Some couples run together. Others design. Shay Ometz and husband Jeff Barfoot do the latter. Together, they are co-creators, designers and art directors for Bee Things, a company that designs prints, apparel and products for “kiddos.” Separately, Shay is a senior art director at Fossil, and Jeff is the principal at Barfoot Worldwide, his design firm. When these two creatives came together to design their home, the outcome was as quirky and cool as they are, a style with a sense of humor and energy that is also embodied by their two shaggy-haired boys, 3 ½-year-old Calder (aka “Calder-man”), and 1-year-old Miles (aka “Milo”).
On a rather hot and humid mid-summer Texas evening, the family of four unwinds in the kitchen of their Forest Hills home, and treats their guests (photographer Stephen and me) with offerings of wine and savory bites. Clues such as letters and ampersands hint at their design trade in the communal gathering place. As Barfoot opens a bottle of “Recovery Red” wine, he admits with a grin that he picks his wine like most things in his life, based on humor.
Glasses of Recovery Red in hand, the crowd heads outside to the stand-alone studio where Shay and Jeff create their much-adored Bee Things screen prints. Populated with slight hills and lush trees, it’s no surprise why the couple fell in love with the 1960s-era house. It was “really different,” expresses Ometz. Indeed it is really different, if only for the fact that everything is original to the home (even the light fixtures), except for the updated stainless steel appliances and blond hardwood floors. Barfoot opens wide the studio doors; the interior doors are painted with the Bee Things logo and graphics. Both Ometz and Barfoot took screen printing in college, and decided on this medium since it was the least toxic and a “really organic” process, explains Ometz. The dynamic duo aren’t the only ones creating art in the studio, but Calder will often tag along and draw as his mom and dad work, making it a family affair.
Back in the house, there seems to be a minimal number of toys for two growing boys. Ometz points out that playthings are kept in almost every room of the house, but looking around there’s no evidence of clutter. The trick was having felt bins made especially for toys and blending in the functional storage with every other colorful collection throughout the home. Even under a vintage card catalog (a favorite eBay find of the petite mom’s), the felt bins blend with the colorful aesthetic of the living room, where multiple Bee Things adorn the walls.
“I like everything; that’s my problem,” says Ometz with a shrug, a fact that’s evident by looking around her home. A collector of many things (globes, chairs, birds and owls—“I go in phases,” admits the seasoned art director), the only thing that changed when kids came into the picture is that “everything moved up,” which may be one of the reasons why the boys don’t get into anything around the house but their toys. But of all their collections, none stand up to the collection of books that Ometz and Barfoot have amassed both separately and together.
With quirky creatives such as Ometz and Barfoot, it’s no wonder that color and character are two things you can’t get away from in their family home. It’s a home that’s well-designed, without looking stuffy, colorful without being overwhelming and energetic without feeling hyperactive. But most of all, it exudes a warmth and sense of happiness that stays with you, even after the front door closes.
