I'm moving to a new apartment and couldn't be more excited at the thought of decorating my new home. My last place had fairly bold painted walls in both the main living area and in my bedroom. It was fun while it lasted but I'm ready for something completely different. My new abode was freshly painted white right before I moved in, and instead of busting out the paint deck... I'm embracing my bright and clean canvas.

I have BIG plans for these white walls. BIG I'm telling you. I almost can't sleep at night because I'm thinking about all of the wonderful things that I'm going to do with them. I've always been more of a product rather than a process kind of person. Don't get me wrong, I love the design process, but absolutely nothing beats an installation day when I get to see a room all come together. 

So yes, I am very anxious to have my apartment fully decorated, down to the vase of flowers on the coffee table (seriously, I can't sleep over this stuff), but I'm not going to make any hasty design decisions just because I can't wait to see the finished product. A lot of thought and time is going to go into what frame to put on what piece of artwork and where to hang it. Do I hang my oil seascape that I snagged at the flea market for $20, solo above my vintage sofa? Or do I hang it in a grouping? And is that grouping an organized grid? Or a mis-mash pattern that makes it look like I didn't think about the placement at all (when really, once again, I stayed up many a sleepless night thinking about it)? 

My blog is having an identity crisis, hence the lack of posting as of late. After attending the Alt blogger conference for designers in mid-January (won a free ticket!), I learned a ton about blogging, but perhaps the most important thing that I learned is that I'm not a blogger. I'm a designer. I like to write, and I like to collect and share my thoughts about design in a blogging format, and I especially love when that leads to an increase in design business, but I'm not a blogger; I'm a designer who blogs. I thought for a second that I was a blogger, or that I wanted to be, but I don't. I am, however, really really excited to have a place to share with you my design projects and my latest obsession of my new white walls. 

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California Gift Show

I tried to post my progress of visual merchandising for the California Gift Show on Twitter and instagram, but here is a more complete documentation of the exhibit hall via my iPhone camera and its handy filter apps. During the Gift Show, the 2nd floor is full of exhibitor booths featuring all kinds of cool product. If you aren't a retailer who attends the show, many people wonder what the "gift" show is all about. The best way I know how to describe it is anything that doesn't fall into the categories of traditional clothing, food, or furniture, can be found at the gift show. It is where wholesalers bring their new product to show retailers, specifically more boutique type shops.

Beckman's is a handcrafted show that exhibits at the Ca Gift Show. It is for creative and artistic handmade wholesalers looking to connect with retail establishments. The exhibit hall is full of Beckman's participants, and I was given a few of those companies to work with to use their product for my displays in the lobby area. In these photos you can see that I had everything from hand made pottery to dog collars. It was such a fun mix of product!

Not gonna lie, it's a bit of a challenge to design and install a space like this. The ceilings are high and the space between the elevators is pretty wide. The space needed to feel inviting to make people want to get off the elevators, and my own personal requirement was for it to feel fun and cheery. At the same time the space couldn't be too cluttered or crowded because there is a lot of traffic in this space during the show and people need to be able to move around easily and the product  had to be displayed in a way that it wouldn't impede walking paths or get pushed or bumped on to the floor. 

Canopies seem to be my go to for an easy but big impact these days (see post here). Although they take some time to install, it really is a pretty easy project. The canopy was perfect for this particular project because it added a lot of drama to the space without getting in the way. 

Stay tuned for the photos of the displays that I designed and installed on the other floors for the gift show. I was so happy to have my photographer Stacey Sutherland take professional photos for me and I can't wait to share them with you!

featured product // J. Johnson & Co., cdd Silhouettes, Nell & Mary, Hilary Lamon, Jackpots!

Master Bedroom

The highlight of my week was completing this master bedroom install for one of my clients in Orange County. They aren't really the type to pick out that Navajo print used for their bed cover on their own, but that's what they have me for! They love neutrals and soothing tones, but I encouraged them to add in this one punch of color and pattern to give the room a little personality.

I love love love accessories. These small details can make or break a room. When I do an install and my client sees the room before it is properly accessorized, they are often underwhelmed. No matter how beautiful and expensive the upholstery is, or how exotic the wood on the coffee table may be...without interesting artwork and thoughtful accessories, the space feels sterile and unfinished. My number one favorite accessory if you couldn't tell from the photos above...books. My motto has become, "When in doubt, stack up some books."

I suppose my love of bookcases is probably a result of my love of books. They are such amazing avenues to display collections of anything. Built-in, leaning, open, wood, metal, you name it, I'm all about bookcases. 

I have the best clients. I love collaborating with them on their homes and designing rooms that neither of us would have come up with on our own.

Road Trip

Last night around 8 pm I wrapped the visual displays for the California Gift Show, (which starts tomorrow) and got home just in time to catch the last 20 minutes or The Bachelor. I'm excited to share the displays with you later this week, but for now here are some snippets of my two best friends and I road tripping up to Utah to spend time with my brothers and my aunt, and also, so that I can attend Alt Summit (a design blogger conference).

Our original plan was to fly, but we quickly remembered that there are fewer things in life better than a good old fashion road trip, so we decided to trek 10 hours in the car and stop whenever our little hearts desired or our eyes saw something cool on the side of the road.