From Bethesda Magazine: Green and serene kitchen

Soothing shades from nature are the coolest new neutrals

January 29, 2025 3:00 p.m. | Updated: January 20, 2025 3:55 p.m.

Greener Pastures

Livable luxury is how Tyler Jeffrey would describe the style of his recently remodeled kitchen and butler’s pantry. When he and his husband, Adam Tarosky, and their two small children moved to a 60-year-old brick colonial in the Sumner neighborhood of Bethesda in 2019, they knew it had the potential to become a chic family home. “It had a great layout and was big but didn’t look massive, and that appealed to us,” Jeffrey says. The price was within their budget and left funds for improvements and updates. 

Over the next few years they completed a series of small remodeling projects, but saved the kitchen for last. “It was good enough, and we wanted to live with it for a while and take our time with that renovation,” Jeffrey says. In 2022, they assembled their dream team, including Nadia Subaran of Aidan Design in Silver Spring, Sally Steponkus of D.C.-based Sally Steponkus Interiors, and Impact Remodeling and Construction, also in D.C., to start planning the reinvigoration of the kitchen and butler’s pantry. 

A green hutch
The hutch’s Parlor Green color matches the kitchen cabinets. Photo by Alison Sutich.

The natural surroundings and views of the backyard inspired Subaran to use a soft green called Eucalyptus from Kreamer, Pennsylvania-based Wood-Mode Fine Custom Cabinetry on the island. Subaran says she is doing more green kitchens lately. “People are choosing greens with brown-gray undertones, which have richness and depth and work well with natural elements like wood and stone,” she says. Jeffrey, 40, a real estate agent with Sotheby’s International Realty in Northwest D.C., concurs. He sees a lot of houses and knows the market well. “These are not the hunter greens of the 1990s; they are more subdued earthy shades, which are easily transferable to fabrics and rugs,” he says. The metal accents—the faucet, drawer hardware and light fixtures—are all brass-toned. Subaran and Jeffrey agree that brass has become a kitchen staple. “Brass is here to stay, but not the shiny stuff. It’s duller and more brushed,” he says.  

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The existing butler’s pantry felt disconnected from the kitchen and the rest of the house. “It was sort of a dead zone,” Jeffrey says. “Plus we had a 5,500-square-foot house with no coat closet.” They dedicated one side of the rectangular space to closets and converted the other side to a wet bar with a full-size refrigerator. Jeffrey and Tarosky say they enjoy entertaining, so this is an ideal amenity and provides plenty of useful storage. 

While the kitchen is light and airy, the pair wanted an edgier style in there, so they went all in on green. The cabinets, also in Eucalyptus, tie into the kitchen island, and Steponkus color-matched the paint that was used on the trim and closet doors. The walls and ceiling are covered in a showstopping geometric wallpaper. “I chose this paper because it was handsome, a little glammy and unexpected in such a traditional house,” Steponkus says. “The clients are young, cool, handsome dads with little kids, and making their bar a little extra special seemed necessary.”  

A kitchen with green cabinets
Meg and John Lazerow used a deep muted green on the cabinets. Photo by Stacy Zarin Goldberg.

Moody Hues

When Meg and John Lazerow’s 1936 stone-and-brick home in Bethesda’s Greenwich Forest neighborhood needed a refresh, they turned to interior designer Sara Swabb of Storie Collective in Georgetown. “They wanted to preserve the original character, but add modern pieces and color,” says Swabb, who created a serene and sophisticated vibe with new furnishings, paint, fabrics and finishes. 

Swabb presented the homeowners with two whole-house color story options, and they chose the warm palette of muted jewel tones. “I love green, but looking at a green paint chip is very different than seeing it when all the elements come together and it reads much more like a neutral,” Meg says. Swabb’s design captured the moody atmosphere that Meg had in mind, with elements of art deco, her favorite design era, mixed in.  

The Lazerows, both 47, weren’t planning to overhaul the kitchen initially, but when the surrounding rooms were redone, it looked dated in comparison. Swabb and her team modified the layout slightly to be better suited for both cooking and socializing. Removing a secondary island and enlarging the main island to 6 by 6½ feet improved the flow and function. The stained white oak island contains a sink, dishwasher, storage, icemaker and counter seating, and is topped with soft gray marble that also graces the wall behind the range.  

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The kitchen’s existing recessed panel cabinets were high quality, so they kept them and had them repainted in Farrow & Ball’s Treron (No. 292), a deep muted green with gray undertones, and added new brass hardware. “Green is having a moment right now; we’re seeing different shades from deep forest to sage and olive tones trending,” says Swabb, who likes to pair it with soft whites and wood elements. The designer uses greens to infuse a home with a sense of calm. 

A dining room
The breakfast nook at the Bethesda home. Photo by Stacy Zarin Goldberg.

“We wanted a massive breakfast nook to host friends and family,” Meg says. To enhance the existing eating area, the designer eliminated a built-in desk, added an arch to define the nook, and painted the walls and ceiling in the elegant Treron color. She outfitted the nook with cushy sofa-like banquette seating, velvet-covered side chairs and two trestle tables. The tables can be split apart for different configurations and to make sure that no one gets trapped in the middle of the long banquette. “It has the comfortable feel of an English kitchen, but there’s also a little drama,” Meg says. 

Swabb replaced the old square opening between the kitchen and the family room with a gracious arch with a wood inlay, stained to match the refinished floors. Glass partitions on either side create a visual divide, signaling a transition to the family room and reminding people to step down. “These are the kinds of details which we wouldn’t have conceived of ourselves,” Meg says.

Into the Woods

Kitchen with table, chairs and cabinets
Meghan Chapple’s green kitchen was inspired by the woods around her home. Photo by Alison Sutich.


To those who know her, it’s probably no surprise that Meghan Chapple has green cabinets in her kitchen. It suits her personality and her Silver Spring home, which is nestled on a woodsy lot near the park surrounding Sligo Creek in the Woodside Forest neighborhood. “What sold me were the six towering old oak trees you can see through the back windows,” she says. Trees are visible from almost every room of the 2,700-square-foot mid-century split-level she purchased three years ago.  

But Chapple, 51, who works in the environmental sustainability field, wanted even more of a sense of connection within the home to the outdoors and to friends and family. She wanted her kitchen to be the centerpiece of the house, a gathering place to entertain loved ones and occasionally host professional colleagues when working on policy issues.  

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The house had a formal dining room and separate kitchen, and both were cramped. Chapple wanted to remove the wall between them for a combined kitchen and dining area with sight lines to the wooded backyard. Contractor Geoff Rackstraw of GT Rackstraw Contractors in Silver Spring got to work making structural changes. He removed the dividing wall and installed a center support beam and a vertical beam to support it. The new plan also called for removing a front bay window and replacing it with a smaller double-hung window to create symmetry on the front focal wall.  

Chapple enlisted the help of friend and designer Colleen Quinn of RedBird ReDesign in Silver Spring. “Meghan had a vision early on of using some color, so we were excited to bring the outdoors in with green cabinets,” Quinn says. The designer specified a shade called Parlor Green from Crystal Cabinet Works in Princeton, Minnesota. “It’s a rich saturated tone, but it’s not overwhelming,” she says.  

Quinn balanced the color by using stained alderwood for the new 5-by-6-foot center island that anchors the layout. It has storage on three sides and is the perfect spot for breakfast or homework. It’s topped with a quartz material that resembles poured concrete. The bamboo floors in the former kitchen were replaced with oak and stained to match the existing hardwood flooring throughout the first level. A wood table that belonged to Chapple’s grandmother defines the dining area. “We mostly eat at the island, so the table still functions as a formal dining room,” Chapple says. 

A green hutch
The hutch’s Parlor Green color matches the kitchen cabinets. Photo by Alison Sutich.

For a clean look and to avoid blocking the light, Quinn didn’t use wall cabinets in the kitchen. To compensate for fewer cabinets, she stole some square footage from the living room to create a storage pantry and also added a freestanding glass-front china cabinet to display dishes and glassware. The hutch, also in the Parlor Green color, cleverly conceals the new vertical support post. Rackstraw, a master carpenter, modified the back of the hutch to fit around the post. “If you look very closely, you’ll notice that the shelves on one side are shallower than the other,” Quinn says.  

The designer added some textural elements to the scheme for an organic look and feel. She ran the backsplash of 4-inch square white zellige-style tiles all the way up the wall for a dramatic focal point. With uneven edges and surfaces, the tiles look handmade. Quinn and Chapple didn’t want to use metal or wood for the exhaust hood, so they opted for a plaster finish applied to a wood base. “It’s not a smooth finish, so it almost feels like pottery,” Quinn says.  

With plenty of windows to view the surrounding trees and a palette of soft green and natural materials, Chapple’s dream of a serene retreat was realized. “When I can’t be out there, this is the next best thing.”  

This appears in the January/February 2025 issue of Bethesda Magazine.

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