to where we have with the room. As you may have guessed, I am updating the thread because we have finished it (mostly!). The jury is still out on painting the dresser as I don't want 'matchy-matchy' so I am going to live with it for a while as it is. We absolutely love the room and it is beautiful in the morning light. The wallpaper is the Sanderson Chiswick Grove Sage, the paneling and skirting is in F&B Breakfast Room Green eggshell, the ceiling in a pure trade white with the doors and cupboard in F&B James White eggshell. All the woodwork too 4 coats to cover the sanded orange varnish. :( The curtains are the old Ikea things we had up so I need to decide on what to replace them with (they got paint on them so need to go). My lovely sister gave me a really nice brass chandelier so the old light will go too. Also thinking about a jute/sisal rug for under the table, anything patterned would be too much I think. At some point I will replace the black Ikea lamps too. But at the moment they are doing a job. I don't want the lighting to be too old fashioned as the room would go a bit chintzy I think. Hence the lamps on the sideboard looking a bit more modern. Here are some pics if you are interested. :) Cheers all. :)...See MoreF&B Breakfast Room Green office - now what accent colours?
Comments (13)Understood. But don’t forget those colours you have selected ,belong to identifiable Hue Families. (indicated by the coloured segments on the wheels above) Wimborne White belongs to the Yellow Hue Family for example. But am not suggesting you need to pair it with a bright Yellow - but teaming it with other colours from the same Family would mean they have a colour connection. You can find blacks, whites, greys in each of those Families on the wheel. Choosing ones which have some connection to the colours you have already chosen, helps keep your palette tight. F&B All White + Little Greene Lamp Black both belong to the Green-Yellow Hue Family, just as Breakfast Room Green does. They share colour DNA....See More- 4 years agolast modified: 4 years ago
Personally I’m fond of Hardwick White with warm wood floors.
Although it may not appear so here on screen by comparison to Calke and Breakfast Room Green, it can in many spaces read as a more earthy, greyed green.
Hardwick White is actually lighter than either of the others but can appear darker with shifting light. It has approximately only half the Chroma of Calke and Breakfast Room Green, so it is more neutral by comparison.
It sits in the Yellow Hue Family, closer to the wooden floors in the Yellow-Red Hue Family, so the contrast between them isn’t quite so magnified as in the other combinations.
Calke and Breakfast Room Green are in the Green-Yellow Hue Family, a little more clockwise on the Color Strategist Wheel below.
They all work with your flooring. The Calke reminds me more of a formal Victorian study, library or smoking room.
HU-332680634 thanked Marylee H 
4 years agoFarrow & Ball do some lovely greens. I’ve used Cromarty which is a pale grey-green and looks lovely with white woodwork and a red rug. Mizzle is similar but a little darker. Obviously if you are looking for a bold green then they wouldn’t do. The last pic is Card Room Green.
HU-332680634 thanked Sonia
4 years agoIt looks good but it does look quite 'stimulating' if that's what you are after. If you want it to look calmer then a warm dirtier neutral that reads as green may be worth considering. Light Grey 17 can look warm and calming on the walls and would complement the earthy browns well.
Just a different look perhaps.
HU-332680634 thanked Juliet Docherty- 4 years ago
- 4 years ago
I struggled with greens too but bought a tester pot of Wilko's Urban Jungle because it was very cheap so nothing to lose and it turned out to be the best of the lot for my east-facing room. Two years later I still like it and my decorator found it satisfactory, too
HU-332680634 thanked Katherine L - 4 years ago
- 4 years ago
Or if you’re wanting something darker you could also try mouses back, the light should bring the green out
HU-332680634 thanked minnie101 - 4 years ago
4 years agoWe painted our north facing lounge Card Room Green 7 years ago but it had started to look dull. Our other rooms are more bold and it looked more neutral. We tried chalke green but we didn’t like the tone. We went for duck green in the end with white windows and furniture, but green shelving. We love it and embraced orange tones too
HU-332680634 thanked Laura- 4 years ago
We used Calke green in our NW facing study. with white (Dulux almond white) to be a bit uplifting for work. Not finished moving back in yet but we like it. We used a grey colour for woodwork (I’ll look it up if you’re interested)
HU-332680634 thanked victoriaburvill - 4 years ago
- 4 years ago
- 4 years agolast modified: 4 years ago
- 4 years ago
We've used breakfast room green on one wall in purple living room and absolutely love it
Farrow & Ball