Furniture Market Finds

Last month, I experienced my first trip to the Furniture Market as a buyer.  The International Home Furnishings Market opened April 21st and ran for seven days, and I was there for five of those seven days!  The IHFC Exhibitor building is a 10-story, 261,000 square foot complex where furniture, accessories, art and rugs, and lighting exhibitors from around the world bring their goods to display and sell to more than 80,000 buyers.  The market, which comes to High Point every October and April, always provides a big boost for High Point's economy.

 While it was quite overwhelming trying to navigate my way around such a large facility, I had a good time trying.  For several months leading up to the Market, I assisted with the design of three showrooms.  I enjoyed the experience, but I must say that it was hard work!  I also worked as a receptionists for the opening day of the market at a mirror showroom.  For my first shopping day, I was accompanied by two of my daughters, who were a big help to me.  One daughter took notes as the retailers explained their products and how they worked with designers.  The other daughter took pictures of showroom samples.  Each day, I came home with a roller bag full of catalogs, and two sore feet!  I saw lots of beautiful furniture, lamps, art, linens, rugs, and accessories.  Below, is a small sampling of a few of my favorites. My daughters' favorite showroom was "Four Hands", whose big customers are "Restoration Hardware" and "Crate and Barrel".  Some of my personal favorites included "Currey and Company" lighting, "Legacy" linens, "Surya" rugs,  and "Pearson" upholstery, just to name a few.

Field Trip

Today, I thoroughly enjoyed a field trip with my son's class to the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center located on the campus of UNC at Chapel Hill.  Before the planetarium show, we enjoyed a very entertaining science program called "Magnificent Matter",  presented by a  young man from the college.   The program, about the different states of matter, was more like a magic show with lots of audience participation, and a great way to show how fun science can be!

The planetarium show today was called, "Earth, Moon and Sun".  I have to say I learned so much as we sat there under what felt like a real night sky hearing about how the earth, moon and stars work together and explaining some of the common misconceptions about the earth and its neighboring planets and stars.  The children were so excited to be there under that tremendous night sky.  I overheard the little girl sitting next to me whisper to her friend, "I don't want this to end!"

After the show, we strolled across the beautiful campus and settled under one of the huge oak trees to enjoy a picnic lunch.  It was a beautiful day and I especially enjoyed observing my son and his classmates as they interacted with each other.  They were all thoroughly enjoying themselves.  I was very impressed with how well behaved they were for the whole trip.  As I sat there eating my lunch, I looked around at the beautiful architecture of the buildings there on the UNC campus.  I always knew that UNC had a beautiful campus, but I don't think I ever really appreciated the architectural beauty of those buildings like I did today.  Most of the buildings I saw on the campus are fine examples of Neoclassical Revival.  These buildings, inspired by the classical architecture of ancient Greece and Rome, featured porticos dominating the front facade of the buildings supported by large columns in the Corinthian, Ionic, or Doric order. Many of the buildings, including the Morehead Planetarium were crowned with a large dome which is very reminiscent of ancient Roman architecture. Others were crowned with a cupola.  Here is just a small sampling of some of the buildings.

The Playmakers Theatre was completed in 1851 for use as a library.  This Greek Revival temple
is a National Historic landmark.  The fluted columns in the Corinthian order are an outstanding
feature of this building.

The South Building's facade includes a cupola and
an Ionic portico on the south side. 

The Morehead Planetarium, one of the largest planetariums
in the United States, features this 68-foot domed Star Theater.

The Old Well is a small neoclassical rotunda that was modeled
after the Temple of Love in the Garden of Versailles.  It is the most enduring
symbol of UNC.  Legend has is that students can take a drink from the
well on the first day of classes for good luck.  

Ben is standing in front of the Post Office on Franklin Street which features
a four-columned portico with a cupola on top of the building.

What a beautiful day for a picnic under the trees!

Portfolio Pics

I have spent the last several months compiling pictures, drawings, and projects that represent some of my work during the last two years of Interior Design School.  I will be graduating in just a couple of weeks, so I thought I would share some of my work here.  The following is a drafting project.  This home was drawn by hand using a T-square and a lot of patience!  This is from my first semester at RCC.  

The Art Show

I had the pleasure of attending the 54^th Visual Arts Competition for Young People at the Captain James & Emma Holt White House last night.  All of the local high school and middle school art students were competing in the countywide art competition that included such categories as watercolor, decorative ceramics, digital photography, pencil drawing, print making, tempera, pastel, acrylic, colored pencil drawing, marker drawing, and charcoal drawing.  My daughter, Ellen, was entered in the watercolor category, and received an honorable mention for her painting she titled Batman and Robin.

I was so impressed by all of these talented young artist that I thought I would share some of their work with you.  One of my favorite (and most inexpensive) ways to add character and personality to a space is with children’s artwork.  If you need some artwork for a family room, playroom, kitchen or your child’s bedroom, there is nothing easier than framing one of their drawings to hang in those spaces.  If you don’t currently have any artwork that you can frame, give your child some markers and paper and ask him to draw something for you (your child may need some guidance from you for ideas to get them started).  I would have been interested in purchasing several of the winning pieces from last nights’ showing for my own home, if they had been for sale!  With budget cuts being such a hot topic of debate in our schools, I am very glad they haven’t taken away the visual arts programs in our schools.

This was Ben's favorite!  It was painted by a middle-schooler and titled, Self Portrait.

  

Design Journal

Last spring, we were asked to start a Design Journal that included 20-30 of our own sketches and color renderings. We could draw anything we wanted as long as it was design related.  I am presently compiling projects for my portfolio which will be presented to a group of local Interior Designers in May. Yikes!  The sketches that I've posted below were drawn by hand, and some of them were color rendered, as well.  I really enjoyed this project because I enjoy drawing, and wanted to share a few of my favorites with you.

This drawing was hand rendered
using colored pencils.

This chair was hand rendered using Prisma markers.
I use Prisma markers and colored pencils for most
of my design renderings.

I like the idea of sitting in this chair
 enjoying the ocean breeze!

The drawing above was all done in pencil.  This was an exercise in perspective drawing, and shading.  We were all asked to find a room that we liked from a magazine, and draw the room.  I found this room in Traditional Homes Magazine.  I put the finished drawing in iPhoto to blur the edges.

The Grove Residence

  This past weekend I had the pleasure of staging a home for the Grove family.  They are putting their home on the market to sell, and they asked if I would redesign most of the rooms so the house would show well.  They will be having an open house next weekend leaving little time for redecorating.  Budget was also a concern for this young couple, so they decided to hire an interior designer to come in and stage their home.  Statistics have shown that homes that are professionally staged sell on average in 29 days or less, compared to homes that are not staged which take an average of 145 days to sell.  The small investment that a seller makes to stage their home will be much less than the inevitable price reduction that comes when the home sits on the market for an extended time. 

      In just one afternoon, and without investing a lot of money, the Grove home was transformed into a space that is warm and inviting and is move-in ready!  The pictures below should speak for themselves as to the difference that staging makes for those critical first impressions.  When a buyer enters the Grove home, they will easily be able to visualize themselves living here! 

The Foyer

Without staging, this would be the first impression buyers 
would have when they entered the Grove home.  

Instead, this is what buyers will see!  Love the rug!

    Could this be the same foyer?!  Staging makes all of the difference!

The empty Foyer makes it harder
for potential buyers to imagine themselves
living here.

What a dramatic transformation to this space!  

   
       
          The Living Room

The Grove's living room before we arrived for a staging session.

In just a short time, the room was transformed to look like this! 

Staging is such an inexpensive way to breathe new life into your space.  I took advantage of the flowers that were blooming in the Grove's back yard to accessorize these tables in their living room.  Above is a bowl of peonies.  Below are some cherry blossoms from their Cherry tree.

                                            

The Master Bedroom

Above, the Master bedroom before it was staged.

We added bedding, draperies, artwork, and we accessorized
 the nightstand making the room instant cozy!

We used what they already had to accessorize the dresser.

The artwork over the bed, which was painted by
  Mrs. Grove's sister, helped to personalize the space.

The Guest Bedroom

The picture above shows the Guest bedroom before.

After, this room received the same treatment as the Master bedroom.   

In addition to the bedding, we added the blue and white striped
 rug giving the room a more classic feel.

The antique dresser was updated with a coat of paint.

The Dining Area 

Thank you, Grove family!  (Better start packing)!