hello yellow

i feel yellow creeping back into my life lately.

this is not  me... just a picture i found on pinterest:)  in our first house we had a yellow kitchen for 6 years and then for 4 years in italy our entire downstairs was yellow. so after 10 years i was downright sick of the color. when we moved into our current house i didnt want ANY yellow. not even any paint with yellow undertones.  the paint colors i chose for most of our main floor all have gray undertones. the last piece of the puzzle was to paint the foyer. and what do you know.... i chose a sherwinn williams color called "sand".  guess what...it has yellow undertones! so as i was painting this past weekend, i got to thinking about how i started to warm up to yellow again.

(just another pretty pic from pinterest)

i think it started a few months ago, when i was convincing  my daughter to paint her room yellow. i tried to explain that it would be a perfect back drop to add pink accents...instead of painting it pink. this is not an easy task with a 6 year old!  i think i sealed the deal when i told her that i had a yellow room when i was younger (with a poster of a kitten in a wine glass over my bed?). so yellow it is for ava. (its another SW color called "glad yellow")

then i saw this post on little green notebook about a yellow door on jennys girls bedroom. it looks amazing! and then this happened out in front of our house...

the road crew came around last week and changed all the fire hydrants to this color! (they were more orangey gold before).

the list goes on....yesterday i woke up to ann curry in a bright yellow dress on the today show (sorry cant find a photo). and in crate and barrel i saw this diplay...

so all of this brings me to the age old question: "which came first....the trend or me liking it?".  i am pretty sure it is the trend. but it happens so organically it is hard to notice!  what about you....do you feel any colors creeping back into your life?

jodie

rubbish rescue

my husband truly believes that there is no such thing as scrap wood. he honestly can. not. throw. it. away. if you saw our garage you would know what i mean...but i am definitely not inserting a photo of that here! our neighbor is getting a new deck built. this means jackpot for kevin. so this past weekend he went "pile diving"...not to be confused with "dumpster diving" which is his usual folly. one of the perks of living in a new development is having dumpsters full of wood everywhere. he and the kids are often seen riding through the neighborhood carrying wood!

here is the pile (thank you to my model ethan)

and, no joke, about 2 hours later....look what appeared on the deck!

isnt it pretty? he used some old brackets he had laying around. i love the mix of the natural wood and the metal. here it is with more modeling  (thank you ethan AND ava)

and thats not all.  we have a fire pit on our deck (that didnt make it in the last deck photos b/c it wasnt pretty). this is what it looked like before the the "pile diving"

it was all yucky and rusty. and there was no where to put your feet up on (or your beer:)). now look at it...

ahhh much better! doesnt it look good? we are deciding what color it will be. i think the bench will stay natural, but we might go a little darker with this. it just adds a whole new element to our comfort...

who knew? this man i married didnt even own a tool set when i met him...now he is unstoppable:) i love having a partner in crime. it is amazing what you can do with things people are discarding...especially wood!

jodie

goosebumps (2)

well...here is it...the second addition of goosebumps. this whole house does it for me. when we were moving back to the states from italy 2 years ago i found this house in tradtional home. it is soooo pretty! i think this is when my love affair with orange began! there are just the perfect amount of subtle hints of it in this house. sit back and enjoy...because this is some serious eye candy.

i love the openess of this room...and all of the fabrics and textures. the windows and french door...i LOVE how they are trimmed out in black. this is a perfect blend of masculine and feminine style if you ask me.

i might actually cook if i had this kitchen!

look how they built these beds into the room. i love it! and what about those lanterns on the wall?

i could move right in. i was just re-reading my post and i decided that i say "love" a lot. i guess i am just really trying to get my feelings across....and this word seems to do it. oh well...at least i mean it when i say it:) 

happy weekend!

jodie

ballard bling

i had some time this weekend to look at the latest ballard designs catalogue. i liked what i saw...sometimes they really get it right. of course i love all of their things by suzanne kasler...she always gets it right. but this time i saw some little gems from their regular line that i love! so i thought i would share.

this light is so pretty and timeless. it could be used in many different spaces...

i am totally smitten with this console! so elegant and it is the perfect size.

this bench would be great at the foot of a bed or in an entry way.

look at this cute little storage bench or it can be used as an ottoman. a great blend of style and function...my favorite combination!

i love the design of this sconce... so open and airy.

and last but not least...look at their new "griffin" sofa. it has such classic lines. i love the nail head trim and casters.

catalogue shopping is always fun when a new season is coming! 

jodie

design style

my husband told me recently that someone asked him what my design style is. honestly, i couldnt give him and answer right away. i think that is a really hard question (for me anyway). dont get me wrong...i know what i like...but it is hard to describe. i am not one of those designers that people come to for a certain style. i think i was at one time because i worked for a company called french country living....so of course everyone i worked with was looking for that certain aesthetic.

now i am working for myself and my clients all want different things. my main goal when decorating is to bring their vision to life...whatever style it is. i honestly have never done anything uber modern...but i would love to. transitional is the farthest i have gone in that direction. i love the challenge of marrying my vision with my clients to come up with a design that makes us both happy. with that ,there are times that i concede and let things in a room that may not necessarily be my first choice. but it makes the client happy and honestly for me that is what really matters.

i have one client whose husband always wants to know our "theme"...what look are we going for in a room. for some reason this makes him feel better about it! so we have fun coming up with names for rooms that we are working on. their family room was "ralph laureny" and now we are working on the basement and and we came up with an "english pub" feel (see fabrics above).

here is a little sneak peak into the "ralph laureny" family room...

none of this rambling answers kevins original question.  first of all i like my designs to be cozy and comfortable. for me that is so important. i like rooms to look like they evolved over time...with lots of personal touches. i love neutrals with pops of color. i am a big fan of doing the larger upholstery pieces in a neutral tone and adding in color with rugs, soft treatments and accessories. and most of all a room just has to feel "right" to me....in proportion, style and function.like these rooms i found on pinterest. everything just works in this room(of course the orange accents sealed the deal for me!).

this entry way is the perfect combination of style and comfort...it is so welcoming to me.

so i am feeling pressure to use catchy phrase for my design style!  i really just want to answer "good" that my design style is "good design". however, that doesnt sound very catchy. how about "comfortable chic" or "casually elegant" or  "eclectic traditional" or...i could go on forever, so i will stop here!

how about you...whats your design style? any catchy phrases?

jodie

living room love

i am so excited! yesterday, lindsey from the blog better after did a post on our living room. she saw my post about our built-in and wanted to feature it.  go and check it out...and stay a while to look at the rest of her blog. it is full of inspiration from blogland and she is hilarious!

we are finally getting a break from the heat today and it is raining. i think i can hear my flowers and lawn singing! it is getting me excited for my favorite time of year...i love fall! have a great day and thanks for reading.

jodie