A couple living in Town & Country faced a challenge: Even with their last child in college, they decided not to downsize, but they needed help remodeling their home into a place they would love for the rest of their lives.
The husband and wife, who are from Colombia, were looking for someone who could also bring their love of the outdoors indoors. After noticing the work of Marcia Moore and Kathleen Matthews, the homeowners reached out to the designers, and the group began creating sophisticated and comfortable interiors. “They didn’t want the whole house to look like it was South American, but they wanted to incorporate a little bit of that aesthetic,” Moore says of her clients. “They like eclectic things, so that was great for me, because I love that, too.”
Moore says one of the clients’ first requests was for the designers to find a way to display the small cuttings propagated by their daughter, who has studied horticulture and will soon be embarking on a new adventure in landscape architecture.
Designing with so many plants was difficult, Moore says, because some plants couldn’t handle a lot of light, while others craved sunlight. “Especially with all the little plants everywhere and trying to arrange it all so that it’s nice to look at and not just a bunch of plants lined up on a shelf,” the designer recalls. But Moore knew that placing a shelf in front of one of the large windows in the living room would add interest to the arrangement, and she found the perfect shelf in Hem’s Open Design Wooden Shelves. Small plants that don’t like direct light, or don’t need much of it, live on a fireplace mantel painted to resemble burlap. A palm tree placed in the corner opposite the shelf balances the look of several small plants with one large plant and also hides a cat tree.
Moisture-loving plants such as orchids were incorporated into the new master bathroom, which was gutted and rebuilt by McMillan Construction Group. The brown porcelain tile is made to look like a wood floor for the white tub; This same rich color is repeated in the dark walnut cabinets designed by Beck/Allen Cabinetry.
Before introducing plants into her design, Moore gauged the homeowners’ interest in caring for and watering them. “I have some people who say, ‘I love greenery, but I won’t care for it.’ She says, ‘You have to give me fake plants.’ “This client said, ‘No, you’re not putting any fake plants in here.’”
One exception: The home’s dining room, which faces north and has only one window, isn’t ideal for plants. “I wanted this room to feel like you’re on a covered porch where you can see all the greenery outside,” Moore says. The solution for her? The wallpaper from Dutch company Daisy James features trees, ginkgo leaves and other botanical elements.
The wallpaper was a full-circle moment. The couple originally found Moore after seeing beautiful wallpaper in another client’s home on the designer’s website. They wanted something similar. “My husband wanted wallpaper and something that would really stand out, so that’s how we found Marcia,” the wife explains. “The dining room wallpaper looks like an English garden, and I feel like I’m surrounded by nature. It turned out beautiful. Everything flows with an earthy, outdoorsy vibe.
