bedrooms on the brain

phew... work/life has been crazy!

i am working on several bedrooms at the moment and i just finished up a mini-makeover in our guest room that i though i would share.

here is a little before shot...

here it is after....there is still more to be done...but this will have to do for now:) i painted (BM revere pewter, my new favorite), recovered the headboard and added some nail head trim, changed the bedding, moved some lighting & furniture around and added some window treatments. i want to change what is over the bed eventually....but all and all i am happy with the way it turned out. there is a large chest in the room that i want to refinish...so that side of the room will have to wait for photos:)

here is another closer look...thanks to my husband who takes fantastic photos!

here are some other bedrooms that i have been drooling over while looking for inspiration for my clients rooms...

thanks for stopping by....

jodie

the big picture

dont worry i am not going to talk about the meaning of  life here...i am literally talking about BIG pictures! i have told you before in this post what a wonderful photographer my husband is. most of the artwrk around our home is his photography.

 we have been trying to decide what to put in our double story foyer for about 3 years now. kevin came up with the idea to have some of his photos blown up on vinyl. they came with grommet holes along the top and bottom. so for a while we just had it thumb tacked up!

eventually kevin decided  to frame them with simple stained 1 x 2's and they look amazing! i selected the tree because it is one of my all time favorite photos of his. then after a trip to cleveland he came home with this. i thought it was a great photo to have in the foyer...its just plain happy! here it is after he framed it....

here is another before and after....

there are still a few wrinkles...but we are living it with it that way. we are so happy with the way they turned out!  i love walking by an seeing this from upstairs every morning...

*that foyer light is not staying:)

so my advice here is..go big or go home!

jodie

client progress

hello..i thought i would check in and show you some progress photos from a couple of projects i have been working on.

first up is a client that i met through working with the nest egg. we have been working hard on a "new to her house" that she purchased this past summer. there is wall to wall seagrass being installed as i type this and her furniture is being delivered on friday! for now...here  is a tease of the before and after of her foyer...we updated it with new tile, paint and dark gray doors. as always... excuse the phone photos:)

before....

after...

another angle...

this project has been so fun and so has my client! i cannot wait to show you more as we make more progress.

remember this photo i showed  you of some fabrics for a clients family room?

well...here are a couple of snippets of that plan coming to life.

i loooooove this room! i am waiting for the built-ins to get done and a few more accessories before i photograph the whole thing.

it really is so rewarding to see all of our (my clients and mine)  ideas, designs and planning come together... especially when we are all happy with the outcome:)

jodie

towel bar talk

i had some extra time on my hands thanks to hurricane sandy. time to think about towel bars...and the alternative to them. i am not a big fan of the standard towel bars you see everywhere. (below is an example of one via pinterest)

 they look good when the towels are neatly folded on them...but how often does that happen? i always found myself  having "show towels" for these towel bars and the towels we used everyday were hanging everywhere else in the bathroom...over doors...on the tub...you name it. so when we bought our house...i took all of our towel bars down and used other things.

in our powder room the hand towels hang on an old antique ladder thing (i really dont know what it is...but its the first thing my husband bought me when we were dating...i am sure he doesnt even remember) whatever it is...it serves its purpose for towel hanging!

here you can see where is sits in the room...

in our master bathroom, kevin made this plaque and i added the hooks. these hooks are not big enough though...and honestly the towels don't dry very fast:(

so when it came to the guest/kids bath we used bigger hooks and spread them farther apart and they work very well.

while we are looking at this guest bath...let me show you a very cool piece that kevin built. i think i have mentioned before that my husband travels a lot? well... for the past 7 years or so he has been collecting all of the goodies from the cool hotels he stays in. unfortunately until about 6 months ago...when he finally found time to build something for them...they were all piled in the linen closet. this is what he came up with...super clever as usual.

cute huh? ok...back to towel bars. i dont really have a lot more to say....other than ...when you arent loving your towel bars...take them down:) here are a few other examples of what to do with your towels...

jodie

goosebumps (6)

yes...the goosebumps series continues! if you are not familiar with this series, you can read about it here.

i know i have said this about suzanne kasler before....and i will say it again...i love her designs. the latest one that i am loving is an open air home she decorated in kenya. this mini compound was featured in the october (i think) issue of house beautiful. it gives a whole new meaning to bringing the outside in...it is basically all open and so well designed. this home is a wonderful example of how to decorate while considering your surroundings. suzanne uses the perfect color palette and furnishings to blend in with the outside...without getting theme-y (like using all things african!)

 i liked it so much i thought i would share...for those of  you who missed it. enjoy!!

that bathroom is so pretty...and the shower...forget about it!

jodie

work

oh hi...how are you? my name is jodie okun and i am an interior designer with a blog. i am hoping that by re-introducing myself, it will remind me that i am supposed to do blog posts when i have a blog. lets have another shot at it...shall we?

i wanted to show you some designs for a client that i have been working with this summer. it has been a fun project and she is so nice and great to work with. she is super busy with her career...so some of our work has been via the world wide web.  i thought i would show the plans i came up with for her family room and master bedroom. we are working out all of the details...but the big pieces have been ordered.

here is the family room plan...

here are the fabrics and rug...this was an instagram photo i showed in the last post

they have a beautiful stone, floor to ceiling fireplace in the room. (you will see in the "after" pictures when it is done) all of these fabrics really bring out all of the natural colors in the stone.

here is the plan for the master bedroom...

here is a picture of the fabrics...

the bedroom walls are already painted a pretty gray blue....and there is a fireplace in there as well.  it is going to be so cozy!

so there you have it! i just wanted to show you that i really am doing something...just not blogging very often.  hopefully that will change in the near future:)

jodie

instagram and news from the garden

i am obsessed with instagram! i know i am a little late to the game....but i love it. i knew it was an app you could use...but i never realized you could follow people on it.  its all about pictures and you can just scroll through and look at pretty things and "like" them. it so much better than twitter (i can't seem to get into that) and its more low maintenance then facebook. plus...you can make your photos look cool:) i actually took that picture of the butterfly!! here are some others i have taken on with instagram...


i went the amazing store  furbish with my friend gretchen on a recent trip to raleigh...

a client presentation...

pretty sky..

tuka...

love this stool from baker...

this is color infused flooring!! i didnt even use a filter to make it this color...not sure i would ever use it...but it is interesting.

 if  you want to join  the fun on instagram...my handle is jodieokun. (very original i know:))

in other breaking news...our vegetables are growing! here are the red peppers starting to sprout...

look at all of these carrots!

 our first cucumber!

now here is is little lesson for those of you who have never had a vegetable garden (like me)...lettuce doesnt like warm weather. i planted it too late and because of the heat it "bolted"...

seriously...that happened over night...and you cant eat it when it does that...it is too bitter. so i cut it back and we will try again... or i will plant more when the weather cools down in september. it is a very small garden...but there is something so satisfying about watching it grow...and the kids love it! i will let you know when we are actually able to eat something from it:)

jodie