design Archives - J & J Design Group

April 19, 2017 In Design Reveal, One Room Challenge, Uncategorized By jandj

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

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

March 12, 2017 In Uncategorized By jandj

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,

May 23, 2016 In Bio, Design, Uncategorized By jandj

Fancy meeting you here… Getting to know Jen

Hi! I am Jen, the other half of j + j.

Nice to meet you!

I am the proud mom and wife to this cute little family that I love so much! This is our last Christmas Card photo that we had taken in my parents backyard at Thanksgiving.. Last year was such a blur that we didn’t do a fancy photo shoot. (Lie) Who am I kidding? I never plan early enough to get a fancy photo shoot done. I am lucky my brother is our company photographer…and double lucky that I could get one good family photo for our Holiday Card. Next year I will plan better! (Ha! I say that every year.)

John Woodcock Photography

My family is my greatest joy. My boys are always there to lend a helping hand, a funny joke and tight bear hugs. They are also amazing older brothers to their 15 month old baby sister, whom they have nicknamed “Lady J”. They love her so much and always want to include her in everything they do. They are also her biggest protectors, rushing to her aid when they hear her cry and asking if she is alright. My daughter is such a bright light and has the sweetest toothy grin you ever did see. She’s starting to talk and my heart swells every time I hear her little voice saying, “Mama.” My husband is my rock. After 14 years of marriage, we have so much fun together, and he keeps me laughing. When we have a moment to ourselves, we love to run to OHSO in Arcadia for a drink and a quick bite. But more often than not, you can usually find us sitting outside on the front porch, chatting up our neighbors and watching our kiddos play.

Design is truly a passion, and I feel so lucky that I can live my dream every day. Sure, it can be a little challenging at times, but that is what makes it fun, and keeps me on my toes! I live in what my husband calls “Jen’s La-La Land” where I zone out and immerse myself in my thoughts and daydreams. I am always “thinking”…finding inspiration in every day things, like nature, architecture, kids t shirts…the list goes on and on. I get completely lost in it and honestly, I think it’s what makes me good at what I do.

One thing most people don’t know about me is that I love the early morning. It’s a start over from yesterday full of hope and new adventure, cheesy as it sounds…You just never know where the day will take you. I’m also at my clearest in the morning. I love starting my day with a cup of coffee and coconut creamer and getting to work!

Things I Love:

Photography

Running

Fall and Spring in AZ

Cuban Lattes with real sugar

Seafood

Almost anything in Gold, White, or Green

Ship Lap

Seattle

Fresh Flowers

xo,

May 17, 2016 In Bio, Design By jandj

Fancy meeting you here: Getting to know Jo

Well, Hello there!

Thanks for checking out our Blog. We decided to take plunge into the blogging world and share our deepest darkest design secrets. We have so much fun stuff to share that we couldn’t keep in bottled up any longer. Let us tell you a little bit about ourselves.

Ok, I will go first…..

Hi! I am Jo, short for Joanna, but most people call me Joanne and it drives me crazy so I just decided to nix the “anna” and go by Jo. I feel like it fits me good, I’m a casual girl, you know what I mean?

Photo Credit: Sarah Goodman Photography

I am a mom and wife to this cute little family I am proud to call my own. This is our most recent family photo. My babies are still little so I try to savor every precious moment with them. Every cute mispronounced word, every slobbery little kiss, I love it all, and none of it goes unnoticed. My husband is my best friend and my biggest supporter, I am pretty sure he thinks I’m a little bit crazy but he is pretty easy going and rolls with it. He has the patience of the saint not to mention he is the BEST DAD EVA!! There isn’t a playground he hasn’t taken the kids to or a heart pancake he hasn’t made. He truly is one of a kind.

I love Design so much! I live and breathe anything creative. My mind races with ideas all day long. I often need to take a nap or what I like to call a “brain break” because it is too much to handle some days.

One thing most people don’t know about me is that I am a total vampire. I love the night, I stay up all hours of the night when I can concentrate without distractions. This is when I am often my most creative. I always warn clients they may get emails or design boards from me at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. They usually think I am joking until they get one then they usually think it’s pretty funny. There is something so serene and calming about the nighttime, I love it so much and I always have.

Things I Love:

Making things with my hands

Watercolor Painting

Laying on the beach any chance I get

Designing spaces for Kids

Reeses peanut butter cups (little ones)

Almost anything Gold, Navy or Emerald Green

Fresh Flowers

Baking and Decorating Cakes

xo,