Who says the grass is always greener on the other side? Despite prolonged drought conditions that have transformed many green lawns across the country into brown wastelands of desiccated, dormant grass, a few companies have found ways to rejuvenate once-lush grass – making it green again without water.

One company, Grass is Greener Lawn Painting Professionals in Staten Island, N.Y., has offered lawn painting services to homeowners for more than three years. Another, Imperial Painting in Indianapolis, started offering the service this summer following months of an intense, prolonged drought.

Grass is Greener owner Joe Perazzo says he came upon the idea after seeing football fields and golf courses being sprayed with green turf paint to achieve the appearance of healthy and lush green grass. “Your lawn can instantly go from yellow to green – and it looks incredibly natural,” he says.

Imperial Painting owner Tim Birdwell says his company started offering lawn-painting services after family members joked about using his skills as an exterior and interior house painter to help improve the look of now-ubiquitous brown lawns in and around Central Indiana. “It came up jokingly,” he says. But Birdwell says he quickly realized he could fulfill a niche: “I actually looked into it and realized that no one else was doing this [in Indianapolis], so I decided to do my own lawn.”

Both companies offer to apply green turf paint or dye to mask entire lawns that have gone brown due to lack of water, but the coating can also be applied to cover up smaller problematic areas like brown patches. Perazzo says the non-toxic, biodegradable turf coating provides not just improved appearance, but also adds nutrients to the soil. “It won’t fade in the sun and rain will not wash away the green,” he adds.

Once applied, the turf paint takes about an hour to dry and can last up to about three months. Birdwell says his lawn-painting service starts at about $200 for front lawns only and that painting an entire average-sized lawn typically costs about $600 to $700. Perazzo says his company charges 15 cents a square foot to apply the lawn paint with discounts for larger areas.

Would you paint your lawn green to improve its curb appeal? Please share your opinion in the comments below.