What I've Been Up To Lately

I've been knee-deep in a few projects, making it tough to post more often.  I wanted to share the few things I've been working on the past couple weeks, and hopefully this week I'll also have another "I Love You, California" post for y'all.  I have a few in the hopper, who knew there were so many amazing things to do with your babes, toddlers and chilluns in the Bay Area?

First, I've been working on a website and branding for my parents, the beekeepers at River Road Honey Farm.  They started out in 2005 with just a few hives, and 7 years later it's a whole operation!  I love simple, clean and charming websites, so this was a really fun one to be working on.  It's not done yet, I'm hoping it will wrap up this week.

I've also been working on a wedding album for my dear friend Sara.  She got married in Hawaii in April, and I've been creating a super special album for her.  I love wedding albums, don't you?  It brings back memories of looking through my grandparents album and thinking about how young and chic they were.  I know many people forgo the album these days, but to me it's a tangible and beautiful artifact of your wedding day to share for generations.

This is my favorite page from the album.  The bride is seriously cool and a indie music lover.  She is genuine, funny and unique, and I wanted to create something that reflected her personality.  I create all my albums without templates, using only the photos and story of the day to inspire an album that is absolutely personal.  For this layout, I was inspired by an album that won WPPI’s Wedding Album of the Year in 2012.  The photographer Jerry Ghoinis said about it "I thought I would take a risk and create a polaroid collage creating a sense of movement in each spread. It makes a 2D image almost appear 3D. It was like creating a puzzle from the inside out with no knowledge of the final image."  Amazing.  This page is a collage created from five different images of their sky lantern send off.  It was the most fun I've had on a project recently, I felt like I was in the zone creatively speaking and so thrilled about the final result.  I LOVE a good puzzle!

Anyway, that's what I've been up to lately.  Hope your weekend was as motivating as mine was.  Happy Monday everyone!

Mid-Century Modern Office Lounge Makeover

A month ago I got a call from an old coworker to makeover an office lounge (where I used to work!)  She shared that the room was under-utilized and really sterile - this is what it looked like before we got started:

The really beautiful booth chairs were already there, and we wanted them to stay.  My goal for the new lounge was to make it feel warm and inviting, a place people wanted to hang out.  It was a space I'd seen a lot of in my former life as an employee, and I was very motivated to see the room get some love.

The first step was removing the cold (but beautiful!) glass and welded steel tables.  They were not the right fit for the space (sharp angles on the chairs, sharp angles on the tables, it all felt really pointy and not so welcoming.)  I found the Fuller Cocktail Table in Walnut at Room and Board, it's just gorgeous and instantly made the space feel so much warmer.  Isn't it funny what swapping out one piece of furniture can do to change the way you feel about a room?

The next find was this Dutch mid-century table - one of my favorite Alameda Point Antiques Faire scores from last month, cannot wait to see what turns up this weekend at the Antiques Faire!  I had way too much fun picking out books for this room, the guy who started the company loves art, music and has an awesome sense of humor so I kept that in mind. 

The antique pull toy on top of the stack of books reminded me so much of the State of California flag, I couldn't resist it!

The view is just outrageous, floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Bay Bridge.  And seriously, it's not even the best view in the office.  Sooooo jealous.

Yes, it's a little "home-y" for an office, but that was kind of the point.  They already have several conference rooms, call rooms, and they are all pretty serious.  I wanted to get people to feel comfortable and lounge-y in this one room, to be more social and take in the view.  I think we decided we could sit in there for hours.  Can't wait to go back and visit (man sometimes it's hard letting go of all the pretty vintage finds!)


Sources:
Fuller Cocktail Table in Solid Walnut - Room and Board
Dutch mid-century side table with drawers and iron pulls - Alameda Point Antiques Faire
White Skars Tall Serve Bowl (used as planter with fern on side table) - CB2
White Skars Taper Serve Bowl (used as planter for succulents on coffee table) - CB2
White Patterned Pot in Waves (on console table) - West Elm
Rustic Console Table - West Elm 
Shades of Blue Pencil and Watercolor Art - already owned
White Evesham Chairs - Keilhauer 
Standing globes - Alameda Point Antiques Faire
Rocking Bird - West Elm
Antique Brass Martini Side Table - West Elm
White Lacquer Tray - West Elm
Mid-Century Inspired Water Carafe (With Wood Base) - West Elm (can't find it on their website)
Strauss 11 oz. Double Old-Fashioned Glasses - Crate and Barrel
Modern White Clock - Ikea, from a while ago unfortunately!  Wish I had bought them out!
Oversized Green Vase - Vintage
Vase (with star of Bethlehem flowers on lower console shelf) - West Elm (not on website)
Small Painting - from my collection, can't remember artist (eek! but I think it was local)

Project: My Sister's Wedding

My dear big sister Martina got married last September to the love of her life (yay!)  Nosy, bossy sister that I am, I pushed and prodded my sister to do this or that for her wedding exactly my way. Sometimes I won, sometimes she resisted and I'm so glad she did.  The wedding was gorgeous, and a compromise of our two different styles.  It was our first time working on a large project together, and I'm so so so thrilled it was such a success.

As a wedding present, I designed and printed her wedding invitations. Later I also edited her wedding video, and made her wedding album (below.)  Suffice to say I was knee-deep in her wedding for quite some time! This was my first time designing an entire wedding suite solo and I love how it came out. Her only request was to use navy, and I wanted to incorporate at least one of the colors from her very colorful mood board to bring it to life without looking too wild.  I included custom maps for the rehearsal dinner invitation and for the wedding details insert, and screen printed the return envelopes with my gocco.  The invitation suite was the perfect representation of Martina and Gurkan, and their subtly industrial, 20's vintage, and modern special day. 

I remember my girlfriends telling me how important your wedding photos are when I was planning my wedding, how it's "all that's left" after your big day.  I thought it was silly to think that, you have your memories!  But now a few years later I realize they were right, it's those pictures that bring back the special memories when I look through my wedding album.  I was so excited to put together an album of memories for Martina and Gurkan to cherish.  The book is 15 layouts for a total of 30 press printed lay flat pages mounted on thick cardstock.  The cover is premium black leather, so soft and totally classic.  It was hard to send it on to her, I flipped through the pages a dozen times. She was a real stunner in that dress, wasn't she?

The whole project was really amazing and I'm sad it's over.  On to other projects!

(all pictures of wedding invitations and wedding album by me, photography for Martina's wedding by the incredibly talented Liana Elizabeth Photography)

Project: The Sweetest Birth Announcements

Don't you just love birth announcements? They are so joyful and sweet, hands down one of my favorite projects to work on! My friend Sara approached me about designing the birth announcements for her second son Will just a couple weeks before his birth. She asked for "light, airy, and rugby stripes", I think we went through 2 revisions before landing on this 2-sided preppy confection.

Sara had her family pictures taken by Tara Oliver, aren't they just dreamy? You can practically sniff that newborn baby smell from here! The navy envelopes were hand addressed in white ink, and the return address pressed with a custom stamp from Primele (gorgeous, right?!)

Thanks to Sara for letting me work on this project for her, and congratulations on your precious baby boy!

(all product photos by me, family pictures by Tara Oliver)