As I am sure that you have noticed the weather has changed and the holiday season is upon us. We see it in the stores that are sending us the gift catalogs and sales ads, along with all of the new displays trying to entice us to buy, buy, buy. But if you are anything like me when this season rolls around you want your home to feel warm and inviting with a bit of the season rolled in. I like to start the charges now with little accents that I can add to as the season changes from Thanksgiving to Christmas. One of my favorite ways to bring the feeling of the holidays into the home is with unique tablescapes that use the natural elements from the environment.

Here are three starting points for your holiday decorating. Great candles and natural elements. All of these objects are the basis for any great tablescapes. They give you height, texture and color to work with. As the season goes on these basic starters can change into elegant or casual tablescapes for holiday dining. Another way to change the starter elements is to place the candles inside glass vases. You can fill these glass vases with many different objects. It can be as simple as dried corn and berries to as elaborate as crystals and beads. Another great place to make sure that you do not forget to decorate during the holiday season is the mantel (if you have one). This is a perfect place to display more than just stockings. You can run everything from pine branches and pine cones to candles and ornaments along your mantel. And even better as the season goes from oranges and browns to reds and greens you can just add additional elements. So if you started with candles and pine cones you can add holly and pine branches and change the candles from oranges and browns to reds, whites and golds.

And the last thing to keep in mind when decorating for the holiday is what you smell when you walk in the door. One of the things that I love to create are simmer pots. You can use ceramic fondue pots or tea kettles or even just a pot on the stove. They give such a great sense of the holidays because they have you using all of your senses. My favorite recipes for a simmer pot is cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and orange peels mixed with enough water to keep the pot going. I use my ceramic fondue pot with tea-light candles to keep the scent flowing throughout my home. It brings an instant smile to my face and reminds me of the snowy winters of my childhood.

Just a couple weeks away now and it seems as though everything is centered around market, That means it is about setting appointments with the different companies that you already have accounts with to see their new products. Finding new companies that you want to see their products in person. And the all important hoping that you will find those items that you know will be the next big thing and hoping that you and only you tie it up for your area. It is about fashion and design, negotiating the best terms you can and getting product that no one else has or seen. It is about finding those great unique pieces that set a room off that make everyone stop and stare in amazement. It is about surprising your clients with new ideas and it is about having a great time networking with your friends and competitors.

These are the companies that I know I will be visiting:

 If you haven’t seen their products, they are fantastic. Canadel makes beautiful dining room furniture, Chandra has beautiful stylist area rugs at great prices, Stanley is a staple in American furniture, and Younger has a great look for contemporary upholstery. Last time I was at market my two big finds were Wunderly and Bramble Co.

Wunderly has these amazing moroccan inspired pieces that add an element of surprise to any room. And Bramble Co has this great ability to put together both traditional and french country and allow for any piece to be any color.

 So the question is what will I find this year? What will be the newest and hottest trend? Will that trend catch on and become a staple or will it fade faster than it came in? Will we select the right new companies to bring on? Will our clients love all the new styles and ideas? The answers will be determined in a few weeks. Check back for all the updates on Furniture Fashion Week!

There are so many things that I love about my job/career that I thought I would share some of my favorite things. As an interior designer I get to be a part of creating an environment for my client that is not only beautiful but functional. And my favorite part is when the job is complete and I see the huge smiles on their faces because it is more than they ever thought it would be.

There are many points that lead up to this magical moment and sometimes they can be challenging. However, that is what makes that finishing point so much more worth it. Those challenges can include set backs that we didn’t know would happen. Sometimes things look fantastic on paper and it seems as though they will just fall into place. But here is the difference, paper is 2D and life is 3D. So just because a material should work in one way doesn’t mean it actually will. The heat and humidity effect products such as wood, stucco, paint and fabric. This means that a large part of our job as interior designers is the ability to think on our feet and come up with ways to make things work when the environment doesn’t want it to.

One area that I am always warning clients about is ceiling lighting. This is one area that almost always gets drawn in one manner for the plans and then has to be changed on-site once the trusses are actually in place. I am asked all the time why this is and the simple answer is that plans give you the ideal situation. If everything goes as planned we can put the lighting in those designated places. Reality is that there will almost always be a girder truss, a support that we cannot cut, in the way of the ideal placement. So how do we handle this? We change configurations, we adjust floor plans, we think on our feet to come up with something better than we thought we could do. We challenge ourselves. This part is where we excel, we get to take all those ideas that run through our heads constantly and implement them. Did you think we only had one plan for your home or office? No way, we have probably 10 for every project we do. We think about how to twist, adapt and reconfigure everything.

We get to be creative for our everyday work. Does that mean that all day everyday is just roses. No there are times that we roll up our sleeves and get to work. Hard work. I am always leery of the designer that is always dressed in the best clothes and just seems to point and do a whole lot of talking. There are many days that I have to show up to work in jeans and comfortable shoes because I am going to be on a construction site, or have to pick up a hammer or paint brush. Our job is to make sure the project gets done and in the manner it is supposed to. This means that sometimes we have to do the work that the sub didn’t show up to do. Or maybe it is just because we have an idea in our head that the only way to accomplish it is to do it ourselves. There have been many times over the years that I have painted a mural for a special client, or upholstered a bench. Sometimes it has even been to build a piece of furniture that was absolutely essential to a space but could not be found in the furniture market. And those are some of the most rewarding times. That smile of the child’s face because they love their room. That client or contractor that realizes that there was no way the project would have worked if you had not been there. That appreciation makes it all worth it.

Everyday is a different day with different challenges to accomplish. And at the end of the day no matter how hard it was and how much it did not go according to plan there is always an answer and I will have found it. And my client will have a better space because of my constant pursuit of the right answer for their space.