DISCLAIMER: This maybe should have been a few different posts: one about checkerboard floors; the other about Verde Marble; and maybe another about graphic floors and tile, but hang in there, I’m about to jump all over the place. Enjoy the ride!

I’m currently working on a mostly kitchen reno project, with some additional spaces, including a back hallway. The clients currently have a dark green marble look floor and while they hate the material [yep, you guessed it, linoleum] they really like the color. My mission was to find a natural stone replacement.

Ironically enough, in my research for the perfect Verde ______ marble [who knew there are so many different Verde marbles!!] to create the look, I heard lots of mixed reviews - to some downright haters!

[There are few things I will dismiss altogether. If a client tells me they love something, there is almost always a way to work it in to the design. It just requires a step back, and a different view.]

They sent me the picture below, from the Louvre, and asked me what I thought about installing something similar in their hall incorporating the dark green they love… LOVE IT! Which quickly prompted my dive on the good ol’ internets looking for inspirational images. I was looking to create that fine balance between dramatic without overkill; elegance without pretense, a statement without being too bold [this challenge is hard for me, I won’t lie]

LOVE THE CHECK

While yes, check floors done poorly can bring you back to either the 50’s or 80’s in a second. Done well though, they make a wonderful statement like these floors that have lasted a couple hundred years or so.

Checkered Floors by Ions Interior Design

MY “IT’S COMPLICATED” RELATIONSHIP STATUS WITH THE COLOR GREEN

Back to the challenge: finding the perfect green marble for the checkerboard.

Truth is, I’ve always had a weird love/hate obsession with Green, and maybe a little PTSD. Circa 2007/2008, I was asked to design a room for the Washington DC Design Center Showhouse. The theme was color, and this “up and coming” always-looking-for-a-challenge designer picked the hardest color at the time [except for maybe orange] GREEN. GREEN! Green with Envy. I can’t remember if the name was given to us, or if we had to make it up. I didn’t even own a single green item. Finding green anything was impossible. We had just gotten over that sage-y green phase of the 90’s and early 2000’s. Side note: Funny how trends find their way back, huh? The of-the-moment sage green has much more gray, thankfully.

Oh, and the worst part? My room was to be a library! *sigh*

I literally tormented myself over the installation, not finding any clever way to infuse green into the space, nor finding any borrowed furnishings that would work. You either had to borrow furnishings from the showrooms [if they allowed you to], or had to buy them yourself. Being a fairly new designer, most showrooms weren’t really interested in loaning me their stuff. They were much more inclined to have their furnishings in rooms designed by the bigger-name, better known and respected designers. Rightfully so, I couldn’t blame them.

I wanted to carve my niche as the “contemporary, modern” interior designer, in a world of DC traditionalism. So the room had to be modern. and green.

I had some pillows custom made in a beautiful green satin, found a couple of Foo Dog statues in Kelly Green, but that was about it. I was in a major pickle. Pickles are green, major eye roll. That room was quickly becoming a dud. My career was over, I thought. Who would want to hire DC’s most “blah” designer?

Then, two nights before Press Day, in the middle of the night [this still happens, A LOT btw] I woke up in a panic, but with a moment of clarity: I would paint a giant green “stripe” from one end of the room, up the walls, across the ceiling, and down the opposite wall.

My painter questioned my sanity. I questioned my chosen career path. I had nothing to lose though.

We did it. It was awesome. Press loved it. Career saved.

So there’s my story about my relationship to green.

In case you were wondering, here is that Green with Envy Library.

BUT SERIOUSLY, WHERE DID ALL THIS GREEN COME FROM??

Finding the right shade, in the right size, has proven to be a larger challenge. We will likely have to custom cut the stone tiles for the scale to be proportionate to the hallway, and/or to create a border or area rug pattern. I’ve mocked up several variations. The jury is still waiting to reconvene, I will surely post pics once installed!

First row, left to right: Empress Green, Ming Green, Marmi Verde Impero

Second row, left to right: Verde Assoluto, Verde Laguna, Verde Alpi

COLOR + GRAPHIC PUNCH FOR THE WIN

In my pursuit of the perfect green, I came across some amazing products. They are not right for this project, but I had to share. Maybe the universe will bring a project to my doorstep that will give them a perfect home, or bar, or hotel.

liaison_mosaic_obelisque_zebrino_verde_blend_COLORSWATCH.jpg

I think we’ll be seeing a whole lot more of this amazing emerald green this year, just a hunch…checkerboards as well… in different variations. So good!!

Update: I put out a poll on Instagram, and the results confirmed my suspicions! See what everyone else thinks about them HERE

Talk soon!