Feature Designer
Jill Crawford
Los Angeles, CA
In the photo above Jill's client wanted a "hotel spa" feeling for their residential bathroom. The shower was made with a door to the outside so clients could go from the pool directly into the shower. Custom walnut cabinets and Carrara marble counters were added. Sinks and fixtures-Purist by Kohler. Nulco sconces. French limestone floors. Mirrors are set flush with the glass mosaic tiles and are the same width as the sinks and cabinets below. Mosaic tiles are a custom blend from Susan Jablon mosaics
This mural was based on a tree outside the kitchen window where birds like to perch and sing. Also, the house is located in a canyon in the Hollywood Hills that is in the flight path of the annual Monarch butterfly migration, so once a year there are thousands of butterflies passing by. Custom walnut cabinets and Carrara marble counters were added as a finishing touch.
Much more traditional than Jill's usual style, but one of her favorite rooms. Very budget-minded redo, she recovered clients' chairs, added chocolate paint, chair rail moulding and wallpaper below, new drapes, light fixture and table. Painted existing built-in china cabinet, added new cornice to cabinet to make it more elegant and proportional.
This is Jill's own living room. The octagons are a painted mural of her own design, not wallpaper. The only newly made things in the room are the custom white leather chairs (not visible in this view) and the rug, which is Kashmiri goat fur. Pretty much everything else in the room is vintage: sofa reupholstered in lemon velvet, owl coffee table, teal Paul McCobb stools, olive burl credenza by Mastercraft, end tables, lamp, Milo Baughman chrome chairs, artwork, op-art needlepoint pillow on left, Blenko glass decanters and most of the white ceramic animals (except horse on credenza by Jonathan Adler.) The Happy needlepoint pillow on right is also from Jonathan Adler (I love the tongue-in-cheek vibe). Even the taxidermied crow and peacock are vintage. 2 things Jill often does in her work is to play with scale (the octagons are 4' across) and add something with a little edge. Jill states, " I love this room because I find it impossible not to feel happy sitting in it"!
Another budget redo. The house had a living room and den completely open to one another and her client wanted to use the living room while the teenage kids watched TV in the den, so she made over the living room and added the studded doors with clerestory windows to seal off the den. The screen in the foreground was added to give a little sense of arrival, as the front door opens directly into the living room.
This room was actually done for a TV makeover show (2 days, $2000 budget) and each room had a theme--in this case, it was based on the friendship of the homeowner and the guest, who used to go to discos all the time back in the day. So Jill did a 70s-style mural, added a custom-designed bar (with a chandelier made from champagne glasses), designed the yellow coffee table with the chrome racing stripe, and re-did the doors on the existing credenza to match the bar. (Luckily her client already had a fantastic sofa-- just making new pillows from vintage scarves and Marimekko fabrics added the final touch)
Jill's current specialty is large-scale graphic design for walls. Each wall is a piece of custom installation art, personalized and tailored to each individual client and space. Walls may be painted, texturized, applied vinyl, embedded with objects, silver-leafed or a combination of the above. Works are also available on canvas for clients who would like to take their murals with them when they move.