I love the juxtaposition of the natural, organic, green of it right behind the more formal and chic chandy.

Really lovely dining space. Congrats!

What fabric did you use to make the pockets?

Clumbsycook - the floors are 130 year old reclaimed birch, brought up from the bottom of a nearby river.

Okay, the details on the wall:

I've been researching living walls on-line and at the library for about 2 years. After some research and visits to a few local living walls, I figured out which "type" of living wall I felt was best for the house. Essentially I opted for a "Patrick Blanc" style living wall - essentially the plants grow in a felt medium with little, if any, soil. Patrick Blanc is from France, and he is considered the "father" of living walls/green walls/vertical gardens. Here is a link to Patrick Blanc's website: http://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/

Here is a link to an outdoor Patrick Blanc style garden in San Diego - this website is a great resource and has dozens of great pictures of living wall eye candy: http://www.livingwallart.com/do-it-yourself/constructing-a-vertical-ga rden-patrick-blanc-style/

I determined that it was possible to build a Patrick Blanc style living wall on my own. A guy named Matt in New York has a fantastic and unbelievably informative blog on how to build your own Blanc style living wall. Here is a link to his blog: http://diygreenwalls.blogspot.com/ He built a stunning living wall in his NY apartment.

But I was a little nervous to make one myself, I admit. Plus, I have a crazy busy job, two kids under 6 and an on-going home renovation, so I ran out of time. Earlier this year I found a company in San Francisco that builds pre-made Patrick Blanc style living walls, the company is called Plants on Walls. I decided to save my pennies and buy a 31" x 82" recirculating living wall from them. I am still determined to make a living wall on my own, and I think I will in my master bathroom that is due for renovation over the year or so. The living wall "kit" from Plants on Walls contains the galvanized steel frame, water-proof back lining, the reservoir, pump, tubing and the felt pockets that the plants grow in/into. I bought the plants here and planned out the "planting design." I'm very happy with the Plants on Wall product, and they were very responsive to my questions. That said, they aren't cheap (my kit was $1,300), and I'm determined to build my own living wall next (the master bathroom project). Here is the link to the Plants on Wall site: http://www.plantsonwalls.com/default.asp

I do keep a small carpet under the reservoir, it catches the odd drops of water off the ends of the leaves. I do mist the plants whenever I think of it, so the mat/carpet takes care of that. If you could put one up in a room with tile floors that would be ideal I guess.

It does add humidity to the room, but not much and we welcome it in winter (we have to use a furnace here in the winter and the air gets dry). This size living wall isn't big enough to create serious humidity issues I think - and we do live in an area with hot, humid summers - and I hate A/C. No smells or mold - that is the point of the felt growing medium, the felt dries totally between watering. That said, my living wall is also in a relatively large, open room, so there is lots of air circulation.

You of course need adequate lighting for a living wall - this often determines where you build it. I didn't want to build it anywhere that would require artificial light.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

I'm wondering though, who makes the chandelier?

I saw interior living walls in a display garden at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle two years ago. They were gorgeous! It was one of the most popular display gardens at the show, too. Saw the same company (why, oh, why can't I remember their name?) again at Portland's Yard, Garden & Patio Show. Or was that at the Farwest Show? Dunno, too many garden shows to keep them all straight at times.

But I digress. They got the same question about interior living walls in a humid region since we're, uh, just a bit dampish in winter. ;-) No problem, they said.

mbcullen - I'm afraid I forget the name of the light manufacturer. I do know that it is no longer produced - we found this one at the back of a lighting store covered in dust, last one they had. I tried to find it online, it was discontinued a few years ago.

Steph2000 - thanks very much. I designed our kitchen/ground floor reno, but I'm afraid I'm no designer. That said, I've really enjoyed designing the lay out of my ground floor and the kitchen etc. A previous thread by palimpsest has me thinking that maybe I want to study interior design ... who knows! But I'll stick to my current profession until this reno is paid off anyway!