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.