Miles Redd Green

It all started with the bedroom ceiling falling down. Why not refresh the whole room with a new paint job since the ceiling had to be repainted.  Go HERE to read about the beginning of this project.

Fixing the ceiling leads to a new paint job for the whole room

What color? The walls are a pretty blue gray, but a change was needed. The initial inspiration was Sarah Silverman's bedroom done by FORM -  Interior Design Los Angeles. It is green. When I went to the FORM web site, I found the SS bedroom in their portfolio. The green was very different than that shown in the magazine (InStyle October 2011).

Sarah Silverman's bedroom done by FORM from their web portfolio - The color green is much softer and pastel than the editorial in InStyle, but the actual paint swatch is much darker - InStyle pushed the color to a more yellow green - The paint color is actually has more blue in it - it really looks like its namesake "Spring Juniper"

But the Veranda cover that launched a thousand dreams of green rooms, was the November/December 2010 issue with the interior design by Miles Redd. Thankfully my friend Mitchell saved his copy. We both agreed that the best bet would be to take the magazine to the paint store and have the color mixed to match.

Miles Redd Green

In the meantime, I got in touch with Miles Redd, and Rafael Kalichstein and Joshua Rose from FORM. And all of them graciously answered my color questions.


Miles Redd said the color on the cover was not like the actual room, and when everyone at the office saw the cover they were quite surprised. The actual color was custom mixed following the instructions Miles gave the painter to create the green of a magnolia leaf. He sent me an un-retouched photo of the room, and even with computer screen discrepancies you can see a big difference.

The photo Miles Redd sent showing the color of the room more like it really is before the art department at Veranda pushed it - It is far more traditional in its hue - Miles Redd calls the color Magnolia Leaf

Magnolia Leaf has much more blue, than the yellow green on the cover. I asked if there were requests to recreate the popular cover color, and there have been, but so far Miles has not done it. He suggested I take the magazine to the paint store if I wanted the cover color.


With cover in hand I marched off the Helm Paint on Magazine Street, where Tania is the number one mixologist. After a couple of tries, she mixed a color that matched the mid tone on the cover. The formula is now on file at Helm as Miles Redd Green.

All the greens - note the turquoise drapes I would like to still use with the new wall color

A closer look at the three greens, and the magazine clippings that inspired them - Top is SS in InStyle - the smaller swatch on the right is the actual color the designers chose - the color next to it is the color I had mixed to match the Veranda cover - the big swatch of Kelly Green is wild, but in some ways works the best in the room

The burlap covered accent wall will remain - Here's how Miles Redd Green stacks up against it

I also had Tania mix a color the guys at FORM told me they used for Sarah Silverman, a color by Dunne Edwards called Spring Juniper (DEA128). I also got a sample pot of a true Kelly Green (Benjamin Moore Kelly Green 2037-30 from the Color Preview fan deck). I had also clipped Nick Olsen's small apartment featured in House Beautiful where a Kelly Green chevron stripe dresser caught my eye.

Love this green which made me get a sample of a true Kelly Green - Nick Olson in House Beautiful

The whole room by Nick Olsen - I even had Helm Paint match the color of the walls from the magazine, and put a swatch on my walls - It didn't work for me - I didn't want another version of a soft blue

I painted swatches of the three greens on each of the four walls. There is only one window in the room, so each wall shows color very differently. I would of course, paint the ceiling and trim the same color as well, so the room would be wrapped in green. We lived with the swatches for a week. Daytime was fine, and at night all but the Kelly Green turned black.

All three greens on my walls, with Nick Olsen inspiration - the top is Miles Redd Green, the middle Spring Juniper, and the bottom Kelly Green

In the meantime, I acquired a generous promise of fabulous Louis St. Lewis painting soon to come my way. It has a wonderful splash of red in it, and it is a large piece that would look wonderful over the bed. I sent off for a swatch of Schumacher Nanjing fabric in Jade, inspired by what Tobi Fairley did in a show house. I want to do a headboard with this fabric.

Schumacher Nanjing Toile in Jade with Miles Redd Green paint swatch, and a photo of the new rug

Other ideas include repainting the nightstands, getting some new lamps and shades, and hanging the flat screen on the wall eliminating the armoire it now sits in, freeing up floor space for a sitting area. Ideally it would be wonderful to keep the turquoise silk drapes. The room Miles Redd shows has blue chairs that compliment the green walls. I also want to change out the sea grass rug, and got a bright chevron pattern rug (see the mood board).

Visual Vamp mood board for the master bedroom - Louis St. Lewis painting in upper left corner

This is the first time I am taking so much time with color. Usually I see a paint chip, and instantly know it will work. Stay tuned...

Anyway, anyone have a favorite of all the greens?




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