Open Up & The Chicago Tribune

A couple of months ago, during our renovation whirlwind, I was contacted by a writer, Elaine Markoutsas, who wanted to interview me about the choice to do open shelving in my kitchen and living with it.  We had a good chat about open shelves in the kitchen and about why I love it...  Things have been so busy that it totally slipped my mind & I was so surprised to see an email from my friend Debra this morning congratulating me on being mentioned in an article in the Chicago Tribune yesterday!

{The photo used in the Chicago Tribune of the kitchen in our last house... That's Christian, who's now 5!!}

I'm originally from the suburbs of Chicago (I moved to Virginia with my mom when I was four) and I have lots of family and friends there (most importantly, my Dad!! :) so it's really cool to have an article mentioning me in Chicago.

Open shelving in the kitchen is a concept I feel strongly about (not a joke, though it should be ;) and I feel like it really changed my view and outlook on other rooms in a home too.  The notion of functional beauty is one that I've now taken all over my home (and clients' homes) and just seems so natural to me.  There are things I'm okay hiding and things I like displaying, and I sort of draw the line here: 

1)When things functionally make sense in a room and 

2) When things have some aspect of beauty to them or can be displayed in a way that makes them beautiful

...that they may as well be exposed for me and others to see.   

In our new (old) house, I've opened things up pretty much everywhere I can.  In a small hallway leading from the garage to the house, we're in the process of creating a mini-mudroom out of a 4 foot wide coat closet.  We've removed the doors and taken down the closet rod.  We're adding hooks for coats and bags, a shelf up top for baskets, and a storage bench.  We now see our "junk" every time we walk in the house, but it's displayed in a way that looks as good as it can and it makes life more functional...  Now, my 3 year-old can hang his coat up by himself instead of needing us to hang it for him.  I COVET a mudroom like this:

{I looove these cubbies...  we don't have enough space for any in our house.  Image from here.}

Ours will look more like this:

{Except without the pretty sunshine streaming in ;) ;)  Image from here. }

The same goes for our loft family room...  We're in the process of lining the entire room with shelving for books, toys and randoms stuff.  I'll leave the books exposed and then do baskets for the not-so-pretty stuff like toys and games.  Here's the loft before we moved in:

Right now, the loft is a MESS...  It's half-pinkish-beige from when we moved in and partly primed and exposed studs from where we tore out the paneling and desk you see in the pic.  I have BIG plans for this room and will be sharing soon. BUT the biggest feature in the room will be its open shelving.  I'm so excited to be able to be surrounded by our books (We've been living with them in the garage this whole time and I can't even tell you how many times a week I want to grab a book to reference it or read it to the boys or whatever and I just can't.  I am so excited to be able to have any book we need at our fingertips.)  Most of my books aren't very pretty so I'll be working on some creative ways of displaying them to make them look better.  (wish me luck ;)  I love a mix of vertical and horizontal stacks like in this picture:

{image from here}

In our dining room, I follow the same line of thinking and have more open shelving for serving ware and our nature finds.  I love the simple utilitarian stacks of dishes in this dining room below:

{image from here}

In my office, I display my fabrics, magazines and client binders on large open shelving.  Don't get me wrong, I love cabinetry and hidden storage too- but- I reserve the cabinets and drawers in our house for the ugly stuff, trying to minimize it as much as possible,  and use open shelving for the useful pretties.

The concept of opening up and surrounding myself & my family in the things we use on a daily basis is one that fits the way we live.  We're very casual people, and in this new house, my main goal- besides making it something I love to look at & be in- is making is incredibly functional and easy to live in.  Opening up our storage and seeing the stuff we have is so freeing.  It forces us to ditch the stuff we don't love or use all the time and keeps us disciplined.  (And now I just need an empty room in my house to hide all the other stuff ;)

Anyway, I know it's not for everyone...  what are your thoughts on opening up and exposing your stuff?

To read more about my thoughts and readers' comments & experiences on open shelving, go HERE.


To read the Chicago Tribune article, Full Exposure, by Elaine Markoutsas, go HERE.




If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Inspired by My Pals

I had a little extra time this morning (my kindergartener had no school!!) so I got the chance to visit some of my dear blog (and real life too!) friends.  Reading blogs is one of my favorite things to do,  but now that I have three kids, the time I actually have for it is almost nonexistant.  But, when I do have the time to visit my friends' blogs, I'm honestly never short of amazed.  It's kind of crazy, actually, how talented these people are.

First stop this morning was my friend Loi of Tone one Tone.  I went back a few posts (that's what you do when you're catching up so it's kind of like watching a TV series on Netflix all in a row = really satisfying and a bit obsessive ;)    and I am GAGA over this kitchen he did for his friend:

{Design by Loi Thai of Tone on Tone}

It's insanely beautiful and so warm and relaxed.  If you haven't already, you've got to check out his blog to see the whole kitchen and read more about about this Moroccan- inspired kitchen.  When I visit Tone on Tone, I'm always blown away by what Loi's saying and doing.

I have been meaning to mention for a while now, the new book that my friend, Maria Killam, (the paint color guru of Colour Me Happy ) wrote.  It's an an e-book that totally demystifies the paint color selection process.  It's fully of pretty pictures and really practical advice & methods so if you haven't read it and you're a designer or homeowner who dabbles in design, you have to check it out:

Maria is smart & funny and direct (a natural teacher) ...and you will love her if you don't already!!

And, as I'm sure you probably know, my friend Brooke Giannetti of Velvet and Linen is building her dream home with her architect husband, Steve.. It's seriously going to be one of the most incredible houses in the world.  When I stop into Velvet & Linen to see what they're doing, I'm always in complete awe.  

{A mid-project photo of Patina Farm}

When working on my own home, I find myself thinking about Brooke and Loi (of Tone on Tone) a lot...  Our aesthetics are of course different but what they do really resonates within me.  I'm so inspired by their clean, honest styles...  the materials they use, their palettes... everything!!  The BONES of what they're working on are always perfection because they've thought about every last detail.  Nothing is trying to be anything other than what it is.  I've visited both of their homes and they were seriously two of the most amazing homes I've ever visited.  (They are in my top 3 favorite houses I've ever stepped foot into along with with my photographer's house- Helen Norman- below) 

{Helen's Kitchen}

I always leave their blogs feeling so inspired and feel like I know a little bit more about my own style after reading their informative posts.   They're all so TRUE to their design visions and know themselves so well and really inspire me to try to be the same way. 

And finally, my friend Debra Phillips, the landscape designer and store owner who writes 5th and State just wrote a really beautiful post about following her passion & starting her business.  Debra is one of the funniest, kindest and mos insightful people I've ever met and she's truly driven to do what she does.  If you need to get a little pumped up today about following your dreams, check out Debra's most recent post:

{Check out Debra's post on Passion here}

There are so many more talented & inspiring friends I want to mention here but my blogging time is UP!! (The 3 little men in my life need me.)  Have an amazing weekend & thanks for reading!!



If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Client Project: Midstage Pics

I'm so thankful and honored to be able to work with the people and families who are my clients...  My clients' dreams and needs drive the creative part of my life and I feel a really strong connection with them.  I love being able to help my clients turn a home that they've never really felt was right for them into something that they're crazy about.  Changing people's homes and helping them create something that they're excited about, that they can take pride in and that they can live in easily & comfortably is really fulfilling to me because it's not just about making something look pretty, it's about changing the way people live and improving their quality of life.  

I thought I'd share some mid-project photos of a renovation I'm working on for a special family.  The changes are pretty  drastic already and I thought you might enjoy seeing the project unfold...

  Here's a picture of the kitchen before, with walls in a hunter green wallpaper and pink formica that was in place when my clients moved in:

My client has been so ready to ditch the pink and green!!!  It was one of the first things she mentioned to me.  Functionally though, the two-tiered island with cooktop wasn't working for my client and & her family either.  The top tier left little room for the kids to spread out.  We thought that opening up the back wall by moving the refrigerator, microwave and oven to the left wall would really open up the kitchen, which had very little usable counter space and a closed-in feeling.  We put the range and hood in the center of the back wall to give the kitchen a nice focal point as well as make it more practical for the family.  (No one wants to worry about little fingers getting burned by hot pots on the island!!)  

My client's home sits on a beautiful little pond and her views all open up to the water.  She's drawn to blues and is attracted to high-contrast elements.  Her look is crisp and light and airy and almost coastal.  She's never felt that her home was the way she dreamed it could be, so we got to work creating a plan that I felt was truly "her."  Here's a look at her furniture & fixture selections:

You can see it's a that it's a pretty clean and classic look.  We've incorporated more woodwork into her home, which lacked architectural interest...  The new kitchen back splash will be a gray-blue beadboard which makes the home feel so much more solid, yet warmer and softer than stone would feel.  Because of her love of high-contrast elements, we went with warm white cabinets and honed black granite countertops and a dark mahogany island...  We stopped by to check on it earlier this week and I snapped this picture:

We're so close!!  

We're working again, with CarrMichael Construction and I love their attention to detail.  

Here's a peek at the palette...  These fabrics (and leather!) will be going in the family room, which the kitchen is completely open to:

The gray-blue at bottom right is going on a large comfy sofa and it's going to be so soft & cozy for my clients!!  A pair of chairs will flank the fireplace and they'll be in the blue pinstripe.  The leather is for the ottoman and the warm beige velvet on the right is for a chair-and-a-half.  (Trust me! A pretty one DOES exist!! Check out Lee Industries.)  The other fabrics are some of the pillows will be bringing in.

Here's a look at the main level powder room selections:

Again, it's a very classic look that I think works really well for a house on the water.  

Here's a peek at the powder room, which we had paneled in bead board and painted in a warm, dark gray: 

(While the kitchen renovation was taking place, my clients used the powder room sink as the kitchen sink so you can spy some kitchen stuff in the pic.)

The sconces are by Visual Comfort (who I'm sure you've realized by now is one of my favorite lighting manufacturers! ;) and the gray paint is Benjamin Moore's "Kendall Charcoal" #HC-166.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my clients' renovation.  I'm so thankful for people like my clients who place so much trust in me.  If you like seeing mid-stage stuff, just let me know & I'll try to include more!  Have a great day!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.If you're in the VA- MD-DC area and would like to join me next week at Architectural Ceramics for a talk on Blogging, check out this post!  

"How To Build Your Business with Blogging" IFDA Event

Next week, I'll be giving a talk on blogging for IFDA.  (International Furnishings and Design Association) I was both nervous and excited when I got an email from Julianne Yurek inviting me to come talk about "How To Build Your Business Through Blogging."  

Nervous because-- public speaking is public speaking.  

And excited because-- blogging is something I truly feel has changed my life.  

 

I started blogging when I was just beginning my design business, and writing the blog not only helped boost my credibility & get my work out there, but it gave me the self-confidence I needed to keep going and to think big.

I started it when my husband & I sold our townhouse for a huge loss and went to live in my parents' basement with our (then) baby boy.  It was a time for getting back on our feet, to save for a house, again.  In the basement, I remember stumbling across the world of blogs and not even knowing what they were.  At first I thought that they were really odd and I wondered why people would want to read about someone else's home renovation...  But as I started reading them, I started loving them.  I started feeling like I was friends with the writers, like I knew them.  It felt like a world I was sort of on the edge of... One I wasn't quite a part of & wanted to be.  One night, I finally started one.  It was my little outlet where I thought I'd write for my grandmother & my mother-in-law.  Eventually, though, more people started to read and I began to realize that blogging was so much bigger than I thought it was. 

I can honestly say that blogging has shaped my business and really, my entire life.   The friends I've made and the experiences & opportunities that have opened up to me as a result of it have been amazing.  I'm excited to share my experience with others so that they too can hopefully get something meaningful out of blogging.  

If you're in the DC area, the event is open to anyone, so please come join us!  

I'd love to meet you!!

When: Wednesday, March 13th – 5:30pm – 7:30pm – Talk Starts at 6pm

Where: Architectural Ceramics - 203 South Union St. Alexandria, Virginia

Tickets are only $8 – they include drinks and hors d’oeuvres to enjoy at the event.  Student admission is free with a student ID.

Questions?  Email: jyurek@carnemark.com

Hope to see you there!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Our New Patio

Our new house had a bit of an odd layout in the back yard...  Part of our backyard is a hill so it makes planning outdoor entertaining spaces a little tricky. The architecture of the house itself is contemporary and when I look at it, it sometimes reminds me of a roller coaster...  I'm sure I shouldn't find it pleasing to look at, but I weirdly love it.  I like that you can't quite figure it out and spend lots of time looking at it from the outside trying to figure out which part of the inside you're looking at.  We have a few unused "secret" spots in the house and I always imagine turning them into something cool. (Two of those spots are on the right and left of the main structure on the top floor...)

We have one main deck in the center of the back of the house that can be accessed through the sliding doors in our kitchen (on the right below) or through the sliding doors in our studio (on the left below.)  On either side you walk out onto a small little wooden deck and up a stepped deck to get to the main deck.

Our deck's in the shape of a trapezoid (yay! I learned something in 4th grade!! ;) ;) it's red, and it looks really awkward.  We've always felt like there's a dead spot to the right of the deck outside of the kitchen...  I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted to extend the entertaining space somehow.  Our outdoor dining table sits on the red (for now) deck and I thought that if I extended the deck somehow to the right, that the new space could be for seating and grilling.

Here's the view from the kitchen sliders a few week ago:

Then I was contacted by Home Depot about joining in their "Style Challenge" where they gift bloggers patio furniture and have you take photos of your new furniture at home...

I was so excited about being gifted the furniture but the wind left my sails a bit when I remembered we didn't actually have a spot for it.  I envisioned a grassy patio furniture photo shoot and it didn't quite look so good.

...So I got in touch with my good friend, Mike Carr, (of CarrMichael Construction who's done our entire house) and asked for a slightly huge favor...  "Can you -pretty please- build a patio- in the dead of Winter.. Umm, right now??"  Mike came through, as usual, and the guys showed up!!


They began by removing my little red kitchen deck...

Then they created a two-tiered patio foundation of gravel and other important stuff that I didn't pay attention to:

So it went from this:

to this:

...in a few days!!

I'm so excited!!!  

We've moved our grill just outside of the kitchen doors, which is going to be so convenient for meals. (When it gets warmer, we do almost all of our meat & nightly meals outside.)  The tiered patio works so nicely on the hill and now we'll have the perfect spot to sit.

Here's the Beverly sectional that Home Depot is (so kindly!!) giving us:

Our patio is now pretty massive so we've decided that we'll be buying six additional middle chairs to add to the sectional so that we can really take advantage of our space.  I just go into my kitchen now and stare at the flagstone because I'm just so happy with it.  When I fell in love with this house, it was because of the light and the indoor-outdoor feeling.  When you're inside, you feel like you're outside and now the patio is the perfect extension of the indoors to the outdoors.  I've already noticed too that my kitchen floors are staying a bit cleaner because when the dog & the boys come in from playing, there's a bigger buffer from grass/mud to kitchen floor.  
I'll be layering the sectional with pillows in some of my own fabrics and waiting for my hydrangea trees to come back to life.  
I've decided to surround the patio (except for the yard entrances) in ornamental grass around the patio and limelight hydrangea.   I fell in love with this image a year or so ago:







How gorgeous is that??!!  The grass has a sort of a modern edgy feel to me that I think works well with my crazy house and I love that "swishy" sound it makes when you walk by it or when the wind blows.  I think I might put a bunch of it in the front too.  I would do the hydrangea on the yard side and the grass on the patio side so it sort of spills over onto the flagstone.  I'm not sure when the garden stores are going to actually start selling what I need so I may have to wait a little later in the season for it.  The final "after" pictures for the Home Depot Style Challenge are due on March 29th, so keep your fingers crossed it that gets a little warmer so I don't have to do a "Winter Wonderland" theme ;) ;)
 

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

DC Row House Main Living Room Before & After

If you are on Instagram or follow along with my instant pics on the sidebar of the blog, you may have noticed that yesterday was an especially rewarding day:  We finished another project installation.  This project was different from most of our projects in that it was implemented over time.  We created a full design plan for our clients a year or so ago (I think??) and as the project entailed a lot of time & expense, our clients decided to implement the project in phases.  What I love about this approach was that my clients didn't sacrifice anything.  They got everything they wanted exactly as they wanted it because they were really patient & willing to wait.  They began with the paint, the built-ins, and then moved onto lighting, curtains and rugs.  The final installation (of furnishings!!) happened yesterday and I'm so excited to share it with you.  Here's what the living and dining space looked like before:

My clients decided they didn't need the additional dining area (we've got a breakfast nook in the kitchen) and so we turned it into an additional seating area with a 4- chair arrangement for playing games, reading and chatting.  Here's what the room looks like now:

Yesterday, I styled the bookshelves with all of our clients' own things and got the room feeling nice and lived in...

The childrens' books are mixed in with their parents' books and their is tons of storage for games & crafts hidden throughout the built-ins.  

I connected the spaces with two overscale lanterns which you might recognize from my previous post.  (The Morris Lantern from Visual Comfort ;) ;)

Because there's a small nook for the sofa in the TV-watching end of the room and not much room in it for end tables, we went with pivoting wall sconces on either side of the sofa.  I was excited about showing off their pretty silhouettes against the hand-block-printed Le Gracieux curtains:

{I snapped this pic as we were hanging art}

My clients wanted a really warm, cozy and energetic-feeling home.  They are some of the nicest people I've ever met and I really feel like their home matching them in warmth.  My client herself looks especially beautiful in the house becomes it complements her hair and skin tones so well.

Here's a close-up that shows the coffee table, which I love:

{The pillow is in my "Filigree Chevron" in Autumn}

 Here's a "before" picture of the fireplace wall, which faces the TV:

...And here is is now:

{The oranges & yellows & pear greens were pulled straight from the rug}

My clients have the "go ahead" to collect more green pottery on their travels so we can fill up these shelves!! ;) ;)

We're putting a fiddle leaf fig in the right nook that will look like this:

This photo shows you how the TV fits:

The 4 chairs are all on swivels so if they want to, they can swivel around and become a part of the TV-watching area or enjoy the fire...

I'm off for the day and hope you enjoyed!! I also had to share this Instagram pic of me with Dave on the way home...  There's nothing more fulfilling than getting to work with this guy every day:

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

A Man's Surprise Office: Before & After

I've had some of the most fun putting projects together that are gifts or surprises...  A super-sweet client of mine decided to surprise her husband with a new office for his birthday.  He works from home, but since they've moved in, the office hasn't really gotten much attention.  I was thrilled when my client called me to discuss the project after helping her & her husband with their family room. 

  

The existing white office had everything the husband/my client needs to get work done, but it didn't feel like he'd really moved in yet.  My client knew that her husband would love a formal "masculine" study feeling- one that was traditional, warm, and classic... so we got to work.  Here's the view of the office when we started from the French Doors:

We knew the biggest change would be painting.  The masculine room we were envisioning was dark and moody.  (He works on computer screens and so the darker walls help with that too since the room is really sunny.)

The biggest challenge in designing this space for us was creating an office our client's husband would love, yet one that didn't feel over-the-top, too boring or kitschy...  I've noticed that there's something about men & these "man rooms."....  you know, dark paneled libraries with the big presidential desk...  They love them!!  When they see them in someone else's home or in photos, they want them!!  So even though as soon as our client said "masculine study" we knew exactly the sort of room he wanted, I wanted to make sure that we made his office extremely personal and include a couple of unexpected elements so that we weren't just recreating a movie set.  

We put together a design for my client & she approved everything without showing or mentioning any of it to her husband.  We set the project in motion and on his birthday, she surprised him with a rendering -done by Michelle Morelan- of his office in progress:  

{The rendering done by Michelle Morelan, who is always wonderful to work with...  the colors are a bit more saturated in this image than in the actual painting but this gives you the idea.}  

I was able to take a few quick pics of the finished space on installation day with my phone, but will definitely have to go back with my photographer, because with the dark walls, it was almost impossible for me to get a good pic.  (But I thought you'd enjoy a peek anyway ;)

So, again, here's the 'before'---

And here's the 'after'--

{We used three different paint colors which I'll share in just a bit}

My client went to Yale so his wife & I thought it would be special to hang a massive vintage photograph of Yale (blown up to almost 7 feet high) on the main wall.  I love it because not only is it sentimental, but it feels almost like a window in the now-dark space.

{The photo is on a linen paper and is backed with a reusable adhesive.}

I think my client said her husband's dorm is actually in this photograph!! How crazy is that?!!

We're still waiting on the custom leather chair to be finished so in the pics you can see my clients' old black leather chair.  Here's what the new one looks like, except ours will be in a warm brown leather:

The main desk was one of the first pieces of furniture we selected.  We knew our client's husband would love its masculine, traditional lines.  We call it the "Presidential" desk.  ;) ;)  We pared it with a more modern leather parsons desk with a glass top.  Using such a traditional centerpiece allowed us a little more freedom to be able to mix things up a bit while the feeling of the room remained traditional.

Since it was so tough for me to get a good photo, here's a pic with the lights off too:

The "Morris Lantern" from Visual Comfort- hanging in the center of the room- is one of my favorites and, although I rarely repeat pieces in clients' projects, this one's an exception.

I used some more modern pieces in the traditional space to add a little bit of juxtapostion:  The modern task lamp on the desk, the small folding table next to the chair...

One of my favorite pieces was the antique Civil War painting we found:

Photos just don't do it justice but the patina & colors in it are incredible... 

It's purposefully too small between the windows, which is another tiny element that defies the tradition of the room:

The plaid curtains warm up the dark navy room and we used lots of caramel browns that are a bit on the orange side to liven up the palette a bit.  

On the right wall - and not pictured- we are working in a group of framed meaningful art...  family photos, paintings and pictures.

Here's a photo of the built-ins (before the books) and it really shows how we used different paint colors to get the feeling we were after:

{The chair's getting swapped out with a tufted brown leather one.}

Here's the paint breakdown (all Benjamin Moore)...

The walls are "Gentleman's Gray" which is a very dark traditional navy. 

The woodwork is all in a semi-gloss so dark navy that it's almost black- "Polo Blue," and

The ceiling is in a navy with the tiniest hint of peacock blue... "Blue Danube" (The bit of green/peacock added to the ceiling paint makes the room feel a tad less serious and also sets off the blue-green in the rug.) 

This pic really exaggerates the subtle color differences so you can get an idea:

 I'm off for the day but will be sure to share better photos of the fully finished space when I have them.  (Looking at my photos is just sad haha)  Thank you so much to my wonderful clients who really trusted me with this one!! Going this dark takes guts and I think it really paid off!!!


If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.
ps- I'm always going to treasure all of the comments you all left in the last post... Thank you so much. Huge hug to everyone!!