westside living room refresh

Phew - time sure does fly! Its been over a year since we finished this living room for our lovely clients in Westchester. When we started the project, they already had a few items in play - the white media unit, the teal walls and the leather couch. These guys are certainly not afraid of color so we ran with it - layering some bold rugs, and tying them in with a dark fireplace and colorful gallery wall. We also resolved the awkward space near the back doors by adding a tall bookshelf, that also helps to balance out the fireplace.

Before:

Concept:

After:

We had so much fun bringing this space together! We'll also be sharing the master bedroom that we recently shot - so check back soon for updates! xo

-kiki & jojo

Parks Project HQ

Our friends at Parks Project approached us for some help setting up their first "official" HQ. When they outgrew their previous space in the co-founder's garage, they upgraded to an industrial, open concept office - but they still wanted to maintain the outdoorsy, DIY voice of the brand. After working closely with them on the layout and functional needs of the space, we developed a concept board to solidify the aesthetic, and pulled together options for desks, seating and decor. Then they took the reigns and built everything themselves. (They are quite the handy bunch!) I finally got a chance to see the finished space in person and it turned out great - a little industrial, a little minimal, with some DIY and camp vibes thrown in. Here's the concept board and finished photos so you can see the project from start to finish.

xo, jojo

Concept Board:

Finished space:

Outdoor Living Pt. 2

Hey guys - Jojo here! Continuing with our focus on outdoor spaces, here we have my take on outdoor living at the Harrison Hacienda.

Hacienda Hang Out:

After updating our backyard late last year we've been dying to complete the vision with some new outdoor furniture. Previously our backyard had a crumbly volleyball/basketball court in the back, so we opted to go for a minimal drought tolerant vibe instead. (Plus we're no good at sports) In keeping with the overall spanish modern theme for our home, we decided to play off the romantic vibe the architecture gives off, and contrast it with clean lines, modern touches, and a dash of midcentury vibes.

So building off the neutral base of cement on the patio and gravel in the yard, we opted for a grey toned wood table and lounge seating, accented with black and white metal chairs. With the palo verde tree in full bloom, along with the kangaroo paw and mexican feather grass, we didn't want to get too colorful in order to keep the focus on the landscaping. We still have bigger plans for the exterior of our home - which include bright white paint with dark trim, new outdoor lighting, updating our front porch and landscaping, a gate, the list goes on and on! But for now, in addition to furniture we'll add some string lights, steel planters for our veggie garden and a pendant over the table, along with plans for outdoor movie screenings on our garage wall. Yay!

We were so excited to get everything at pretty reasonable prices (after some heartbreak when items needed to be reconsidered due to backorders). I'll share photos once everything gets to us by mid May. Reach out if you're interested in getting links to any of the items below, and hope this inspires you to create your own outdoor oasis to enjoy this summer!

xoxo, Jojo

Outdoor Living

Joanna and I have both started to think about our backyard/patio situations, with all the lovely weather, we are ready to spend more time outdoors. We have very different set-ups, but not surprisingly similar aesthetics - it's why we work so well together! So, in true Wilder style, we thought we'd breakdown our process and share the boards we created for our own spaces. Both have a neutral background with pops of color coming from the accessories, plants, etc.

Kiki's Pool Patio:

We closed on a new house in October, so all I really did was plunk our existing outdoor furniture down and let it be for the winter. Our backyard is all concrete slab, lagoon-like pool and dark green privacy hedge, which felt decidedly Hollywood to me. I'm an east coaster and I didn't want to miss an opportunity to go all LA on the space. To me that meant clean neutral base with a touch of Riviera and a dash of Slim Aarons. I pined for the lovely stripped umbrellas and sleek metal loungers, but alas it was not in the budget. My lounge set is in ok shape, so I opted to perk it up with some new pillows, which fed my stripe urge, but still modern. I added an umbrella for shade (can't live without it) and a storage shelf for pool towels and the inevitable cascade of inflatables, goggles, and floaties the kids require. I feel that adding a bunch of potted sago palm and ferns will go I long way towards making the whole scheme more lush, and "Chateau Marmont".

The dining area was another matter. Once the pool fence was installed to protect the kiddos, we were left with a very narrow space that felt even more narrow with our aging beer garden rectangular table. I opted to bring in a round table, fresh and white with matching bistro chairs. Fermob is great quality and completely fold-able, so long lasting and easy storage a no-brainer in my book. Once the big pieces were squared away everything was white - uh- boring. So, I brought in the bright striped pillows and a plan to make chair cushions in a fun pattern. The bamboo tray table brought some organic texture and will be great as a side board or bar area. Dining Accessories are another way to bring color to a neutral scheme and everything is on sale at the moment, so don't hesitate to grab a cute runner that will bring some sunshine to your life and your table.

Yali's Coffee: Branding Process

Hi all!

I thought it would be fun to do a little overview of the branding process for Yali's Coffee. Yali's has been around since the early 90's and hadn't had a brand update since the very beginning. Needless to say it was time for an update - and it happened to coincide with the opening of their new location on the UC Berkeley campus, which we designed as well. Taking inspiration from the new cafe location inside the CITRIS building which houses the engineering department among many others - the aesthetic shifted towards a structured and minimalistic style. But with a little fun to keep it feeling fun and young since after all, they are on a college campus.

First we looked at a spectrum of coffee brands so we could identify the appropriate voice for the branding. Our clients chose to stay right in the middle between quirky and clean so our exploration began there.

Our initial explorations ranged from playful to clean and our clients decided to go with option 2 and 3 for further development:

After a lot of refining and color exploration the final logo mark was selected:

Once we had the logo mark solidified, we dove right into art direction and developing a style guide. A lot of these ideas carried over into the design of the cafe (which I'll share in another post).

There you have it - the branding process from beginning to end! What do you think - would you have chosen a different logo? ;) Let us know if you'd like to see more process posts. We have another one planned about the interiors we worked on for Yalis' - and just reach out if you'd like to learn more about any of our other projects! We're an open book.

And to wrap things up, here are a few teaser videos for Yali's Coffee we made for Instagram. Cheers!

xo, jojo