Hamilton Home Show

This past weekend brought together many exhibitors for the Hamilton Home Show, located in the Hamilton Convention Centre.  Once again a few CDECA Interior Decorators participated in the "Ask a CDECArator" Booth providing free design and decor consultations to visitors to the show.

In addition to this, Pamela deVries and myself were given a one hour spot on the Main Stage on Saturday.  Our presentation talked about the common decorating mistakes people make and how to fix them.  A video may be coming soon courtesy of my daughter Megan and her boyfriend James.  Thanks guys!!

Here we are during our presentation

Here are some of the products I found...Baby and Children's furnishings by Natart

We had a great presentation, unfortunately the photos were barely visible as the lights could not be turned down... oh well

 This would be for a little princess, all in a silver shade

and a matching dresser of course 

 Furnishings by Lofty Ambitions

Live Edge Table from 100 Mile Home & Design Centre

  

 Outdoor entertaining by landscaping with style

The View Window Fashions at SOFA

Yesterday was quite the day and being Valentines Day I had a great day.  Starting of the day was a presentation by The View Window Fashions who have 3 locations, one in Vaughan, one in Toronto and just opened another location, this time in the Marketplace at SOFA.  The view consists of three people who have been in this business for many years and they know window coverings.  They will carry Hunter Douglas www.centurianwindowfashions;  MaxxMar  www.maxxmar.com,;  Levelor www.levolor.ca and Graber graberblinds.com.
The presentation commenced with three "Men in Black"  entering and then 'one man in black' strutted his stuff.  The view provided chocolate roses and eye candy for valentines day.... and later refreshments in their kiosk.  Danny Tulino, speaker for the group presented some of the newest offerings and there are many great ways to 'Dress' your windows.  All in all a great presentation and more great knowledge.

Gotta love SOFA, www.visitsofa.com for arranging all these educational and fun events for us decorators and designers and thanks to The View for the great refreshments and to the wonderful showrooms for the way they welcome us and also the great prizes.

Thanks to Linda and Lailyn!

Glen Peloso at SoFA and that 5th Wall - Flooring!

He's back and spoke to a full house as the saying goes...  

Glen Peloso presents 

       Get Floored with Design - Smart Choices for that 5th Wall!

I was lucky enough to be at this fabulous presentation yesterday where Glen Peloso spoke about flooring and their effect on the space and how they set the tone for the space.  I have heard Glen speak several times and never disappoints!!  He is an excellent speaker in that he has the ability to combine knowledge with humour.  And there was humour.  We definitely learned many great things about the importance of selecting the correct flooring for each project but we also had a lot of laughs and that made for a great time for all.  Glen offered many details about the different options - hardwood, vinyl, laminate, carpet, til and concrete.  He went through current trends, new innovations, his favourite products, common issues and also some great information on working with flooring in our businesses.  If you were not able to make this event, I will be summarizing his info in another post.


'Grounding your design plan on the floor can create a successful design and a happy client' is Glen's philosophy; well having Glen present information 'creates a successful event and happy audience'.

Red Rooms

Happy Valentines Day!!

Of course we think of red when thinking of Valentines Day, Hearts, etc.  Red has both positive and negative connotations.  It can bring to mind images of anger, aggression, danger but it can also bring to mind images of passion, desire, love, sensuality, exuberance, energizing and definitely attracts attention.  I could go on about the historic significance of red and so on, but I want to share some photos of using red in design.  It is so warm, welcoming and full of life!

Bringing the world of Fashion to Furnishings presented by Whittington & Co.

We have all heard that everything in design starts on the fashion runways.  Well last week Whittington & Co. www.whittingtonfurniture.com hosted an event that really brought this alignment of fashion & furnishings to the forefront.

The evening started with wonderful food and a lot of mingling while viewing the mannequins placed throughout the space and dressed in the newest fabrics, including the new Jonathan Adler collection.  Many of the fabric reps were there and their fabrics on mannequins as well.  My first career was fashion design so being around fabric always gets my creative juices going and of course mixing fashion and interior design is just perfect.  Fashion + Design = Happy

Love these mannequins






There was a `fashion show` with models wearing various upholstery fabrics to really emphasize the point and a grand unveiling of three spectacular chairs designed by Jason Mota in collaboration with Whittington artisans which were auctioned and funds going to Peel Children`s Aid.

Looking so Mysterious, shrouded in black cloth, couldn't wait to see what was underneath

My photos do not do these creations justice, but you get the idea

 

 
By the end of the fashion show, people were taking turns posing in the chairs.