Best Dark Green Paint Colors – Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore & more

A few months ago I was looking for the best dark green paint color for the loft space in our Vermont log cabin. I did a ton of research online because the color I was looking for was very specific. Nothing too blue-tinted, or with gray undertones. I wanted a true dark green. I finally settled on Sherwin Williams Dard Hunter Green, but I sampled a number of other dark green paint colors before settling on my final choice.

In the past, I’ve also used a Sherwin Williams’ Pewter Green for my son’s nursery (previously known as Sherwin Williams Woodland Lichen) and I got so many inquiries about the paint color that I wrote a whole blog post about it, so I included that one on the list, too, along with the dark green paint color I recently used in our powder room remodel. Spoiler alert: Green is my favorite color.

If you’re looking for the perfect green for your project, here are some great options that I’ve found in my own searches, and have used in my homes.

[TIP: Regardless of which color you choose, it’s always a good idea to order paint samples before committing to a color, and recently started using Samplize, which makes peel & stick paint samples that are so easy to use. I also did a Samplize review which shares more about the process and product].

The Best Dark Green Paint Colors

In no particular order, here are my favorite SW green paints.

1. Sherwin Williams Dard Hunter Green

Dard Hunter Green is a deep, forest green. It has an LRV (light reflective value) of 6, which means it’s pretty dark. LRV is a measure of how dark a paint color is on a scale of 0-100, with 0 being true black, and 100 being bright white.

To me, this makes it a great accent color. I used it to paint trim in our cabin, so it was about halfway up the walls. It’s perfect, but I think it would have been too dark for the whole room, even though it’s a pretty bright space. It would also be great for kitchen cabinets or a bathroom vanity, or for a front door.

2. Sherwin Williams Woodland Lichen AKA Sherwin Williams Pewter Green

Sherwin Williams Pewter Green, which was previously called Woodland Lichen, is the green paint color I used for my son’s nursery back in 2018. We have since repainted the nursery pink for my daughter, but I love this color and I miss having it in our home! Pewter Green is more of a neutral green, and it’s deep, but with an LRV of 12, not quite as dark as Dard Hunter Green. It’s a very trend-forward color, and is actually part of Sherwin Williams’ 2023 Color of the Year palette.

4. Sherwin Williams Isle of Pines

Isle of Pines is the middle shade of green in the photo above, and was actually my first choice for painting the walls in our cabin. I was vetoed by the rest of my family who thought it was a little too bright, but I still love it. It has an LRV of 8, and leans a bit more towards Kelly Green than the other two. For some reason it reminds me of an Adirondack Camp, something you’d see painted on the shutters of a vintage cabin, or like the color of a canoe. I love this hue for a cabinet color.

5. Sherwin Williams Evergreens

Evergreens is one of my favorite Sherwin Williams greens – it’s a little lighter than Dard Hunter Green, with an LRV of 8, and it’s a bit more blue-toned than Isle of Pines, which makes it feel ‘safer’ to those who want a more neutral or traditional green. It’s a beautiful color for exteriors, like front doors and shutters.

6. Sherwin Williams Rookwood Dark Green

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This color is also a more neutral toned green, almost like a dark olive. It’s definitely more of a yellow-toned color, and less of a blue-toned green than some of the other shades on this list. With an LRV of 10, it’s dark, but not too dark. I love this shade and am considering it for our family room addition that we’re currently doing.

7. Behr Black Bamboo

Behr Black Bamboo is a muted, but deep green that’s very similar to Sherwin Williams Pewter Green. It’s a great option if you’re shopping at Home Depot and don’t want to color match a Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams color. I found myself in this exact spot when choosing a paint color for our laundry room update (above) and went with Black Bamboo because the two shades are so similar. Black Bamboo is a hair darker than Pewter Green, however. It has an LRV of 11, white Pewter Green has an LRV of 12.

8. Sherwin Williams Palm Leaf

Sherwin Williams Palm Leaf is a dark olive green with chartreuse undertones. It’s a beautiful color that feels sophisticated and unexpected to me. I used it in our windowless powder room, which brought out it’s deep, earthy side, but it can definitely look more yellow-toned and brighter in a room that gets lots of natural light. I included a number of photos of the color in other rooms in my review of Palm Leaf here.

9. Benjamin Moore Salamander

Salamander is one of Benjamin Moore’s cult-favorite dark green paint colors. It’s a very deep green with blue undertones, almost like if you deepened a peacock green until it was almost black. I chose this color for the built ins in our playroom when we first moved into our current home. The playroom was originally a family room with a charcoal-velvet sofa, so I wanted something that added color to the room but wasn’t bright. It was a perfect pick. Those built-ins have since been torn out, during our home renovation, but I loved the color for the space.

I was scrolling through my phone to try and find a photo, but the only ones I have are horrible because we never really finished the space (we renovated instead), so I included another image I loved from the web.

What are popular green colors?

If you’re looking for a tried-and-true green, there are lots of green paint colors that have an almost cult-like following, beloved by designers and homeowners, and Instagrammers. A few of the most popular green paint colors include:

• Sherwin Williams Dard Hunter Green
• Farrow & Ball Studio Green
• Benjamin Moore Salamander
• Sherwin Williams Arugula
• Sherwin Williams Pewter Green (AKA Woodland Lichen)