Fall One Room Challenge: Week 5

This project was created in a partnership with the One Room Challenge Sponsors!  

Hey Guys!! Things are getting really real over here in the One Room Challenge! I can’t believe there is just one week left. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I love the pressure of pulling everything together at the last minute. Maybe it is my personality, or maybe the excitement of pulling it all out just in time.

Let me give  you a little refresher if you haven’t seen my design board in a while. Here is my original plan for my Entryway.

Chandelier: Hudson Valley Lighting -Sofa: Hayneedle – Sideboard: Article

Sconces: Hudson Valley Lighting -Artwork: Minted -Lamp: LampsPlus

 

There are just a few changes that happened in real life but you might have to wait until my big reveal to see what they are. The biggest feat this week was building the barn doors I decided to do. In my last post, I was debating if I should add barn doors to the room that I could shut over my mudroom. To be honest, I had always envisioned doing the barn doors there. When we bought the house 2 years ago, I had planned to put the barn doors there. We purchased the hardware, the slab doors and even planned where the thermostat would go in advance so we could add them later. We were so overwhelmed by all the house projects that the barn doors were put at the bottom of our list.

I had no idea what color I wanted them to be or even the design I wanted but that is what I love about the One Room Challenge! It forces me to just make some decisions and go with my gut when I would have just put it off. It is so easy for me to make decisions for my clients,but when it comes to my house sometimes I am at a loss. I guess maybe I just overthink it too much, so here I am now, making some solid decisions!

Let’s chat a bit about the doors we made. In my last post I shared the design I decided to do. I was searching the internet and found some inspiration. I drew the doors up in Auto CAD, found the angles, and put my husband Dave to work on getting all the moulding cut for our new doors.

He numbered each piece so we knew where each piece went. It was quite a few cuts and could get very confusing if we didn’t keep them organized. Once we laid out each door, we nailed down all the pieces with a pin nailer. I have a battery operated one and I love it so much. It is so great for little projects like this.

After we nailed all the pieces on, filled the joints an caulked the edges we were ready for paint. I am so in love with the design of the doors. I love how you can be inspired by something and then make it a reality. This is the best part of designing something. When inspiration becomes a reality. The next most important step was selecting the paint color. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about getting the perfect shade that I had in my head. I decided to go with Dunn Edwards: Billiard Table DEA178.

Isn’t it so pretty?? It has just the right hint of blue in it to bring the whole room together. So….. Do you want to see the doors painted? My husband painted them with his airless paint sprayer. I decided to go with a semi-gloss finish because I wanted it to have just a little shine. I honestly cannot wait to see them hung with the satin gold hardware!

That is all I got for this week friends! Are you so excited for the final reveal next week? I know I am!! I can’t wait to show you how everything has come together.

Make sure to check out all the amazing design that all my friends participating in the One Room Challenge are working on as well. There is so much good design happening!!

XO,

Week One       Week  Two   Week Three

   Week Four

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Fall One Room Challenge: Week 3

This project was created in a partnership with the One Room Challenge Sponsors!  

This week has seriously been so fun! The sofa I ordered from Hayneedle came, my Article sideboard came and since the big pieces are getting here it is really becoming real! Sometimes it is so much harder to design for yourself rather than your clients. It can be so hard to decide what look I want to go for and run with it. No overthinking!!!!

Let’s chat a little bit about why I selected the pieces that I did for my entryway for the One Room Challenge.

Sofa: I have been crushing over this blush sofa for a long time now. The color is perfect, the fabric is soft and the channel tufting is so on trend. I am not afraid to have a pink sofa be the first thing you see when you walk in my entry. It says “Hi, I’m fashion forward and I am not afraid of a little color!

Artwork: The artwork that I selected from Minted is what I like to call the “lead of the room” . When I refer to a “lead” this means that this is the piece that brings the whole color palette together. I selected this particular piece because I loved the navy, deep green and blush tones in the abstract print. I love to add a little brass accent so the brushed gold frame was the perfect accent.

Sideboard: This sideboard from Article really spoke to me because I am currently obsessed with Walnut wood tones. I feel that walnut is so timeless and is such a great accent to any room. The beveled hexagon panels on the front of the piece are so beautiful. I was so impressed with the quality of this piece.

Lamp: Since I decided to do a v-groove moulding  on all the walls in my entry, I knew I needed a lamp that would really pop. The lamp I selected from Lamps Plus is so gorgeous! The navy shade pops so pretty off of the white moulding walls and is such a great compliment to the sideboard. The quality of the lamp is great too, it is heavy and substantial.

I still have a few things that I am contemplating for the room. Do I do a rug to ground the space but cover my gorgeous herringbone wood flooring? Should I  add barn doors to the entry to my mudroom and paint them a gorgeous dark green? What pillows should I do on this sofa, some sort of animal print?  I have all these things that are running through my head that I just can’t decide on. What do you think?

I really had my heart set on the chandelier in my original design board, but like a lot of items in the interior design industry, it wasn’t going to get here for my ORC deadline. I still feel like you need to know all about it and order it for your house. Here is the chandelier that I had my heart set on for my entryway.  I love the vintage vibe it has and well it is gold so that is a plus in my book.

Since I am not able to get this fixture in time to finish my ORC challenge I had to go to plan B, which is also such an amazing fixture so it is a win win situation for me. Here is the fixture that I selected as a replacement for my original selection.

Here are a few pics of what the room is looking like so far. It is pretty much blank slate at this point and I can’t wait to pop in all the color with the furniture and artwork. I decided to draw in where I was planning to put my new pieces so you could see it come together before the big reveal!

This is the very first wall you see when you walk into my front door. I wanted the sofa to be a centerpiece and accented with a dramatic piece of art and some really great sconces. The sconces I chose are also from Hudson Valley Lighting. They have so many beautiful selections, they are definitely worth checking out!

The opposite wall with the door is where my pretty sideboard from Article will be as well as the amazing lamp I found at Lamps Plus. Here is what I am thinking it will look a little bit like once I get it installed.

Here is the big question that keeps me up at night…….. To add barn doors or not to add barn doors over the opening to the mudroom. Please weigh in and tell me what you think I should do. I need your help, I really just cannot decide. If I do decide to do them, this is what I was thinking I would do.

Ok friends, let me know what you think I should do!! I was thinking dark green for the doors with a gold hardware for the handles and sliding components.

Make sure to follow along to see what all my other challengers are working on. There is a lot of great design to catch up on, you will not be disappointed!! Until next week…

XO,

Week One       Week  Two

 

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Fall One Room Challenge: Week 2

This project was created in a partnership with the One Room Challenge Sponsors!  

Week two of the one room challenge is good stuff friends!! Some of my items are starting to arrive and it is like Christmas everyday… eeeep!!!

In my last post I showed you pics of what the room looked like when we bought the house. We have been living here for a little over a year now and I had made some improvements in the meantime.

We added a v-groove shiplap to the walls, herringbone wood flooring and we redid our banister with a Chippendale design. Here are a couple progress pics so you can get an idea.

This is when my husband was installing the flooring in our entryway. This is a Hallmark flooring. Color: Twain  Collection: Novella

I had my star railing custom built to my specifications in this chippendale pattern. When you enter our home an look up, this is the first thing you see. I really love how it turned out!

Ok, so let’s get down to the nitty gritty, here is the design board that I came up with for the room. I still have a few extra details that I am working on that I will reveal later. I am working out the details to see if I can do them.

Chandelier: Hudson Valley Lighting -Sofa: Hayneedle – Sideboard: Article

Sconces: Hudson Valley Lighting -Artwork: Minted -Lamp: LampsPlus

I hope you are excited because I know I sure am!! Check back next week for some design tips and also I will dig in a little deeper about why I selected these pieces and where I will put them.

Make sure to follow along with all my other challengers to see what fun stuff they are cooking up this season!

XO,

Week One

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Jo’s Kitchen Before and After

When we purchased our new house, I knew the kitchen was going to need a major overhaul. There was a giant pole cutting the whole kitchen off to the family room. I knew if this couldn’t go, that it would be a major deal breaker for me.

We consulted with a contractor to make sure we could put in a beam and get rid of the the pole in the center. He said it could be done so we decided to make an offer on the house!

This house was my dream! It had a 4 car garage and a huge yard that I knew we could make amazing! We knew this was going to be a huge project but totally worth the hard work.

I decided to consult my favorite custom cabinet builder Burdette  Cabinetry! The thing I love about Burdette is their attention to detail and they are open to all my crazy design ideas. They can pretty much make all my cabinet dreams come true!

I knew I wanted inset cabinets with a little bit of an upgrade from a simple shaker style. There were also a couple of upgrades I wanted like a floor to ceiling coffee cabinet and a ridiculously large island.

After many a design meeting and lots of planning we came up with this gem. The kitchen of my dreams!

I decided I wanted to skip the upper cabinets to the left and right of the sink. I wanted a more open look where I could add open shelving with accessories for more color. This is something I could change out as my tastes changed.

This year I love the color blush but maybe it will change next year and I can change the shelf styling as the seasons change.

I opted for the brushed gold faucet and farm sink . These are timeless in my eyes and something that I will not easily get tired of. This is always on my mind as a designer. Will I get sick of this? What can I change out if I do tire of it? Accessories and rugs are easily changeable so I always consider this when designing. This is also why I decided to go with a more simple back splash.

At my last house, my backsplash was a flat stone tile which after a few years I was so tired of . When designing spaces for your home, make sure to make calculated decisions on what you pick. Is this a trend or a little more timeless. Only time will tell how timeless it is but be sure to give it your best guess!!

Designer tip: Gray has come and gone, be careful how much you add to your home. Gray walls are OK now and easy to change, but gray floors won’t last too much longer so be careful how “gray” you go with everything!

 

XO,

Super Heroes Welcome Here

Wow, this has been one crazy year for us here at J&J! We have been cranking out new projects left and right. Many of these new projects have been children’s rooms, some of my personal favorite to design!

My little client is 4 and he loves super heroes. His mom and dad know that this may be just a phase so I was careful when designing his room to selected items that are easily changed out as his interests change.

Wall Decals are a great way to add a big impact to a room with not a lot of money. They are way easier to take down than wallpaper but still give you just as much bang for your buck. In this room I specified these cute decals from Urban Walls.

I decided to paint to vertical stripes on the walls to add a little backdrop of color. Super hero sheets, pillows and artwork are also easily replaced later as your child grows.

The artwork I made out of “Perler Beads”. Do you remember the beads you would place on the pegs when you were little in a pattern then iron them all together. Yep, that is how I made this artwork. Here is the link to the super hero kit you can purchase on Amazon.

After I created all of the super hero artwork I framed them in square IKEA frames.

When designing your child’s room, remember to keep the big pieces simple, this makes it much easier to change the theme of the room as interests change!

XO,

One Room Challenge: Week 3

This project was created in a partnership with the One Room Challenge Sponsors!  

All ideas and opinions are my own!

One Room Challenge Week 3 is here! We have made so much progress so far! We have mostly been working on our Metrie moulding details. Our entire room is room is completely covered in wood moulding so naturally that is taking up the majority of our time. We were almost finished, and ran short on the base moulding we are using for the walls. We really wanted to get all the wall moulding and window moulding up so we could fill the nail holes and get it painted. It is generally best to paint your walls before you install your flooring. We may need to go to plan B and start laying the floor this week so we can stay on track with our timeline. This just creates a little more work for ourselves since we will have to mask off the whole floor before painting the walls.

Here are some more shots of the work we have completed.

One room challenge Week 3 Progress picture

How cool are these walls? I mean, c’mon!!!

One Room Challenge Baseboard detail on walls

And let’s not forget about these gorgeous Metrie doors!

One Room Challenge Week 3 Metrie Fashion Forward Doors

I wanted to keep the columns simple so they wouldn’t compete with the wall detail. Yes, those glass block windows are on their way out. This isn’t the only room in the house with problems, haha!

When we eliminated what was to be the formal dining room in our new house and made it into a walk in pantry and mud room, (something that was high on my list when looking for our new home)  I decided to turn the formal living room into a Living Room/ Dining Room. This way, we had one room in our home dedicated to formal entertaining instead of two rooms dedicated to it. Let’s be honest here, we don’t have a whole lot of extra time to host dinner parties and sit around with our friends (uninterrupted by children) sipping on cocktails and talking about world affairs. I mean, this isn’t the 50’s.  Although all those things sound great, we hardly use our current dining room or living room on a day to day basis. It is nice to have it for the holidays and the occasional dinner party. This room is one of the first ones you see when you enter our new home so it better be pretty right?

Here is the space plan I came up with to accomplish that goal. This space plan is perfect to sit with friends, read a book, do some homework with the kids and family game night. Not to mention a holiday dinner a few times a year.

One room challenge week 3 floorplan layout

Since the room was long, I was able to create two separate areas. I made the room feel cohesive with this very large rug I found at All Modern. When I design a room, I always love to start with what we like to call a “lead”. A lead fabric, painting, rug, pillow or artwork are good examples of color palettes already pulled together so you can pull several colors from them to use in your space.

The rug from All Modern was the “lead” in my design because it had all the colors I wanted to incorporate in the room. It also had almost all my favorite colors so when I saw it, I knew that was exactly what I had been looking for. The rug comes in a very unusual size of 10′-6″ x 16′-5″ so it was perfect for my entire space. It will really make the room feel cohesive and marry both areas together although they have separate functions. I think I almost died when I received it at my doorstep, it is so gorgeous!

One Room Challenge Week 3 Dining Room plans

 

1.Fuji Pink Area Rug: All Modern | 2. Fiddle Leaf Fig indoor plant |

3.Carrera Dining Table: The Mine

I am also very excited about the dining table I found at ATG Stores. The Carrera marble top and the brass legs is the perfect addition to my room. I can see many a turkey dinner or birthday being celebrated at this very table!

I found something a little unexpected for my dining chairs. I scored a major deal on the chairs from a liquidation warehouse in Phoenix. A friend of mine saw them for sale on Facebook and I scored 6 of them. They still need a new coat of paint but they are so cool and so comfortable!

Total Dining Room Chair score at the warehouse sale

Aren’t they bananas!!! I scored them for $20.00 each too!!

Once we get through this week, we will get to my favorite part which is bringing in the pretty furniture. Stay tuned to see what transpires and be sure to follow along with all my uber talented fellow challengers below.

XO,

Centsational Girl | Chris Loves Julia | Christine Dovey | Dwell With Dignity | The English Room

Glitter Guide | House of Brinson | House Updated  | J+J Design Group | Lark & Linen | Abby Manchesky

Nesting Place | Old Brand New | Old Home Love | The Pink Pagoda | Rambling Renovators

Erica Reitman | Sketch 42 | Suburban B’s | Erin Williamson  Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by CIH

One Room Challenge: Week 2

This project was created in a partnership with the One Room Challenge Sponsors!  

All ideas and opinions are my own!

Really?! How is it week 2 already? So much to do, so little time! I am feeling good though so far, one thing I know for sure is that everything takes longer than you think it will!! First thing is first, we had to demo the space, and by that I mean remove the existing nasty carpet, take down the short doors, and get rid of those hideous rounded columns. Oh, and don’t forget that awful tile YIKES!!!

Here is a picture after we finished the demolition. Look how open the room is now! Isn’t that crazy?

 One Room Challenge Week 2 Progress

The demo took about a day, then we had to pour the concrete for the steps that were missing where we ripped out the columns. I don’t know about you, but I love to tear out old and dated architectural elements.

After we filled in the steps we built out smaller square columns since we still had to hid a bit of duct work in the right column. We had a little re-wiring to do as well.

Next up was raising the header height on the doors. I love to do this any chance I get in a room. The taller doors bring your eye up and really make the room feel more grand. It can actually be a fairly easy thing to do, as long as the door way isn’t structural like mine is. As long as your ceiling is 9′ or taller, you can definitely fit in an 8′ door.

Raising Header Height on Doorway

I selected these gorgeous doors from Metrie’s Fashion Forward collection. I dreamt that one day I would have doors this beautiful in my home, thanks to the One Room Challenge, my dreams are coming true. Do you know what the best part is? They lead right into my home office so I will see these beauties everyday! I will be finishing them off with some gorgeous Emtek brass hexagon door knobs, they are like jewelry to the perfect dress!

 

Metrie Fashion Forward Doors

Photo credit: Metrie.com

It is not a secret that we love moulding over here at J&J! Working with Metrie, whom has such gorgeous door and moulding selections was so much fun. I wanted to create a “shiplap” look but with a twist. I found a baseboard that had an interesting profile and stacked it on top of each other to create this cool detail on the walls. We also cased out the windows with a more simple moulding to offset the wall detail. Here is a sneak peek of what we have so far. Once we caulk and paint, it’s going to be BANANAS!!!!!!

One Room Challenge| Metrie wall Detail | J&J Design Group

Let’s dig in a little bit and see what I am going to be doing with furniture in this fine One Room Challenge shall we? Like I mentioned in my Week 1 post, I like to design with a neutral back drop and pop in color. Here is a teaser with a few of the products I am using in my room. Let me know what you think!!

J&J Design Group | One Room Challenge Week 2

Sources:

1 Navy Velvet Chair : All Modern | 2 Lucite Coffee Table: Lamps Plus | 3 Chandelier: Crystorama |

4 Custom Pink Pillow| 5 Brushed Brass Knobs: Emtek | 6 French Doors: Metrie |7 Artwork: Parima Studio

 Can you feel it? Feel it starting to come together…… Oh my, I am so excited!!

Don’t forget to follow along with my fellow challengers below!

XO,

Centsational Girl | Chris Loves Julia | Christine Dovey | Dwell With Dignity | The English Room

Glitter Guide | House of Brinson | House Updated  | J+J Design Group | Lark & Linen | Abby Manchesky

Nesting Place | Old Brand New | Old Home Love | The Pink Pagoda | Rambling Renovators

Erica Reitman | Sketch 42 | Suburban B’s | Erin Williamson  Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by CIH

Design Trend: Buffalo Check

Buffalo check hit the scene about a year ago but it is really starting to gain momentum on the interior design scene. Usually we see these trends first in fashion then they find their way into our homes not long after. I have to be honest, I wasn’t all that hot on it at first. Jen is almost always early to the party when it comes to pattern trends. I remember her telling me how much she loved it way before it had time to grow on me. I of course am in love with it now. Here are a few of my favorite examples, and fun ways to add it to your home. Just remember, like any other trend, it is best to use it in moderation!

Sources:

Blush Pink Pillow

Chair with Gold Legs

Navy Check Drapery

Sheet Sets

Kitchen Set

Cement Tile Flooring

RenoJOvation Mudroom Progress

Renovating a home is definitely a lot of work! Especially when you decide to do much of the work on your own (or your husband does the work in my case.) There are so many design decisions to be made. Easy for me right?! No, not really, it is actually so much harder for me to make decisions on my own home. I guess maybe it could be just because I am constantly bombarded by the newest, latest and greatest. Will I get sick of it? Will something I love so much more come out next month? Should I take risks or keep it neutral? These are all questions I struggle with on a daily basis.

I decided to take my own advice, the advice I give most of my clients. Keep the backdrop neutral and pop in fun colors with the pillows, rugs, drapery, and artwork.  These are all things that can easily be changed once your tastes change. I also like to tell my clients that architectural details take the design to the next level, and not to cheap out on light fixtures. Well made and designed light fixtures set the tone for the design they are a little bit like the perfect jewelry for an outfit.

One of the first rooms I want to talk about it the mudroom. Mudrooms have become very popular in the past few years. They are much more common on the east coast where there is more seasonal weather. A good place to kick off your snowy boots in the winter and hang up your jacket. Most homes that have been built in Arizona in the last 10 years don’t have a mudroom area. There doesn’t seem to be a place in the home where you can kick off your shoes, hang up your jacket and drop your purse. The new house we built didn’t have that area either so I decided to create my own space in our new home for that very function.

Currently, we have several baskets by the front door where we all drop our shoes and it always looks so messy. Not anymore!! I am putting my foot down.  Here is the design board I came up with for our new mud room which is right off the garage so it is the first room once we enter the house.

I wanted this area to feel cheery but elegant. I fell in love with this citrus painting from Pink Puddle Studio so I commissioned her to paint the oranges into a repeat so I could have it printed into wallpaper. Definitely head over and check out her work, it is amazing!!

Since the wallpaper is curve-linear I wanted to offset it with a more linear floor. So I decided to do a buffalo check pattern in these cement tiles from The Cement Tile Shop. They have so many beautiful tiles to pick from, the possibilities are endless.

The light fixture that I am using in the mudroom is actually a vintage fixture Jen and I picked up when we were working on a project in California. The brass was heavily tarnished, I think It took me about 8 hours and a whole bottle of brass cleaner to get it shiny and pretty again. It was so worth it!!

I have a pocket door in the mudroom that leads to the walk in pantry behind it. I have never had a house with a walk in pantry so that was another room I had to create in this house, but that is a whole other post.

I designed the built in for the mud room and had it built. It is in progress now, we are still waiting on the doors, drawers and paint but it is coming along very nicely.

 

Stay tuned for more updates! Things are happening and changing everyday. I am so excited to share everything with you!

XO,

 

Transformation Tuesday in Full effect….

We love a good transformation as much as the next designer. Oftentimes people see our pretty pictures on our website and have no idea of what we were originally working with. This is what makes our job so much fun. Here are a couple transformations for your Tuesday to make you scratch your head a little!

We were hired by this young family to transform their Kitchen/ Family room areas. The property is on a man made lake where you can water ski in your very own back yard. Unfortunately, the neighborhood was built in the 90’s so it was all very outdated. Not a problem! J&J to the rescue!

family room snip

Before

fishel-fine-grain

After

We deleted the windows on either side of the fireplace to add needed storage for the growing family. The windows looked out to a block wall so there weren’t any views that were sacrificed the the process. We also changed the original doors into a large picture window and moved them to the bay area. There is still access to the back yard but it is not in the way of the living area anymore.

OH, and there’s the kitchen too…. This 90’s beauty boasted oak cabinetry and green laminate counter tops.

kitchen snip 1

Before

kitchen snip 2

Before

Well, this may be one of the best transformations yet. Food truck kitchen window? Yes please!!

kitchen snip 3

After

kitchen snip 4

After

Professional After Photos by:  John Woodcock Photography

 

There is hope for almost every outdated home! Are you inspired to update your space?

XO,

jo