Breaking: Now we must all buy emerald things.

Pantone declared emerald the 2013 color of the year, which means we are all legally required to purchase items of this color and integrate them into our daily lives, like we all did with tangerine last year and honeysuckle the year before. You did, right? Because that’s the only reason I let myself get talked into the orange wool capris at J. Crew. They were on sale? Cold comfort now that they’re taking up valuable closet real estate.

Good news for everyone except Freida Pinto is that emerald is a lot more wearable than tangerine and much easier to integrate into the design of your home. It’s less gendered (+1), a little winter-y-er (+3 if you live north of Ohio, maybe +/- 1 for other folks), and chances are you already have some things that would look nice with your shiny new emerald ish.

I went ahead and bought the dress that’s depicted below at Cargo, even though the shape is wayyyy far out of my comfort zone. I wore an outfit like this to work today with similar stuff that I found in my closet. Navy tights looked good for daytime, but I could also run with black for night with fancy black high heeled boots. A style magazine here in town featured the same dress, open over a black tank dress and leggings, and topped with a fur vest. That seemed like a great recipe for getting really hot really fast, but again, maybe you live North of here and could use the layers. Can I tell you the best thing about this dress? I’m going to. It’s like a bathrobe, except it is 100% okay that you wore it to a meeting or out to dinner somewhere nice. If you’re still wearing sweats around and being all like, “OMG, but it is so comfy,” you no longer have any excuses.

But maybe you don’t want to buy a new dress. Maybe you’re a man and you’re not quite at Sean Connery status. Or maybe you just moved and want to make your living room feel extra-fancy. I move almost annually, so this is my situation in perpetuity.

Were I you, I’d get myself this vintage green sofa, which, in addition to looking amazing, happens to be a mere $500 on Etsy. Unfortunately, I’m not quiiiiiite in position to buy a couch right now, so I guess that’s just good news for you. If a couch is outside your current budgetary constraints, maybe throw some pretty ikat pillows on the one you’ve got.

That would look really beautiful in front of a dove gray wall, right? Right! I wouldn’t get too dark or you’ll edge into Clue territory; your impulse to paint everything aubergine is a good one, but not for this particular couch. Some gold and cream curtains should keep it a manageable and current.

A navy and garnet rug will tie it all together, so consider something like this or this. Use an old gold mirror- my grandmother had a TON lying around unused- as a tray on your extant coffee table (which I’m sure is fine, but you could also refinish it if you really really want a project). I found one like it, again on Etsy. You can find almost anything on there.

Alternately, you could paint your walls a lime shade if you like your stuff a little preppier. If you want to go that route, skip the golds and reds I mentioned, in favor bright white and a little aqua. Do a cool chevron runner like this one to gussy up your coffee table instead of the mirrors. I even saw a woman paint her floor (!) to match this particular theme at a beach house and it looked amazing.

So what would you put with all this emerald stuff? Do you get itchy and redecorate periodically? Am I insane to want to buy a new couch because Pantone said it’s a great idea?

Photo via Pantone website. Clothing set made on Polyvore.