I wait all winter for the first glimpse of green in spring. After winter’s darkness, I can’t wait to be outside and soak up the light. It is exhilarating to see nature come alive, bursting with color and brightness. Color has a great ability to affect our mood, and green in particular lifts my spirits. In today’s blog post I’ll be sharing how we like to use this cheerful color in our interiors.

I am often inspired by nature and my travels. The image on the left is from a meal I had at Blue Hill Stone Barns—not only do spring vegetables nourish us, they are also objects of beauty! The middle image is from my trip to Portugal last year. I stumbled upon this lovely house with the most exquisite green tiles. The different depths of tone on each tile created a stunning mosaic of color. Their vividness still makes me smile. I took the photo on the right at my country house. The green ground cover sprouts bright yellow flowers all season. I love how the seeds have embedded themselves in the stone wall and made a home for the flowering plant.

This Scarsdale outdoor porch is surrounded by verdant trees and grasses. We thought it would be fun to cover this outdoor porch with granny smith apple colored cushions. Instead of overwhelming the green landscape, the cushions further intertwine nature into the porch experience. It is a wonderful feeling to be enveloped by the beauty of the lush vegetation.

Here I am feeling elated with the successful installation of an Upper East Side home. We selected an elegant sage green for the drapery, with contrasting blue and brown color blocking. Green flowers complement the drapery and infuse the room with life and freshness. Another example of color making me feel happy!

Khaki is a wonderful and subtle way of adding color to a room. A member of the green family, khaki is muddy and moody. It mixes well with many colors, but I like it best intermingled with brown and cream, as we have done here. The cream painted paneled backdrop in this dining room provides a dramatic contrast to the darker color of the furniture.

Finally, this inviting white bedroom is enlivened by just a pop of bright lime green in the bed pillows. Don’t undervalue the impact of even small amounts of color in an interior. I hope you’ve enjoyed this next installment in our color series—let us know what color you’d like a post on next!