From chartreuse to avocado, jungle to pistachio, green is enjoying a moment. Darker greens are also making big news. Take Courtyard, for example. Part green and part black, this rich color offers a fresh way to add depth and dimension to your décor. Kristin Rocke of K. Rocke Design explains how to make it work for you.
The color counterpart to a courtyard’s shaded verdant floor and shadowy overhead canopy, Courtyard’s green-black color is both rich and neutral, explains designer Kristin Rocke of K. Rocke Design in Salt Lake City. Rocke is passionate about green. “Most people respond well to it,” she says. “Green is all around us in nature, it plays well with other colors, and for many people, it’s as much a neutral as it is a color.” That’s part of the allure of Courtyard. “It is a surprising, fresh color but it isn’t loud,” Rocke says. Using vignettes and products from her shop Glass House as inspiration, Rocke shares a few tips on how to plant Courtyard in your décor.
It’s not yesterday’s dark green. “It’s more muscly and more saturated than Hunter Green,” Rocke says of Courtyard. “This color has legs. It has been emerging for a little while now and looks fabulous with so many colors.” On a spectacularly dressed bed, the designer used the green-back color to make a the setting’s whites, creams, light pinks and violets pop. “The dark green brings the light colors forward,” she explains.
“You could easily do an entire sofa in Courtyard because it reads like a neutral,” Rocke says. For those who may be a little timid about greening an entire sofa, an upholstered chair is another way to deliver the fresh color into your home. “This chair is perfect,” she says of a shapely slipper lounge chair in her store. “Velvet is so sexy and sensuous. It really enriches this color.” Rocke also suggests greening a bed. “I could seen a walnut or black lacquered bed dressed entirely in Courtyard,” she says. “It would be amazing.”
Consider covering a wall. A forested scene of deep greens dresses an accent wall inside Rocke’s chic shop. “This is by an artist out of New Zealand who takes photos and then plays with them,” she explains. Rocke also covered an exterior block wall at her home with Courtyard green. “I painted an entire perimeter compound wall of industrial cinder block with this deep green-black color. It made the landscaping look so much richer and made all the plant life appear more vivid and lush.”
“Accessories are a great way to bring color into a room and create rhythm through a space,” Rocke says. She chose ceramic lamps to add a punch of Courtyard into a room setting in her shop. “The glaze of the ceramic lets the dark color sing, and I love the way it contrasts with the matt black on the lamp.”
“If you’re in the main lane working with an uber-trend color, you’re not traveling with this color,” Rocke says. “It is outside the trends, it’s unexpected.” What’s more, Courtyard is very adaptable. As even this single pillow shows, it works well with so many colors including grays and blues.
“This style of glassware been around since the 1930s,” says Rocke of the Finnish-made tumblers in her shop. “Tableware provides such a fun way to play with color.” In addition to Courtyard, chartreuse is another of the designer’s favorite greens. “ It’s alternative, so vibrant and young,” she says. “I love the idea of pairing it with the deep, dark greens.”
written by: Brad Mee
