Turns Out, This Allover Green Office Is the Perfect Minimalist-Maximalist Compromise

PublishedJan 18, 2023 1:35 AM EST

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OK but can we talk about Tenlie Mourning's home office? It literally never looks messy, even when it is. Her secret? Everything—the walls, the desk, the shelves, the ceiling, the radiator—is painted the exact same shade of green. "It's a little bit of a hack in that it makes the space feel really finished and polished, even though oftentimes we have multiple computers, books, and papers out," says Mourning, a New York City–based design strategist who founded the vintage decor site Dendwell. Instead of going the safe route with a calming shade of sage for the workspace she and her partner, Antoine, share, Mourning went with an unexpected and honestly polarizing tone: lime. "Most people [who visit us] love it, but I think there are probably a few people in our life who think it's intense. My parents were like, 'No way,'" she says with a laugh.

You'd honestly never know looking at the room now that Mourning almost always steers clear of bold hues. "Color isn't something that I really understand at all. My style is minimal," she admits. But Antoine was clear from the get-go that he wasn't about to live in an all-white Upper West Side apartment. "I knew that I needed to not make this space just my own," she adds. Ahead, Mourning spills her top tips for going bold when you just aren't used to it. Trust me, you'll want to take notes.

So the office does double as a guest bedroom, but Mourning wanted the color to feel energizing and uplifting, not put visitors right to sleep. She steered clear of shades that were too dark or too soft and stuck to pulling samples with warm yellow undertones. She took home around 10 options to test out, painting big ol' swatches on all four walls so she could really see how each color shifted as the light changed throughout the day.

Two samples she ruled out? Sun Valley by Behr and Arugula by Sherwin-Williams. "I was looking for a color that was equally limey and neutral, one that would almost feel neutral when in the room but a statement when looking at it," says Mourning. The winning hue? Behr's Healing Plant. I'm honestly obsessed with this pick.

Here's the good news—the room surprisingly didn't require a ton of prep. Because the paint already has a primer built right in, the couple just focused on moving the furniture out and taping off the little things they didn't want painted, like door hinges and knobs. They did lay big plastic tarps down to protect the floors, but when drips inevitably seeped through, Mourning grabbed a latex paint–removal product by Krud Kutter to wipe them right off the hardwood. "I became obsessed with it," she says. Same, honestly.

Buying a paint sprayer on Amazon seemed like the most efficient way to drench the office in color, or so Mourning thought. "That ended up being a complete disaster," she recalls. "I couldn't get an even coat; it was just kind of going anywhere." While she suspects the cheap tool was part of the problem, she still stands by her switch to a wide roller (she recommends one larger than 10 inches for flat walls) with an extension pole. In spots that needed a careful touch (like around the door trim), she used a brush and Frog Tape for those crisp, clean edges.

The desk and the floating shelf above it are made from basic plywood boards the pair grabbed at a hardware store. Antoine used a Swiss Army knife to carve the cutouts in the planks so they'd fit neatly around those pesky radiator poles. After painting them with Healing Plant, they sealed the surfaces with a polyurethane coat to keep everything waterproof and polished-looking. So smart, right?

Now the two IKEA Lack shelves mounted next to the sofa? Those needed some extra-special treatment. Because the varnish was so slick, Mourning doused them with liquid sandpaper to strip off that glossy finish before—you guessed it!—painting them green. Honestly, the dedication is inspiring.

Lydia Geisel has been on the editorial team at Domino since 2017. Today, she writes and edits home and renovation stories, including house tours, before and afters, and DIYs, and leads our design news coverage. She lives in New York City.

Belle is the in-house photographer and associate photo editor for Domino, capturing everything from home tours to gift guides, plus the occasional how-to project. She joined the photo team as an intern in 2018 and was brought on full time in January 2021.

Julia Stevens is a Domino contributing editor. Basically, she's a professional online shopper. She started at Domino as an intern and spent seven years in the style department curating products for our gift guides, trend roundups, and product reviews and on set styling the beautiful homes we get to share. Off hours, you can find her scouting New York's newest design shops and restyling hershelves.

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