Goodbye Metropolitan Home, Hello Lonnymag.com

I assume that almost everyone today is writing some sort of post about the devastation of losing another really good shelter magazine. No doubt that Met Home was one of the good ones, the really good ones and I know we as a design community are sad to see it go. As a designer I am not ashamed to say that I am constantly trying to be recognized by any publication, but it was one of my dreams to be in Met Home, and believe me I tried...twice! Regardless, let's not look at this as another "sign of the times" rather as an opportunity for new and innovative ways to highlight trends and creativity. That being said, I was recently introduced to LonnyMag and I like it. This latest issue, Fall 2009 is their premier and it's just what the design starved are looking for. Think Domino Magazine(brought to you by one of their former editors)/Fun Blog/Eco-trip meets the internet. We all know we loved Domino, there's no shame in that. I love it's photography and it had some amazing resources, we'll it's basically be reincarnated on the internet. If my 72 year old father is savvy enough to sign me up for a digital edition of Marie Claire Magazine, then surely we can start reading online magazines. I am thrilled that I found LonnyMag and I am sure I am not the first, but I don't care. I hope you like it too!

Craftsmanship

Craftsmanship is something that I think is lost on today's society and it really bothers me. So often people are just looking for a quick fix to "make it work" and things end up looking sloppy and messy. This is one instance of fantastic craftsmanship. One of the rooms at the Christmas House has fully upholstered walls. When I looked up and saw the detail and care that the installers put into their work I was thrilled. Take a look at the way the welting hugs the crown moulding. Fabulous! You'll have to come check it out for yourself!

Bedroom by Jim Howard of James Michael Howard Inc. Come see the whole thing at the Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Christmas House. This room is fully upholstered and it's just beautiful!

Inspired Interiors

Last night was the book signing for Suzanne Kasler's new book, Inspired Interiors (click here and you can purchase a signed copy!) It was held at Bungalow Classic, hosted by the lovely Courtney & Randy Tilinski. I think Atlanta's entire design community was there, and then some; the store was just full of some of my favorite people. Everyone was there to support Suzanne and it was a really lovely event and a great party. Suzanne is a very accomplished designer from Atlanta and she does really beautiful work. As a young designer in this city she is one of the names that I look up to and I was thrilled to meet her and get my copy of her book (and have it signed!)I had my trusty camera on hand so at least the photos are better then the ones I take with my phone! The book is really fantastic, the photography is great, so far I have only flipped through but I can't wait to actually have time to read it! Go get it!

Dustin from Waterworks and I with our books, I coerced him into purchasing one (wink wink)

Party People.

More Party People (all joking aside, I love that black, red & orange pillow in the foreground!)

Courtney & me (I heart her!)

The book.

Me with Suzanne Kasler! She's really lovely!

I heart paint!

Like I said previously, I had every intention of documenting our design process from start to finish for the Christmas House. Unfortunately it just didn't work out the way I planned, life got in the way. But it's not like I can't tell you about it now! This year's Christmas House is truly lovely, this week I plan on doing another post about some special things in our room and the installation process. Anyway, back to why I heart paint. This was really my first painting experience and I think I might love it! I can't pretend like I was thrilled about painting in the beginning. Let's face it, typically I hire someone to do this for us, but I was low on budget and really low on time. So it was up to MWDA to just work it out. I (and every other designer) have always said, painting is the easiest and quickest way to change a room and it's so true. If you look back at my previous post about the Christmas House you can see we started with just plain white walls, a perfect bare canvas. All I have to say is I love our walls, they remind me of a luxurious cashmere color, something you just want to wrap yourself in. I also must rave about our paint, we used Porter Paints for the first time and it was fantastic. We could have done 1 coat and it would have been sufficient, it covered really well and just worked out beautifully, see for yourself!

At least by the time I got there, Mark had already "cut" around the trim. Supposedly that is a technical term, again, I'm a beginner.

Our paint from porters! We were careful not to get any on our lovely floors. But I got plenty on myself. Did you know that a little hand sanitizer gets paint off of just about anything!

I was excited that when I rolled the top of the paint cans it produced perfect polka-dots.

I was in charge of painting the closet.

I know it looks like Mark is doing the majority of the work, but I painted as far as I could reach, he had to do the rest!

Finished just in time, they were about to lock us in! Isn't the color yummy!?!?

Experiment gone wrong...

So I had fully planned to document our first show house experience and it just got away from me. I had really good intentions and filling you in along the way but it just didn't happen like I had planned--and neither did our room--all I will say is thank goodness I looked at the November issue of AH&L. But now it is X-Mas House time and I am in the throws of stress, paint, and a $4,000 bicycle. I am literally leaving the office to go paint, that's right, Mark and I are painting our own room...this should make for an interesting afternoon. I am fully committed to our design and I really am excited about it, I am hoping it will turn out as lovely in person as it is in my head, you'll have to let me know. Anyway, here is a teaser of what's going on in our space, and check the Yummy Scrumptious Facebook page and my profile for mobile uploads, I'll try to get in another couple of posts this week so you can see the insanity!

I love myself a sequin!

If I had a bicycle, I would want it to be this one from Hermes.

One year ago

I was walking in the pouring rain and freezing cold. It was day 1 of the Atlanta 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer. When I decided to sign up it was something that I had been wanting to do for a while. I had every excuse and reason why not to do it in the past and I had simply run out of excuses and reasons. Luckily I had amazing friends by my side and we did it together, all 60 miles of it. From Alpharetta all the way down to the Georgia World Congress Center, we walked all of it. That's really where Bowling for Boobs came from. I needed to raise money for the walk and for my team, Tinky's Titty Trekkers. This years event was such a success I can't get over it. Everyone is having a hard time right now, we all know the economy sucks and everyone has had to tighten up a bit, the last thing I was expecting was for people to want to contribute to charity. But whether it's a good economy or bad, people are still being diagnosed with Cancer. I am without words to express how wonderful this year's event was. There is no way to explain the generosity and support without sounding trite or cliche so I won't try. All I will say is that is was an amazing event, and together we raised $14,000 for Susan G. Komen for the Cure! Thank you to everyone who helped out, who volunteered, who donated, who participated, all I can say is thank you! Today my heart goes out to all of the walkers of this year's 3-Day, they are doing a great thing. If you see them walking this weekend in Atlanta, give them a honk or something for support, I can't tell you how good it makes you feel when you are on mile 13 and feeling like you aren't sure what you got yourself into.

On Day One, It was pouring rain all day and we walked about 22 Miles

Trying to keep our feet dry with plastic bags inside our shoes...it didn't really help, actually it didn't help at all, our feet were pretty messed up.

Our Tents. Yes I slept in a tent. At least it was a pink tent and you know I had an air mattress! We got to decorate them so we created little driveways our of felt. We also had a sign outside our tent with the list of who we were walking for, in honor or in memory of.

That's me on Day 3...walking down Peachtree. Yes I have flowers over my boobs ;p

At the finish line inside the Georgia World Congress Center.

All of the walkers held up one shoe to honor the survivors as they walked into closing ceremonies, super emotional.

Why I walked.

Bowling for Boobs!

Is back again for round 2! This is the second year I have produced this event and it is happening tonight! It started last year when I decided to do the 3-Day walk for breast cancer and I needed to do some fundraising. I got together with my friend Elaine at Illuminations and we decided that there should be a fundraising event to help support the fight against breast cancer. So many people are affected, Elaine's sister is a survivor and I lost my mother to breast cancer. We knew that we could get Atlanta's Architecture and Design Community to come together and raise money for a great cause while having a great time! I am so excited, we have 50 teams signed up, that is $10,000 going directly to Susan G. Komen for the Cure! I have the most amazing raffle items, I am keeping my fingers crossed that we sell tons and tons of raffle tickets! It's going to be a great time for a great cause, thank you in advance to all of our awesome sponsors for helping to make this fundraiser possible and our fantastic participants for their support! This is one of Atlanta's most fun A&D events and I can't wait for tonight!