Cleveland Furniture and Millwork Fair

The first Cleveland Furniture and Millwork Fair opens this Wed. at the Halle Building at 1212 Huron Road. This is part of the District of Design and is an exciting opportunity for trades and designers in and around North East Ohio.

I am proud to say I will be speaking to the exhibitors during one of the educational seminars.

My topic is "Doing Business with Interior Designers", which got me thinking about all the different ways I use trades for my clients. I often bring a craftsman in to create a custom piece of furniture to meet the special needs of my clients. Or a carpenter to do an intricate crown molding design. Or a cabinet designer to help facilitate a custom Kitchen which have included crazy things like a wide, shallow drawer to hide jigsaw puzzles in process. It is my job to come up with the crazy and unique ideas. It is their job to say, "Yes, Of course, I can make that work."

I am curious to know how you have used these special trades to do things at your home? Or if you are a designer, on your projects?

What is important to you when you are hiring them?


You will all be part of my research for my presentation! I am presenting on Thursday July 15th from 1:00-2:00pm if you are around The Halle Building and want to stop in to see me babble.

Cheers,

BBS

image from Cleveland.com

Herbs A'Plenty

I hope everyone had a delightful and fun holiday weekend. I, myself, am exhausted. I had a dear friend come in from Chicago for the weekend, so it was busy, busy, busy. Lots of cocktails, sun, and fun.

After I picked up Mel B (her nickname for the weekend) at the airport, we headed to my house to relax before a busy night. I had just trimmed back my already bountiful herbs, so I had lots of lemon basil and mint on hand. Into the cocktails it went and they were yummy. I thought I would share the "recipe"


Vodka of choice
ice
3-4 lemon basil leaves; torn by hand
5-6 mint leaves; torn by hand
2-3 wedge of lemon
Club Soda

Fill tall glass with ice. Pour in desired amount of vodka. Put in basil and mint. Stir around. Squeeze in lemon and place wedges in glass. Pour in Club Soda to fill the glass. Give one last stir and enjoy on a patio in the sun.

For a little more color add fresh or frozen berries. (Thanks Ally)

They were a great kick off to a weekend full of great friends, cookouts, parties, boat rides, good laughs, and lots of fun.


Cheers,

BBS

Imperial Love

You all know by now my love of Imperial Trellis(here on known as IT) from Schumacher. Kelly Wearstler is a genius. I thought you might want to take a peek at a recent installation using IT in the raspberry and cream color way. Below are some before and afters for your pleasure....

Before of the Entry, Foyer, and into the Family Room. The space was perfectly fine, yet the clients had grown tired of how busy the floral paper was and wanted to freshen up the space.

I pulled the raspberry color out of their gorgeous rug and minimized the accessories.

Before of the settee wall.

I hung the original black painted mirror in another space and we replaced it with this antiques and clear glass mirror with nail heads. The brackets were simple and great, so I re-hung those with new bright turquoise jardinieres. (The settee cushions on its way and we have fab. pillows in the works, but I couldn't wait to post the pictures.)

Before: I knew the raspberry IT would go perfectly with the wool runner on the stairs!

Ta-Dah........

I will post more Before and Afters from this project next week. This shows that with minor changes you can make huge differences in your look.

Cheers,

BBS


all images belong to me!

Need a Laugh????

My friend Allyson turned me on to my newest guilty pleasure. She introduced me to a new blog called Catalog Living. This genius little treat can be found at http://www.catalogliving.tumblr.com/ and it is fantastic.



Written by a actor/comedian/hilarious person it gently pokes fun of the oddly staged rooms of catalogs. I caught myself laughing out loud several times and one post brought those laughter tears to my eyes. You will know it when you come across it, but it does involve guests arriving by horseback from the beach.



I wish I had thought of this myself, but it would take the fun out of reading what she comes up with. I have often paged through a new Pottery Barn or West Elm and thought to myself, "Who lives like that?????".



If you have ever thought the same thing, you will LOVE Catalog Living.



Cheers,



BBS



image from Pottery Barn that was too good to pass up with the nautical glass jar/globe bookends on the floor. Really????? This image has not yet been used in Catalog Living, but it would be a good one.

My Apologies

I am sorry, I have been a bad, neglectful blogger these past weeks. I am distracted. Work is crazy, My father sold his house and is moving to a yet to be determined location in less than a month, the entire exterior of my house is being re-done due to early May storm damage, and most importantly it is Summer.

While I have missed you all, I have enjoyed several cocktails and dinners with great friends and family Al fresco. I have been taking in Summer. Enjoying it. It has been a great week.

Yesterday afternoon in preparation for the roof to come off my house, I "harvested" my sure to be crushed Hydrangeas. The image above is my Kitchen sink. My house looks a bit like a funeral home right now with 9, yes 9, hydrangea arrangements throughout my first floor, but I love it.



I will be back to my normal blogging self, I hope, next week.....

Have a beautiful weekend!

Cheers,

BBS

Hydrangea Heaven

I am currently in Hydrangea Heaven at my house. I love them for so many reasons. There is such a range of colors, they bloom from now well into the Fall, and they are, frankly, pretty easy to care for all season.

I just love this pale periwinkle color that only comes with the first blush of the blooms. These same blossoms will be a much stronger cornflower blue in just a few days. You can even see it happening in the background of this picture.

This is actually two different bushes on the side of my house. The right one is the prettiest, creamy white in early Summer and will turn a fabulous champagne pink in the late Summer and into Fall. The one on the left turns cranberry and sage later in the season.

This is my hardiest, most faithful hydrangea and it sits at my front door. For 10 years it bloomed all season, no matter what, until last year. We had a late frost and a late, heavy snow fall in 2009, so I am sure that was a factor, but I was crushed.

I was determined to get more than the six blossoms I got last year....How am I doing? I did not cut this bush back in the Fall like I normally do, so I think that did the trick. (I will have to this Fall or I won't be able to see out of my windows.)

I almost lost this one last year, but I didn't pull it and look how it is doing! It will be a bold, fuchsia pink all Summer.

This was my very first Hydrangea and it always does great. It is bright white at first and then turns solid apple green. Just beautiful.

This barely pink one sits next to my side door. The plant is about three times the size it was last year and has so many blooms to come.

This was an Easter plant that was given to me years ago and I decided to plant it. It has never had one bloom since it was planted, but this year I have dozens coming. We will have to see what color it is when it finally comes out.

This was my birthday present this year from my sweet father, thanks Dad! He planted it outside of my screened-in porch (from where I am typing this right now) and I am trying to keep it the pale blueish lavender it was when I got it. I sprinkle my coffee grounds each morning per the suggestion of the garden shop from which we purchased it. We will see......

So I already have cut blossoms in vases in my house and I am a happy girl.

Cheers,

BBS

all images are mine, enjoy!

Gabby

I am not often blown away by new companies. They often look like everyone else. Or they are too expensive. Or they look cheap. I know they will come and go.

Yesterday afternoon one of our reps dropped by and introduced us to a new division of a company we have sold for a while, Summer Classics. SC, like its name suggests is outdoor furniture. Great company; good product. I have a SC sofa on my screened in porch as a matter of fact.

I was surprised to hear that they had opened an interior furniture company and I was shocked when I saw the catalog. It is called Gabby Home and I love the look of it. It is subtitled "Decor with a story" which I love and there are handwritten notes about the pieces in the catalog. Great smokey finishes, they utilize reclaimed wood, and the distressing is wonderful.

There were not many images available as the company is so new, but they have an excellent website. Check it out www.gabbyhome.com and if you would like any additional info or pricing on any of the pieces, please let me know.

Just Beautiful!

Cheers,

BBS

images belong to Gabby Home