Category » decorateJones Design Company

Jan

19

our mudroom

We bought our house 5 years ago based off a floor plan we found online. One of our favorite features was this mudroom. It connects the garage to the rest of the house and is such a great dumping ground for our busy family. The only negative about the space is that there is no window. Which means it is pretty dark. We painted it a dark chocolaty-green-gray color a few years ago and it became even darker {that’s what you get when you use a can of paint you have laying around}. Last summer Ryan added white bead board paneling and a row of hooks on all four walls and that made things a bit lighter and much more functional. But it still needed some freshening up. I finally finished putting the space together and I’m excited to share it with you today.

The walls are now Revere Pewter {Benjamin Moore} and it feels so much brighter!

I moved the woven pinboard in here to put some favorite family photos, art work and mementos – it sure adds a personal touch and some much needed color and cheerfulness to an otherwise boring room.

We bought these numbers at the hardware store to identify hooks for each backpack.

Above the hooks is a new print that I just adore.

This is the wall with the door that goes out to the garage. Its nice to have a little bench in here.

And the back wall …

I painted stripes on the ceiling just for fun. I like it. Ryan - not so much. We also switched out the light with this industrial one from the hardware store {$25!}.

One of my very favorite features of the mudroom is the automatic light Ryan so brilliantly installed. It has a movement sensor so it comes on when you walk in the room and turns off after a minute or two. We have a few of these throughout our house in places where its easy to forget to turn off the light {the pantry, under-stairs closet, master closet}.

Now let me share with you another genius tip I got from The Nester.

I buy one brand of socks – two lines for the older boys {is it weird that they share socks?} and one line for No. 3. Audrey gets her own girly socks but shares a basket with Mason. AND I don’t match and fold them. Just throw them in the basket. It saves on time when folding laundry, makes it easy for the boys to find their socks and best of all, there are no more mismatched socks in our house. Thanks Miss Nester.

Each kid also has their own bin of shoes.

Can you tell who already has a shoe-obsession? Naturally, she gets the bigger bin.

Speaking of shoes … these are her current favorites {and mine too}.

They are from my favorite shoe designer Joyfolie. Come back tomorrow for a generous discount for JDC readers.

A few details:

So that is our mudroom. I love how it turned out. Bright, cheerful, useful, organized and personal.

And it will never again look as nice as it does in the photos.

… SOURCES …

paint color: Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter

light: warehouse pendant from Home Depot

be filled with joy print: The Wheatfield by Katie Daisy

black numbers: Home Depot in the mailbox and house number section

galvanized wall organizer: PotteryBarn – no longer available

sock baskets & shoe bins: IKEA

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Posted by emily | 66 comments

Jan

13

flower mobile {again}

Before my little sweetness was born {nearly two years ago, I can hardly believe it}, I made this flower mobile to hang over her crib. It was one of the first tutorials seen on JDC and a pretty project that I was proud of. But somewhere along the line, the photos went missing from the post. And missing from my computer. And so the tutorial is now gone. Boo.

{photos by Jennifer Tai as featured on On To Baby}

Since posting the embroidered wallhanging, many of you asked for details about the mobile. I am here to deliver.

I do not have a full tutorial, but I will explain how it is made.

Here’s what you need:

:: a styrofoam wreath form – mine is 12 inches, but you could do smaller or larger

:: ribbon

:: lots of silk flowers {I spent about $35 at the craft store on full white blooms}

:: straight pins

STEP ONE: wrap the wreath form with ribbon, securing with straight pins

STEP TWO: cut blooms off their stems and pin into wreath form, filling in all the way around the wreath. You could use hot glue instead, but I found that pinning was easier.

STEP THREE: once the flowers are in place, cut two long pieces of ribbon for hanging. You will fold each piece in half and attach the ends to the wreath opposite from eachother {think north, south, east and west}. Make sure your ribbon is long enough that when folded your mobile will hang at the height you want. I sure hope that makes sense.

I screwed in an eye hook to the ceiling and looped each ribbon over it.

From below, this is what the baby sees:

So pretty!

I know this is not the best tutorial, but I hope it helps explain the project a bit better. Please let me know if you make one of your own … I’d love to see how it turns out!

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Posted by emily | 16 comments

Dec

12

the stockings are hung {our house tour}

monogram on front door

Have you seen all of the gorgeously decorated homes around blogland? It has been so fun to see how each person fluffs their house for Christmas. Today I thought I’d share our home with you.

There are plenty of photos ahead, so I’ll keep the words to a minimum. Enjoy!

entry

entry table

chair in snow

christmas package

bath roses with paper flowers

living room

nutcrackers

living room 2

christmas packages

the sofa

garland

coffee table

fire place

living to piano

piano

kitchen

kitchen to dining

jdc art print

cake plate

candy canes

hot cocoa

o holy night

dining room

christmas tree

Merry Christmas from our {finally} decorated home to yours!

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Posted by emily | 91 comments

Nov

07

thankfulness

This season leading up to Thanksgiving is one of my favorites. If there is anything I’d like to be, it is thankful, and so I love the idea of expressing our gratitude both in spoken and written word.

thankful tags in silver

I have created a set of cards to help encourage this attitude of thankfulness.

thankful card place setting

You could put one at each place setting at the the Thanksgiving table, have your family and friends fill them out and share with each other. My sister does this each night leading up to Thanksgiving with her family and then saves the cards to read the following year.

thankful card

Another great way to use the cards is to turn them into tags

thankful for eggnog lattes

and hang them on a thankful tree.

thankful tree 2011

The boys and I tromped out into the woods, cut down a few branches, put them into a heavy urn and filled the bottom with stones to hold the branches in place.

thankful tree in urn

Every day, we each write one thing we are thankful for. And the rule is that nothing can be duplicated. This is our first year doing a thankful tree and I’m looking forward to seeing what the boy’s come up with. I hope it is a great way to instill in them the importance of having a thankful heart. I know it will be good practice for me and Ryan, too.

thankful tree living room

thankful for legos

thankful for apple crisp

thankful for me

{at least we’ve instilled some self-esteem in this silly child}.

If you would like to do a thankful tree in your home, or if you’d like to use these cards at your dinner table, please download the pdf below.

There are ten subtle fall colors and each card is 2 x 3.5.

To create the tags, I cut out the card, punched a hole, added hole reinforcement stickers, and cut the edges at an angle.

I hope you find great ways to use these cards.

Click the image below to download.

Happy Thanksgiving!

{please feel free to send this to your friends & family for their holiday celebrations as well … you can use the share, save, send button below to make it super easy}

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Posted by emily | 83 comments

Nov

04

things I like: meeting other bloggers

One of the very best things about being in this world of blogging is the people you meet. Of course you don’t actually meet most of them, but you sure do feel like you know a person after reading their blog for a while.

Darlene is one of these ladies whom I never would have met if not for blogging. Her talent is astounding and her sweet spirit makes you want to be her friend. Someday I hope to meet her in real life.

You can hang out with Darlene at her blog Fieldstonehill Hill Design.

Because I think her design work is so beautiful, I wanted to share a few of her design boards.

This was for Edie’s house {did you see her house tour video yesterday? GORGEOUS}. I’m so taken with the navy and aqua color scheme. And all the interesting patterns and textures.

Another for Edie’s daughters’ room.

Pretty, pretty, pretty.

We are trying to have our holiday family photos taken this weekend and I’m just praying the rain stays away {or at least breaks for an hour or so}. Wish us luck … getting six people to look normal all in one photo is quite the challenge. Especially when one thinks bunny ears are super funny, two can’t stand still for more than 30 seconds and one is a baby who has a minimal tolerance for posing for a camera. I’ll let you know how it goes …

I have a few things in store in the coming weeks:

:: on Monday, a great FREE giving thanks printable collection will be available along with a project to use them with. I think you’ll like them!

:: I promise I will update you on which dress I chose {oh, how I appreciated your advice}. We did not take a single photo at the wedding, but the photographer was amazing and I can’t wait to share with you her photos. Coming soon …

:: we’ve done some more rearranging and the boys have relocated to a new room. I have a bit of finishing still to do, but I’m excited to share their new room with you.

:: tis the season for Christmas cards … I am not taking orders this year, but I have lots of great referrals for you. There are so many darling designs it is hard to choose just a few to show.

:: speaking of Christmas, I am working on a collection of printables to keep you organized, help you wrap and send pretty invites. Look for them in the next week or two.

:: this has nothing to do with anything, but I had my first eggnog latte of the season and it was everything I ever hoped it would be. I may go backwards in my efforts to reduce the flab but I’m thinking it’s worth it. Just remind me of this come April when I have to put on a swim suit again.

Okay, enough of that. Now go have yourself a delightful weekend.