Black and White Decor

In life there are situations where something is either black or white and then there are the grey places in between.  For those who lean towards things being either black or white in life, well there is also black and white in decor.  For those who see things as being somewhat less than black or white, but a little gray, I have already posted my 50 shades of gray earlier so now an homage to black and white which always seems so crisp and clean.....

 

 

 

Oops, this is really more black than black & white, but it can stay!!

 

 Houndstooth is big in fashion this fall and interior decorating always follows the runway...

 

 

 

SOFA... Seminar by David Behr

Many people in the Design business spent the morning up at SOFA www.visitsofa.com, attending a seminar by David Behr on the "Characteristics of Top Producers in Any Market - "The YES Attitude".  I was inspired.  What an interesting speaker and a lot of great ideas and many different ways of doing business.  He offered many ways to say what we normally say, but with a different slant, much more positive.  It really was a worthwhile event.  We all want to improve our business and be more motivated.  What David did was give us some tools on how to make some changes that would be pertinent to our individual selves and businesses.  I came away thinking I would really start to put into practice what he spoke of.  Once again, many thanks to the staff at SOFA for another great seminar.

Inspiration in the name of Fabric.....

I am like a kid in a candy store when I enter a Fabric showroom.  Since I was a young girl I have always loved fabrics.  Back then for doll clothes, moving on to clothes 'pour moi',  and that lead me to take Fashion Design in college.  I really loved working with all the lovely fabrics.  I am now an Interior Decorator and once again I am lucky enough to be back in the world of beautiful fabrics.  I get so inspired whenever I am near fabric.  I could spend many days just going through all the wonderful textiles available in our industry today.  A great deal of my design inspiration comes from fabrics. I see something and my mind start to churn and the next thing I know, I have created a scheme with a few different fabrics and I can envision them in a space.   The textile business has come a long way,  as the saying goes and nowadays there are so many improvements with all the new technology that has been developed, we are now thinking of our environment while having fabric that has improved performance.  I found an interesting fabric from Maxwell that offers a 'Nanotex"  Technology which is a permanent spill & stain protection that does not change the structure of how the fabric feels and functions, yet is totally recyclable making it environmentally friendly.  It is so safe it is used on baby wear.  Now that is a great! 

Oh, but I digress..... I wanted to share some of the fab finds out there from many of the great textile manufacturers, so here are just a few great fabrics.  Don't they just make you want to get out and get some and do something with them??

 

 

 

 

Decorators and Designers can put different fabrics together in a pleasing manner and create a pulled together space with personality.  Using a mix of plain, patterned, check or stripe can add interest to your space.  This can also help define a room's style.  A room will have a cohesive look if you keep each fabric in the same palette with a common color,  as well as keep in mind the scale of the patterns used. Varying the scale of patterns adds interest and variety as well as balance.

 

And here is a little look at how they can look when all pulled together.....

FALL TRADE SHOWS & HOME SHOWS FOR DESIGN & DECOR INFO.....

This post is a little late due to the fact that I caught it!! Yup got the bug going around and have been in bed since the weekend.  Going a bit stir crazy so decided to write something about the recent shows I attended.

Last week was a busy one with both The Decorating Centre Annual Trade Show,  www.thedecoratingcentre.ca and then IIDEX. I am loaded down with great information, and tons of reading material which I have been going through during my stay in bed.  Unfortunately I deleted all my photos this morning in error.  Guess I am not quite myself yet.  Better stay away from heavy equipment!! and the camera and possibly my computer.  Nah.... got to write.

AS in the past, the Decorating Centre put on a great day for us.  We were able to browse the suppliers new products and they are really great.  We heard some interesting speakers from Norwalk Furniture, www.norwalkfurniture.com giving us the Color Trends for fall, winter, spring and summer as well as Interior Designer, Kimberley Seldon www.kimberleyseldon.com and  Marysia Czarski of Velocity Partnership, www.velocity-partnership.com.  In addition to all of that we had a lovely lunch compliments of the Decorating Centre and many prizes were won.  Yeah!!  Sorry no photos this time.
IIDEX 2012 was this past week and there were many great new products to view.  I am hoping to borrow some photos from a colleague so I can show you some of these wonderful offerings.
Coming up will be the International Home Show and Interior Decorating Show, www.interiordecoratingshow.com, both at the International Centre on November 1 - 4, so mark your calendars.  With the line up of celebrity speakers it promises to be a great day.