East Coast to West Coast - Design Talk at High Point

"East Coast to West Coast Design via High Point Market"

From NY to LA, America's top Designers, Bloggers, & Editors discuss their latest projects, inspiration & what's hot in their part of the world today. That is what this fabulous group of design savvy woman (and I :-) will be sharing during our talk in the middle of the hustle and bustle of High Point Market this Saturday.

Are you headed to High Point? It is 6 days of EXTREME design scouting..buying..and sourcing for the world's leading interior designers, retailers, and editors and bloggers. It is a city. It is impossible to see it all, and I have had the privilege to attend as both a designer and speaker on many occasions and still get those nervous butterflies each time as I prepare to go. It is the anticipation of knowing that I will indeed be unable to see it all but oh boy am I going to try!!

So who are these women that will be sharing their experience of the design industry as seen from across the country?





Robin Baron, is the interior designer and lifestyle expert behind  www.SimplifyingFabulous.com Blog, and is the President of ASID NY Metro Chapter. 

With a wide range of experience in design, while appearing on HGTV and the like, I first met Robin when we were both V&M Insiders right at the very beginning of this blog!

and Robin was also a designer for the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island (although not the same year as I) but her room was pretty fabulous!

Robin Baron for Ronald McDonald House of Long Island

Jeanne Chung is an interior designer based in Pasadena, California and the founder/editor of www.CozyStylishChic.com design blog. She's known for her classic yet fresh and modern design aesthetic and is one of this market's Style Spotters! Her life in various countries, her experience in Fashion for nearly 20 years spending much of that time in Bali. 

Hand Rendering - Jeanne Chung

With both fashion and design degrees, Jeanne shares her multifaceted style with her design clients through some pretty fabulous hand renderings and now able to find her at her new shop in Old Town Pasadena! make sure to visit.

Paloma Contreras of www.LaDolceVitablog.com is an interior decorator, & award winning blogger based in Houston, Texas, with a modern take on traditional style. 

From the widely popular La Dolce Vita blog, that Paloma started in 2007 through to her most recently opening her own design firm, she has counted on numerous successes such as being named as House Beautiful's New Wave Designer. 

Paloma Contreras Design

Last but not least, I will be on this panel sharing all the fun I have had learning about design on both coasts of the US.

Well hopefully you all read my blog (because here you are!) and know that I am also an Editor @ Large for California Home + Design magazine focusing on Southern California..

But did you also know that I too have had a design business since 1999?? And that the business has had offices in Portugal .. New York.. and now based in Newport Beach.

Well, it is true.
I have been blessed to work on both commercial design such as spas and hotels..

Mehditash Design: 2014 (john Gruen)

Mehditash Design: 2014 (John Gruen)

as well as residential design with now a stronger emphasis on designing homes in California.
So if you are reading this and have a home in California, reach out today and let's make some design magic happen together!

and a huge thanks and shout out of congratulations goes to the ANTIQUES & DESIGN CENTER and Amanda Kinney as they celebrate their 5th year.

A must visit stop on anyone's tour of High Point market. It is home to a wide variety of vintage

Tuesdays on the Boulevard
Antique & Design Center

and antique sources

Nancy Price Home - Antique & Design Center

that allow every designer to create those unique and one of kind schemes that our clients desire.



So join us and make sure to follow along on my Instagram account #decaporterfinds as I share all the goodies I spot during market.

Saturday, October 17  --  1:30pm - at the Antique & Design center

"East Coast to West Coast Design via High Point Market"

Sharing My TOP DESIGN TIPS with YAHOO MAKERS

Continuing on the same theme from my last post on "Why You Should Hire and Interior Designer",
I was thrilled to be able to share my top design tips and advice to homeowners with YAHOO MAKERS', Sid Lipsey.

read the full interview here

Some of my favorite quotes from my Interview

"WE SOLVE PROBLEMS YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU HAVE"

"I’ll give you an example from a house I did. It was a second home for this family with young children. When they bought the home, they thought it was perfect the way it was. But the house had what I call “ghost rooms”: the formal living room that no one uses or the formal dining room that no one uses, but they both look really pretty.
So I decided to take the formal dining room and turn it into the husband’s man cave. And turn what would be the formal living room space into a really great home theater. So now it’s a house that actually accommodates the way that this family lives.
I think that’s probably my favorite part of my job: it’s finding solutions to problems that sometimes  the clients don’t even know exist and creating solutions for them. .."

"WE NEED YOU TO TRUST US"

The most difficult part of an interior designer’s job is when your clients start to doubt you. That’s really hard to deal with. In every single project, whether you’ve worked with that client before or not, there’s what I call a “leap of faith moment” — where you have to convince them to jump off the bridge with you into a place where they’re not sure if they’re comfortable. It’s usually in the creative phase of the project when the client has to actually make a decision to let you wallpaper their ceiling, or put fabric on the windows, or do this and that. You’re pushing them a little bit beyond their comfort zone. And you’re making them trust you 100%, even though they’re not able to visualize or understand fully what the end result is going to be.
I get that that’s scary. But I think homeowners forget that if they’ve done their due diligence in the beginning when they hired you, they need to trust themselves. I try to remind them that they’ve researched me, they went to their friends’ homes and got a referral about me. Or we’ve been working together to that point where I’ve proven myself to be trustworthy and that they can believe me when I say, “I know what I’m doing; let me lead you to where you want to be.” And there’s always a moment where they have to just hold their breath and jump.

For the rest of the interview, make sure to head over to Yahoo Makers now - would love to hear your thoughts on how designers bring value to your table!

Before and After: The Baker Furniture difference for The Ronald McDonald House

It all started at Design Bloggers Conference in March just after the Barbara Barry presentation hosted by Kravet, so in a way it was inevitable that I would be drawn to the Barbara Barry collection for Baker Furniture when deciding upon which special pieces I wanted to include in my room at the Ronald McDonald house of Long Island.

Photo by David Meredith, from Around Beauty(Rizzoli NY) by Barbara Barry

It was important to provide some special pieces of furniture in the room for the families, especially as they would be spending so much of their time in these rooms.

I have always loved the Barbara Barry Dressing table, with it's slight curve and fluting.. here in its original Java finish it is warm and and feminine..

Dressing Table 3487

For my room, however, I wanted to maintain the light and airy feeling and decided to keep both the dressing tables and Etageres from the same collection in the White painted finish. 

I also needed to pair a comfortable side chair, for which the Archetype Side Chair was a perfect match.

Although this chair was fabulous in its simplicity, I wanted to incorporate 2 types of Kravet and Brunshwig et Fils fabrics to create that contrast in color, texture and pattern.

Fabrics: {blue} Brunchswig et Fils Chancellor Strie // {white} Contract - Kravet Atomic Pearl

and this was how it all came together.. thanks completely to the great workroom and job led by John Hayes in Connecticut. They helped bring together all the reupholstery of these pieces and did a fantastic job. 

Barbara Barry Etagere, Dressing table
Archetype Side Chair 

On the heels of the launch of the new collection for Baker by the renowned interior designer, Jacques Garcia, well known for his design of Hotel Costes in Paris and the redesign of the amazing Hotel Mamounia which I was lucky enough to spend my honeymoon at albeit before the redesign, I was thrilled to be able to include one of his designs in the space at the Ronald McDonald House redesign as well.

Hotel Mamounia ~ Jacques Garcia via

Hotel Mamounia ~ Jacques Garcia

Tivoli Lounge Chair

I fell in love with the comfort and design of this Jacques Garcia for Baker "Tivoli" lounge chair, with its sloping curved back and sharp clean lines. 

These distinct lines allowed me to play with pattern, texture and nailheads once again while pairing the gorgeous Sandhurst Marino fabric by Peter Fasano and the Malva Lee Jofa warm neutral cotton blend.

This time, the nailheads were just loosely placed, adding a hint of glimmer around the base of the feet and at the top of the curved back.

Tivoli Lounge Chair ~ Jacques Garcia - Baker
Peter Fasano - Sandhurst Marino {back} // Lee Jofa Malva {front}

I cannot state enough how grateful I am to Baker for working with me in providing these beautiful pieces for this room, and the families that will be using them for many .. many years to come.

Not only did they provide the pieces for us, they made it possible to have them finished and delivered to the home with plenty of time for the open house presentation. Thank you in my name, and in the name of all the families that call the house their home.

In case you weren't able to as yet see the new pieces from the Jacques Garcia collection, head to High Point Market where you are able to see them in person or visit the site here.

Visit the new Jacques Garcia Collection ~ Here

Some of the Before & After series posts you may not have seen, and stay tuned for more on the pieces and brands that made it all possible... Happy Reading!

The California Closet makeover ~

The Bathroom Remodel~

The Project, Fabrics~

Thank You !!

à BAKER FURNITURE – www.bakerfurniture.com

à BENJAMIN MOORE – www.benjaminmoore.com

à BRIZO – www.brizo.com

à BRUNSCHWIG et FILS – www.brunschwig.com

à CALIFORNIA CLOSETS – www.caliclosets.com Contact: Carolyn Musher 

à CURREY & CO – www.curreycodealers.com

à CUSTOM WINDOWS – (203) 231-3659 Contact: John Hayes

à FILMORE CLARK – http://filmoreclark.com/

à GRACIE – www.graciestudio.com

à KENISE BARNES – http://kbfa.com/

à KRAVET – www.kravet.com

à LEE JOFA -  www.leejofa.com

à OLIVER’S HOUSE PAINTING, LLC – T: 914 954-3742

à PETER FASANO - peterfasano.com

à STARK - www.starkcarpet.com  Contact: Adam Khan - T: 203-899-1771

à THE FINISHED WALL - Contact: Angela Capan & Nancy Schadt. www.thefinishedwall.com

Please make sure to visit each of their websites, as they are simply amazing!

Designers participation:  Amanda Nisbet, Anthony Baratta, The Breakfast Room, Bunny Williams, Core Consulting, Danielle Colding Design, Delrose Design, Drake Design Associates, Drew McGukin Interiors, Dwell Studio, Elaine Griffin Interior Design, Eric Colher, Kate Singer, Kim E Courtney Interiors & Designs, Mabley Handler Interior Design, Margreet Cevasco Design, Matthew Patrick Smyth, Meg Braff Designs, Mehditash Design (thats me!) Michael Herold Design, Michael Tavano Design, Mr Call Design, Nick Olsen, Pappas & Mirron Design, Tilton Fenwick Young Huh Interior Design

September Catch Up: DDB Market, HGTV, BlogTour London, Brizo NY Fashion week, Guest Speaking..

I know you must all read this blog and think, .. "she's insane!"
Well, it was a bit of a whirlwind of a month .. but one of my favorite months - September.

So, I wanted to just catch up a little bit, and share a few of the exciting events and moments that I have shared with some of you, since after my whirlwind fun at New York Fashion Week with Brizo & before October really gets going.


First, I was so happy to be one of the 10 Bloggers that HGTV asked to comment about the top trends for Fall, where I am part of a great mix of designers and blogger friends, as we all share our thoughts on how to spruce up your home this season.

HGTV.com -> Top Fall Trends - Thanks to Liz Gray for the mention!

As a huge fan of all things HGTV (aren't we all?!), it really meant a lot to be part of their
contributors.

Next, as some of you know, I try and spend as much time as possible "sharing the love", as they say.. and really do enjoy every opportunity to speak at an event.

Whether about Pinterest (like at High Point Market this Spring or in Westchester), or about "Blogging" or "Interior Design Best Practices"... I am always happy to be part of it.

So, when the chance to be a Guest Speaker for two different occasions came up, even though it was on the very same day, and the day after my trip to London with BlogTour, how could I refuse?

First, as a great supporter of every Interior Design Association, it was truly wonderful to give a webinar for the ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) Emerging Professionals program. Over 100+ tuned in as I shared some of my thoughts on the role of Social Media in Building Your Brand...

Thanks so much to Tiffany Neumann of ASID for the invite!

Later that same afternoon, I was able to share my thoughts on Blogging and Pinterest. 

Robin Colner of DigiStar Media asked me to share with her class, as the adjunct instructor for the “The Business and Practice of New Media” course at Fordham University, in Westchester, in depth about how to create a business model and strategy through sharing and communicating through the "Blogging" platform.

For those of you that have followed this blog, you will have been kept up to date with many of the adventures from my trip to London with the Uber talented team that Modenus put together - BlogTour London rocked the London Design festival events and many more posts are headed your way here as I still sift through the hundreds of images and contacts I made.

Here are a few of the posts quick links though just in case you missed them:

1. BlogTour - Here I Come!
2. BlogTour Sponsor: And So To Bed
3. BlogTour Hotel - Citizen M
4. BlogTour Sponsor: Lapicida and the Use of Travertine in History
5. BlogTour Sponsor: Amtico Flooring
6. BlogTour Visuals: Day 1
7. BlogTour Sponsor: Du Verre Hardware
8. BlogTour London: 100% Design and The Mackay Lighting Design Studio
9. BlogTour Visuals: Day 2
10. Victoria & Albert Museum - London Design Festival

Lastly, (not really - but this is getting a little long..)
I will be one of the bloggers / interior designers that is going to cover and share all of the fantastic events and happenings at the Design and Decoration Building in the heart of NYC next week.



Much more about these Keynote Talks, some special interviews and more about what I find at the D&D Building.
In the meantime, if you want to catch all the news and trends, you must make sure to connect with each and every one on Twitter.

October 10th & 11th - DDB Market Coverage

Follow us: The Fab Bloggers for DDBMarket on Twitter & Beyond

A huge thank you to Go Design Go, Hyland, Niedermaier, Pierre Frey and The Editor at Large

Here are all the links! Made it easy for you ....

Nicole	Abbott	Chic & Cheap Nursery	@ChicCheapNrsery
Julieta	Alvarez	Design Intake	@designintake
Stacey	Bewkes	Quintessence	@quintessenceblg
Amy Beth	Cupp Dragoo	ABCD Design	@abcddesigns
CJ	Dellatore	CJ Dellatore	@CJDellatore
Suysel	dePedro Cunningham	Tilton Fenwick	@tiltonfenwick
Nicole	Dufour Durocher	BKLYN CONTESSA	@bklyncontessa
Mae	Hacking	Here in This House	@hereinthishouse
Patrick J.	Hamilton	AskPatrick	@ask_patrick
Jeanine	Hays	AphroChic	@AphroChic
Abid	Ilahi	Asmara	@asmararugs
Elise	Jones	Here in This House	@hereinthishouse
Barbara	Karpf	Decorators Best	@DecoratorsBest
Raina	Kattelson	A Stylist's Life	@astylistslife
Marni Elyse	Katz	Style Carrot	@StyleCarrot
Carrie	Leskowitz	Carrie's Design Musings	@cleskowitz
Tamara	Matthews-Stephenson	Nest by Tamara	@nestnestnest
Anne	Maxwell Foster	Tilton Fenwick	@tiltonfenwick
Lauren	McGrath	Good Bones, Great Pieces	@goodbones
Suzanne	McGrath	Good Bones, Great Pieces	@goodbones
Jennifer	Mehditash (that's Me!)	Dec-a-Porter	@decaporter
Mindy	Miles Greenberg	Encore Décor	@EncoreDecorBlog
Jason Oliver	Nixon	Demystifying Design	@jolivernixon

See you all soon!

High Point Style Spotter: Keeping it Neutral

Day 2 of my Style Spotter pins from High Point Market. Today's picks are all about the neutrals and the timeless pieces that every design scheme needs.

Making sure to mix these in with the Colorful Picks from yesterday's post is how I try and design every client's home.

RePin it HERE

RePin it HERE

RePin it HERE

RePin it HERE

RePin it HERE

RePin it HERE

RePin it HERE

RePin it HERE

RePin it HERE

RePin it HERE

RePin it HERE

RePin it HERE

and last, but not at all least

RePin it HERE

So these were my top finds!

Hope you find ways to bring these into your homes this year.. send me a picture when you do.

So how do you VOTE??
It's easy - all you need to do is following the links of the item(s) you like and Repin or Like them onto your own pinterest boards..

Help me win a trip back to High Point in the FALL ->>