DEAR ANN TAYLOR: LET'S BE FRIENDS

All images, Ann Taylor.com. Pencil, pencils.com.

NEW MEDIA DAY AT THE ATLANTA IWCE

One of my favorite blogs, Jackie Blue Home is by wonderful interior designer, product and fabric designer, and writer Jackie Von Tobel. This Friday she's putting her colorful palette of experience to good use, hosting a blogger panel on new media for this year's International Window Coverings Expo in Atlanta. Jackie generously invited me to participate on the panel, and I'm really honored to be joining some serious blogging talent to talk about new media. Come down to the Expo on Friday the 14th at 4 p.m. to hear the discussion on social media, blogging, and what they mean to the design world. We promise it will be "sheer" fun!

Here's the full scoop. See you there!

"WFCP Sponsors GET CONNECTED: Grow Your Business with Social Media

Jackie Von Tobel

Timid about Twitter? Flustered by Facebook? Bewildered by the Blogosphere? Learn how to expand your business easily and cost free with these and other social media marketing tool from industry expert, author, blogger and social media bon vivant Jackie Von Tobel. Her popular blog Jackie Blue Home has been an invaluable tool for her business and she is eager to show you how social media can benefit you. Join this step by step tutorial and learn to navigate the growing world of social media marketing to connect with customers, achieve expert status, and boost sales. Learn everything you need to know to get started using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogger and more, to tap into the power of free social media marketing. Don’t let technology pass you by; put it to work for you and watch your business thrive.

THE BLOGGER PANEL INCLUDES:

Brian Patrick Flynn is an interior designer and founder of the online decorating magazine, decordemon.com. He gained attention for his bold, glamorous spaces created almost entirely with garage sale items and flea market finds. Formally educated in television production, Brian made the leap to interior design after working as a producer on various hit home makeover programs. Décor Demon was created as an online outlet for Brian to produce original editorial lifestyle content from a witty and practical male point-of-view. From modern home renovations to the latest baby toy craze, Décor Demon’s features aim to be both inspiring and entertaining.

Valorie Hart of Visual Vamp is a vivacious personality, experienced designer, writer, and tango dancer and teacher among other things. Her blog is a lively reflection of her fascinating life in New Orleans. Valories work and her own eclectic home is a favorite among other bloggers and online publications.

Debbie Green from Minutes Matter - In The Loop Blog, is an industry innovator and educator who has spearheaded the inclusion of technology and social media in the window covering industry. Debbie’s company Minutes Matter Solutions Inc. produces Studio software, a graphic design software program for the interior design industry.

Jay Helser of the Why Helser blog is one half of the fabulous Helser Brothers team of drapery hardware manufacturing fame. Widely recognized and acclaimed for their fabulous customer service and beautiful and innovative product line, the Brothers Helser are forging new ground in the world of social media through dream giveaways and raffles to their customers via their blog. They even gave away a trip to Paris last year!

This promises to be an eye opening and inspiring event so please sign up early and don’t miss it. The panel discussion will be followed by a networking event for all attendees."

*All bios and text in quotes via Jackie Blue Home and IWCE.

JIM WEINBERG AT THE ATLANTA SHOW HOUSE

I've always enjoyed reading biographies - learning the details of others' lives is interesting, educational, and, I often find, encouraging. But sometimes I come across a person who lives life so thoroughly, and creatively, that I'm reminded of Thoreau's wish: "I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life." Today I'm writing about Jim Weinberg, a man who certainly knows how to get the most out of his creative mind. Where do I start? He's a designer, but he's also the person who invented the Adopt-A-Highway concept, pioneered yellow tennis balls (not kidding), designed homewares with Giorgio Armani, and some of his furniture designs are in MOMA's collections. He ALSO makes his home in Atlanta, pioneering the Livable Lifestyles concept and designing for celebrity clients. He definitely puts the "multi" in "multi-talented.

Last week I had the incredible opportunity to tour the Atlanta Decorator's Show House and Gardens with Jim, and he graciously showed me around his marvelously inventive space in the house - a young gentlemen's bedroom with a tribute to the Beatles. Here's an exclusive peak at this wonderful room, and some of the ideas that inspired it. Hang on to your hats!

This room proves that a great design can appeal to everyone; I love how it caters to two generations, creating a playful yet practical room a mom and her son could both love. The Beatles artwork is a clever take on the traditional "posters-tacked-on-the-walls" necessary to adolescence, and the draped walls (designed to cover murals retained by the owners) give it a cozy, cocoon-like feel. Perfect for a growing teen and budding musician. Oh, and mom might like how all that fabric muffles the sound of drums...

A personal touch. This is Weinberg's own drumset - from his 17-year-old self! Note the coco brown shag - I was wearing six-inch platforms, and I sank deep into this floor - it gave the room an incredibly fun vintage vibe. The artwork is something parents could cheer:  it was commissioned especially for this space from Atlanta artist Nancy Ballew.

"We all live in a yellow submarine...
And our friends are all aboard,
Many more of them live next door."
(presumably in some sort of oxygen-providing apparatus)

Classic Beatles:  the Abbey Road sign sets the stage and the throw pillows are custom-designed to evoke  musical clefs and staff. The bed skirt is an amazing distressed leather; the teenage boy who would live here probably has a jacket in his closet to match! The glowing globe is vintage 1920s, sports gear hangs out in the corner waiting for its owner to gear up for some after-school practice, and just out of sight is a red lava lamp. Also not visible? A laser projecting abstract light patterns on the ceiling. Who wouldn't have wanted THAT in High School?!
Don't forget to look up! The tassel trim along the crown molding is a riff on Sgt. Pepper's epaulettes. Clever, what?

We'll end the tour with a detail of the adjoining bathroom that got a laugh from so many visitors to the Show House:  Ringo was here! And he left more than his drums - maybe he'll come back to Atlanta soon? We can only dream...

Special thanks to Jim Weinberg for a wonderful tour and the images above! 
All photographs are by Robert Thien Inc. of Atlanta

Images:  all room images, provided by Jim Weinberg. Photos by Robert Thien. Beatles/Sgt. Pepper. Yellow submarine image.

A MOTHER IS SOMEONE...

...who checks "yes," no matter what. :)  Happy Mother's Day!

Pack of cards from The Great Lakes Goods.

NEWS FLASH: JONATHAN ADLER DOES ANOTHER CHIC THING

Patterns, how do I love thee? Let me count the colorways....  An Adler-designed office mixes and matches.

Will Rogers once said he never met a man he didn't like, and I suspect the same is true of patterns for Jonathan Adler. This time, he's bringing his signature "happy chic" design into home offices, with a new line of paper products. The collaboration, with box store giant Books-A-Million (or "Books-A-Missing" if you've ever tried to find a particular volume there) is a color saturated, pattern-powered set of stationary and home office goods, including the notecards and pen below. The entire line is priced from $4.95 to $14.95 and is available through B.A.M. or Adler's website.

Rendered in four main patterns, Multi Chevron, Acapulco, Greek Key, and Diamond, the set includes pencils, pens, note cubes, and my favorite, reporter notebooks.

I particularly love the files - filing is such an onorous chore ("what comes after "J" again?"  "Did I accidentally put that in the round file?"). But if nothing else, you'll be entertained while trying to dig up last year's tax records.

Post-its with panache:  these are going on my desk ASAP. Imagine using them at work. Error-riddled report someone dumped on your desk? "Hate" post-it, definitely. 

Gift-wrapping is an office time activity too - although I'm much more tempted to use these papers as decoupage inspiration. Blog Bromeliad, always ready with DIY ideas, has a great tutorial on how covering bins in paper - perfect for creating charming storage for your spring cleaning. Organize with Adler!

And of course, if you don't have an office area, Adler can help with that too! (Chippendale Armchair and Channing Desk, both Jonathan Adler.)

All images, Jonathan Adler.

DON'T MISS IT: THE ATLANTA SHOW HOUSE

"Hotlanta" is warmer than most cities when it comes to concentrated amounts of design talent, and that's why visiting this year's Decorator's Show House and Gardens for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is an absolute must. Seeing so much talent in one place is a reminder that, yes, sometimes you CAN have it all. Aptly named "Giverny" (there are indeed water lillies and a pond), the house is one of the many gems along the famous Tuxedo Road.

The 2010 home features 28 designers, including the phenomenal Jim Weinberg (with a Beatles-inspired son's bedroom), Stan Topol (living room), Maria Nutt (young lady's bedroom), Raymond Goins (decorator, painter, and furniture designer all rolled into one), and a greenhouse by Boxwoods. I'll have so much more to share on these spaces and their designers in days to come, but I'll say right now that this year's house is a stand-out from many show houses of the past. It's remarkable in the sheer amount of  skill (there's not a bad room in the bunch) and in the marvelous continuity so many different designers managed to achieve throughout the house. I have to admit, while I love visiting show homes, it tends to make you feel like the imaginary residents have multiple personality disorder:  Venetian powder rooms! Contemporary libraries! Tuscan hallways! Art deco bedrooms! But the pretend people in this year's house have it all together. Nary a psychiatrist in sight.

Finally, while the house is an older build, with a lot of original features (from wallcoverings to floors) retained, for my money that's only made things better. Rather than stifling the designers, they did what true talent does best:  turn obstacles into triumphs. The result is a wonderfully inspiring space. You'll be begging to move in.

Details:  open through May 9, 10 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. weekdays (open late Thursdays). 12 - 4:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets and details, HERE.

This picture really doesn't do it justice - the house is located in its own private park, complete with pond, waterfalls, sculptures (by Ed Castro), pool, multiple outdoor entertaining areas - and a family of ducks. No extra charge for the ducks.

STAY TUNED! I'll be posting more pictures of the rooms and info on their designers soon! My VERY special thanks to Jim Weinberg and to Patsi Brantley of the ASO for the generous and well-informed tour. The Atlanta Symphony Associates outdid themselves this year!

All images, Decorator's Show House.

FUN WITH (HOME) ADVERTISING

It's time for another installment of Fun With Advertising. A while ago I did a little post on the absurdity of fashion ads, which often feature poses or surroundings unnatural - or just plain bizarre. But it must be different with home and interior ads. They're so straightforward:  furniture. Blinds. Vases. What could possibly go wrong?

So, so much.

"Bob! BOB!!! Get the broom! Another one of those feral cat women got into the house again! I swear, I wish we'd never bought those %*#&!@ nature-friendly shades! Shoo you, SHOO!"

This is apparently a scene from a horror movie, after the crazy psycho breaks into the house, interrupting a leisurely game of living room croquet and causing the guests to all fling their mallets into a fire-wood-like pile in the middle of the floor and flee.

Because the first thing you should do after purchasing a sofa that costs as much as some third world country's GDP is to put its vulnerable buttery leather goodness in the middle of a reno project. Without windows. "Look out for the rainstorm!!!... oh, never mind." Also, the name of this couch product is "Toot." The ad print proudly proclaims: "you will always feel at home with Toot." Which made me laugh until I cried.

We'll overlook the fact that KraftMaid believes people who are genetically related must have identical hair color, and just skip on over to the subject of countertops. One of the weirdest ad trends is people lounging on their counters as if they were cushy Sertas, apparently because standing near them or cutting stuff up on them would seem so... normal. And I can't help but notice that some of these so-called counters are ridiculously low. The ad print says "imagine all the moments you'll spend in a kitchen so personal it could only belong to you." I'll take their word for it. Apparently red-heads can whip up some mean omelets with their knees.

If by "beautiful" you mean "ugly brown explosion" then yes, it happened all over that room. 

This Armstrong floor can handle anything. Even a collie that fishes. Lassie Like.

 Again with the counter-lounging. When plumbing goes wrong, it blows your countertops off. Apparently. So the real message here is, "Hire A Good Plumber." You're welcome, Roto-Rooter.

All images, companies as attributed. Published in House Beautiful May 2010, Traditional Home March 2010, Elle Decor April 2010. Collie floor ad via Armstrong Floors.