Coco & June's New Studio

I first met Emily Kurth several years ago, when she was running her creative business, Coco & June, from home. As we toured her house and her bright basement studio, she told me how she came to spend her days doing something she loves—making abstract art.

“I’ve always been self-directed,” she said, “structuring my days based on what feels good at the moment. But for a long time, I thought ‘That’s not what successful people do.’”

Turns out, she was wrong.

Coco & June began years ago when Emily and a friend decided to monetize something they were already doing—refinishing old furniture. That work required a very clean space (free of the dog hair that Emily’s golden retriever Augie can’t help but shed), as well as a lot of moving and heavy lifting. When Emily’s business partner took a new job, Emily changed course.

She began selling lifestyle goods, including hand-painted wooden signs and shirts she designed. (I still have and love a tank top she made back then that says ‘Stay Wild.’) Her signs proved popular and sold well. Even so, after a while Emily began feeling a pit in her stomach every time someone ordered one. She realized she was just making what would sell.

She explained all this—as well as her love of abstract painting—to a photographer who presented at a conference and spoke about her own career shift. The presenter told Emily it was time for a change.

Emily returned home to find the computer she’d used to create all of her sign designs had crashed. Nothing could be saved.

And yet? Emily felt a sense of relief. It seemed to be a sign. (Sometimes the puns just happen.) She shifted gears and began focusing on abstract painting.

Fast forward a year and a half, and things have shifted once again. This May Emily opened a public studio space at 1195 Pineview Drive.

This time the new opportunity came to her.

When Emily first received an email from interior designer Laura Davis Stone asking about her paintings, she thought it was a hoax. It wasn’t until Laura approached her in a coffee shop that she realized her mistake. Laura began using Emily’s paintings in her design work and encouraged Emily to move into the building she’s been renovating in Suncrest, which houses Laura’s interior design studio and boutique, Edgar Rae.

“I’ve been around long enough to know that when something like this falls in your lap,” Emily told me, “You say Yes.”

I’m so glad she did. Her paintings are lovely in person, and it’s powerful to see a whole series of them all together. She’s also selling cards, prints, mugs, and other goods featuring images from her paintings. In the coming months she plans to hold small painting classes in the space.

Her studio can be found around the back side of the building for now, but eventually you’ll be able to access it from upstairs as well. (And I think she’d want me to tell you that she will soon be getting a new door, which will complete the lovely cohesive look she’s created inside.)

Go check it out. You’ll be glad you did.

Buy Local: Fairmont's Arts & Antiques Marketplace

You know that phenomenon where once you start looking for something, you see it everywhere? (It’s called the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon if you’re interested.) It’s been happening to me with local creative businesses. My latest find is a good one, especially for anyone who’s in need of unique quality furniture, memorabilia, or local art.

Juliana Claudio runs the Arts & Antiques Marketplace, which is located in the Fairmont Mercantile in downtown Fairmont.

The building contains three floors of art and antiques and includes both vendor-run sections and consignment items. The depth and variety is impressive.

You’ll find furniture that’s been restored and given new life with chalk paint.

Carefully curated collections of vintage Pyrex and Fiestaware

Cleverly repurposed vintage items

Unique visual art, 3D pieces, and jewelry

A large collection of wedding and other fancy gowns

Some truly amazing quilted, upholstered furniture

And the occasional midcentury find.

On the third floor is a large bright gallery space that currently holds an exhibit curated by Jane Cardi, a local Morgantown artist who is also Juliana’s grandmother. This space overlooks the location of Fairmont’s Hometown Market, which I wrote about a few months ago, and is available for future exhibits.

In addition to curating this extensive collection, Juliana has several other projects in the works. She and her husband are renovating a nearby historic building, which will become their home in the coming months. Her sister company, Embellishments, offers event planning, event styling and staging using items from the Marketplace, as well as event makeup.

This is how it starts, friends. As I learned recently from a presentation about the amazing transformation of sleepy Richwood, WV, a few good businesses can lead the way to others. I’m excited to see what happens next in downtown Fairmont.

Black Bear Burritos' Fresh New Look

Closed for Covid

One thing that really struck me about the Covid-19 pandemic is just how universal its effect was. Bad or good, it changed something for virtually everyone. Here in Morgantown we lost an institution when Black Bear Burritos closed its original downtown location last winter. My friends and I watched our kids grow up in that place. For years, it was the only spot in town that offered tasty, healthy food, live music that drowned out the kids’ noise, AND delicious craft beer (which made us care a little less when our kids ran around like banshees, hid under benches, and shook the candy dispenser repeatedly while we ate our dinner).

Entrance Before

Lucky for us, Black Bear’s second location lives on across town. And while the closing of the original saddened many, many people, it also opened the door for something new. The owners decided to turn the extended closure caused by Covid into an opportunity for a refresh. Though the Evansdale restaurant was vibrant and successful in its own right pre-Covid, the “Before” pictures you see here show it in its take-out only phase, filled with much of the art and memorabilia they’d collected in 17 years downtown, as well as extra kitchen equipment, signs, and seating. Those of you who know me well can surely imagine my excitement when Jason and Matt told me earlier this year that I could help pick paint colors and move some art around. I could hardly wait to get started.

The first thing I did was to research what colors work best in restaurants. I found multiple articles (such as this one) about the psychology of colors and why and where they should be used. (Red and yellow make you want to eat fast and leave. Using green in a bar makes people feel ill. Orange makes you want to indulge.) Based on my research, I decided to keep the vibrant orange that was already behind the bar (Have another beer!) but bring in another color to tone it down a bit. I liked the idea of green, both because it’s in their logo and because it’s associated with fresh, healthy food. (While they’ve got enough meat and cheese to satisfy any carnivore (even weekly burger specials), they’re one of the few places here that offers plenty of veggies, plus beans, tofu, and jackfruit. I think that’s worth highlighting.)

Entrance Before, with test colors

I pride myself on my eye for color, so I surprised myself a little when I painted three shades of green on the walls and liked none of them. I returned to the Chestnut Brew Works Halleck poster that hangs in the bar area, which had been my original color palette inspiration, and then headed back to Lowes for more samples.

The second time was a charm: everyone liked the next round of greens. And so the refresh began. Fast forward several months, and I’ve since painted all but two walls in the restaurant, helped hang almost all the art, and added some paint and plants to the patio. It’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Along the way, I also designed a Black Bear sticker and photographed the entire menu for their new online ordering system. This is my first commercial gig, and let me tell you, I loved every minute of it.

I painted the walls at the entrance green to give it more of a presence. Jason hung four stained glass pieces from downtown in the windows and enlisted the help of the arborist who created the wall covering of circular wood cuts downtown to re-construct it on the first wall you see when you walk in. It really sets the tone. I like how the warm wood pops against the green backdrop.

I continued the green from that wall onto the two walls that lead to the counter where you place your order but left the orange on the low wall beside the booths for a nice contrast. I was pleasantly surprised by how much this change made both the bicycle tire lights (sponsored by Pathfinder) and the Eddie Spaghetti mural on the low wall stand out.

Jason had the idea of painting the big square pillar behind the counter turquoise, to tie into the accent wall we did across the restaurant. We hung the bold bear paw paintings created by Jason’s artist buddy Ryan Lincicome on the entrance wall and behind the counter and put an awesome new Eddie Spaghetti bike print on the pillar.

We filled the wall behind the bar with brewery signs and other bar-related kitch and switched out the booths for high-tops to create a more cohesive feel. I painted the wall at the far end of the bar area orange too, as well as the wall that wraps around into additional seating to designate that whole side of the restaurant as the “bar area.”

I also rehung some of the existing art, moving it down a bit to make the space feel more intimate.

We added a turquoise accent wall at the back and painted the wooden silhouette of musicians (by Roland Hunn) black to make it pop against the orange.

In the hall leading to the bathrooms, I hung all their awards and plaques on one wall and a collection of WVU-themed memorabilia on the other. I painted the doors to the bathrooms and offices black to hide dirt and add some contrast.

I painted both bathrooms green and the stalls black and added some art and mirrors.

I carried the green around behind the stage, and Jason had a new light installed to shine on the wall to the right, which will eventually hold local artists’ work.

Jason and Matt decided to incorporate what was once a private dining room into the rest of the restaurant by cutting a large window into the wall it shares with the larger space. I painted two of its walls a warm, glowing yellow and hung all the outdoor-themed artwork in that room together.

This was by far my biggest project to date. And while I certainly love doing houses, it’s pretty exciting to redo something that everyone in town can see. Want to check it out? Now you can. After a year of serving take-out only, Black Bear is finally back. Doors open for dine-in tomorrow, May 3.

I hope the new decor makes you love your burritos (and burgers and tacos and queso) even more.

Betsy and Kent's House: Before and After

When I walk by an interesting house at night, I can’t help glancing in the windows to see how it looks inside. I know some people think that’s wrong, but I’m just so curious. I often wish someone would offer me a tour. For those of you who feel the same, I bring you this virtual tour of my mom and step-dad’s new house renovation (which I photographed but did not decorate, aside from the occasional consult).

Exterior Before

For many years Mom and Kent have talked about building a house. They looked and looked for the right piece of property, but they just couldn’t find what they wanted. So instead of buying an empty piece of land, they bought a house just outside of town that abuts the rail trail and the river.

Exterior After

I must confess, when they first bought this place, I was not convinced. It’s fairly new construction, the finishes weren’t to my taste or theirs, and it didn’t have much character to speak of. But they had great vision, as well as the help of Jodyn, a truly talented builder who is also Kent’s son.

Entryway Before

Not only does Jodyn have great technical skills, but he brings his own creative ideas and sense of design. His craftsmanship is tight, which you can see here in the entryway stairs he completely transformed.

Entryway After

Living Room Before

They painted the interior walls throughout the entire house white, which used to be a no-no, but has come back in recent years.

Living Room After

Living Room After

They changed out fixtures in all the bathrooms and gave the kitchen a major overhaul.

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

Jodyn added an addition to the back of the house that extended the kitchen significantly and added a dining space beyond it. The addition is flanked on either side by porches, which are joined by a wraparound deck. Floor to ceiling windows and skylights make the space dramatic and amazingly bright.

New Addition

Exterior View of Addition

This is their retirement home, so naturally it has not only a hot tub, but also an outdoor kitchen with both a cooktop and a grill. They repurposed cabinets from the house’s original kitchen and painted them black.

Outdoor Kitchen and Hot Tub!

No retirement home would be complete without a designated bar area, right?

More kitchen cabinets were repurposed in the laundry room, this time painted a bright, cheery green. It almost makes laundry seem fun.

Laundry Room After

Jodyn custom-built this beautiful vanity for the powder room off the main entryway out of wood sawed by our multi-talented friend Daniel Raines.

Downstairs Powder Room

Den Before

Den After

Jodyn added floor-to-ceiling built-in shelves in the den, which give it a cozy library feel.

Den After

Side Entry

This side entry leads out to the detached garage on one side and to the hot tub on the other.

Mother-in-Law Suite Before

Shortly after the former owners built the house, one of their mothers became ill, so they turned their garage into an attached mother-in-law suite with a full kitchen, bedroom, and bath.

Mother-in-Law Suite After

Mom is now using that space as a studio and workout area. She wasted no time after retiring last year and immediately started painting, which she’s been too busy to do for years. She’s been experimenting with new techniques and has already produced several really great abstracts. And here I was worried she wouldn’t know what to do with herself after so many years of working.

Mother-in-Law Suite Bedroom After

Top-of-the-Stairs Nook Before

Top-of-the-Stairs Nook After

Upstairs they replaced carpet with hardwood that matches what’s downstairs. All the walls were painted white there too, and the doors black. The black doors are another thing I wouldn’t have believed until I saw it (though it is certainly a trend). Suddenly those inexpensive hollow doors look very sophisticated.

Front Bedroom Before

Front Bedroom After

Back Bedroom Before

Back Bedroom After

Upstairs Bath Before

Upstairs Bath After

In addition to switching out all the fixtures in the upstairs bath, they added a small round skylight that makes it seem as though there’s a light on all the time.

Master Bedroom Before

Master Bedroom After

Master Bedroom to Bath Before

Master Bedroom to Bath After

Master Bath Before

Master Bath After

Master Bath After

It’s truly an amazing space that only a few people have been able to see, thanks to this stupid pandemic. I know I’m not alone when I say this thing needs to end soon. We are all SO ready to come back together and christen this house with its very first (dare I say epic?) family party.

My House: Before and After

When the pandemic first hit, I felt a burst of creative energy. I painted walls, built a giant game of outdoor Jenga, and added my interpretation of barn art to my shed. I took Coban on photo walks and felt inspired.

Fast forward nearly a year, and several months have passed since I last felt like taking out my camera. But I did today because I decided to show you something I’ve been working on for 7.5 years: my house. I like nothing better than a good before and after. So here it goes.

Exterior Before, circa 2013

The house was white when I found it, like so many others in Morgantown. (I never really noticed that until a friend from Louisiana saw pictures once and asked if there’d been a sale on white paint.) Very cute, I thought, and in that bungalow style I’ve always liked.

Since then I had it painted, put on a new roof, and extended the garden all the way across the front. If you look closely, you can see that the mulch on the hill stopped awkwardly halfway across before. My neighbor gave me a few of the yellow flowers in the photo below, and they spread like crazy. Just what I need on a hillside that’s almost too steep to weed.

Exterior After

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

The kitchen is probably the room I’ve changed the least in the whole house. I put in this new pendant light over the sink (and when I say me, I mean my kind friend Genesis) and painted the walls, but everything else is pretty much the same. I still like the maple Shaker cabinets, dated as they may be.

Dining Room Before

Kitchen to Dining Room After

The dining room brightened up quite a bit with new grey paint. The faux wallpaper was a Covid-era addition. Turns out I had a $3 sample paint in the basement that matched my recently painted green cabinet perfectly. I kept the silver pendant lights over the bar for years until I changed them out a couple years ago for slightly larger, more shapely red pendants.

Living Room Fireplace Before

Living Room Fireplace After

Living Room Fireplace After (before the logs got soaked with soot and leaking water)

The previous owners had modernized the fireplace by covering it in drywall and adding a new mantel, but it felt a little bare to me. It was just begging for some built-in shelves to flank it, as you often see in Craftsman bungalows. Luckily, my dad is an excellent woodworker, and he built them to fit.

For several years I filled the empty fireplace (no longer functional, sadly) with logs from a dead pear tree Dad cut down in my yard. But I took them all out when water and soot rained down on them several years back. The giant mirror I found in my childhood attic does a nice job of hiding the empty hole and reflects light from the window across the room.

Living Room Before

Living Room After

This living room is a good example of how a few changes can go a long way. I opened it up by making two seating areas—one facing the TV and another flanking the fireplace. I painted the walls grey and the staircase and baseboards white to match the rest of the trim. I tried to minimize the effect of the giant television (it came with the house) by hanging art all around it. I kept the existing curtain rod but moved it up and hung very long Ikea curtains that span from floor to ceiling.

Sunroom Before

Sunroom After

The sunroom stayed as it was for years until finally I painted it the same grey as the rest of the downstairs, which helped tie everything together. My stepdad and I installed laminate flooring last year after I impulsively ripped out all the carpet (that still smelled from my dog Roux, nearly 6 years after she died). Good thing too, as Coban and I are both using this room most days now for work and school. Rehanging the curtain rods and getting longer curtains made a huge difference here too.

Stairway Before

Stairway After

I decided to leave a “runner” of natural wood on the stairs because I know how scuffed painted stairs can look. Having the white along the side of the treads also helps ease the transition between the painted baseboard and railing and the unpainted stairs.

Coban’s Room Before

Coban’s Room After

One of the first things I did when I moved in was to hire contractors to install fake bead board on the ceilings upstairs, as well as new baseboards and trim around the windows. (I priced drywall too, but it was ungodly expensive.) The previous owners had done a lot of work downstairs, but the bedrooms still had drop ceilings with brown plastic pieces separating each tile, and there was no trim around the doors or windows. With new ceilings and trim, the existing paneling on the walls suddenly looked charming and cottagy.

My Bedroom Before

My Bedroom After

The biggest design issue in my room is that the window is not centered in its space. Once I hung curtains on either side, you can’t tell at all.

Bathroom Before

Bathroom After

I wanted to try a dark, dramatic bathroom look, and this one has enough natural light to pull it off. It came with gold fixtures, which is not what I’d choose, but I decided to keep them after I priced new towel racks and faucets. To make it work, I got a bunch of gold frames from junk stores and filled them with posters and art from calendars. I found a little chandelier for $10 at a flea market, which seemed fitting with the clawfoot tub and the “fancy” gold frames.

Bathroom Sink Before

Bathroom Sink After

I replaced the pedestal sink with an Ikea vanity, which offers a lot more storage and a place to set things down. I just couldn’t bring myself to buy a gold faucet and went with silver instead. I spray painted the towel racks to match and found the mirror at TJ Maxx for $25.

Back Porch Before

Back Porch After

When I moved in, the back porch (which is our main entry) was covered in astroturf. Its walls were clad in a mix of aluminum and vinyl siding that didn’t match the rest of the house. My stepdad and I ripped all that out and replaced the floor with deck boards. We put shakes on the walls and built a privacy screen at the back. Two new lights and a new mailbox, and voila. It may be a carport porch, but we use this space a LOT. It’s like having an extra outdoor room.

And there you have it. My house is pretty much done. I’d move to a new one if I could just to do it all again, but that’s not in the cards just yet. Which means I need new projects! I’ve got one big one in the works, which I’ll be sharing as soon as it’s finished. Stay tuned! (It’s pretty exciting.)