I love blue. Really. It is officially my favorite among all the wall colors we’ve ever used. In turn, our finished dining room is my new favorite room. That could be because we haven’t really finished any other spaces in this apartment, but I think it’s because it really just turned out great. And I have FLOR to thank for the inspiration.

The moment I saw their Sophistikat rug last year, I knew I had to have it — eventually, anyway. And I kept finding inspiration elsewhere in similar shades of blue: the gorgeous blue Ikat dinnerware from Viva Terra and sweet cloth napkins from West Elm. Slowly, in my mind, a dining room came together.

And then slowly, it came together in real life too.

We knew we had to find the perfect blue for the walls. Given our past experience picking paint colors on the Internet or in the store, only to bring them home and have them be far from what we expected, we bought 4 testers. One was too blue, one too green and another too black. In the end, we chose Glidden’s Rich Navy, color matched to Behr Premium Plus, paint with primer in it (low-VOC, of course). In the photo above, it is the sample on the far left. I thought it read too purple at first, but my husband convinced me that the other option shown was too green.  Now that it’s on the walls, I’m so happy I listened to him!

The piece that inspired the color scheme, the Sophistikat rug was a challenge to put together — not because of the tiles themselves (which are a breeze to assemble) but because of the pattern. While each tile is similar, they are not exactly the same. So it took a bit of sorting to find ones that would match up relatively closely. As a result, the pattern is a bit random where I switched from a tighter diamond pattern to a wider one. Still, I LOVE the look. It is perfect imperfection.

Now for the next piece of the puzzle. By the time I convinced my husband of my vision for the ikat dinnerware, the dessert plates were no longer in stock. So I had to improvise. I bought a set of 4 dinner plates and a set of 4 bowls (on clearance, of course). But we needed place settings for 6. So I grabbed some cobalt blue glass dinner and dessert plates and bowls from Ikea to complete the collection.

As you can see in the two detail photos above, I mixed and matched them for a look that is loose and eclectic, but still completely cohesive. And guess what? I love this imperfection too!

I grabbed some fabric napkins in blue and white from West Elm (also on clearance). I have to say though, I was really disappointed with the way they were shipped. One afternoon, my husband and I came home to a stack of 8 small boxes, all exactly the same size. I had to take a photo of the stack:

I couldn’t imagine what were in them, but once I saw that they were from West Elm, I jokingly said to my husband, “What did they do? Ship one napkin per box?”

Well, it turns out that’s exactly what they did.

All 8 napkins would’ve fit in a single box, but instead, I received 8. Not impressed with that kind of wastefulness at all. But I did love the napkins

And since we had such beautiful dinnerware, I really wanted to create a simple, but special, centerpiece. $7 worth of mums, $7 worth of organic lemons, a white porcelain bowl and a couple of blue and white porcelain balls, and my work was done.

In addition to the new stuff, we used a bunch of our existing, albeit mismatched, silverware and some wine glasses my husband and I have had since we got married. Oh yeah…and I can’t forget the orange juice. The extra pop of yellow really made the table come alive.

And once everything was assembled, the walls felt a little bare to me. I remembered some blue and white commemorative plates that my mother had given my husband and I a few years back. The two plates feature special locations in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, where my husband and I are both from. I never imagined I’d be a person who’d decorate with commemorative plates, but I actually really like how they look. And I get all nostalgic when I see the plate for Magen’s Bay, my favorite beach back home (which has also been named one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world — and oh, how I miss it), and Fort Christian, a location where I once filmed a music video with the steel band I played with in high school.

And here’s a final shot of the room from another angle. From this side, you can see that we painted the three walls in the dining nook, which really makes it feels like it’s own room rather than part of the larger living space. Isn’t that chunky crown molding fabulous?!!

And since it’s immediately to the right of the door when you walk through the short entry hall, you can see a reflection of that delicious blue paint in the magazine sunburst mirror that we hung in the entryway.

So what do you think? We love eating in our dining room now!

Giveaway winner

Now for the giveaway winner! I really thought more people would guess Sophistikat, but Haute Stuff was an obvious contender. But only four people guessed Sophistikat, and of those, Katie R. of Little Green Sewing Machine is the winner! So what did she win? Well, it’s not a FLOR rug, but I think it’s something equally as cool — an Organic Rouched Throw from West Elm!

I own two of these and I love them! They are incredibly soft and comfortable. And she can select which color she wants: Platinum (gray) or natural. PLUS, as a bonus, you can select the t-shirt of your choice from Differently Clothing, an organic t-shirt company I started with my husband! Katie, I’ll contact you via email about your prize!

Disclosure: FLOR provided me with the Sophistikat rug. All opinions are my own (as usual). The giveaway prize, however, is coming from my own pocket.

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There’s nothing I love more than a beautiful before and after, and even more so when the redesign is eco-friendly. Cathy McMurray of Olio United took the Earth into consideration in nearly every decision when she and her husband took on a major kitchen renovation, and the result is stunning!

Here’s some information about the project in Cathy’s own words:

The before pictures were shot during our final walk through, so this is the way that the previous owner had the kitchen and dining room set up. If you look closely in the first photo, there are parts of the kitchen that were unfinished when we moved in: no backsplash, unpainted window trim, no baseboard or door trim, no cabinets on one wall, etc. We replaced/covered every surface, including the ceilings. We took out the makeshift hutch in between the kitchen and dining room, which opened up the space a lot more, and added an archway. (Our main floor is only 850 sq. ft.)

And here’s some information about the eco-friendly products they used to make the room complete:

• Countertops: Made of chipboard that was naturally dyed with an ebony color. It is normally sold as decorative paneling, but Cathy and her husband decided to try it as a countertop since the cost was a fraction of other materials they were looking at. They found it through a local company in Portland called Canopy Home.
• Cabinets: Made of FSC-certified walnut and maple ply
• Wallpaper: Grasscloth, paper-backed woven jute by Twenty2
• Paint: Very low- or no-VOC options, mostly from Yolo Colorhouse
• Appliances: Bosch dishwasher, Amana refrigerator and Dacor oven are all energy efficient and made in the U.S.
• Flooring: Cork in the kitchen and bamboo in dining room
• Backsplash: Recycled glass tile from Portland’s Stardust Glass

Isn’t the result absolutely breathtaking? This makes me want to do a kitchen renovation right now! Ok…maybe not right now, but it gives me hope that if we ever decide to purchase a fixer-upper, we could turn the kitchen into something as gorgeous and green as this! I’m really loving the hanging pantry, made of FSC-certified wood, that’s shown above. You can read more about Cathy’s remodel at the Olio blog.

Do you have a green home project you’d like to share? Submit your story and photos for a chance to be featured here at Green Your Decor! I love before and afters, and I’d love to showcase the ingenuity of my readers in making something beautiful and eco-friendly!

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