Design*Sponge

Your home for all things Design. Home Tours, DIY Project, City Guides, Shopping Guides, Before & Afters and much more

city by Stephanie 11

Jackson Hole, WY City Guide


Today’s Jackson Hole City guide comes to us from Meagan Murtagh. Meagan is going on her sixth year in Jackson Hole and currently writes,documents, and photographs about her mountain town lifestyle for the popular local blog, The Egg. Meagan enjoys running, traveling abroad, and sharing beautiful Jackson Hole with the world. Thanks Meagan for taking us on a tour of this beautiful city! –Stephanie

Read the full city guide after the jump…

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past & present by Amy Azzarito 6

Color of the Day: Lead White

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apps, tech + online by Grace Bonney 2

Guest Pinner: Traci French of Blissful B


This month’s editorial theme is all about color, so we’re thrilled to have one of our favorite style bloggers, Traci French of Blissful B, guest pinning for us this week! Amy is a huge huge fan of her blog and I am a recent but instant convert as well. Based in Bend, OR, Traci is an excellent photographer and always pins the most beautiful bits of inspiration. So we’re lucky to have her all week pinning incredible color inspiration. Click here to check out her guest pin board on the D*S page all week. Welcome, Traci! xo, grace

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best of by Amy Azzarito 23

Sneak Peek: Best of Yellow


Since Naples Yellow was our Color of the Day, we’re ending the day with a look at the Best of: Yellow in our sneak peek homes. Full confession: yellow is a color that I shy away from – both in decorating and in dressing. It’s just so bold. But I’ve combed through our Sneak Peek Archives and found my favorite 20 homes that dare to use yellow. Some people go all out and paint yellow walls, others just use a single yellow piece for a jolt of color. And my favorite combination is now yellow, gray and white. It’s all making me rethink my yellow fear. -Amy Azzarito

Image above: Paired with bright white cabinets, the ’70s yellow kitchen tiles feel fresh and modern in Katie Graham’s Australian home.


Image above: Chicagoan Liz Cook painted her kitchen a bright sunflower yellow in order to make mornings a little cheerier. Her hound dog Henry just wants her to hurry up with his breakfast!


Image above: Amanda Happe wanted the pocket door to her bedroom in Toronto, Canada to add a little pop of color when she rolled it out.


See more Best of: Yellow after the jump!

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sneak peeks by shannon 20

Sneak Peek: Travis and Maike McNeill of welovepictures


When asked to describe their home, married wedding photographer team Travis and Maike McNeill say they are inspired by the beautiful lines of the Mid-Century Modern era and the simplicity and warmth of Scandinavian living. They have combined with those inspirations with a mix and match of things handed down to Maike by her German grannies, lots of flea market finds and a variety of art and design created by friends and local South African artists. The McNeills live in the Observatory suburb of Cape Town, South Africa where they run their photography business, welovepictures, specializing in weddings and portraiture. Thank you Travis and Maike! -Shannon

Image above: Our living room is our favorite room! The light is always amazing in there and we’re suckers for beautiful light :) The lounge suite was our first ‘serious and grown-up purchase’ and we found at a thrift store while we were still dating. Travis said to me that this is the kind of lounge suite he can see us having in our home forever. He kind of gave himself away because he proposed a few months later ;) We bought the suite for next to nothing – it was standing in a corner all by itself, looking really shabby and sad. We took it home and with a lot of love, imagination and help from great upholsterers, turned it into the lounge suite that we’ll have in our home forever :)


Image above: The dining room table and chairs are from my grandparents. The table was built by my granddad for their kitchen. My dad grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere and most of the furniture they owned was built by my granddad. After my granddad passed away, my grandma moved closer to my parents and she gave most of the furniture to Travis and me since had we just moved in together. She told me that every single piece of furniture has a story and I should never take sitting at a table for granted. We love that our dining room is open plan to our kitchen and then opens up onto our small back garden. In summer we have the doors wide open and it’s great for having friends over and entertaining!

See more of Travis and Maike’s South African home after the jump…

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sneak peeks by Amy Azzarito 10

Sneak Peek: Verena Michelitsch


When graphic designer and illustrator Verena Michelitsch first saw this apartment, she had to look past the gray walls, dirty windows and the fact that there was no kitchen. But it had incredible high ceilings, great light and original 19th century hardwood floors and perhaps even more importantly, the rent was cheap. And the location, in the Lend district of Graz, Austria, situated next to the Mur river, was fantastic. So with the help of good friends, Verena set about making some renovations – and even installed a basic kitchen. Her overall decorating objective was to keep the space light and bright, accented by bright pops of colors. To that end, Verena purchased simple white Ikea furniture. And then rummaged through flea markets and her parent’s attic to find fun, colorful pieces from the ’60s and ’70s. Verena moved out of the apartment (and to New York City) last September, so a big thank you to her for allowing us a peek back into her home. -Amy Azzarito

Image above: The SHH letters poster I brought home from a design and furniture fair in Copenhagen a few years ago. I think it was part of their branding, the fair was called Showcase or something. I took some random letters and thought the SHH would perfectly fit into a quiet bedroom. The pink vase is a piece from Ikea. It’s perfect for long, blossoming branches. I always have fresh flowers in my apartment, mostly handpicked from my Mum’s beautiful big garden or from the farmers market around the corner.


Image above: The chairs I have collected over time. At first, I just had this black Eames chair, which was a lucky ind at a junk dealer and then collected more chairs, piece by piece. The two ’50s-style chairs are from a house in my neighborhood that was uninhabited for about 20 years. My friend and I saw vintage furniture standing around out on the street outside and we asked if we could have a look into the abandoned apartment. We were allowed to take whatever furniture we liked. The rug and the tulip Saarinen-style round table are both Ikea. The large ‘A’ on the bookcase I stumbled up upon in the middle of the night. I think I was out for drinks and walked home when I saw workers disassembling this huge store lettering from a shoe store frontage. I asked them what they would do with these letters, and they said they were throwng them away. I called a friend and we filled his car with all the letters we could cram in tand took them home and to our studio space EN GARDE, where I  worked in Graz. So many of the pieces in my apartment I have found by coincidence or good luck. I like that all these items are found from random places in my old city and hold such great  memories.

See more of Verena’s Austrian apartment after the jump!

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