by Furnishly | Jul 26, 2021 | Design Inspiration
When designing The McGee Home Pool House…
we wanted to create an inviting, multi-purpose space for storing necessities, serving snacks, and hanging out in-between swims. We couldn’t have been more excited to have it finished just in time for summer, and today, we’re sharing all of the details!
For more on our pool, check out the photo tour here!
The exterior
We were lucky to work with Killowen Construction to collaborate on the build of the pool house structure. When we started the process, we knew we wanted to incorporate some of the elements from the exterior of our home to connect the spaces. We repeated the siding, copper piping, and cedar shingles and added a cupola to the top for some playfulness in the structure.
Syd’s primary request was an outdoor shower, and we love how it brings function and a vacation-like feeling to the space.
In selecting our doors, we wanted something that we could open up as wide as possible to create the feeling of continuity between the inside and outside space. We love how whether people are hanging out in the pool house or pool, everyone still feels connected.
The indoor materials
We knew we needed our flooring in the pool house to be extra durable, but we still wanted it to look pretty. We ended up choosing the LVP flooring from Lemco that feels really elevated but will still hold up to wet kids running in and out of it.
The fireplace is one of our favorite elements in the pool house. We love how it creates a strong focal point that you can see when you’re in the pool, and we can’t wait to put it to use in the winter to warm up after hot tubbing with the kids. We chose an arched opening, incorporated the white brick from the exterior of our home, and framed either side with tall windows to bring in all the natural light.
The Kitchenette
In the kitchenette, we started by choosing a warm, muted color on the cabinets, Relaxed Khaki by Sherwin Williams. We chose cool black soapstone countertops and added an inset refrigerator to stock with Topo Chico (Syd’s favorite) and Diet Coke (Shea’s favorite).
The windows above the sink open up to the outdoor bar area, perfect for kids to run up and have snacks. Plus, because it’s right next to our garden, it doubles as a little potting area!
by Furnishly | Jul 25, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
While we love all of Brent’s helpful tips and practical products, we also love taking a peek inside the gorgeous home that he shares with his husband, interior designer Nate Berkus. Brent often shares snaps of the stunning home with his 773,000 followers over on Instagram and this week, the focus was on the incredible (and I mean INCREDIBLE) marble fireplace.
Brent and Berkus’ favorite marble is prunella marble, which is a richly patterned marble with deep veins of eggplant, gray, and burgundy. The drastic contrast of the colors gives the stone an incredibly luxurious feel and adds a timeless look to any space.
The prunella marble caused a lot of excitement in the comments, with fans gushing over the statement fireplace.
“Gorgeous marble! Its beauty’s captivating!” one fan wrote.
“That marble looks like ink splashes!! Paired against the wood … so good.” said another.
One fan described the perfect slow weekend morning, as they commented: “Amazing marble, I could sit for hours in front of it and read an interesting book.”
While fans are marveling over the dreamy design, if you’ve been following Brent and Berkus for a while, you’ll know that the addition of marble—specifically prunella marble— in their home isn’t a new thing. The couple has been incorporating a little (okay, a lot of) marble into their spaces over the year, starting with an entire wall in their old New York apartment.
So really, it was no surprise the stone also plays a prominent part in the couple’s new Montauk home!
by Furnishly | Jul 22, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
Sarah Everett
Editorial Assistant
Sarah is Apartment Therapy’s editorial assistant. She recently completed her MA in journalism at the University of Missouri and has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Belmont University. Past writing and editing stops include HGTV Magazine, Nashville Arts Magazine, and several outlets local to her hometown, Columbia, Missouri.
by Furnishly | Jul 21, 2021 | Design Inspiration
The McGee Home Pool is our new favorite space…
and we can’t wait to show you around and share more of the details. As I wind things down over the next couple of weeks to get ready for the baby, I am taking a break from hosting our webisodes. For the first time ever, Syd is going to take over and lead you through the pool and pool house.
Watch the video below, check out more details about the pool in our photo tour here, and stay tuned for more on the pool house soon!
Learn more about our CEO, Syd in our recent Q&A.
by Furnishly | Jul 19, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
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Name: Josh, Matt (@joshandmattdesign on TikTok) and our puppy Louis
Location: Melbourne CBD — Australia
Size: 700 Square feet
Type of Home: Two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment
Years lived in: 4 months, renting
For creative couple Josh and Matt, their rental apartment isn’t just their home… they describe it as an art playground. “When moving to Melbourne we wanted an apartment that really enabled us to mesh work and home seamlessly and we found the perfect inner city two-bedroom, two-bathroom that allowed us to do just that!” they write. “Our apartment is often the testing ground for new ideas and art creations so you can always expect our interior to change and shift with us! For example, a lot of the art around our house is really a timeline of our art evolution and experimentation with color, texture, and materiality. Because we both work and live in our apartment, it was very important for us to ensure we felt happy in our surroundings. We love being surrounded by art and color; it really lifts the soul and engages the mind. We believe being surrounded by things you love helps inspire you to create amazing things!”
So passionate about creating a fun and colorful home in a rental, the couple actually created their own brand of home decor, joshandmattdesign, to help other renters (or owners) add playfulness to their homes. “Our home is a reflection of who we are and we hope to encourage others to explore their own personal interior style. Because we are renters we had to think outside the box when decorating our place. The world of interior design is often not ideal for renters, yet renters make up a huge part of the population!” explain the couple.
“We felt it was such a struggle decorating our home in the style we wanted to whilst ensuring we didn’t damage our apartment and that led us to creating home decor and art for the home that was safe and easy to install and remove. We hope our apartment encourages people to have fun with their space because owning or renting your place shouldn’t determine or limit how your home represents you!”
Apartment Therapy Survey:
Our Style: Our style is fun, colorful, functional. We love modular design as it allows us to change up our space to our needs and wants quickly and easily! We call ourselves minimalist maximalists as every object has a purpose or a place in our home. We treat each piece of decor and furniture as an individual sculpture allowing us to really think about how our home objects and colors interact with one another. This creates a fun and happy environment for us that does not feel overwhelming or cluttered.
Inspiration: We find inspiration from a lot of people, places, and objects. When something jumps out at us, we often reflect on what elements of that person or object we gravitate towards. For example we look up to Kelly Wearstler for her ability to mix and match furniture/art and decor that would typically overwhelm or be tough to easily blend together. We love Jeff Koons and his art style and use of color, and we love Gufram for their fun, playful, and radical furniture designs.
Favorite Element: Our favorite element would have to be all the windows in every room, there are views all the way out to the horizon from every room and it’s such a blessing to look out everyday and be so inspired by our surroundings! We have a view both inside and out and it makes us so happy. In Sydney where we moved from, we were in a tiny studio with three windows and our bedroom had no windows, so this has really helped us appreciate the natural light and views we have.
Biggest Challenge: Our biggest challenge was definitely the amount of furniture we had in a small space; we had collected furniture and decor during our year in Sydney and when it came to moving we were a little worried about how we would get everything to come together in a cohesive way. We ultimately overcame this with some clever furniture placements, playing with the idea of spaces within a space and also removing the doors. It was insane how much more space we had by removing the doors; it opened up the rooms and we had more space for our furniture!
Proudest DIY: Our proudest DIY would probably be our planet sculpture! Originally it was a water fountain that we had on our balcony in Sydney. It was way too noisy but we didn’t want to just get rid of it so we decided to make something that wasn’t working for our space into an art piece that we are so proud of!
Biggest Indulgence: Our biggest indulgence would have to be our togo chairs! They are definitely worth it to us as they are our forever chairs and insanely comfortable; it always feels special sitting in a togo.
Is there something unique about your home or the way you use it? We turned our second bedroom into a TV room allowing us to have two smaller living areas instead of one large one. We hung a curtain up to hide the bedroom wardrobe and that really helped the room become its own space and not feel at all like a bedroom!
What are your favorite products you have bought for your home and why? Probably our smart lights; lighting can make such a dramatic change to your interior and it can be one of the easier investments to make for your home! We have different interior scenes set up that light the home perfectly for different moods and times of day and being able to control your lights with Siri is quite handy.
Please describe any helpful, inspiring, brilliant, or just plain useful small space maximizing and/or organizing tips you have: We would say think about what your existing space has to offer you! For example, our window sills are so thick they act as shelving for our art and decor, saving us space and utilising an area that would often be overlooked. Another example is using our hallway as our study / office, an area of the home that often just gets used as a thoroughfare.
What’s your absolute best home secret or decorating advice? Our best decorating advice would be to really reflect on who you are as a person! This really helped us translate this into our art, decor, and interior style as when you are confident in who you are as an individual it becomes easier to demonstrate that in your surroundings. Also don’t be afraid of making mistakes; it took a lot of rearranging and art experimentation and mistakes to get to the stage we are now! Enjoy the journey and be easy on yourself. Decorating your home is a journey you should enjoy; it’s not always about the destination!
This house tour’s responses were edited for length and clarity.
