See Y'all Later

I'm off to North Carolina today to visit the Hickory Chair factory and showrooms! After hearing Suzanne Kasler talk about how she designed her new furniture line, I can't wait to see how it's made. Cassandra of Coco + Kelly and Franki of Life in a Venti Cup took the tour last time and I was sad that I couldn't join them on that trip! I am looking forward to getting out of town and will definitely take lots photos and report back next week but right now I'm off to finish packing. See ya'll later!

The Sport of Kings and Hot Men

If you need something to do Saturday, May 30th, then I suggest you head over to Governors Island for some champagne and divot stomping at the Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic. Usually polo is played in more bucolic settings like Bridgehampton or Argentina so a match in Manhattan seems a bit out of place but not completely without precedent. Apparently, they used to play polo on the island in the 1930's and 40's. Who knew?! Britian's spare heir, Prince Harry will be playing, as will the only man capable of upstaging royalty, the muy caliente Nachos Figueras. Better start brushing up on your Spanish now ladies because where there is one handsome Argentine polo player, there are many! Adios Amigos!

Williams Sonoma at Home

I was leafing through the March 2008 issue of House Beautiful when I saw a photo of chairs on a stair landing that reminded me of the new Williams-Sonoma Home store in New York. When I looked closer, one of the names of the designers, David DeMattei, sounded familiar. Then I realized that he is the group president for Williams-Sonoma and I actually met him at the opening party last fall. The home has a Williams-Sonoma feeling but is not a literal translation of the store. I'm swamped with work so for more information, you can check out the details at House Beautiful online. Bon Weekend!

Photos by Jose Picayo

Unsung Heros - Thanks a Zillion

When I travel and meet with people who have my books it is such a thrill for me to hear how much they have enjoyed them and how they are making their jobs a bit easier. I always think about all of the work that goes into writing a book and what it takes to bring it to market.

My Fabulous Editor - Madge Baird

When you first decide to write a book, especially one that is going to end up being almost 600 pages with thousands of illustrations, charts, graphs, etc, you really have no idea how much work it is going to require. You also don't know that it would be an impossible goal to achieve without the help of a very talented and hard working team of people who actually know what they are doing to help you along the way. My main miracle worker at Gibbs Smith Publisher is my editor Madge Baird.
Yes, her name is Madge - isn't that perfect?!! If you looked up the word editor in an encyclopedia I think you would find her picture. I love telling people that my editors' name is Madge - it sounds so literary! She is an amazing women who has put together my two books so beautifully from the raw (sometimes very raw) materials that I have given her. I am so excited for you to see what she has done with the Bedding book - it's fabulous. Anyway, thank you Madge from the bottom of my heart for making my dreams come true. I hope we can create more beautiful books together soon.

The Adorable Melissa Dymock

My next hero is Melissa Dymock, she's the one holding the "We Work for Books" bag! She has the unpleasant task of keeping all of my illustrations and other content for the book in order. This is no small task. For each book there are about 2600 drawings, half in color, half in black and white. They have to be number separately for the manuscript and then re-numbered for the CD-Rom. She is the poor soul that has to hound me to find or re-draw missing images that I swear I had included but of course I have not! I don't envy her task because it drives me crazy doing it on my end and I think I know where everything is. For her it must be like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle. Thanks Melissa! I'll be mailing that surprise I promised you soon...

I also appreciate the support and encouragement I have received from Suzanne Taylor and Christopher Robbins, two of the big wigs at GS. I think they took quite a chance on me in the beginning as my book was definitely not the norm for them. It had no beautiful glossy photographs or fancy prose. Just hundreds of drawings of window treatments. I am so thankful that they had the vision to see that there just might be something there.

There are many others at Gibbs Smith whom I have never met that contribute to putting my books together and I would like them all to know how grateful I am.

Writing and illustrating my books has been such a fabulous experience for me and it has opened so many doors and allowed me to meet so many wonderful people that I would never have encountered without it.

If you have a dream - don't be afraid to follow it - it could just lead you into a whole new world full of fun.........

Gryphon

I'm a sunny day kind of girl. There is nothing I love more than one of those top 10 weather days that are 75 degrees and without a cloud in the sky but I have a confession to make. I secretly enjoy gray days like the one we had in New York today. It has to be the right kind of gray day though. Cool but not humid. Cloudy but not rainy. One that feels Parisian and allows me to wear my favorite Gryphon trench. The one with the collar that can be turned up and has three quarter length sleeves. It makes me feel chic and so it's no surprise that the Gryphon showroom is also chic. The founder and designer behind the company, Aimee Cho, was a fashion writer at Vogue so that might have something to do with it or it could have something to do with her very chic parents who you can see on her blog. Aimee also designs a clothing line perfect for the sunny days so rain or shine, she's got you covered!

Bachelorette Pad Project Update

A few readers and friends have asked me why I haven't posted any client project updates lately. Since I just spent the day at the bachelorette pad, I thought it would be the perfect time to address them. Interior designers don't just snap their fingers and make a pretty completed projects appear. A lot of hard work and time go into them and I chose to share with my blog readers all aspects of my projects and some of the "during" photos aren't always styled to perfection. Of course, the projects you see in magazines are perfect because there is an army of workers who are paid to create them and professional photographers to shoot them. I have real clients with real budgets who need real solutions to their design needs. It's very easy to create beautiful interiors with an unlimited budget but I think it's actually more rewarding to try to work with what a client already owns and to try not to spend all their money if possible. Unless a designer steals a client from their old firm or knows someone willing to take a chance on them, most designers start with smaller projects.

The reason I mention this is because an anonymous nasty blog took photos of my work out of context and made disparaging remarks about them so for a while I decided not to give them any more ammunition. But then I realized that I don't care what one petty clearly miserable person who hides behind a cloak of anonymity and doesn't share any photos of their home or projects says about me. My clients like my work and that's all that matters so here's your update.

I just spent the day working on some projects so we can get the place wrapped up in a few weeks. Matthew Haley of The Furniture Joint picked up the plaid arm chair that we are having reupholstered and I ordered the fabric for new pillows, all of which should be ready in about 4 weeks and will really finish off the living room. I also hung more art including the new pieces that were bought at the Trowbridge Gallery for the living room and bedroom. We decided to hang the embroidered piece above the television and two other works above the bed. They really look great pull the bedroom together.

I also hung some other works in the bedroom which I can't wait to share with you after the bachelorette gets back from her vacation. I don't want to ruin the surprise! I also picked out some great family photos for a gallery style composition on the entry wall. I think it might need one more frame to complete it so after it's finished, I'll take more photos to show you next week. I also hung the entry mirror and need to go back on Friday to hang some plates on the kitchen wall. We did end up painting the kitchen a very dark blue. Since it is open and right off the entry, it needed something to make it more special and the color is perfect. She's also having a lovely Asian work of art reframed for the entry.

All that's really left is to finish off the apartment with a few accessories. I would love to have two topiaries on the entry table. There is no outlet on that side of the room for lamps and it still needs something. The bachelorette happens to be in Italy right now so I suggested she stop by Il Papiro for some desk accessories and I can't wait to see what she bought. The apartment is really starting to come together and I'm happy that we were able to use much of what she already owned. It's also a testament to the fact that you don't have to spend a ton of money to create a lovely and inviting home. I'll have more updates from this project and my other client's baby room next week. Oh, and I have a really fun trip to tell you about soon! Take that nasty anonymous blogger!

Photo by moi that wasn't staged or styled!

Fabulous Fun at Quilt Market or Traveling Part II

The second leg of our recent trip was packed with firsts for me. I'd never been to Pittsburgh, I have never attended a Quilt market and I was about to meet some fellow bloggers and extraordinarily gifted and creative women whom I had become friends with through the blogosphere. First I have to say that Pittsburgh was not at all the dark smokey industrial city I had imagined. It is green and beautiful and looks like a great place to live. We thought there were no cameras allowed at the show so I've had to borrow these great shots from other bloggers who were more prepared. Thanks




My first stop was at Michael Miller Fabrics and the inspirational booth of a new blogging pal the super talented interior designer and fabric maven Paula Prass. My good friend Kay Ellen Hammer introduces us via the web. Her fabrics are vibrant and full of color and energy which pretty much describes Paula as well. I didn't get a chance to visit with her for more than a moment at the show but spent about an hour with her on the phone yesterday. She is a sweetheart and is my kind of gal.



Let me tell you that there is a whole lot more than quilting going on at this show. Fabulous patterns for purses, kids clothing, home decor, and everything else under the sun are for sale at every booth. Paula line in particular is suited for home dec sewing.



Some of the displays were just adorable and the whole show was chock full of inspiration and new ideas. Loved these aprons displayed over tutus - Yummm

Met the queen of Midwest Modern, Amy Butler. She is one of those gals that just exudes style. Her booth was fresh and clean and swamped with devotees of her fresh style. This entire show was packed by the way and I am told that this is the years "small " show with the Fall show in Houston each year being the "big one".




Another blog buddy, designer Jennifer Paganelli ( sorry couldn't find a picture of her adorable booth) introduced me to new fabric designer Vickie Payne who was introducing a home dec fabric line. Loved her bold use of color and classic motifs that had a very current edge to them. I'm sure she will do very well with this new line which I understand is a departure from the norm at the Quilt show.




Lila Tueller is a Utah girl and is too cute for words. She actually made her mannequin friend with a pvc framework and some stuffing. Isn't she great? this was my daughter Angelica's favorite booth and I wish I had taken pictures. She had the greatest idea for creating simple fabric covers for those inexpensive fabric globe party lights. Angelica wants to make dozens of them. You can barely see one hanging in the back of this photo.





There were samples of bedding here along with the many quilts and traditional goods.




This fabric line, Thimble Blossoms is a mother daughter team and the daughter lives right here in Las Vegas. I tried to meet her but her booth was always full. I'll have to stalk her and track her down here in town.





Patty Young is a fabric designer whose blog I read and she posted right before market of how her husband had built this great booth in their garage and just as they had put the finishing touches on the garage door was mistakenly hit and the door took the booth down in one fell swoop! What a nightmare - luckily her talented hubby was able to put it back together and it looked great.





I've got to say that my eyes have been opened to a whole new busy bustling world of fabric and soft goods construction. I had no idea until just a few months ago that this world even existed and I am so glad I stumbled upon it - just another happy coincidence of blogging!!! Can't wait to go to the October show in Houston......

Happy Summer!

Although the calendar doesn't mark the beginning of summer until June 21st, Memorial Day always announces the unofficial start of summer. While it may be too cold for a dip in the ocean, there is the anticipation of lazy days spent baking in the sun, boating on the waves and shopping in quaint little villages. Happy Summer!

Photos by Christopher Baker

4 Months 24 -7 Later - A Collection is Taking Shape

Ok Buddies - here it is, the first cut of the JVT Collection for Adaptive Textiles. 18 classically hip patterns in three distinct colorways sure to fit your every need and desire! The suzani pattern was inspired by one of the first blogs I began reading years ago now - All the Best. Rhonda loves suzanis and ikats and I learned quite a bit from her blog about them.




This grouping is tentatively named happy because that's how I feel when I look at it. This whole "naming" thing is much harder than it seems. You want to give your creations names that are descriptive yet catchy without sounding cutesy or overly serious. Not an easy task....




The groupings are designed to mix well together with similar and contrasting colors. We are still working on ground cloth selection. There will be a generous helping of organic cottons along with a smattering of washed linens and linen cotton blends.





The corner piece of this group called Bouquet, is the Birds & Branches toile which was inspired by my friend Joni from Cote de Texas. I set out to design a fabric that captured her aesthetic and this is what came to life.




Choosing the colorways was extremely difficult. I whittled some patterns down from 10 colors to 3 or 4. The toile and damask will be available in the most colors as they are the most versatile patterns. I could have had a zillion colors - it's so hard to choose so few.




These choices were selected from well over 100 patterns and colorways. I feel so guilty about those who didn't make the cut. They have been abandoned and may never see the light of day! I'm not used to editing myself as you must know if you have my book! I just include everything.... Oh well, hopefully I will find some use for them in the future. Sorry my little babies.


This group is called Moon Flower - I don't know why, it just came to me when trying to describe the large floral design on the bamboo trellis. I love the geometric shapes in this group and I must upholster something in the zebra stripe immediately. Preferably a beautiful antique french chaise lounge for my boudoir!



This grouping owes it's inspiration to my long time blogging pal the uber talented Patricia Gray and the wizard of interior color blogger Toby Fairley. I have learned some seriously insightful lesson from both of their bodies of work and have tried to apply some of it here.



I can't wait to put the finishing touches on all of these and figure out what cloth they will be printed on. Jeanelle Dech of Adaptive Textiles and I met at the Window Fashions Expo to discuss new options for groundcloth and I can't wait to see what she sends me. The pattern is only as good as the cloth it's printed on!

If you are reading this post, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, comment and give me some feedback on the designs that I have chosen. Which is your favorite? Which ones do you think still need some work? Which ones would you drop altogether? I would so appreciate any input you can give me. I really want to design a collection that is appealing to others besides myself - so I need your insight.. Don't be shy, tell me like it is.