Midwest Home Tour: A Warm & Rustic Artists’ Bungalow
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Jake and Taylor Fowler both own small businesses in Tulsa–Taylor’s floral and event planning business, Ever Something, and Jake’s furniture design business, Jake Fowler Design. As we’ve long admired the Fowlers’ aesthetic, we couldn’t wait to take a look inside their home. The Fowlers bought their 1932 brick bungalow five years ago before they were engaged and spent time fixing it up together before they got married. Now they share it with their children, Goldie and Vale, and their dog Posey. Enjoy the Q&A with Jake and Taylor and the tour of their home below.
What do you love most about your space? We love that it's light and airy, it's (for the most part) not cluttered but still feels comfortable. It's eclectic and doesn't lean towards a really specific design. It's a peaceful place to live in!
What is your favorite home project you've completed? We love our kitchen although it's not 100% complete yet. We demolished the kitchen as soon as we got the keys and every year we accomplish a little more on it. We always loved the space in the kitchen, but we love it more now that we're adding unique elements to it.
You decorate with objects that have meaning and history. Tell us about one of these special pieces. We have a ton of tiny objects that we love for different reasons, but I've always loved our old (and falling apart) pantry that we took out of an old abandoned school. It was upstairs where the floor was falling through and I just remember telling Jake that if we didn't take it that it would just sit there and rot away. It's just a really cute chipped up cabinet that they probably used as a book shelf.
Also, tell us about one of the pieces that Jake has made for your home. Jake has made a lot of pieces for our home over the years, but since he's really developed his skills he made me the most beautiful dining table. I've been hinting that I would love a new table for several years so to get to pick out the wood and watch it come together so perfectly was pretty incredible. He also made sure that I helped in the sanding stages of the table!
We know you love thrifting and vintage shopping– tell us about your favorite find. We love our old farmhouse sink. Jake and I got it on our first long road trip together to Colorado. We hopped on Craigslist and found it on the way! I became obsessed with farmhouse sinks after we bought our house and dreamed of having one.
Favorite places to find furniture and home decor in Tulsa? Estate sales and the flea market are our favorite to find furniture pieces but Retro Den is probably the only store that we've bought vintage furniture from. Our first couch was from the original Retro Den. :)
Where do you get inspiration for decorating your home? Spaces we've seen from other states and countries as well as artists that we follow on social media. We don't search out for inspiration very often, so we tend to get inspired by everything around us.
What are your favorite design blogs and/or Instagram accounts to follow? Studiomcgee, Saarmanche, deVol Kitchens, Sawkille Company
How have you influenced one another's decorating style? Jake and I definitely feed off of each other in our style and design choices. We love shopping and thrifting together, and the more we do so the more we're drawn to similar items.
How would you describe your combined aesthetic? That's a really hard question because I'm not sure if we know, haha. Jake likes modern design but we both love vintage/retro pieces. We love the nostalgia and history.
Do you have a process you all follow when decorating a space? There really isn't a process. We talk often about our home and dreams of what we'd like to do and then little by little we add to the spaces. Everything is a very slow process in our home.
Why do you think it's important to have vintage pieces in your home? It always creates stories and dialogue. It's honestly so fun to talk about why we were drawn to a certain piece or where we found it or just that it's living on past its time.
Why do you think it's important, worthwhile to have a beautiful home? We just feel like your home should be your resting place. It should feel good and peaceful and comfortable and filled with things that make you happy.
What do you love about Tulsa right now? We love the community that is Tulsa! It's so unique to any other place we've visited and we're just so excited to be in it.
We do collaborative interior design.
We offer a fresh perspective and helping hands!
