The Skirted Roundtable on "101 Things I Hate About Your House"

This week at The Skirted Roundtable, Megan, Joni and I chatted with interior designer James Swan about his new book "101 Things I Hate About Your House".

Although the title is quite provocative, the intent and presentation of James' points are anything but. This is a simple, step-by-step, room-by-room guide to making small changes that will have big impact in your home. We chatted with James about his background, he new life up in the wilds of Maine (even for this New England girl, Maine is pretty remote) and the fateful dinner party that started the book on its path.

Join us and after you listen, leave a comment about which tip James makes in the podcast that really resonates and anything you'd like to change in your own home. James will be sending a signed copy of his book to a winner drawn at random from all the comments.

If you would like my help on your design project, I would love to chat with you! Please email me. Thanks!

 Subscribe to ::Surroundings::

The Skirted Roundtable on "101 Things I Hate About Your House"

This week at The Skirted Roundtable, Megan, Joni and I chatted with interior designer James Swan about his new book "101 Things I Hate About Your House".

Although the title is quite provocative, the intent and presentation of James' points are anything but. This is a simple, step-by-step, room-by-room guide to making small changes that will have big impact in your home. We chatted with James about his background, he new life up in the wilds of Maine (even for this New England girl, Maine is pretty remote) and the fateful dinner party that started the book on its path.

Join us and after you listen, leave a comment about which tip James makes in the podcast that really resonates and anything you'd like to change in your own home. James will be sending a signed copy of his book to a winner drawn at random from all the comments.

If you would like my help on your design project, I would love to chat with you! Please email me. Thanks!

 Subscribe to ::Surroundings::

Blogfest 2011 - Traditional Home presents The Heritage Collection

 

Last week, one of the highlights of Blogfest2011 was the opportunity to meet with three of our very favorite past guests on The Skirted Roundtable. On Tuesday, we were bussed out to Long Island City to Mayo Studios for Kravet's launch of the Lee Jofa Heritage Collection,  hosted by Traditional Home magazine.  Six designers who have previously done lines for Kravet/Lee Jofa were asked to update a classic Lee Jofa fabric and then create a vignette around the fabric, which was photographed for an upcoming Traditional Home. On hand were David Easton, Diamond & Baratta, Eric Cohler, Suzanne Kasler, Suzanne Rheinstein and Thomas O'Brien. Each designer kindly met, stood for photographs and signed autographs with the bloggers in attendance.

I beat a path to the fan lines of SRT alumni Suzanne Rheinstein, David Easton and Suzanne Kasler, all of whom couldn't be nicer.

 

Suzanne Rheinstein

David Easton chatting with Kravet's Scott Kravet

 

Suzanne Kasler chats with Stacy Kunstel

All these vignettes were created in a big, cavernous loft space - it was a lot of fun seeing what these design icons could do in such small spaces.

Mayo Studios is a photography and design studio that specializes in the home design products:

 

 Mayo Studios image for Kravet Fabrics

All images by Linda Merrill unless otherwise noted.

If you would like my help on your design project, I would love to chat with you! Please email me. Thanks!

 Subscribe to ::Surroundings::

Blogfest 2011 - Traditional Home presents The Heritage Collection

 

Last week, one of the highlights of Blogfest2011 was the opportunity to meet with three of our very favorite past guests on The Skirted Roundtable. On Tuesday, we were bussed out to Long Island City to Mayo Studios for Kravet's launch of the Lee Jofa Heritage Collection,  hosted by Traditional Home magazine.  Six designers who have previously done lines for Kravet/Lee Jofa were asked to update a classic Lee Jofa fabric and then create a vignette around the fabric, which was photographed for an upcoming Traditional Home. On hand were David Easton, Diamond & Baratta, Eric Cohler, Suzanne Kasler, Suzanne Rheinstein and Thomas O'Brien. Each designer kindly met, stood for photographs and signed autographs with the bloggers in attendance.

I beat a path to the fan lines of SRT alumni Suzanne Rheinstein, David Easton and Suzanne Kasler, all of whom couldn't be nicer.

 

Suzanne Rheinstein

David Easton chatting with Kravet's Scott Kravet

 

Suzanne Kasler chats with Stacy Kunstel

All these vignettes were created in a big, cavernous loft space - it was a lot of fun seeing what these design icons could do in such small spaces.

Mayo Studios is a photography and design studio that specializes in the home design products:

 

 Mayo Studios image for Kravet Fabrics

All images by Linda Merrill unless otherwise noted.

If you would like my help on your design project, I would love to chat with you! Please email me. Thanks!

 Subscribe to ::Surroundings::

The Skirted Roundtable: Joe Ruggiero chat about his amazing career

This week at The Skirted Roundtable, Megan, Joni and I chatted with the amazing Joe Ruggiero. Joe has literally done it all - television personality, product designer, product spokesman, interior designer, magazine editor-in-chief, marketing guru and he has a book. Seriously. The passion he has for the design industry, his ability to jump on opportunities and his upbeat outlook are infectious and I think you'll be as inspired as we were.

I'd also like to congratulate Joe as he's being honored with the IFDA (International Furnishings & Design Association) 2011 Trailblazer Award in September. As a longtime IFDA member myself, I'm honored to be involved with the same great design industry association as Joe!

Listen to the podcast here

If you would like my help on your design project, I would love to chat with you! Please email me. Thanks!

 Subscribe to ::Surroundings::

The Skirted Roundtable: Joe Ruggiero chat about his amazing career

This week at The Skirted Roundtable, Megan, Joni and I chatted with the amazing Joe Ruggiero. Joe has literally done it all - television personality, product designer, product spokesman, interior designer, magazine editor-in-chief, marketing guru and he has a book. Seriously. The passion he has for the design industry, his ability to jump on opportunities and his upbeat outlook are infectious and I think you'll be as inspired as we were.

I'd also like to congratulate Joe as he's being honored with the IFDA (International Furnishings & Design Association) 2011 Trailblazer Award in September. As a longtime IFDA member myself, I'm honored to be involved with the same great design industry association as Joe!

Listen to the podcast here

If you would like my help on your design project, I would love to chat with you! Please email me. Thanks!

 Subscribe to ::Surroundings::

The Skirted Roundtable: Jamie Drake, Megan and me - live and in person!

Last week when I was in High Point, podcast partner Megan and I had the opportunity to hold our first live and in person interview together and we were thrilled that we got to chat with the fabulous designer Jamie Drake.

Jamie was the keynote speaker at the morning press breakfast, which was sponsored by Swarovski Elements.  One of the best parts of being a designer/blogger is that I have been able to gain access to some of the industry's most successful designers - people whose careers I can only dream of - and learn directly from them. Each of these talks and interviews is like a masterclass in interior design and I always come away with another slice of information or encouragement that makes me a better designer. I can't imagine being a blogger/journalist covering a field that I'm not actively participating in as well, it feels like it would be interesting but not life changing.

 

 images via New York Social Diary

It was a new experience doing the interview in person as we finally had the visual cues that one needs to avoid over talk and keep a linear line of thought going. Hopefully, we'll get to do more in the future!

Click on over to listen

If you would like my help on your design project, I would love to chat with you! Please email me. Thanks!

 Subscribe to ::Surroundings::

The Skirted Roundtable: Jamie Drake, Megan and me - live and in person!

Last week when I was in High Point, podcast partner Megan and I had the opportunity to hold our first live and in person interview together and we were thrilled that we got to chat with the fabulous designer Jamie Drake.

Jamie was the keynote speaker at the morning press breakfast, which was sponsored by Swarovski Elements.  One of the best parts of being a designer/blogger is that I have been able to gain access to some of the industry's most successful designers - people whose careers I can only dream of - and learn directly from them. Each of these talks and interviews is like a masterclass in interior design and I always come away with another slice of information or encouragement that makes me a better designer. I can't imagine being a blogger/journalist covering a field that I'm not actively participating in as well, it feels like it would be interesting but not life changing.

 

 images via New York Social Diary

It was a new experience doing the interview in person as we finally had the visual cues that one needs to avoid over talk and keep a linear line of thought going. Hopefully, we'll get to do more in the future!

Click on over to listen

If you would like my help on your design project, I would love to chat with you! Please email me. Thanks!

 Subscribe to ::Surroundings::