Monday, November 22, 2010

Design + Me = Love

This week is my parents 25th anniversary and all our family and friends gathered together to suprise them with a party. It was wonderful to have everyone together again. When parties or holidays are around these days, I try to take a step back to make sure appreciate what is happening at that time. This morning I began reflecting on how happy everyone was and from there my mind went into how happy I am in my life right now. Then of course, me being typical me, I began with questions! Am I where I should be in life, am I doing everything the way I would if I had a do-over? I know I am meant to be a mom and wife, was I meant to be a designer? Then I saw a beautiful room in this months Rue Online Magazine and realized I LOVE DESIGN more than ever. Next to family and friends comes design in my life and I wouldn't have it anyother way!

Rue%20Magazine%20Holiday%202010

Rue%20Magazine%20Holiday%202010

Friday, November 19, 2010

Distrubing? HPFM-4

I have promised some readers I would post some pieces I saw at High Point that I described as "disturbing". I was hesitant to do so after thinking about it, because some people may not agree, but then I thought...well that makes it that even more fun to read all the comments, so please leave as many comments as you wish! And I do hope no one takes offense, it's all for fun! Now, lets begin with body parts!!!! (Wow, that sounds awful!)

Now don't get me wrong, I know art can be created in a million different ways for a million different points of view, but I just don't think I want to stare a a foot on my cocktail table! Below are a few more body parts, but trust me, they were EVERYWHERE for some reason...



And the winner for the most disturbing body part goes to...

The spilt torso.

I am a huge animal lover but the below images are just a little off to me...





And the winner for the most disturbing animal goes to...

One creepy horse!

This sure is a different way to view yourself in a mirror!

I am not sure if they are dancing in the unusually high chairs or if they need to find the nearest restroom!

This is by far the winner for the most disturbing piece of art this year at HPFM.

I promise, my next blog will be a happy one on a beautiful interior!

Monday, November 15, 2010

In Living Color...HPFM-3

As I promised, here are more of the colors I fell in love with at High Point. Which is your favorite?













Thursday, November 11, 2010

In Living Color...HPFM-2

Continuing on with my posts on the latest trends we saw at HPFM...COLOR!!!!! As a designer, I of course LOVE using color. What I am glad to not see was America's #1 color, beige. Beautiful, vibrant colors were all the rave, YEAH!

Different hues of pinks and raspberries are very hot right now (and in my opinion they are always hot!). This raspberry colored sofa pops right off of the blue wall.

The pink in this room is just the right hue to be sophisticated and whimsical at the same time!

The raspberry repeated on the artwork, ottoman and pillow adds a great punch of color. I love the chair fabric, and the contrast tufting was everywhere this market.


Not only do I love the pink in the fabric but I also love the pink and green detail on the wood!

A pink lazy Susan! Fun fact: It is believed Thomas Edison invented the lazy Susan because his daughter Susan always complained she was served last! But, documentation says Vanity Fair coined the term lazy Susan in an advertisement in 1917. Anyways...

Making a new modern statement this year is blush. Although much of the blush you see is still in a traditional setting, the modern room settings are very glamorous.

Replacing beige this year is gray. It is being paired with all sorts of colors and seems to be dominating the neutral world!

For a modern twist- Gray and a Green/Gold!

Using gray as your "all over" color is a great neutral but adding a few hints of orange adds enough color to bring life to the gray.

I have many photographs to show of all the wonderful colors so look for "In Living Color Part 2"!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

It's Almost Here

The glitter and sparkle that is filling the retail stores always puts me in the mood for some holiday decorating. I am always a fan of the Biltmore Estate, which is decorated to perfection every year.

I am excited to start! Contact me if you need some decorating done in your home for the season, or any time of year for that matter!

Monday, November 1, 2010

1 Fabric, 2 Fabrics, 3 Fabrics, More! HPFM-I

Since I have returned from HPFM (High Point Furniture Market, and yes I know it was weeks ago!) I have been wanting to blog about the wonderful, and not so wonderful, finds. I will try and catch everyone up quickly but it will take a few blogs.
One of my favorite looks involves using more than one fabric on a piece of furniture. This combined with the wonderful colors that were displayed made for some BEAUTIFUL eye candy!

Although everything is very traditional on this chair I feel it has a very modern twist. The mixture of wood, metal, hounds tooth, and red leather makes for a striking "traditional" chair with an updated feel.

One trend I saw a lot of was pink. Not the soft pink we saw years ago, but the strong, bold, wonderful pink you see in this chair. I am personally in love with this chair. Note how the pink is actually dominating the floral, which is usually not the case.

Upon first glance you may think this is just a traditional dining chair done with the traditional mix of leather and fabric. Look again and you realize how beautiful it truly is. The fabric, leather, wood tone, and nail head work wonderfully together but what I really love is how they played with the leather. The band of leather framing the fabric rather than wood just adds to its elegance.


Hello beautiful! I have always loved this shade of blue and the crisp white background of the pattern just makes it pop!

For those of you that have had the opportunity to use/see this fabric in person...lucky you! The photograph does not do it justice.The color is so intense that pairing with the the neutral leather was a great call. This pattern speaks for itself, but the whole ottoman in it just wouldn't have looked as good as it does with a tone down!