Between the Layers | Design Guide Series
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A Study in Green

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! It feels impossible to ignore green in March.

Everywhere you look right now it’s shamrocks, clovers, emerald everything. Even if you’re not fully leaning into the festivities, there’s something fun about letting the season influence you a little. I’m actually writing this on St. Patrick’s Day, so it felt like the perfect excuse to treat today as a small creative exercise: a study in green.

Photo: Pinterest

Why Green Always Hits This Time of Year

Green feels especially good in March because we’re all craving it.

We’re coming out of winter. Everything has felt a little brown, a little muted, a little tired. And then, suddenly there’s this pop of life again! Green is growth. It’s a fresh start — that subtle, moving forward energy.

The Green I’m Actually Loving

Not all greens feel the same, and I’ve definitely realized I gravitate toward certain ones.

I love a soft sage — it feels calm and easy.
Olive will always feel classic to me.

But lately, I’ve been especially drawn to those muddier, in-between greens. We just painted our home office in Farrow & Ball’s French Gray, and I can’t stop talking about it. Despite the name, it reads very much green. Soft, muted, slightly moody. It changes so much throughout the day depending on the light, which makes the whole room feel layered and alive.

This reminded me that green doesn’t have to be bold to be impactful.

Heading Into Spring

Loving:

  • Linen pieces in sage and olive
  • Fresh herbs on the counter (both for cooking and just because they look pretty)
  • Green glassware for outdoor dinners
  • A matcha in the afternoon instead of another coffee
  • Garden-inspired cocktails with mint or basil

It’s funny how one color can weave its way through interiors, fashion, food, even how you style a table.

It really is timeless. Green is a classic — imo it always has a place in interiors. It doesn’t feel like a “trend” in the way some colors do. It feels rooted.

A Little Invitation

Today, instead of just wearing green for the sake of it, I’m thinking about how I actually want to live with it.

Maybe that’s a paint sample on the wall.
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Maybe it’s a new piece in your wardrobe.
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Maybe it’s just buying fresh flowers or mixing up some fresh pesto for pasta tonight. My fave.

Either way, consider this your gentle nudge to lean into the color of the season — in whatever way feels like you.

And, if nothing else, it’s a good excuse to romanticize March a little.

Recipe from megiswell.com

The Dill Gin Situation

I found this on Pinterest (which is honestly where I find all my favorite recipes). If it’s something I end up loving, there’s a 99% chance I pinned it first. (You can follow along there if you want to see what I’m saving lately!)

This one made me pause: a gin mojito … with dill?

I like gin, but don’t always love it. It can go a little too piney for me. That said, I’ve ordered a few gin martinis recently that completely surprised me and it made me rethink it. So, this felt worth trying.

And dill? I love it in everything! My favorite way to use it is chopped with sliced cucumbers, red wine vinegar and sliced onions (the way my mom would make them when I was little). 

The idea of muddled dill with lime and a splash of soda sounds fresh, bright, and just interesting enough to feel elevated without being fussy.

It feels very on-theme for this little green moment — light, herby, spring-forward. If you’re making one festive thing today, this might be it.

Green Inspo Lately ?

I’ve also been collecting green in little ways like screenshots, saved posts, paint swatches, outfits, table settings. Nothing overly styled. Just things that I’ve seen that make me pause and feel happy.

Right now, I’m inspired by this board!

A collage of curated green-toned lifestyle and home items on a neutral background titled “a few of my favorite greens.” The collage includes green mesh food covers, embroidered cocktail napkins, green glass candlesticks, a green serving bowl, a tan and green handbag, green patterned fabric, a decorative green pillow, a calligraphy brush with green detail, bamboo-handled green flatware, a vintage-style green floral plate, a green porcelain ginger jar, green hydrangea stems, green taper candles, a garden-inspired coffee table book, green-stemmed wine glasses, and a mint green wrap skirt.

Mesh Food Covers | Candlestick Holders | Embroidered Cocktail Napkins | Mini Longchamp | Serving Bowl | Outdoor Rug | Patterned Throw Pillow |

Calligraphy Brush | Bamboo Flatware | Floral Green Dinner Plate | Porcelain Ginger Jar | Snowball Stem | Taper Candles |

Daylesford Living: Inspired by Nature Book | Stem Glasses | Wrap Skirt

A few honorable mentions …

  1. Sage Silk Skirt– Saw this on Tuckernuck and can’t stop thinking about it. I can be lazy sometimes with putting outfits together, so I love when sites style their pieces for you. Tuckernuck recommended this cashmere tshirt to pair with it, and I love this idea. Add some silver hoops and a bangle. Done!
  2. Green Ginori plates – Love the iconic pattern Ginori plates, but when I saw this pretty floral pattern it now has me guessing which one I love more! 
  3. Old Fashioned Cocktail Napkins – Having something fun and whimsical at the bar is always a good idea, and these couldn’t be cuter. What a great hostess gift too.
  4. Artificial Snowball Stems – I know, the real thing is always better. But let’s be honest: these wilt literally after the first day or two. I have used these for installs and in my own home and they look soooo good. 
  5. Outdoor Rug – We used this at our ‘So Susie Headquarters’ project on her beautiful patio and it just made the space. The green is the prettiest shade of green … somewhere between a sage and seafoam. Love the subtle pattern it adds.

(Shop the full roundup on our LTK)

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Life is too short for a room that doesn’t make you happy. Color is @farrowandball Setting Plaster🩷
POV: You want a home you love... but you don’t have the budget to do it all at once.

And then you find our studio!

I’d rather see you create one room you absolutely love than stretch yourself across an entire house and feel like nothing is ever finished. One finished room gives you momentum. It reminds you why you started. And it gives you a clear vision for everything that comes next.

One of the things we help clients with is deciding where to begin. Together, we create a roadmap that allows your home to evolve thoughtfully over time-without feeling pieced together.

You don’t have to do it all this year. You just have to know what comes first.

If you’re wondering where to start, we’d love to help. Feel free to message me and we can set up a 15 min discovery call!
New project in Bend, Oregon.🤍

We just signed on with the sweetest family, and one of the first things they said was, “We don’t really love our house.” A home can be objectively beautiful and still not feel good to live in.

In this house, the kitchen, dining room and living room are all one big great room. It sounds ideal until you realize the dining table is taking up the exact real estate the living room desperately needs.

Instead of making the kitchen bigger, we’re making it smarter. One move solved several problems at once: more storage, a better dining area, and enough square footage to give the living room the footprint it deserved.

Now we’re moving into one of my favorite phases... layering in materials. This is why I love the conceptual phase. Before a single cabinet is ordered, we’re already changing the way this family will live in their home.

If you’ve been looking around your own home thinking, “I know this could work better, I just don’t know how,” we’d love to help. Whether you’re planning a renovation, reworking your layout, or just need an expert eye before making expensive decisions, that’s exactly what we have to offer!

Check out our services through the link in our bio or send this post to a friend who’s struggling with this exact thing.
While renovations are an investment, one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned after years of designing homes is this:
It’s not about how much you spend. It’s about where you spend it.

The homes that feel the most elevated aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones where every decision was made with intention.

That’s the philosophy behind everything we do. We help our clients understand where it’s worth investing, where they can save without sacrificing the overall look, and how to create a home that feels layered, timeless, and beautifully functional. Because a thoughtfully planned home will always feel more luxurious than one filled with expensive choices that don’t work together.

Good design isn’t about spending more.
It’s about making every dollar work harder for you-and creating a home you’ll love living in every single day.

If you’re planning a renovation or a furnishing project, we’d love to help. Learn more through the link in our bio.
People often ask why renovations have always been my favorite. The easy answer is that I love watching a transformation. But if I’m honest, I think it’s something much deeper than that.

Years ago, our family walked through a season that forced us to start over. It wasn’t something I would have chosen, but looking back, it changed the way I see everything. Homes. People. Even myself. I stopped looking at what something was and started paying attention to what it could become. Maybe that’s why fixer-uppers have always felt so familiar to me. I know what it’s like to feel like you’re starting over. I know what it’s like to wonder if something beautiful can come from a season that feels uncertain. That’s why I love renovations. They’re hopeful. Every wall that comes down makes room for something new. Every decision is an act of believing that what’s ahead can be better than what was there before.

The funny thing is... I don’t think this is really about houses. I think all of us have something in our lives that feels unfinished, overlooked, or in need of another chance. I’ve learned that the middle of the story rarely looks like the ending. And sometimes the most beautiful things aren’t built from scratch. They’re simply revealed.
For anyone who’s ever had to start over... I’m rooting for you!
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the little things.
After moving across the country, leaving behind everything we’d known, and living in the middle of a major renovation, I’ve realized that joy isn’t waiting for me on the other side of a finished house.

It’s in the fresh flowers on the counter.
The windows open on a summer morning.
A glass of rosé at the end of the day.
Clipping greenery from the yard.
Lighting a candle just because.

These small rituals have become the way I slow down, stay present, and make this house feel like home-even while it’s still a work in progress.

ICYMI, I wrote all about this in my post “A Home That Feels Like Summer.” It’s a collection of the simple rituals, thoughtful edits, and favorite finds that are helping me embrace this season instead of waiting for the next one.

You can read the full story through the link in our bio.🤍