I’ve been indulging in some nostalgia recently – looking back on a project from over a decade ago with fun emotions (“Oh, amazing”, “What did I do?” and “Oh, that’s fun”). Maybe ten years from now, we’ll look back at the Craft Barn and the Squiggle Bulletin Board with the same surprise and nostalgia. This project was completely forgotten. When I relaxed my team after stumbling on the internet, my team was like, “What exactly are you looking at?” that’s right. Let me show you.
My client (fun fact, produced by producer Rachna Fruchbom Contraction, Parks and rec, Fresh from the boatand And like that) Already had these vintage pieces (by the way she’s rad – Orlando And I loved working with her and her family). The piece in question was a huge store display shelving unit that, in theory, seems fantastic, but what can someone actually put in a real home that makes sense? And in the playroom, there’s a cute toy at the bottom of the book/cute toy, certainly. However, the rest of the cubby was too small and functionally chopped. It’s not that there are plenty of good looking kids’ collectibles that separate Lego colors or look good. It’s a cool piece, but actually created a big creative problem that Orlando and I need to solve (it’s so cute, mainly because of filming the room). Rachna got creative because she gave us free rule, as long as we didn’t blow our budgets.
Canned bottle ftw ???
You may know that my love/nostalgia for canned jars is greater than most people. Strange. Growing Mormons, we canned everything, including our annual tuna canning session from the Oregon Coast (which produces delicious fresh tuna all year round for all my college roommates to fight). All of my vases at our wedding were vintage/antique canned jars that I collected during my engagement (I still have a lot of people). I think this strange love has dried up, but it’s not. I drink every day from a huge canned jar, as if it were a regular glass.
Why the Mason Jars?
If I remember correctly, it was impossible to find anything that made sense to fill the cubby. A jar of art supplies is so expensive (and unnecessary), and a box wrapped in colorful paper might be another idea, but it may look soooo janky. Colorful kids blocks may have worked for the shoot, but when they become more expensive and messed up (and hard to maintain) than you think. If you can come up with ideas that make sense, let me know. We didn’t want it to be bitsy, messy, random, or too expensive. So I think it landed us in the painting of a Mason bottle…
We measured and did mathematics…
I’ll assume that I I had an idea (Zero Re Collection, but it’s my handwritten one), but Orlando and I all came out math by measuring every column of columns and figuring out which size bottle fits each and what number they needed. After that I bought them all (probably from the store, this is before Amazon Prime) and chose the paint color.
This is still the only photo that paints them on the internet (this is in front of a smartphone for photos and videos. Did you create daily content 12 years ago?). I’m not sure if I’m going to dilute it with white and get an ombre effect, or if I choose a few shades and mix and play with it as I move up the cubby wall. Either way, it created this ombre look that I have to admit.
What do I think about it now?
Is that a gimmick? of course. And if they move or remove the piece, they’ll have plenty of painted jars to deal with. But it is still an attractive wall of colours that your eyes understand (i.e. not busy) and are easy to create conversations. It’s also 2012 in a very fun way. A pop of gold/silver on the lid for a lovely sparkle and texture.
I don’t know if I want to do it again, but I support why I did this if there is no other solution yet. It ended up costing around $230 (for each OG post), then another $200 on other fixtures, and about 60-75 jars (please feel free to count). It’s nothing and certainly doesn’t explain our time hilariously (never did either) I At the time – the rookie mistake in the first few years with a design client and ultimately I ended up pivoting away from it. Adding when Orlando and I do this (probably 10 hours x 2 people) adds about $3,500 to the design labor. You can keep the entire project at $5k. This is too much for a fun DIY Mason Jaroombre Art Wall in a 3 year old playroom. But doing DIYs for content is a different business, so at the time I felt it was worth donating time to run this DIY (though typical designers don’t do this because it costs too much to clients).
Wait, that’s it. do not have. all. What about those painted frames?
We didn’t block creativity there. I found a bunch of empty vintage frames at flea markets and thrift stores and painted them 1/2 white and 1/2 gold respectively. So 2012!!! They house Kid Art which I still think is a cute and clever idea and was able to fully update in 2025.
And that is the story of the canned jar art installation wall from 2012. Orlando He helped me do that (he was my design assistant at the time). We had a lot of fun, kindergarten, but it’s just sad that there are no fun reels or videos to show you.
So, what do you do with these cubies? I’m really interested to see other solutions make sense! Comment!
*photograph Bethany Nowaart
Source: Emily Henderson – stylebyemilyhenderson.com
