I am dreaming of swaying poles and rustling leaves and the deep but soft grey green of a bamboo forest. I have dug deep into the inspiration files as this is not an everyday kind of color, but when it works, it is spectacular!

It is no accident that many of the following images are from British magazines or are attempting to create an English feel as this seems like such a quintessentially Anglo color.  Suzanne Slesin’s library/dining room may be in New York City, but the light fixture, chairs and glass doors give the room an “English library atmosphere”. Combining the dining room, which tends to get little use, with a library is such a typical NYC trick, but one that would be useful anywhere. Books are always the best decoration!

This library, painted Farrow & Ball’s ‘Sutcliffe Green’ is in England, on the Norfolk/Suffolk border to be exact. Called Blo’ Norton Hall, it is the home of Charles and Rachel Morris. The cozy room occasionally serves as the dining room too. I love the white slips on the chairs and the thick white molding with the rich green paint.

Yet another library, this one by Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, is a favorite of mine.  Too many black and white photos hung together can be stark, but these are set off so perfectly by the green wall and the unusual green Persian carpet. The warm golden-hued Biedermeier desk and chairs provide just the right contrast.

It’s hard for a room to go bad with a wall of french doors and transoms, and this eclectic beauty doesn’t disappoint. I imagine it to be as pleasant to sit here in the summer as it is cozy in the winter, with the great mix of textures and textiles. Unfortunately I have no idea who designed this room – please let me know if you do!

This is an image I have been holding on to for years and it continues to inspire me.  Calling the look “Swamp Palazzo,” interior designer Rosemary James has packed her tiny New Orleans house with amazing French furniture. The dining room is painted a shade she calls “Empire Green.” I love the simplicity of the bare plank floors and the perfect lines of the furniture paired with the opulence of the silver and mirrored cabinetry. The rest of the house is equally charming, including the pale lilac bedroom which will have to wait for a future post.

This dining room by Gregga Jordan Smieszny is renovated in a “twenties rendition of Adam style.” Beautifully proportioned but a little formal for my taste, I couldn’t help but include it as it has bamboo wallpaper, Asian porcelain and those yummy velvet chairs.

There are few people more elegant than Carolina Herrera and her interiors are a reflection of her persona as she designs them herself. The painted Italian chairs make me swoon and the whole room feels like an extension of the garden.

Green kitchens are unusual, although there have been some very bright, very contemporary ones featured lately (Miles Redd anyone?). This English country kitchen in Brynderw Manor has such a casually assembled feel, with mismatched cabinets and chairs, blue and white transferware and those fabulous Majolica dishes on the table.

Compared with the manor house above, this kitchen, with its rustic beams and cheery toile curtains, feels like a country cottage. Again, I wish I had more information and details on location and designer.

This Hamptons (as in Long Island, not England) bedroom looks like it might be right upstairs from that kitchen! Designed by Fox-Nahem, it has just the right ingredients for a summer house – spool bed, striped linens, and airy voile curtains.

One of my bedroom fantasies is a tented room. This Paris apartment has trompe-l’oeil wallpaper to replace a real tent (which gathered too much dust). With the craze for all things Indian and Moroccan unabated, expect to see more of these!

This pretty, pretty bedroom was designed by Renzo Mongiardino for Contessa Christiana Brandolini (a sister of the late industrialist Gianni Agnelli). Somehow I am crazy for any decor that has anything to do with the Agnellis, and I think it is his doing! Click here to read more on this legendary designer.

Is it cheating to add garden rooms to a post on the color green? I don’t think I care. The Paris garden of Pierre Bergé is simply divine…

…as is the conservatory dining room of Robert Kime. I want to have a party under that Venetian chandelier and all those paper lanterns.

For more green (of a very different shade), check out Habitually Chic’s post Green is Good. And thanks to her for the Carolina Herrera photo as I couldn’t get mine to scan properly!

Image credits are sketchy on this post as many of the photos were torn from old magazines with no further information recorded.  Please let me know if you have any dates/names, etc. 1. House & Garden, December 1996, British House & Garden, June 2009, 3. Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, 4. unknown, probably House & Garden, 5. The New York Times Magazine, March 17, 1996, photo credit: Antoine Bootz, 6. Architectural Digest, date unknown, 7. House & Garden, November 1999, 8. unknown, probably British House & Garden, 9. Elle Decor, date unknown, 10. designed by Fox-Nahem, publication unknown, 11. Domino, February 2008, photo credit: Miguel Flores-Vianna, 12. unknown, probably House & Garden, 13. House & Garden, date unknown, 14. Architectural Digest, January 1995, photo credit: Derry Moore.