Last week I attended the Design Blogger’s Conference in Atlanta. This was the sixth annual conference, but a first for me. Esteem Media CEO, Adam Japko, did a fabulous job putting this event together and attendees (all 400!) enjoyed two and a half days full of learning, networking and fun; with inspiring and interesting guest speakers, a trade show, after parties and lunch at showrooms and even a mid afternoon wine tasting! I left with my head swimming with new and useful information on everything from improving my writing and photo taking skills to best practices for monitoring stats and increasing reach, to collaborating with brands. That said, my biggest take-a-way is that blogging is a LOT of work and could easily be a full time job! (I have a new, and great, respect, for bloggers who post daily and have a massive following). So, given that my full time job is running my interior design business I have to balance my love of blogging, and my desire to do so, with the realities of my time constraints and busy schedule. Much like the guilty pleasure of taking the time to read a good novel, finding the time to blog has felt a bit like a luxury I have not been making time for. That said, I have decided that the main direction and purpose for my blog will be to chronicle my design process, on my projects, and share the intricacies of my design decisions along the way. I will share inspiration, drawings, fabric choices and thoughts and reasoning behind the decisions made and in doing so I hope to shed light on the design process (my process) and inspire design junkies and diy’ers as they strive to improve their own lives through design. This focus on my projects will keep me engaged with , and in a sense “working” on, them – even when I am blogging, thus allowing me to blog “guilt free”! At least that’s the goal! But before we get to all that, I’d like to share some moments from the conference….
An interview with Cynthia Rowely!
A few favorites from the Ferguson showroom at The Shops Buckhead,
where we attended an “after party”.
The Shops Buckhead at night.
Guest speaker India Hicks!!
Perks for bloggers from Phipps Plaza merchants (so nice of them)…
Here’s me meeting Nathan Turner from Million Dollar Decorators
( which is no longer on the air – bummer)
He was not only inspiring but hilarious!
Mid afternoon wine tasting and a good magazine. It’s always 5:00 somewhere.
Major highlight! Met Mary McDonald (also of Million Dollar Decorator fame)
at Phipps Plaza where she spoke about her projects and her amazing thought process on her projects!
She was not only interesting, inspiring and funny, she was very, very nice.
A beautiful kitchen display at Phipps…
After the conference ended on Tuesday we had some time to explore more of
The Shops Buckhead. Next are from the five story Restoration Hardware
store directly across from the “Shops”. It was like walking through the catalog.
I love their baby and child stuff best of all.
Here’s the view of downtown Atlanta from the roof of Restoration.
After Restoration and more Shops Buckhead, we had a nice salad
at Le Bilboquet where these pretty flowers graced our table.
