julie dutton of studio olivine and her husband purchased their southeast portland [oregon] home three years ago and little by little have made their way through projects (with their greatest challenge stemming from getting creative with storage). simple colors, uncomplicated pieces and things that come with a story are how julie characterizes her home. the solution is a sense of calm beauty creates place where i’m sure we’d all love to come home to after a long day. click here for more images of their wonderful home, and here for all of our fantastic sneak peeks. [thanks so much, julie!] -anne
[above: The goal of the bedroom was to create a soothing color scheme, so the walls were painted a soft greyish blue. The quilt was a gift and was made by my grandmother. The organic cotton pillow cases came from one of my favorite Portland gems, Ink & Peat. Lucky me, I happened upon this artwork on a recent trip to San Francisco. The animals were drawn with charcoal by a street vendor in Paris. I just love their personality. ]
This picture above is of our living room. I made the curtains out of a nice oatmeal linen and stitched my favorite black and white striped ribbon a few inches above the base for a fun detail. The wood slat bench was salvaged from a church years ago by my grandfather and I am lucky to have ended up with it. Sitting on the bench is a lovely pillow designed as a collaborative project between my friends Brian and Amy Reed of Old School Stationers. My father, an excellent carpenter, built the coffee table for us.
Our nook! Now this is the room that really stumped me when we bought our house. A funny little room at the end of the house with an intensly slanted ceiling starting at 11 feet, and sloping to 5 feet. I found out that the room was originally used for canning which piqued my interest. I love the walls because they are literally made from wood and you can see each piece that was nailed into place. The lovely aqua vase is by Judy Jackson of New York. From left to right, the artwork on the wall: Hadley Hutton, Elisabeth Bentz, and Judy Jackson (Portland artists). All of their work is shown in frames made by my father. The place mats were made by Elisabeth Bentz. I covered the ceiling with simple Japanese papers.
This room is where all of the goodies lie. Fabric, yarn, all kinds of fun things. I painted this cabinet ochre yellow. I found it at an antique store, a sad victim of 1980’s ivy stencil art. I knew I could save it, so I brought it home and gave it a new coat. No one is the wiser. The bag on the back of the door is by one of my favorite designers, Lotta Jansdotter.
These shelves house some of my favorite dishes by Japanese Porcelain designers, Saikai. On the top shelf, some hand thrown mugs and bowl by Jennifer Anable of Portland (now Minnesota). On the bottom shelf is an old Lotta Jansdotter calendar. It is from a couple of years ago, but I couldn’t bare to part with it. I still flip the pages once in a while.
My little friend Homie likes to sit on the highest places. He also likes to nibble on fresh cut green plants. The scene that followed this one was not so innocent. He sure is cute, though! The limited edition print behind him is one I created at Studio Olivine for a show at Office. The artwork peaking in on the right is a beautiful piece by my friend Sam Tudyk. This one has a secret message if you look close. The shapes making up the design are actually letters that spell out “hello love.”
Some items collected from my yard in tiny glass jars. Several years ago I showed up to work and a friend had covered my desk in jars just like this. Each with a single hand picked flower. It was one of the best gifts I have been given.
