I hope your week is off to a great start! Since returning from vacation about a week and a half ago, I feel as though I’ve been caught up in a whirlwind – even more than usual. There just never seem to be enough hours in the day, nor days in the week, to get it all done. I’m sure many readers will relate to this!
So today I thought I’d just share some of the ‘big’ stuff I am working on, or have on the horizon. Not everything!
1. Industry Panel Presentations. I was recently invited to participate on not one, but two design industry panel discussions. Tomorrow morning, I’ll be in Hartford, CT talking with other interior design pros on a panel moderated by New England Home’s editor-in-chief, Kyle Hoepner. The topic is “The Challenges of a Changing Design Business.” I’m really looking forward to what should be a fascinating peer discussion on a panel that includes Charlotte Barnes, Morgan Harrison, Georgia Zikas, and Richard Ott. Next month, on April 26th (5:30 at Designer Bath in Beverly, MA), I’m sitting on a panel with a couple of my good design friends, Laurie Gorelick and Mally Skok, to talk about blogging and, specifically, design blogging from a business and legal perspective. I hope some of my local design friends can make it!
2. Our home renovation. We finally have a start date, and it is April 17th! Holy moly, we have so much to clean up and clear out between now and then. Our lives are about to be turned upside down, and we are going to live through it all. Well, all except for maybe those first couple of weeks. We are still figuring that out, but my guess is that we’ll end up at a hotel for a short time while the really dirty, extremely noisy, lead-paint-dust-filled demo takes place (and while they set up my glamorous temporary kitchen in what is currently my nice formal living room). Many more blog posts, and lots of Instagram Stories to come, I’m sure! I hope you’ll follow along – it promises to be a wild ride.
3. One Room Challenge. I am ORC-ing again – but this time, with a client! (obviously I’m dealing with other stuff here at home, none of which will be solved in six weeks). I’m so excited to reveal my plans and the room I am doing. The Spring One Room Challenge gets underway next week, with the 20 sponsored bloggers introducing their projects on Wednesday 4/5, and the rest of us guest participants posting Thursday 4/6.
4. IFDA New England Take a Seat. I’m participating for the first time in this annual fundraiser, where designers upcycle or create a completely unique and creative chair, which will go ‘on tour’ at a series of events in May in the Greater Boston area, and ultimately be auctioned to the highest bidder at a gala event on June 1st. The proceeds from my chair will go to the local chapter of a wonderful organization, Friends of the Children. I am partnering with my friends at Stroheim Fabrics (with a little help from a couple more friends, too!) on what will be a very fun chair, and an amazing transformation – all for a great cause. Stay tuned for more very soon!
5. High Point Market. Next month, I will be making my annual spring pilgrimage to High Point, North Carolina to take in all the home furnishings I can in a few short days. It is your classic ‘work hard, play hard’ scenario where I pound the pavement all day, seeing as many vendors and sitting in as much furniture as I can, and then let loose with my designer friends from near and far at the evening events as the showrooms close down each day. I’ll be flying out just a few days after the wrecking ball (selectively) hits our home. Yikes!
6. Lots and lots of client projects! I have been very busy with client work, and have some really neat projects going on (including my own ‘little’ renovation). Construction seems to be the theme of the year so far – I’m working on a brand new custom home here in my neighborhood in Waban, a pool house (inside and out) in Sherborn, a tight-turnaround powder room remodel in Lexington (for a client whose living room, dining room, and foyer I just installed), and I’m just wrapping up a beautiful kitchen renovation in Wellesley. Oh yes, and my own big construction project! Throw in a number of my ‘bread-and-butter’ decorating projects, and my plate is beyond full.
Here is a peek at what I presented yesterday for the pool house (and was approved!) – which contains a kitchen and full bathroom.
That’s a bit of what’s on tap here! Starting next week, and for the five weeks that follow, I’ll be blogging three times weekly – posts on varied topics on Tuesdays, my One Room Challenge update on Thursdays, and, of course, my Family-Friendly Finds on Fridays. As always, if you have a topic you’d love to see addressed here, or a question you want me to answer on the blog, please contact me and tell me about it – I’d love to hear from you!