Interior designer Patti Bruce’s newlywed clients were eager to decorate their new townhouse on Hawaii’s Oahu Island, but they were on opposite ends of the color spectrum. One wanted bright, the other subdued. What they did agree on was a modern look — no tropical themes; earth-tone colors; or bamboo, rattan or grass materials.Bruce’s challenge was to find a way to marry her clients’ divergent tastes into a cohesive design. The key turned out to be a colorful piece of artwork in the living room. The art — a vibrant photographic collage of river rocks, flowers, a cave and other natural elements — offered Bruce something organic to work with and a reason to introduce a wall of green (Impetuous SW 6916).But she needed to use the bold color in a sophisticated, understated way. So she focused her attention on the rest of the house: the draperies, the floor, the accessories. One magazine image the couple both liked showed a room with a long, dark gray drape. So Bruce chose the same gray color (Iron Ore SW 7069) for the wall adjacent to the green, balancing and toning down the green wall.For the family room, Bruce used a neutral palette of light gray (Dovetail SW 7018) with white (Elder White SW 7014) trim, then added color through accessories, such as pillows and storage boxes.Bruce chose Sherwin-Williams Duration Home® washable coatings because of their low-VOC content. “It’s a good coverage paint,” she says, adding she’s been “thinking green” for years.