# So Suppose I Accidently Painted a Room a Really Bright Green...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 30, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065 "2008-11-30T17:04:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/1 "2008-11-30T17:04:36Z")
I mean a bright, vibrant, amazing, strike-you-blind shade of green which, in small doses, would really make a place look snappy, but on an entire wall-and-a-half, just serves to cause slight, possibly long-term, brain damage.
Do you suppose if I add white to the remaining green and then repaint it, it would make it more bearable? It’s a nice color, it’s just so…so…:p. Kind of that color of green.
Good thing paint is cheap and easy.
Best,
karol
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### Author:  [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/2 "2008-11-30T17:14:04Z")
I’d strongly consider just taking the white and maybe buying some glaze and doing a faux finish over the whole thing–worked to turn rancid butter highlighter yellow into more like post-it-note yellow.
Of course, the glaze was already owned in that case–had been purchased for use in another room, which was successfully faux finished using less than the entire can of glaze.
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/3 "2008-11-30T17:20:34Z")
It would be hard for you to mix the white paint in thoroughly enough to get a uniform color, unless you have a paint shaker like they have at the stores. Better to buy a new gallon or two of the lighter color.
We painted our family room, and after the first coat, we thought “blah”. We went and bought a different color, figuring that we already had the room all taped. Much of the “cost” of painting is the prep time. Putting on three coats instead of two wasn’t that much more work.
We got lucky that the first color matched wallpaper trim in our living room perfectly, so we used it there.
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/4 "2008-11-30T17:33:00Z")
We’ve done the mixing at home thing before. Helping my sister paint my niece’s room, the lovely shade of pink she picked up in the clearance section turned out to be a pepto bismol shade of awful. So we dumped a bunch of white we’d pick up for trimming into a large cheap plastic bin and added pink in batches until we got something more livable. Just stir well.
But are you sure it’s really horrific? What room is it? Will there be a lot of large furniture covering a good portion of the walls, or shelves or artwork? Depending on how much really shows, it might not be as bad as you think.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/5 "2008-11-30T17:38:52Z")
Are we talking true green-screen Chroma Key Green? Because it is [expensive](http://www.chroma-key.com/chroma_key_access.html) ($80 for one gallon). Such a room would be useful.
John Deer Green? Joe Diffie taught us that painting over John Deer Green “ain’t no use.” Beware. ([Video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bCDd7vXngw) for reference.)
The lime green highlight on the [Seattle Seahawks uniforms](http://www.ijerseys.net/store/images/p-14J-SSE37!OUT.jpg) are nice, but not if you have it on the [whole jersey](http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/1871/bell.jpg).
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### Author:  [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/6 "2008-11-30T17:42:52Z")
It’s my daughter’s room. She initially wanted stripes, hence the bright colors which would be surrounded and beaten into submission by plenty of white.
It’s a small room to begin with, and I think the green actually takes up a lot of space. Not much furniture in the room except the bed and a great chest of drawers.
If it weren’t so…_exuberant_, it wouldn’t be so bad. But it’s so bright that it actually makes the white walls look green as well. It’s stop-light green, multiplied.
I think I keep trying to describe it because I’m in color-induced shock. And I like bright colors…the kitchen is a great grapefruit orange, the living room wall is bright blue, and I’m set to paint the rest of the kitchen/living room in a nice buttery yellow. There is also a brilliant purple door to set it all off. I love it. It makes me smile.
But this…it sort of makes my head hurt. And it will probably cause side effects in any living thing that encounters it.
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/7 "2008-11-30T17:47:00Z")
Hmm, maybe you can still stripe it. I’m guessing it’s at least a semi-gloss, that’s casting a green tinge to the other walls? If she still likes the idea of striping, it will definitely tone down the whole greener than green has any right to be effect.
Besides the bed and dresser, how about a few posters? A mirror? Netting to hold stuffed animals? There might be lots of stuff that will wind up muting the overwhelming nature of the green walls. What does your daughter think of it?
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### Author:  [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/8 "2008-11-30T17:58:01Z")
My daughter wants the other wall purple, and the other wall blue, and the ceiling pink. And maybe something orange too, because orange is fun, right?
I do have a lot of shimmery blue-and-green transparent fabric, maybe I could hang that along the wall. It would take away the sockem power a bit, and also give her room that princessy feel that she loves so much.
I could do white polka dots. Lots and lots of white polka dots, maybe.
Problem is that she has this adorable, handpainted dresser that is covered with stylized flowers and vines, and I hate to overwhelm it with patterns on the walls. Hmmm.
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### Author:  [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/9 "2008-11-30T18:12:27Z")
Yeah, that’s a lot of color, you’re right. Maybe she can be happy choosing a pink and purple rug for the floor, a comforter for the bed or even curtains that incorporate some of the other colors instead of painting the whole room crazy-colored?
I like the idea of hanging the shimmery fabric, that way if she wants it changed to a more older kid look in two years you remove that and add posters easy-peasy.
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### Author:  [@spoike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spoike)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/10 "2008-11-30T18:24:37Z")
You may actually be able to get the paint store to adjust the colour for you, rather than trying to mix it yourself at home. When the opaque stain we bought this summer for the deck turned out to be far too light, we took it back to the hardware store, and they kindly re-tinted it for us. It may be worth checking to see if the place you bought your paint might do the same thing for you.
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### Author:  [@Fetchund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fetchund)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/11 "2008-11-30T18:37:00Z")
Easiest, fastest way to tone it down - sponge on a white glaze over it. should only take an hour or two. If you don’t like it, you haven’t wasted much time or money.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/12 "2008-11-30T19:05:30Z")
> [@bodypoet](#):
>
> I mean a bright, vibrant, amazing, strike-you-blind shade of green which, in small doses, would really make a place look snappy, but on an entire wall-and-a-half, just serves to cause slight, possibly long-term, brain damage.
Q: If you put a [Tardis](http://www.workdance.com/Downloads/tardis_model/Tardis_800x600.jpg) poster in the middle of the green wall, might it work?
Of course, you might want to add a [door chime](http://www.dwwa.net/dr4/Theme4.wav) to the hinge of the door…😃
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### Author:  [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/13 "2008-11-30T20:38:32Z")
What’s not to like about bright green? Don’t touch it. Just accept it. It’s beautiful.
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### Author:  [@Sonnenstrahl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonnenstrahl)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/14 "2008-12-01T01:27:48Z")
Do it! Do it as she wanted it, and post a picture here. It’ll be like my childhood dream come true. (And probably remind me why my parents never fulfilled that particular dream.)
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/15 "2008-12-01T01:56:14Z")
> [@Fetchund](#):
>
> Easiest, fastest way to tone it down - sponge on a white glaze over it. should only take an hour or two. If you don’t like it, you haven’t wasted much time or money.
Yeah, My friend saved and electric-yellow bathroom this way. I had my doubts but it actually looked great and required little skill. It was actually so yellow that she alternated a white and a tan glaze over it, to dull the effect sufficiently that human eyes could bear it. You might try sponging white, and then a duller shade of green (like a sage or forest) so you don’t lose the feeling of green entirely.
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### Author:  [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/16 "2008-12-01T02:47:55Z")
Former professional painter here:
After throwing up a little in my mouth at all the thought of all those competing colours in one room, here are my thoughts – first of all, from a colour standpoint, less is more. Mind altering green PLUS purple PLUS blue PLUS pink AND a little orange?!? That is way too much bold colouring and it’ll all compete with each other and draw shadings from each other and turn the whole thing into a hideous puce mess, especially if it’s a smallish room, as you have described. Talk her down to two colours max and leave the ceiling white to provide a little balance. After that, I’d say, yes, you can certainly ease off the throttle, so to speak, by adding some white to the green, as you suggested at the outset, or try the retint at the store option or the faux finish option. Any one of those will take the edge off your green.
One other thought to keep in mind for the future: If you ever plan on selling this place somewhere down the road, you’re going to have to think about putting some neutral colours on many of those walls to appeal to the masses. That’ll mean a whole bunch more work because strong colours don’t cover over very easily. Just giving you fair warning. 🙂
Good luck!
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### Author:  [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/17 "2008-12-01T03:24:20Z")
I’m going to fourth (fifth? sixth?) the recommendation for a glaze coat on top. My sister painted a kitchen orange and when she was done called me up in **tears** because it was turned out to be a hideous neon hunter-blaze orange. Once she slapped the glaze coat on it was fine
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### Author:  [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/18 "2008-12-01T04:06:26Z")
I’m told a way to make bad colors disappear is to echo them a little bit in the room. Add some throw pillows in the hated color, or use fabrics with a hint of that color. Having bits of it in different places will lessen the impact.
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### Author:  [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2008, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/19 "2008-12-01T05:54:31Z")
When we painted a room too bright a yellow, we (OK, my husband, who handles all the painting around here) mixed some white into some of the yellow, spongepainted fairly heavily, mixed in more white to make an even paler yellow, repeated, then spongepainted on white by itself. It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.
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### Author:  [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2008, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-suppose-i-accidently-painted-a-room-a-really-bright-green/475065/20 "2008-12-01T07:44:54Z")
Do some large stencils of crescent moons, stars, circles in white to break up the green. Maybe a yellow sun or two. May be a wizard or princess if you’re feeling artistic.
Add a blue sky above with white fluffy freehand clouds. Some animal stencils below on the “green” grass. Trees and such. She could do some freehand stuff on her own; lots of adult guidance.
Add wide white stripes on a diagonal. Make this the “fun” wall she can direct changes on while you keep the rest _ **less dangerous** _ (less retinal damaging).
Other walls can be hung with fabric, patterned sheets, drapes of the desired colors. Less permanent and easily changed as tastes evolve.
2 cents.