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Colour guides · Green
Olive green is the green that holds yellow and brown — that of olive leaves, uniforms, old canvas tents. Of all greens it is the closest to the neutrals, and therefore the easiest to live with: it warms where other greens cool, it goes with every wood, and it never tires.
Here are our twelve olives and khakis side by side, from palest to deepest, with their lean — yellower, greyer or browner — and the room that suits them.
Updated September 2026 · by the Mylands France colour team
The short answer
Our olives run from the pale, almost neutrals — Hurlingham No.181, French Green No.187, Beauvais No.195, Chester Square No.199 — through the mid — Greenstone No.190, Serpentine No.192, Stockwell Green No.203, Primrose Hill No.201, Artichoke BH.13 — to the deep — Sorrel Green No.207, the reference olive, Messel No.39 and Caca d'Oie BH.15. The yellowest go in kitchens and north-facing rooms; the greyest in sitting rooms and studies; the deep ones on furniture and woodwork.
At a glance
| Colour | Family | Tone | Light | LRV ≈ | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hurlingham™ No.181 | Yellow | Pale tone | South | 63 % | Lean: yellow. For kitchens and children's bedrooms; with Pure White. |
| French Green™ No.187 | Green | Pale tone | East | 57 % | Lean: yellow-green. For kitchens and sitting rooms, north- or east-facing. |
| Beauvais™ No.195 | Neutral | Pale tone | South | 52 % | Lean: grey. For sitting rooms and bedrooms; with Holland Park. |
| Chester Square™ No.199 | Neutral | Mid tone | South | 44 % | Lean: balanced. For everything; the pale olive to choose when in doubt. |
| Greenstone™ No.190 | Neutral | Mid tone | South | 42 % | Lean: grey. For sitting rooms, studies and hallways. |
| Serpentine™ No.192 | Grey | Mid tone | West | 31 % | Lean: grey. For sitting rooms and studies, especially west-facing. |
| Stockwell Green™ No.203 | Neutral | Mid tone | South | 34 % | Lean: yellow-brown. For kitchens and studies; with Bone and Downing Street. |
| Primrose Hill™ No.201 | Neutral | Mid tone | South | 33 % | Lean: yellow. For north-facing kitchens and dining rooms; with Observatory. |
| Artichoke BH.13 | Neutral | Mid tone | West | 26 % | Lean: brown-grey. For sitting rooms and bedrooms; with Mormor Zaza and Chalk. |
| Sorrel Green™ No.207 | Green | Dark tone | East | 15 % | Lean: balanced, deep. For kitchens, studies, doors and colour drenching. |
| Messel™ No.39 | Grey | Dark tone | West | 12 % | Lean: brown. For studies, libraries and woodwork; with Whitehall. |
| Caca d’Oie BH.15 | Neutral | Dark tone | South | 12 % | Lean: yellow, deep. For dining rooms, studies and colour drenching; with Butter. |
LRV: light reflectance estimated from the on-screen shade, from 0 (absolute black) to 100 (absolute white). Light: the orientation in which the shade looks its best.
12 colours
Pale · the yellow-green
A pale yellow leaning to green, the colour of a young shoot — the family's starting point, where yellow becomes olive. It is fresh and cheerful without being bright, and it makes a springlike kitchen or child's bedroom. Its yellow share keeps it warm in a north-facing room.
Our tip — Lean: yellow. For kitchens and children's bedrooms; with Pure White.
Pale · the lime-tree green
A pale, yellowed green, the colour of a lime tree in spring — a notch greener than Hurlingham. It is the most luminous pale olive, the one that turns a kitchen or sitting room into a garden through the window, and it holds facing north thanks to its yellow share. Superb on kitchen cabinets beneath cream walls.
Our tip — Lean: yellow-green. For kitchens and sitting rooms, north- or east-facing.
Pale · the tapestry grey-green
A pale, powdery grey-green, the colour of the verdures of Beauvais tapestries after three centuries. It is greyer than French Green, and therefore calmer — almost a neutral — and it makes a very soft ground for a sitting room or bedroom. It loves warm whites, linen and pale wood.
Our tip — Lean: grey. For sitting rooms and bedrooms; with Holland Park.
Pale · the pale olive
A pale, greyed olive green, the colour of an olive leaf — the truest pale olive, neither too yellow nor too grey. It is a neutral with the warmth of yellow without its colour, and it warms a north-facing room as a beige would, more interestingly. Kitchens, sitting rooms, hallways.
Our tip — Lean: balanced. For everything; the pale olive to choose when in doubt.
Mid · the green stone
A mid grey-green, the colour of a moss-greened stone — a notch deeper than Chester Square, still greyed. It gives a sitting room or study presence without darkening it, and it is very handsome with oak, leather and warm whites. An everyday olive.
Our tip — Lean: grey. For sitting rooms, studies and hallways.
Mid · the grey olive
A mid grey tinted with olive, the colour of the Serpentine in autumn — classed for west light, which is rare for a green. It is the greyest of our mid olives: from afar a warm grey, up close a green. It holds in every light and makes an elegant, sober sitting room or study, superb with leather and brass.
Our tip — Lean: grey. For sitting rooms and studies, especially west-facing.
Mid · the khaki
A yellowed, brown mid olive green — khaki in the proper sense, the colour of a military canvas tent. It is warmer than Greenstone and Serpentine, and more "colour": mistaken for no grey. It is the olive of contemporary kitchens and studies, superb in matt on flat cabinet doors with pale wood and black.
Our tip — Lean: yellow-brown. For kitchens and studies; with Bone and Downing Street.
Mid · the golden olive
A mid olive green leaning frankly to yellow, the colour of the dry grass of Primrose Hill in August. It is the sunniest of our mid olives, and the one that warms a north-facing room most; it is superb with deep blues, cream whites and waxed wood. Kitchens, dining rooms, studies.
Our tip — Lean: yellow. For north-facing kitchens and dining rooms; with Observatory.
Mid · the artichoke
A muted, brown mid grey-green, the colour of an artichoke leaf — designed by Beata Heuman. It is the olive closest to a taupe: from afar a warm neutral, up close a green with brown in it. It makes an enveloping sitting room or bedroom without darkening it, and it is very handsome with powder pinks and terracottas.
Our tip — Lean: brown-grey. For sitting rooms and bedrooms; with Mormor Zaza and Chalk.
Deep · the reference olive
A mid-deep, earthy, muted olive green — olive as one imagines it, and the green of our most photographed kitchens. It has enough yellow to stay warm facing north, enough grey never to shout, and enough depth to hold on cabinets, doors or four walls. If you remember only one olive, it is this one.
Our tip — Lean: balanced, deep. For kitchens, studies, doors and colour drenching.
Deep · the brown olive
A dark, brown olive green, the colour of a black olive or an old bronze — classed for west light. It is browner than Sorrel Green and graver, and it does what a brown would in a study or library, with the green added: it envelops, it flatters wood and leather, and the setting sun gilds it. On woodwork it is magnificent.
Our tip — Lean: brown. For studies, libraries and woodwork; with Whitehall.
Deep · the dark yellow-green
A dark, yellowed olive green with a historic name — that of a colour fashionable in the 18th century — designed by Beata Heuman. It is the yellowest deep olive, and therefore the warmest: it envelops a dining room or study without the slightest coldness, and it is superb with pinks, earthy reds and brass. A colour with character, very easy to live with.
Our tip — Lean: yellow, deep. For dining rooms, studies and colour drenching; with Butter.
Olive is the green of the neutrals: it is chosen like a greige, by depth and by lean. Pale (Hurlingham No.181, French Green No.187, Beauvais No.195, Chester Square No.199), it replaces a beige on the walls of a whole room. Mid (Greenstone No.190, Serpentine No.192, Stockwell Green No.203, Primrose Hill No.201, Artichoke BH.13), it gives a sitting room, study or kitchen character. Deep (Sorrel Green No.207, Messel No.39, Caca d'Oie BH.15), it goes on furniture, doors, bookcases — or on four walls as a colour drench.
An olive leaning to yellow (Hurlingham No.181, Primrose Hill No.201, Caca d'Oie BH.15) is warm and sunny: it warms a north-facing room. An olive leaning to grey (Beauvais No.195, Serpentine No.192, Greenstone No.190) is calm and sober: it holds in every light. An olive leaning to brown (Artichoke BH.13, Messel No.39, Stockwell Green No.203) is enveloping: an evening and study colour. We say more in how light affects colour.
Olives love warm whites — Lots Road No.24, Bone BH.04, Whitehall No.9 — and hate pure white, which makes them look dull. They love their complements, powder pinks and terracottas; deep blues, for contrast; and every wood, leather, brass and linen. For cool greens, see our sage greens compared; for greens in the kitchen, our 10 greens for a kitchen; for the whole family, our ideas in green.
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