Green: how to paint your home so it feels like shade under a tree, not a hospital

Why green suits homes in Thailand

Most Thai homes have trees outside the window, or at least a monstera in a pot bought during lockdown. Green on the walls carries the garden into the house, and the room instantly feels shaded and cool, even when it is 35°C outside.

But green is an easy colour to get wrong. Too bright a green looks like the school sick bay. The best greens for a home are usually greens with grey or brown mixed in. Greens like these are calm, don't upstage your real plants, and look good both in the morning sun and under lamps at night.

Sage green: a green you can paint a whole room in and never tire of

Sage is a soft, grey-leaning green, like tea leaves on their second steeping, or a milky green tea with plenty of milk. Even people who are afraid of green can live with it, because it behaves more like a neutral than a bright colour.

In Voqe Wall Paint, shades such as Tea Leaf, Milk Green Tea, Green Tea Latte and Pandan Milk belong to this group. They suit bedrooms, living rooms and any room you want to feel calm, and they go beautifully with light wood, linen and rattan.

Olive green: a green with some maturity

Olive is green with brown or yellow mixed in. It is warmer than sage and has a good kind of age to it, like the favourite army jacket you have worn for ten years. It sits perfectly with earth tones, brown leather and dark wood.

Olive really stands out on a mineral finish. Voqe Mineral Finish in Siam Olive and The Ex's House gives a matt surface with hand-made brush marks, so no two walls are alike. It suits a feature wall in a living or dining room, and works on both walls and floors.

Deep green: a little brave, but well worth it

A deep pine-forest or deep-sea green turns an ordinary room into something like the library of an English country house. One wall is enough: the wall behind the bed, the wall behind the TV, or a small study you want to feel deep and quiet.

Shades such as Pine Green, Twilight Green and Coastal Pine in Voqe Wall Paint, or Coastal Pine and Asoke Traffic in Mineral Finish, suit well-lit rooms. In a room with little light, use deep green on one wall and keep the rest cream or a warm white, and the room will feel deep without going dark.

Which green goes where

A simple summary to remember when you are standing in front of the colour cards: soft grey-greens for whole rooms, olive for rooms you want to feel warm, deep green for the one wall you want people to stop and look at when they walk in.

Green works outside the house too: Voqe Wall Paint can be used both inside and out. A grey-green or olive helps the house blend into the garden instead of standing out from it.

• Bedroom: Tea Leaf, Milk Green Tea
• Living room: Green Tea Latte, Mineral Finish Siam Olive
• Feature wall or study: Pine Green, Coastal Pine
• Kitchen: Pandan Milk, Whipped Green Tea
• Exterior: Tea Leaf, Twilight Green

Try green before you paint

Green changes a great deal with the light. In morning sun it can look fresh and bright; under white LEDs it can turn so grey you hardly recognise it. Order 100ml samples at ฿75 in two or three shades, paint them on the real wall and watch them all day before you decide.

To see mineral greens in person, drop in at Voqe Studio (Bang Phli), open Monday to Friday, 8:00–16:30, or send a photo of your room to LINE @dynohomes for free advice.