House Beautiful’s Green Album: 10 Rooms That Make Us Green With Envy

10 ROOMS THAT MAKE US GREEN WITH ENVY

1. Entrance Hall

“An entrance hall is a great place to play with color because you want that element of surprise. This green is striking, and it has enough presence to glue together all three floors of this 1800s Greenwich Village town house as it continues up the stair hall. Colors were bolder back then: they were meant to be seen by candlelight. And look at the beautiful way it reacts to black and white.”  —Steven Gambrel

2. Sitting Area

“Vertical stripes are fun, and they also lift the low ceiling in this Miami guesthouse. All the various greens set up a kind of vibration, like a Rothko painting. But you don’t want too much contrast. Test it first. You can’t imagine how many rejected paint cans are in the garage.” —Frank de Biasi

3. Living Room

“It’s not the obvious choice, but if you look at the pillows, made from Japanese obis, you’ll see a little bit of this tart apple green. I would never paint a large room this color, but this room is small, with only one window. The bright color helps bounce the light around.” —James Aman

4. Dining Room

George Washington loved bold, vibrant colors, and in 1785 he had the small dining room at Mount Vernon painted verdigris green. He believed it was less likely than other colors to fade, and he added an overcoat of glaze to intensify it.

“[Green is] grateful to the eye.” —George Washington

5. Dining Room

“I needed something to go with the aubergine trim, so I cut it with this bright caterpillar green. It’s like one of those weird Prada color combinations. At first you think, ‘Uhh, I’m not sure about this.’ But it works. It snaps up the dark aubergine and takes years off the room.” —Katie Ridder

6. Bedroom

“Everything else in my house is off-white and grey, and I just had to have a break from that. I was looking at my pond, which is this murky shade of acid green, and I thought, ‘I’ll do that in high gloss to make it even more watery and translucent.’ It’s strange, but I love it.” —Stephen Sills

7. Kitchen

“Color is the equivalent of Proust’s madeleine to me. It brings back memories. This green evokes the 1940s, when the kitchen in my 17th-century house was probably modernized into something like this–utilitarian, serviceable. The island is a 20th-century innovation that always gets in the way, so I painted it black. And the floor is a darker green—another memory from Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.” —Jeffrey Bilhuber

8. Kitchen

“In a small space, I like to take one strong color and use it everywhere. There’s something refreshing about emerald green. It puts a modern spin on a tiny Manhattan kitchen and feels cool and sparkling, especially in this glassy finish. Kind of like a gin and tonic…” —Miles Redd

9. Bedroom

“Green pigment was expensive in the 18th century, making it a status symbol. So it would have been appropriate for the royal governor’s house. I’ve been a curator at Colonial Williamsburg for 20 years, and when my husband and I lived in a historic house, we had similar green woodwork. It worked with every fabric I wanted to use, and it’s a great mood enhancer—chlorophyll for the spirit!” —Liza Gusler

10. Dining Room

“I was playing with blocks of color, pulling the bronze gold-green out of the rug and putting it on the walls. The dark Jamaican furniture looks good against the green and makes my Low Country plantation-style house feel like it’s in Barbados. But it wouldn’t have worked without the blocks of deep, rosy pink on the chairs. They energize the room.” —Amelia Handegan

Be sure to check out the House Beautiful: All About Green Featured Sale on Dering Hall now!

—Interviews by Christine Pittel
—Produced by Doretta Sperduto