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Color Friday is: Copper!

3 Nov

I love this time of year and all of the rusty shades of copper that are blowing in the trees. With the storm last week notwithstanding, the weather is crisp and the leaves are gorgeous. In fact, in DC, it’s almost impossible to tell we had any bad weather at all. That said, I’m hoping all my readers and clients who are negatively impacted by floods and storm damage and power outages recover quickly and fully.

Since this week’s thrown everyone for a loop, I’m bringing you Color Friday – Copper! – a day late this week. If you love this rustic shade as much as I do, check out an older round-up: there’s a lot of copper to go around! Enjoy, and stay warm!

 

 

Pot Rack, $1100;  Ornaments, $25;  Chair, $111; Flatware from West Elm, no longer available;   Art, $1295;  Lamp, $560;  Spoons, $16;  Amber Jars, $150; Pillow, $70

 

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

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The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.

24 Oct

This post is actually about interiors…so bear with me.

Really. It is. You’ll see…

 

Sometimes I try to be a supermom and selectively arrange my son’s books on a shelf to highlight the season. Just like a librarian. This means I choose a few for display that have themes which reflect the current holiday or time of year. Now, that’s pumpkins and Halloween. But my favorite time to do this is when it gets really cold and I can put The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats on his special shelf. You must know this book, right?

 

 

 

Any parent knows reading to your child can be amazing and calming and often times fun; but with a bad book, it’s torture. This book is one of the ones that is always a joy to read, partially because the story is simple (and short!) and flowing, and also because the illustrations are just gorgeous. I am particularly fond of cut paper, collage-type illustrations in childrens’ books, and this one is no exception.

I love the patchy, boldly colored collages that make snow look anything but ordinary and white. It almost glows. And the composition reminds me very much of the photographs of Matthias Heiderich, whom I wrote about a few years ago; I wonder if he knows the book?

 

 

The one page that I always stop and marvel at is at is the one with the little boy sitting on his bed looking out the window. Why? Because I LOVE THE WALLPAPER. And by that I mean so many things beyond superficially liking the wallpaper: I like the way it looks, I like how it reminds me of something my grandparents may have had, and I like the sense of coziness and home and warmth it conveys. I feel like I’ve been in that room (and through reading, I have…many many times). It’s the kind of experience that I love to help create or re-create for my clients; a space that feels like home, that you never want to stop looking at. If I could find a wallpaper like it, I would buy it instantly. But I can’t find it!

 

 

Farrow and Ball’s Vermicelli Papers come sort of close…but aren’t quite right.

 

 

Guess I’ll have to keep searching…

 

P.S. – it feels GREAT to write a thoughtful blog post for the first time in, oh, about two months!

 

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

 

Color Friday is: Fall Leaves!

1 Oct

You guys. I’m the worst. I haven’t been blogging, I’m doing the Color Friday I promised on a Monday, and I made frozen pizza for dinner for my family several nights last week. (But I made a salad too, so it’s cool).

Things have been really busy. Lots of great clients, my little one is doing very well at preschool (but we’ve encountered our first fall illness this year – both of us), and my husband is working hard as usual. That said, it’s been a nice past few weeks and we’ve managed to spend time together and with family and friends, and that is what it’s all about.

Plus, IT’S HAPPENING. And by that, I mean the leaves are changing. We were sitting at a stoplight today and I had my car window open and a leaf just blew into my lap. Amazing! I just love this season.

So here is my Color…umm…Monday: Fall Leaves! You can also see the one I did last Fall, and the Fall before that.

 

Chandelier, $869; Paper Bull, $178; Artwork, $1,495; Lamp, $519; Pillow, $388; Settee, $1,249; Teapot, $56; Pouf, $90; Vase, $78; Pot.

Enjoy the colors, and have a great week!

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

Chic Soup: Andy Warhol for Campbell’s Soup!

4 Sep

You read that right.

 

 

For a limited time (which commenced on September 2nd), you can get Campbell’s Tomato Soup cans, with Andy Warhol’s iconic colorful style plastered to the label, at Target! For $0.75! I may have sent my husband in to get three of each yesterday. Ok…ok…not three of each. Um, four of each.

If you’re as excited as I am, you’d better hurry! There are only 1.2 million of them…and I have 16.

 

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

Color (Almost) Friday is: Peach!

9 Aug

Before you delve into this post, I’m editing it to add that I posted my Friday post on a Thursday. AND I HAD NO IDEA IT WAS THURSDAY until my cousin sent me an email saying “Happy Thursday” and I went “She’s crazy…oh…wait…it’s me.”.  See, it’s been a long week, and my husband has a big project due today that’s kept him working until later than 10pm most nights. But he’s done with it today, and my clients are almost done for the week, and I finally have child-care relief tonight! So that basically means today is Friday for me. But not you. In short: expect no post tomorrow.  Now…

 

I admit that this week I had to search my own blog to see what colors were being ignored. Turns out I had prevalent and recent hues of everything but orange. So since it’s the absolute tail-end of peach season (we can say that, right? It isn’t over, right?) today’s color is Peach!

Door  Peaches Room via House & Garden

How about that DOOR?! I love it. And I especially love the way the above images take a little of the saccharin out of super-feminine peach, and infuse it with some edge via the Moroccan-inspired graphic aesthetic (see the shapes? the cushions? the geometric curves and variety of metals?). Enjoy this plethora of perfect peach objects. Each one is ripe for your decor!

Peach Pendant;  Peach Lamp;  Peach Twill Tape Pillow;  Peach Candy;  Cloth Napkin;  Dresser;  Transparent Louis Ghost Chair;  Brooklyn Fox Theatre Mirror;  Juice Cup

Have a great weekend!

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

Color Friday is: Rainbow!

3 Aug

I love this one! I should do it once a month. There are just so many rainbow-colored goodies out there, I can’t resist sharing them with you as I find them. So here are eight beautiful objects, each bursting with color!! (And if you’re hungry for more, check out an earlier Rainbow-themed Color Friday here.)

Rainbow Chandelier, $105 or DIY;  Gift Wrap Paper, $4.50;  Tumbler, $58;  Cosmetic Case, $88;  Tectonic Floor Rug, $299-$399;  Rainbow Chair;  Original Art, $3,000;  Cushion Cover, $7

 
Enjoy your weekend! Hope it’s a good one!

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

Color Friday is: Gold!

13 Jul

I thought about doing “rainbow” for today’s Color Friday, but somehow I feel like I’ve done that recently. So as an apt substitute, I’ll focus on what’s at the end of the rainbow: glittering gold. I get asked all the time by clients if they should choose silver or gold for their spaces, and here’s my typical response: when gold is a metal, there’s no need to expel silvers and bronzes from your repertoire: mixed metals are huge now, and all it takes is adding a few pieces of each type to achieve a beautiful balance. Throw in some distressed metals and mercury glass, and the task is easy. So see? There’s room for every kind of finish in my book. 

Enjoy the picks this week, and have a lovely weekend!

Clockwise from pendant at top: Arteriors Osgood Iron Pendant   Gold Pig Bookends from CB2  Thomas Paul  Gold Rug  Vintage Gold Clutch  Goldleaf Franklin Media Cabinet by Dwell Studio  Trina Turk Sunburst Yellow Pillow  Baroque Antique Goldleaf Mirror  Donut Table Lamp from MG+BW  Gold Velvet Pillow from Room and Board

 

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

Color Friday is: Radish!

8 Jun

I’ve been growing some radishes this past month. It appeared as if some of them were ready, but when I pulled them out, they were tiny. They are supposed to look the ones on the left: large, smooth, and very photogenic (image via Amazon.com). But mine look like the ones on the right: tiny, not very smooth, and un-photogenic. I did successfully grow the lettuce myself though!

Anyway, I’m excited for the actual harvest, so in celebration of that, today’s Color Friday is “Radish” – or, if you prefer, “pink.” And I mean “pink” loosely…as these shades will range from very powdery to deep purple-tinged mauve. Enjoy the round-up and the weekend!

Clockwise from chandelier at top: Pink Jade Chandelier by Marjorie Skouras, price on request (image via marjorieskourasdesign);  Marimekko Unikko Pink and Red Wool Throw, $259 (image via Crate and Barrel); Spiced Pomegranate Dishtowel from Anthropologie, $24 (image via Anthropologie); Pink Mirrored Planter by Worlds Away, $780 (image via ClaytonGrayHome);  Petit Bird Chair for Kids by Oly Studio, price on request (image via The Foundry);  Kendra Scott Danielle Earrings in Pink Agate, $60 (image via LaylaGrayce);  Paul Marrot Pink Maze Artwork from Dwell Studio, $1400 (image via Dwell Studio);  Shangai Links Pillow by Trina Turk, $100 (image via LaylaGrayce);  Vesuvius Bottles from ZGallerie, $40 (image via ZGallerie)

 

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

Mood Boards for Monday!

29 May

I like to share my work on my blog, and there’s nothing I like to share more than the process of design. With many – or even most – of my clients, I like to start off with mood boards. My mood boards are typically the kick-off to a multi-step process, and are usually presented when we’re still getting to know each other. They allow me to get a better handle on my clients’ preferences, and allow my clients to experiment with stepping outside of their comfort zone. Sometimes people go on to buy lots of items that I’ve featured on a mood board. Sometimes we mix the options up and ultimately create a blend of all of the boards. Sometimes they are in love with a particular item that happens to be in price range that is unfathomable, so we use it for inspiration.

This weekend I presented a new set of living room boards to a couple who just purchased a home right outside of the city. I gave them three options, and I’d love to share them with you here. They had a definite, no-contest, absolutely-positively-sure-about-it favorite. Can you guess which one it is?

 

Here’s the first option:

 

And the second:

 

And the third (which was a bonus, as we’d agreed on two):

 

Which one is your favorite? …and is the same as my client’s?

 

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

Stunning Swatches!

21 May

Testing paint colors is a really fun process!

I feel a top of the stairs project coming on…  (image via ApartmentTherapy)

 

Well, it is for me at least. I can’t always say that’s the case for my clients, who have called/emailed/texted me at all hours of the day to tell me how stressed out they are about the crazy test patches on their walls. Thankfully I’ve never had a client who didn’t find the perfect color…even if it took four trips to the paint store for $8 sample quarts, and the very-infrequent, sometimes very-necessary do over. 

Part of what I love about the process is the imperfection of all those blobs on a wall. You know: the spot on the wall where you haphazardly paint six colors, hoping that one will jump out at you? Hopefully, you use primer if the existing color is dark or bright (most of my clients do this, or let me do it). And hopefully you use a real paintbrush like a grown up and not a tiny brush from a craft kit or a spongey-stick thing (you know who you are). Because when done right, test patches are really informative and crucial to the process.

Sometimes I have people tint samples if they find the right hue that’s not quite the right value. Sometimes we mix sample colors together to try to achieve the right feel before choosing another round. And sometimes – sometimes! – we get it right on the first try. But that’s not as fun, is it?

Here are some beautiful color swatch images that get me excited about painting. Admittedly, most of them aren’t done correctly for real swatch tests (at least 12” x 12”! on a white base! two coats!), but many are beautiful enough to leave as a permanent wall treatment. Some of them aren’t even house paint, but are watercolors instead. I’d love to have an office like the second image one day, where I can test anything and everything…and leave it there forever.

Enjoy the rainbow!

Watercolor grid – fantastic! (image via http://pvedesign.blogspot.com)

 

I love this application. Just LOVE it. (image via a source I’ve misplaced…bad blogger!)

 

Candy-colored paint and spoons! Love it! (image via http://www.happymundane.com)

 

An acrylic sketchbook exercise. (image via http://rozwoundup.typepad.com)

 

I love this image from Flickr user “angrypirate” – it’s an exterior wall, but shows the right scale for test patches! (image via http://www.flickr.com/photos/angrypirate/881055467/)

 

A watercolor sketchbook exercise. (image via http://dane-caldwell.blogspot.com)

 

 

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

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