(updated) I just found the best use for Emerald, Pantone’s color for 2013 and I happen to discover this on Fat Tuesday!

BEADS!!!!!

We’ve had some time to digest Emerald Green, Pantone’s color of the year and it’s not all that positive for the interior of our homes. Some love it, some hate it. So where exactly can we use Emerald Green in our home?

We just got finished putting away all our Tangerine Tango pillows, area rugs, lamps and any other orange decor you can add to a home without committing to wall color. Some I’m sure are also priming and painting over those very orange and unsettling walls. Now, we will exchange all that orange for green. Or will we?

CR Laine

Many of my colleagues have a unanimous opinion on Emerald Green. It’s great as a piece of jewelry, in accent features in our homes such as pillows and touches of green here and there but what exactly is the perfect application for Emerald Green?

I’m ok with using Emerald Green as accents but personally, I’d rather have an amazing color on a wall but it has to be the RIGHT color and it needs some staying power. A color that I’d love for at least a few years and not tire of in 6 months.

As far as the home, we can expect to see it in dribs and drabs here and there or maybe in a fantastic fabric, a throw pillow, table runners, flowers or any other small decor you can think of without a large commitment to color but for the most part, Emerald will a gem of a color for those who are wild about green but for the rest of us, we’re still waiting for that amazing blue to be Pantone’s Color of the Year.

How can we use Emerald outside the home?

Emerald green would make a fantastic and playful color for a front door (check your Home Owners Association first) but it may be too much for shutters too.

Paint your Adirondack chairs, patio furniture or even get an awning in a Sunbrella fabric (Sea Grass Green) for your outdoor patio and you’ll be the most trendy on in your neighoborhood.

What are some other colors Emerald would be good with?

Way too many to mention. That really depends on the look you want for your home.  For the most part if you’re going to use Emerald accessories in your home you’ll have to keep the walls fairly neutral so you don’t get a color overload. It really depends on the style of your home. A small Cottage or Arts and Crafts home can pull it off but the large McMansions with open concepts is a no.

Why is this a good color to incorporate in your home?

Like any color you introduce into your home, it should be a color that you love. There will be tons of people that simple do not like Emerald at all yet there will be tons of people who will.

Look how beautiful this color combination is? It’s all about what you do with color and how you use it in your home. Now for someone (me) who doesn’t really like Emerald, I really like this Peacock color palette.  There are so many other ways to make Emerald look fantastic but I think people just need to open their mind to other colors and ways to make Emerald work in a home. Just play with color combinations until you find one that will work. It’s just color! Have fun, explore and just give it a chance.

More about Emerald, about bright colors, about the green color family.

If the color of the year was a blue, perhaps a darker slate blue, this hue would be flying off the shelf right now but it’s not. It’s Emerald  and it’s going to be here  for a year until Pantone announces it’s color for 2014.

Meanwhile as far as green goes, coastal green, spa green or beach glass green seems to be more favored in the home.

I see that strongly moving towards Teal. I’ve introduced “Teal” to my clients and they love it!

The main thing to consider about choosing and committing to a color is how will it work with the other colors in your home and how it make you feel when you look at it day in and day out. If it feels good and makes you happy than that’s the hue for you!