Green living rooms are calm and uplifting, and this is how to perfect them

The most sophisticated greens tend to have hints of grey in them, erring closer to sage than to the colour of a recently watered lawn on a summer's day. And grey-tinged green is so liveable! It is like a breath of fresh air when used on walls, it's inviting and soft when used on furniture. Farrow and Ball's Theresa Green and COAT Paints' The Trail are prime examples of this. Use lavishly or take inspiration from this living room, above, and cover half the wall in tiles of this exact shade. Dreamy and restful to be around.

That all said, there is an impressive effect to be had by going up and over the walls in a truly bright green like, say, Little Greene's Green Verditer paint. The way to temper this and make the colour seem modern rather than like a Wimbledon court is to mix in a little chartreuse, a shade that designers have recently rebranded as celery.

A little bit acidic, it offers that balance between freshness and sophistication, sharpening the sweetness of green without overwhelming it. The result is a palette that feels energetic yet controlled, bringing a crisp, contemporary edge to what could otherwise read as purely classic.