ATLANTA BABY AND CHILD EXPO + A GIVEAWAY

I'm setting up shop this weekend at the Atlanta Baby and Child Expo on Saturday, May 14th from 11am-3pm. Did I mention that I designed the website, too?

Hosted by Bottles to Britches Premier Baby Planners and in partnership with TheBump.com, this extravaganza is not one you want to miss especially if you are in the nesting stages. Some of the event highlights include relaxing mommy pampering, a maternity fashion show, a baby gear runway, and a host of mom & baby goodies!

This would be my first time setting up a booth for my design services so I'm not sure what to do. I reached out to Meredith for advice and she suggested I check out the Style at Home booth from IDS 2011.

So vivid and cheerful, I believe energetic color always gets people's attention. My booth is an 8x8 section and I'm not allowed to hang anything on the wall so I'm bringing in small furniture to hold my props and pillows. So far I've purchased some fun fabrics for pillows and my workroom should have them ready by Wednesday and it's going to take willpower not to keep a few for myself. I suppose I could also loop a slideshow of my portfolio on a monitor, too... Is there anything else you think I should include?

AND FOR THE GIVEAWAY...
Want tickets for the expo? I have two. Keep them for yourself, or give them to someone as a gift! Leave a comment below letting me know the sweetest thing about being a mother! Winners will be announced tomorrow at noon EST.

THANK YOU AJC!

I was thrilled to be interviewed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for a feature entitled "Style for the Workplace." In the article they included my 5 tips for creating a functional and beautiful home office as well as two images of my space!

And as promised, I've included more images of my office. In all honesty, the place was a complete wreck before I got the call...but the request for photos gave me the kick in the pants to get it all done and FAST!! Take a look:

The side table, lamp base, and floor lamp are refurbished pieces from the Goodwill, while the settee was a Craiglist find. The upholstery fabric didn't mesh with my color scheme so I made a slipcover from a painter's canvas dropcloth.

The owl was a cool two bucks from the Goodwill and I gave him a quick makeover with white spray paint. Now he fits right in with my Jonathan Adler pottery and Ikea bud vase!

I also revived this old vanity stool and now use it for seating at my conference table.

It took me a day of working non stop to get it all done and of course it was the weekend before the Room Service Atlanta install. Thank God I didn't turn into DesignZilla!

Hope you enjoyed this quick tour. Thanks again AJC for showing this Sweet Georgia Brown some love! It was truly an honor.

ROOM SERVICE ATLANTA: SUITE 7 REVEALED!

Leave it to me to misplace my camera on Room Service Atlanta "Reveal Day." But thank goodness for photographer Jan Stittleburg, and designers Niki McNeill and Angela Blehm for assisted me in getting photos of my space.

This is the only room in the house that has two adjoining rooms and a bathroom. The original furniture plan utilized the two rooms as bedrooms. Instead, I created a sleeping area and a separate sitting area. Let's take a look at the new "Suite 7."

It should go without saying that pulling together these spaces was no easy feat. I've got the photos to prove it!

The residents of Suite 7 had lons of personal items from clothes and shoes, to barbells, books, and an Easy Bake Oven.

How did we organize all of their belongs??? We used the power of space bags, underbed storage, a double hang closet rod, and a Closetmaid shoe organizer. We also installed wood floors (can you believe it?) which ate a nice chunk of my budget, but is was well worth it!

l: Tiffini Gatlin (The Atlanta Go To Girl) r: Me pictured with Erin Kasari (LikeATL)

l: Alexis Felder (Curls, Coils, and Kinks) r: Melica Bennett (student at Art Institute of Atlanta)

Other "Suite 7" Sponsors and volunteers not pictured, but worth their weight in gold:

Sponsors:
Wellborn,Wallace, and Woodard, LLC.
Bill and Carolyn Curry
Wayne Golden
Chaun Walker
Felicia Joy
Sherwin Williams

Volunteers Not Pictured:
Joe Anderson
Chaun Walker
Courtney McClure
Jazzmaine Francis
LaKenya Shamburger

FINISHED!

So after one year of indecisiveness about my home office, I finally finished it in one grueling day. So what banished my indecision you ask? Well, I got a call from an Atlanta press outlet asking for home office tips and they also wanted photos of my space. Yikes!!! I leaped into action and got it done! Here's a peek.

I'll post the rest very soon!

ROOM SERVICE ATLANTA: A VIDEO & SNEEK PEEK!

Room Service Atlanta and some exceptional volunteers have been working hard over the last couple of days at Nicholas House installing new interiors for deserving residents. Beautiful rooms are emerging from our Participating Designers and their talents are really shining through!

My plan was to pull together a moodboard to share my design direction, but shucks here's an actual photo. I dressed a bed in my guest room with the items I'm using for the space. Here's a preview of the father's bed:

He has two daughters who share bunk beds, but you will have to wait to see that in another post :-). I'm also creating a sitting room and have a bathroom to finish, too. *Whew* As Sherry would say, "I've been working so hard my sweat is sweating!"

I did manage to capture some video footage of a few design stars hard at work...and of course their sense of humor! Enjoy!