See where we live and work!
Bright Bright Great was featured this week in Apartment Therapy’s Unplgdd Tech Tour because besides working good, we work in style.

Here’s what we had to say.

Unplggd Tech Tour Survey Apartment Therapy

Name: The Sweetness / Bright Bright Great

Location: 4131 W Belmont Ave, Chicago IL , USA

Size: 1200 sq. ft.

Years lived in: 3.5

1. Our style:

Sexy modern urban soft loft.

2. The inspiration for our home office:
Jocelyn: Simple and pretty: shiny whites, bold accent colors & fun accessories. Museum and design shrine.

We wanted to keep the walls as large white canvases that we could decorate with art as we went. The big pink wall is a throwback to Mexican pink as well as a shrine to the work of Jon Burgerman.

Jason: I like toys.

3. Favorite element in our space:

Jocelyn: Our pink wall. I love standing next to it and take pictures. Also, cement walls and ceiling, you don’t hear a thing and can sleep like you mean it.

Jason: The bed. It’s a Vera Wang Pink Ribbon edition. I know I should totally be pitching our awesome studio space, but the bed makes all the hard work worth it. When I was shopping for mattresses I went into the store and slept for 30 minutes on every mattress. Once I sat down I knew it was the one.

4. Biggest challenge in designing our space:

The lack of space. We live in a 1200 sq. ft. soft loft that needs to share space with a design company. It’s a bit loud and crazy, but we manage.

Because we dedicated our second bedroom to our office, there’s no room for overnight guests. Sorry, family.

5. What friends say about our space:

Heard at BBG: “This is like a museum.”

Also: “I’m afraid to touch the walls.” Right after: “Uh-oh I just touched the wall.”

Latest: “I’m going to bring my girlfriend over to show her how cool your place is.”

6. Area where there is room for improvement/future projects:

Is trying to fit a second bed somewhere too ambitious?

7. Proudest DIY (do it yourself) project:

Putting together the Elfa system and painting the pink/grey room.

Actually, putting that room together was hard because it isn’t huge (that’s what… never mind.)

Because of the layout of the room, it was a little hard to fit two desks, all of our books, some guitars and a couch, and we were very picky about styling it right and only once so we searched endlessly until we found the perfect fit.

Now we have a place to put a lot of books, toys and papers away, long pretty desks, lots of drawers to keep post its and sharpies away, and that massive Elfa shelving unit that saved our life. Our couch is a comfortable plus.

8. Biggest indulgence with respect to my space:

We wanted to do something with the wall behind our TV in the main room, but didn’t really want to just paint it, so we went to the Merchandise Mart looking for interesting tiles to cover that wall up, floor to ceiling.

After much looking, we decided on a light/dusty grey Italian tile meant to be used on floors. After reassurance from the store that the wall wasn’t going to collapse on our DVR/Wii, we went for it.

We found a great contractor and got to it. Those things were so heavy that the first night all the work the guy did came down because of their weight. He had to start over the next day. In the end we had a cleaning celebration party.

9. Best advice about organizing or incorporating tech into the home:

Invest in a good organization system. The Elfa system from The Container Store saved our  pack rat souls. It’s not even that expensive or hard to assemble and it’ll stop your Dwight Schrute/Jim Halpert fights about space once and for all. Cleaning up every once in a while doesn’t hurt either.

Also, go wireless as much as you can. Cords don’t only make things look ugly and are a pain when moving things around, but you can also trip on them a lot.

10. Dream source for stuff:

Jason: Anything Herman Miller, or 1960 Charles Eames.

Jocelyn: Someone’s old house to turn doors into tables and such (much to Jason’s hate), Sergio Bustamante bronze, the MCA store, Zara Home, IKEA, Roche Bobois, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Unica Home, Sur la Table, Luminaire, Etsy.

Resources

We have been branded and we have it all:

Zara, Apple, Nike, Puma, Print, Beautiful Decay, Adidas, Asics, New Balance, HTC, Samsung, Kidrobot, Chuck Anderson, Jon Burgerman, Domo, Tiffany & Co., IKEA, Department of the Treasury, HP, Western Digital, Logitech, Hello Kitty, Mighty Muggs, Dwell, Adobe, Threadless, Express, Mexican street vendors, H&M, Dania, The Container Store, Gap, The MCA, The Land of Nod, Canon, DKNY, Sergio Bustamante, Tokyo Flash, Paper Source, Mango, Bershka, Viktor & Rolf, Amazon, Lolita Lempicka, Zara Home, Sur La Table, KitchenAid, Banana Republic, Rick Bayless, Coca-Cola, Nintendo Wii (Super Mario Bros. Wii, we’re thinking of you), Logitech, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, San Miguel de Allende Mexico, The Painted Lady Chicago.

Tech Hardware:

Technology: Apple, HTC, Logitech, Samsung, Western Digital, HP, Canon.

Appliances: Kitchenaid, Sur La Table, Cuisinart, Hello Kitty, Frigidaire, Samsung.

Furniture: Dania, CB2, Crate & Barrel, Herman Miller.

Accessories: IKEA, The MCA Store, Marvel, Kidrobot, Zara Home, Mercado de Artesanias San Miguel de Allende Mexico.

Lighting: CB2, Crate & Barrel, IKEA.

Organizing Tools/Accessories: The Container Store, Elfa, IKEA, Target.

Art: Chuck Anderson, Jon Burgerman, Dania, Jason Schwartz, Department of the Treasury (really.)

We always like talking about living within design, if you want to keep chatting, contact us

Awesome pictures taken by Jacob Hand of Jacob Hand Photography and Jocelyn Ibarra of Bright Bright Great.

See every picture and read the full article here.

Posted by: Jocelyn Ibarra
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Oh yes.
It’s now official. Download Now. (Link only available for 2 weeks).
PS, how dope are those Air Jordans?

Check out our other downloads (IE iPhone Wallpaper) on the Downloads page.

Posted by: Jason Schwartz
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Yep, you read that right… TWO!

Bright Bright Great is the proud winner of two 2008 American Graphic Design Awards for their design work with TuffEnuff Pet and Agent511. A round of applause goes to Jocelyn Ibarra for her project management, Jason Schwartz for the rockstar design work and additional project direction, and Roger Cady for the flawless coding.

Posted by: Jason Schwartz
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This baby was floating around the internet without any cover art, so I though I would lend a design hand to Sigur Ros. If you have the live show, you should probably download this cover art to complement it.

Posted by: Jason Schwartz
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