I’m having second thoughts about using Benjamin Moore’s ‘olive tree’ for the floor paint. Maybe I should go a shade or two darker? Brandon said the basement color palette was looking a little Easter basket-like, complete with the green Easter grass on the floor! I think going a shade or two darker might be the way to go to keep things from floating off into pastel territory.
The other two greens (‘mossy rock’ and ‘okra’) are both from the Martha Stewart line at Home Depot, but I’d have them matched in Benjamin Moore’s floor paint. I’m going to use IKEA’s Stockholm Rand rug for a little punch too. As you can see, this paint decision has been weighing heavily on Eleanor as well.
(unedited photo here)
149 comments
Lukewarmluxe
I’m so glad I found this…I’ve been trying to make my mind up on whether or not to finish painting the laundry room with the mossy oak. I love the color but I kept stopping and looking at it like, do I really want a mossy green room? I think it looks so much better on the floor than it does on the walls! Good job on the room!
Kathy
Hi
I justed watched an old episode of Sarah Richardson’s Design, Inc. They painted a would floor
Glidden Green Grove Floor Enamel 3636. It was beautiful.
Kathy
Making it Lovely
I went with Mossy Rock. It looks great!
Natalie
I think it’s definitely a good idea to go with a darker green…oooh what about a nice charcoal gray instead? That would really give it some contrast! :)
Kimberly L.C.
Okra for sure.
Anita
Your basement is amazing! I am in love with the color ideas. I liked the original one best but my second pick is the Mossy Rock. Can’t wait to see it all finished!
Sarah Jane
I love that rug! I talked about it not too long ago in a “stripes” post on my blog. I hope to have it someday too…just don’t know where yet! Love the green floors. Are you painting cement? We ended up going with laminate wood floors in our basement because we didn’t want to scrape up the asbestos-infested glue! I think it turned out pretty nice, though!
Jessica
I’m trying to decide on wallpaper myself @ my blog.
tammy
Stick with your first choice! in my experiences i always end up going back to it anyway LOL
Hallie
Yesterday I voted for Okra, but today I’ve changed my mind and am voting for
OLIVE TREE!
Melissa
Okra! :)
Little Edie
i think all of the choices are fab … but oh do I love little Eleanor as Rodin’s Thinker.
Julie Anne
I really like the darker okra, but could completely see the mossy rock working.
It’s hard to choose wihtout seeing them in the different lights that will be in the room….
Love your progress, overall! It makes me finally want to do our unfinished basement this summer.
Tara Jane
My vote is Okra! I like the contrast. We had a really hard time at Lowes getting them to match the paint chips with the floor paint. Make sure to compair the dried paint to the chip.
Good Luck!
Margaret
Mossy Rock :)
Megan
I like Mossy Rock. It’s a bright enough green to still be like grass but not pastel or too yellow. I think Okra is too dark and drab.
Meegs
I vote Okra, definitely.
Julianna
Okra, Okra, Okra!!! It makes a much nicer contrast to the walls. LOVE the Okra! Olive Tree is too yellow. Great site, by the way : )
Jaimie
Personally, I like Okra. I think an espresso brown would look good too.
Ashlea Walter
That photo? Ridiculously cute! Mossy rock.
Ann Marie
I really like Mossy Rock.
Camille
I didn’t love the original color but I love Okra!
Katie
If you really have that much light down there, Okra. But don’t switch out your wall colors to anything darker.
SFDC
I agree, it has a bit of an Easter-basket quality. I vote for a dark grey instead, like BM Iron Mountain.
ARTiculateART
All the colors are quite lovely. It’s such a hard pick! I guess if I had to, I’d pick the okra.
lins
I like mossy rock the best.
Franziska
first I thought okra is too dark, but in the pictures it looks like it isn’t.
I’m really excited about the light you have down there. Perhaps you can show in another post how you made it to bring sooo much nice light in there.
Béa
such a cutie!
melissa
Mossy rock is awesome!
Kristen
Deciding on a floor color seems like such a harder decision to make than the walls! I’d be a wreck trying to pick. I guess I’d say to you…don’t second guess yourself!
Alyssa
i think the okra color is a perfect dark floor color! that’s my vote! but i’m positive it will look beautiful either way! :)
jane
Okra for sure but you are a design goddess so I am sure anything would be perf!!
Suzanne
I agree with the Mossy Rock votes. I like that color.
Jaime
Mossy Rock! I think since the walls are so light and it seems so bright that med color will make it nice and cozy with out being too dark! (I really love the Okra too!)
You have amazing taste in colors!
Christine B
I like mossy rock but it is just paint you can always change it if you don’t like it. Can’t wait to see the finished results!
Desiree Fawn
Hmm……. have to go with mossy rock ;)
Amanda Wright
I vote for none of the above. Haha! What about a deep rich brown for the floor? It might be more versatile if you want to change the wall colors later. After all, pink loves brown! : )
Sara
The olive tree looks the best in the mock-ups. As others have said, okra looks too dark and drab.
Karen
I like the Olive color best I think. Love that rug!
Stephanie
I vote for Mossy Rock! The Okra might be a little too dark since it’s a basement and (I’m guessing) doesn’t get great light. Love the rug w/ the green floor!
Amanda
All will look nice, at first my vote was okra.. but the longer i look, i think the mossy rock is the winner.. as is looks nice though too…Can’t wait to see the finished product!
gayle pickering
ok so i meant to say i vote for the mossy rock or okra. and i love Your choice.. never type after dinner..
gayle pickering
i vote for the olive. I agree that you need something darker – love our choice of colors! As one of my teachers once said (of course i can’t remember where, but the advise still stands) always make your “base” darker. which would be your floor. the darker color “anchors” it, so go with your instincts and use either the olive or the okra. Of course the okra is darker, which i personally like, but it’s hard to tell without being in the actual room/lighting.
and i LOVE the vignette you put together with Eleanor. Very cool. great job!
and congratulations on a magical time in your life.
Ellen
I think the original choice of olive tree is by far the best! The others seem far too dark, making the space look dull.
Can’t wait to see the finished product!
Lonely Wife Project
I love the okra, but I’m sure anything you choose will look gorg. Especially paired with that striped rug!
Jas
All the colours you have chosen are lovely. I prefer your original selection.
My partner and I renovated our basement last year and were planning to paint the floor grey. We picked up the the paint chips just to make sure and simply holding the dark grey in the space immediately made it cave like. We went with an oatmeal (the wall colours we chose were darker than yours) and are extremely thankful that [I] had the good sense to pick up the paint chip. I agree with Jessica that it did not wear well in the laundry area. I think its the humidity, as everywhere else it looks great.
You’re little helper is adorable!
kim
Okra. But I really like your ‘as-is’ colour as well! Nice Photoshop-ing too! ;)
Hallie
Thanks for the photoshop–without it I wouldn’t have picked
OKRA!
ashleyD
i vote Okra!
Stephanie P
I am all about the Okra!
Alice
I love Olive Tree and Mossy Rock. I didn’t get an Easter vision at all! More like a soothing, light-filled space with colors inspired by nature :)
JenWoodhouse.com
Okra gets my vote!
tiffany
the olive tree is definitely my fav!
Felicity
I grew up in a house with very dark painted floors (greens, browns, grays all in colonial shades) and the rooms with the painted floors feel cold, closed in and unwelcoming. The one room with light gray feels open and airy. My parents have lived in the house for 34 years and the rooms with the darkest floors get the least use. We naturally were drawn to the rooms with the natural pine and or the light gray paint. Just some observations, do what you will with my floor color experience :)
Valerie
Hi Nicole! I’ve been following your basement renovation … some great ideas here! My son, who is our resident color expert, and I agree on the Olive Tree. He thinks the Okra is too dark and will lose its ‘greenness’ once it’s on the floor. The Olive Tree will contrast better with the walls and the rug. Regardless, the basement will look awesome! Good Luck!
koryanshea
I don’t care about the color, but Eleanor is awesome! :)
Lora
Olive Tree
Circa1972
It looks as though Baby E has done some deep thinking on the topic. What’s her choice?
suzanne cabrera
Wow! This is looking so great and fresh! Love the color ideas Nicole!
Tiffany
I like Olive Tree
Dana
Okra.
Laura
Okra!
Amy Vermillion
I’ll be one of the lone voices of dissent. I like the Mossy Rock. I believe the okra will be too dark and draw too much attention towards the floor…making the space seem smaller.
Amy
Okra…Okra…Okra (in a singsongy, high school football sort of chant) Most definitely!
samantha
the darker the floor, the more dust it shows…just warning ya!
Katie
I personally vote for Okra. I like the contrast in the darkness of the green and the lightness of the pink on the walls
Emily
Adorable pic, my vote is for Okra perfect contrast!
Heather
I love all the colors, but I would say Okra. I love the depth it adds to the color scheme.
Sierra
I love how you showed the paint colors, Eleanor looks so cute contemplating colors! I vote for Okra!
aunt J
Okra.
Samantha
Okra!
Jana
If it were me I would choose Okra :)
Kara @ KSS
I would vote Okra. The others look a little too green for me.
Erika
I think the first choice was nice, but the okra would definitely be my second choice for going darker. I love that rug too, by the way. I just can’t figure out a place in my home where it would fit and look good. Darn traditional place!
tiina
okra, it looks great with pale pink
lsaspacey
At least in the pictures, it seems brighter with olive tree than with the other two. Just my opinion though.
AK
I vote for Okra. The darker color will ground the room nicely. Still green, but not as bright.
Dayna
Okra!!
Cindy
I love the Okra as it really grounds the space. You can lighten it up with rugs. I think the Olive Tree looks like “afraid to commit” and a lot like pea soup!
Joy
Team Okra for me as well.
rebecca
I am partial to the olive tree… but really just wanted to comment on how adorable that pic of Eleanor is! They are weight decisions, indeed, to be on such small shoulders. :)
Melissa
I really like the Okra!
Stephanie
I like them all! I love the use of olive and don’t think it will be too easter-basket-y with the addition of the bold IKEA rug. I like okra or mossy rock. Olive tree looks to brown to me…
Jenna
I have used mossy rock before and it is a surprising gold undertones. I would go with okra
Justine
Okra! I think it’s got a nice amount of gray in it, making it a bit more neutral. It is dark, but yours walls will counterbalance that. Plus, the rug seems to brighten it up in your photoshopped imaged as well.
And Eleanor is adorable!
Shelly
I vote the Okra. Go with your gut, everything you do is wonderful!
Bagley818
I’ve been enjoying your blog for quite some time now. Not sure why I’m just now chiming in … but i want to vote “OKRA” for sure and tell you that is a fantastic photoshop mock up! Your daughter is adorable.
sarah
my living room is bm’s olive branch and it’s a great color. i get lots of compliments on it. check it out! :)
Laura Gaskill
Oh dear. Well, I still think olive tree looks lovely, but I guess I can see Brandon’s point…Okra looks a little too dark to me, kind of industrial even, but Mossy Rock seems like a good compromise. But then again I can never be sure looking at a computer monitor, so I’m sure whichever you like best will be fan-tastic! xoxo Laura
annie
Okra is my vote. The basement is looking great, by the way.
Jessika
(or just put in cheap pergo floors!!!)
Leen
Okra! I like the Okra a lot.
Jessika
I like the Okra. It definitely takes it to a non-Easter palette. I know you’re familiar with floor paint (on your front porch). But, to throw my experience in too, I went with a lighter floor paint in my laundry room recently. I was VERY upset with how it withstood the test of time. Plus, it was so impossible to get it to look clean. I think the Okra color, being a little bit darker, is a good counterbalance to the light walls and ceiling, but also a great color and one that will wear will and not show every speck of dust!
elissa @ faucethead
oh i do love the olive tree one, but i’m a bit biased. it looks just like the color in our logo! i’m sure whatever you decide it will turn out beautifully.
Funnelcloud Rachel
I like the Olive Tree – I think it will help lighten up an otherwise dark basement! Can’t wait to see the final product!
Megan
I like them all! But then again, I love everything that you do and you don’t seem to make any wrong choices so go with your gut feeling because they don’t betray you. Although, I do think that’s a funny comment about Easter grass. Never thought that at all!
Stacy @ Design Something Better
Totally… Okra!
HollyP
The ideal dirt-hider would be to rag paint (or other, random pattern) with the okra and one of the lighter colors.
Caroline
Okra is a beautiful color…looks slightly preppy with the pink walls. But, a word of caution: My in-laws have dark concrete floors, and they show every single speck of dust/crumbs. If they aren’t swept or vacuumed practically every day, the dust blows across from the A/C or heat like a (very visible) sandstorm. (Or worse, if you have dustbunnies–they look like tumbleweed!)
So, dark doesn’t necessary mean lower maintenance.
my little apartment
yup, I’m also lovin’ the Okra!
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