Said Emerald Green Bathroom

And my husband is on board! So the way our second floor is situated now is kind of odd;
At the top of the stairs if you turn right you’ll find a bathroom with a stall shower and if you turn left you’ll find my son’s nursery down the long gallery-wall hallway there are two bedrooms next to one another that are mirror images. Next to the bedroom on the left is another bathroom, with a tub and shower.
So there is no real master suite, hence my fantasy future addition.

How it really should be in my world is that the two kids are in the two identical bedrooms at the end of the hallway, the bedrooms that are next to their bathroom. But in my husband’s world, we were not going to take the smallest bedroom in the house when I was not yet pregnant upon moving in (spoiler alert, I got pregnant 2 seconds later).

For our future addition, which we had plans made for before we even bid on the house, at the top of the staircase to the left would be a sealed off wall where the bathroom door now stands and straight ahead would be the door to a large master bedroom that is over the garage (which, according to my contractor Louie’s drawings, envelops that hall bathroom, has a linen closet, a huge walk in closet and a cathedral ceiling).
I dream about this room every day.
Funny enough, I know that one of the most expensive parts of the addition will be renovating the bathroom, but oh, how I fantasize.
Now when I say I want an emerald green bathroom, I don’t mean anything shocking. In fact, I want the whole vibe of our suite to be very zen. But I want pops of emerald green. Possibly in the tile; possibly in the accessories.
I am obsessed with this:

If I were to, let’s say, create my own Polyvore of the space while my husband was, let’s say, rock climbing, it might look something like this:

I will admit it. I just got really lost. None of the above is really the look I’m going for.
What I envision is very natural looking stone and marble. Interesting grain. Maybe green tiles. I big stall shower with glass sides. Green, accented with gold.
I feel as though I just followed the yellow brick road down to Emerald City and I need to now find my way home.

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Dining Time

Our dining room is probably my favorite in the house. I love the aesthetics of it, but more than that it is a woven tapestry; a journey through time and across the world and a fine blend of contributions from many of our cherished loved ones. It is also the room in which we signed the deal when our offer was accepted on the house nearly 18 months ago.

The room had great bones; Big, sunny windows, incredible molding, french doors, all covered in dull paint and tired window treatments and, literally, dust.

Here is a before shot:

I mentioned earlier that I had (have) a thing for paint colors, and the story of my dining room transformation begins with an obsession to find the perfect paint. I should mention now that before we moved into the house we did several things: First, we installed central air. Second, we did some structural work like building a bannister to the third floor and some window seats. But the greatest transformation was the painting. We painted every single wall of the house. Every wall, every door, every single thing I could think of to paint (including an antique mirrored table I found while antiquing in Lambertville, but more on that later). And 90% of the walls in my house I painted in some shade of white. This house needed a fresh start, and to me, warm white was the way to go. However, not in this dining room. This dining room, I felt, had the potential to be spectacular. And so, after much agonizing, I chose Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray and I could not love it more. The molding and French Doors we painted in Benjamin Moore Decorator’s White. It is so special.

And so, here are some shots of the After. As always, click on the photos below to see them in their full size.

So here it is. Our dining room. 

This table is one of our newest pieces, originally from Material Culture, the two pieces bookending are from Nadeau and the Frame holding the tapestry is from my go-to, Home Goods, all being some of our favorite furniture spots. Inside the frame is a very special piece, fabric my parents brought back for us from their trip to Vietnam. It finally has a home.

The table and chairs, which are a rich terra cotta, were given to us by my husband’s father, as they had formerly been used as his board room set. His parents also gave us the Kilim rug.

I love this little nook. This chair has an interesting story; we saw it in one of our favorite (but extremely expensive) stores in Lambertville this past summer and thought it was beautiful and reasonable, but could not think of a place for it. Weeks later, we thought about using it for our Living Room, so we called the store and it had not been sold, but it had been moved back to their warehouse, so if we wanted it, we had to come immediately. So my husband made the round trip drive, 90 minutes each way, and the chair came to live with us, where it had always been meant to reside. The botanicals hanging are also special to us; one was a wedding gift and the other from my parents from London. The large painting which is a depiction of Eve is from my grandparents. See what I mean? This room has so much history. So much soul.

Our credenza is a spectacular marble and carved piece given to us by dear family friends, to whom it had been gifted by their dear family friends. The tapestry of our story continues…Most of the decor on top of the credenza is from Home Grown, not to be confused with the other HG. These are some of my more high end pieces, and also some of my most meaningful. The beautiful candlesticks you see were an engagement gift from my Aunt and Late Uncle. I love seeing them every day. The “Art” displayed is another example of a picture that I liked, printed and framed. It cost me next to nothing. High/Low strikes again.

Our light fixture we brought from our old house’s kitchen. It came with the house and was always my favorite. The sconces are from good old Home Depot. Fahn-cy, indeed.

In the shot above, to the left of the French doors, you can see another one of my most meaningful pieces; a gift from my parents that says “Woman of Valor” with a Hamsa. It is an honor to have it hanging in my home. From this vantage point you can see into both our Living Room and Sunroom, which is one of my favorite attributes of our house; the openness. It also gives a bit of a sneak peak for what’s to come…