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Favorite Things: Spring Edition!

In keeping with my sporadic blogging of late, I just wanted to pop in and share a few of my favorite things right now. This may be short, but I assure you, all five things are super sweet!

1.) This “French Country Writing Desk” from Belle Escape.

It comes in a ton of colors and even though my husband loathes it, I love it enough to make up for his disdain. (Sorry for the odd picture format, I couldn’t get it to crop evenly).

2.) This gorgeous slab I saw last week when doing some granite selection with a client.

Well, actually, it’s two slabs. See the reflection of the man for scale – they’re huge! I wish I remembered the name of the stone but all I can recall is the word “azure.”

3.) Easter Eggs/Family Crafts

We did some family egg dyeing last weekend, and I thought I was very clever when I taped off an egg and made an abstract landscape:

Then I walked around the table to check on my husband, and he TOTALLY showed me up with his PAINTING of our cat. Unbelievable. But he is talented! Do I even need to mention that instead of using a regular, pedestrian hard-boiled egg like my son and I did, he drilled a hole into his and literally blew out all of the insides?…of course I don’t.

Here are the finished eggs:

4.) Graphic patterns with bold colors.

This is a detail from a restaurant in Chattanooga, Tennessee called Milk and Honey (their website sports the same colors. Excellent gelato.) Right up my alley! This has been a long lasting combo, and I hope it sticks around.

5.) This video, which creatively applies the aesthetic of filmmaker Wes Anderson to the classic, Forest Gump.

Spot on, perfection.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/92419083″>Forrest Gump by Wes Anderson</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user24786269″>Louis Paquet</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>

Hope you enjoy at least some of the same things! Have a great rest of the week!

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

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Categories Accessories, Color, Crafting, Furniture, Music and Movies, Painting, Pets

You Do What You Can With What You Have: Holiday Decorating Edition.

20 Nov

Many of my friends and most of my neighbors are aware of the ever-present, pretty annoying, long-lasting construction project going on in my condo right now. To make a long story short, the building has some issues with waterproofing that are a result of not very detail oriented initial construction, and we’re in the midst of what we’re hoping is the final fix. Also, Pro-Tip: When installing window flashing, you want to position it so that it directs water outward, toward the facade, and not inward, toward YOUR HOUSE.

So now that we’ve covered that, let me explain…

About a month ago we were graced with this lovely tent.

Not only did it compromise the lovely light that we get through this hugely awesome window, but it upset my son because it exists in his “play station.” He came home from school and charged it like a linebacker. Not good. Though I can attest that it’s a pretty sturdy bubble.

After about a month, they realized the existing windows will no longer work, so the search is on for new, custom, apparently very hard to find windows. I am no stranger to custom items, long lead times, and construction hassle. But ugh. And it was getting cold in here. So in this windowless hole, they put up a temporary insulated wall, which will grace our condo with its presence until the new year, when the new windows are finally here. It’s heinous.

My first thought was: MY HOUSE IS GOING TO BE SO UGLY FOR THE HOLIDAYS. My second though a few seconds later was “Can I paint this?” So I asked a guy standing around and he said I could. Before he had time to go ask someone who could say “no” I painted it. With chalkboard paint. Bear with me here on this big black box…

I had about 1/3 of a quart left, and I used every single bit of it. The best thing about chalkboard paint is that one coat is enough, and if you do a spotty job, you’ll never know because the first time you use it you create an imperfect, cloudy/chalky finish.

I strung up some lights, and then my son went to town with the chalk. The first thing he did was get a chair, climb up on it, and draw a sun and clouds. “Because they’re up high.”

I’m really liking this “new” look. We’ll “Christmas-ize” it in a few weeks, and I think it will be a lot of fun. I might even miss it when it goes. Maybe. I might. We’ll see. I have to admit my craftsmanship is at 75%, but hey, it’s fun.

Just wanted to share this fun project, which turned a disaster into a fun, temporary installation!

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

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Categories Architecture, Art, Color, Crafting, DIY, Holiday, Kids, Painting, Washington DC

Cranberries Galore!

9 Oct

I’ve been hearing about a neat installation/viral marketing thing that Ocean Spray, of cranberry fame, is doing today and tomorrow over at Union Station. For those of you who are not from or familiar with Washington, D.C., Union Station is our main train station, and the building is a stunning, gleaming white mixture of Classical and Beaux-Arts styles of architecture. My parents used to take me there as a kid and I still love the building. It usually looks like this (image via about.com):

Today, however, those fountains in front are filled with something other than water…

(image via Ocean Spray via Prince of Petworth)

(image via Washingtonian)

Ocean Spray has made us our very own cranberry bog!

Isn’t it beautiful? I understand it contains 2,000 pounds of little red berries, and will be open only through today – so get there FAST!

For more cranberry-ness, revisit my post from a few years back about the lovely color here.

Or you can check out this lovely chair, beautiful pendants (from my favorite, Niche Modern), or pretty pillow:

…or you can make this delicious looking cranberry martini!

Enjoy the day!

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

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Categories Accessories, Architecture, Art, Color, Events, Outdoor, Washington DC

Vignelli’s Subway Map

10 Aug

Recently I did an exercise with my class about subway maps, and we started by looking at the iconic (and in my opinion, beautiful) map that Massimo Vignelli designed for the New York City subway in the 70s. I adore this map, and though I’m not particularly attached to NYC, I entertain hanging it on my wall in some form from time to time.

This is just a detail, but it captures the vibrant color and bold lines that I love. (image via The New Yorker)

Here is another detail, featuring the man himself (via here):

Here is the full-version, which has a huge impact in real life but probably looks underwhelming tiny and on-screen. (image via here)

I even love the cover of the fold-out. (image via Flickr)

You can read more about the map here at Design Observer. (Have I mentioned before how much I love Design Observer? It’s always a great place to start when you’re in need of inspiration.)

I think this aesthetic – which I think of as a stripey, bold, geometric application of color – is why I like the art of Markus Linnenbrink so much. I first fell in love with his paintings, but also am interested in the installations he started a bit after those. This one in particular really reminds me of the Vignelli map with its graphic lines. (image via here)

Both the map and Linnenbrink’s work are evocative of Jim Lambie’s tape installations, I would argue.

Here’s one of Lambie’s installations at the Tate in London (via Apartment Therapy):

And another at MOMA in NYC:

To break it down further, I even see lines that are similar to the original Vignellli map in things like rugs… (via here)

…posters (via here)…

…and vintage magazine articles like this one from Better Homes and Gardens from around 1975, which was when the map was in use (via here).

It makes me wonder what these artists and designers were inspired by, and if they ever looked to this same map when they were creating.

Sometimes, inspiration comes from the most unexpected and seemingly irrelevant places…

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

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Categories Art, Color, Designers, Flooring, Graphics, Magazines

Adaptive Reuse At Its Most Exciting: Revisiting 700 Delaware Avenue S.W.

25 Jul

Today I took my interior design students from the Corcoran College of Art + Design to one of my new favorite places in D.C.: the formerly-decaying-now-under-renovation old Baptist church at 700 Delaware Avenue S.W. that has recently been painted by Atlanta-artist Hense Brewer. None of the 12 of them knew what was coming; all they had was an address. So they were all pretty surprised – pleasantly I think – to arrive and find this:

I was here about a month ago and didn’t see anything going on, but now it’s pretty clear they’re deep into renovating the interior. I spoke with the building’s owner, Steve Tanner, and some of his partners in this endeavor over at Art Whino, and the plans are for this to eventually become an event/gallery space.

We walked around the building a bit to see it from all the different angles.

There’s a lot to see.

They even let us inside, which was thrilling. It’s not as dark as it looks from the foreboding open door…

One of the first things we saw in the vast first floor space was this baptismal pool. We all thought it was going to be an altar as we approached…but it wasn’t. Very intense, a little freaky to see it in such a run down state, and ultimately really interesting. It really drove home the type of space this was intended to be, versus the new functions it will house. Steve tells me this building was officially decommissioned by the church a while back, which is when there is an official ceremony conducted that figuratively takes the soul of the building and makes way for the building to move on and serve another purpose.

But back to that baptismal pool, I suppose this is where the DJ booth is going to go… This is adaptive reuse in action. I think it’s fascinating.

The upstairs, which is quite different from the plain downstairs, is just as interesting as the exterior. Here’s a little peek.

The windows are particularly eye-catching, because many are stained glass AND have the exterior paint on them, so the colors they transmit and reflect are really powerful.

(The image immediately above is a panorama, so the wall is not actually curved.)

After the tour, we sat outside and did some sketching. A big component of this particular course is becoming more comfortable with sketching, and this was a great opportunity to sit before a fantastic, very out of the ordinary subject.

Next week we’ll work with this space in class a bit to brainstorm alternative possible uses for it as an exercise in space planning. This will be hypothetical of course, because it’s being developed right now as a cultural, social, and artistic hot spot for a dynamic neighborhood. That’s a function that’s hard to beat!

Additionally, if you’re interested in seeing this building house the G40 Art Summit later this year, or if you want read a bit more about the aspirations of those involved in this project, please visit this page to read up and help out!

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

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Categories Architecture, Art, Color, Painting, Washington DC

Visiting the Watermelon House.

16 Jul

One afternoon last week, instead of heading straight home like we usually do I took my son to one of my favorite spots in DC: the “watermelon house” in Shaw. He was AMAZED. I’ve been wanting to do a photo shoot here for a while, but life doesn’t always happen with a DSLR in-hand, so instead of doing it right we busted out the Instagram and did it sort-of-right. He had on a green shirt, which was just perfect. I love this photo so I thought I’d share.

He looks so sweet and contemplative, when in reality he was bribed to be still instead of repeatedly yelling “WATERMELON! Are you serious? Can I get a watermelon popsicle RIGHT NOW?” He was still sweet. Just not very contemplative.

Below is an image of the whole house (via What About Watermelon), and here is an article from the Washington Post where you can read a little bit about its history. Fun, right?

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

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Categories Architecture, Art, Color, Outdoor, Painting, Photography, Washington DC

Orange and Periwinkle. Together.

25 Jun

Sounds like a weird combination right? …Except that I really like it!

It started with this outdoor rug from Koko Company that features the unlikely color combo. I think the geometric print really brightens it up.

Then I thought this beach towel, a pair of these chairs, and this ceramic planter would go beautifully with the rug. Throw in some hydrangeas (and some green, of course) and you’re done!

What do you think of these colors together?

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

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Categories Accessories, Color, Outdoor

Rainbow Church Wins the Weekend!

11 May

This is the coolest thing I’ve seen in DC in a while. We spotted it this morning, on the way back from Pentagon City (we took a little detour thanks to the race).

This is the work of painter Alex “Hense” Brewer, an Atlanta-based artist, who was commissioned to paint this vacant church at 700 Delaware Avenue, SW. The building, formerly Friendship Baptist Church, was built in the early 1900s and was designated a historic site about 10 years ago. The painting was done in November of last year.

Here’s another shot of it, courtesy of the artist’s website.

And another (via Miguel Martinez and Alex Brewer via WJLA.com).

We need more of this stuff in DC.

I LOVE IT.

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

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Categories Architecture, Art, Color, Outdoor, Painting, Washington DC

Splashes of RED!

29 Mar

This week I was looking at two previous projects I’ve worked on that feature bold, graphic, red elements at the forefront of the design. In sharing the photographs with some friends and my students I got quite a few “Oooh”s and “Ahhh”s for these two projects, which both showcase the color red but in two dramatically different ways.

The first is a bathroom that was completed back at the end of last year. It features an exquisite Farrow and Ball wallpaper that, when paired with gold finishes and a graphic black and white aesthetic, makes for a super dramatic and moody space. Here are some instagram shots I took when visiting the site yesterday. I love this room. LOVE IT. (You can click to see the image in a larger format).

The other instance of red is in much smaller quantities, and it comes from a dining room. This was a project that I just consulted on and specified furniture for, so the image is a board and not a finished-photo. The client had a great blank slate to work with: an eclectic, colorful space with a fun rustic table, and she wanted ideas for interesting chairs. My idea was to curate a collection of several different chairs in the current palette (aqua/turquoise with a splash of red) to maximize the eclecticism and highlight the fun of the space. I’ve just always liked this board, and wanted to share it:

Important functionality tip: if you ever do this (mismatching chairs) just be sure that the seat height is relatively consistent. I wouldn’t recommend deviating more than an inch from one to the other.

Hope you enjoy these splashy projects! I’m off to stuff plastic easter eggs for a while…

Design consultations for all styles and budgets: JGB Interiors.

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Categories Bathrooms, Color, Designers, Dining Rooms, Wallcoverings

Pink and Green Picks!

18 Mar

Pink and green is a super classic combination (I could tell you about it via the tile floor in my childhood home…but I’ll save that for when I find photographs one of these days) but it’s often depicted as a extremely pop-ish or overly sweet. Not that there’s anything wrong with that approach, which is beloved by teenagers all over the world, but I want to point out that it can definitely be done in a way that is both a little more refined, a lot more subtle, and quite a bit less girly.

Here are five pink and green items that caught my eye because they take a typical combo and update it a bit. I especially love the globe! Enjoy the round-up!

1. Globe 2. Jar 3. Hoodie 4. Art 5. Sofa