Houzz comes to Canada

Nov. 29th saw over 700 design professionals attend a wonderful event at SoFA http://www.visitsofa.com/, the launch of Houzz in Canada.  It was lovely to see so many CDECA members there as well

There were wonderful speakers, fantastic food, some celebrities, lovely wine- what a fantastic day.  We learned how to use houzz to help grow our businesses and what an inspiring site it can be. Thanks to Linda Kafka for organizing such a lovely day.

A Great Seminar At SOFA - David Behr on Characteristics of Top Producers in any Market - "The YES Attitude"

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.  Everyone there appeared to be 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 practise what he spoke of.  Once again, many thanks to the staff at SOFA for another great seminar.

IIDEX - Internatinal Interior Design Exhibition.....

It was a busy week for us, as we also had IIDEX this past week.  Of course CDECA had a booth at the show and received many interested visitors.   I cruised the show with a colleague and we discovered many great products and took many photos to share.  Unfortunately, I deleted all of mine in error.  Not doing so great on the photography scale this week.  No worries... my good friend and colleague, our President of the local GTA West Chapter, Audrey took some with her phone and saved the day.  Here are a few of the many interesting things we saw.....

Now for some interesting products....

                                                                                             

Beautiful Carpet Squares from jj invision 

Great products from Surface Innovations - flexible slate and other materials.

 Interesting wall treatment from textur 3d

 Interesting lighting - can be used individually or have several together

 My favourite was this great display fy Palazzetti for a nice organized office.  I want this!

The Decorating Centre Annual Trade Show

Every September, TDC, www.thedecoratingcentre.ca hosts a wonderful Trade Show for Designers & Decorators and every year there is a waiting list because this has become one of the events of the year for us.  Many of the suppliers that we source through TDC set up displays of their product lines with all the new and fabulous items so that we are on top of what's going on in the design/decor world.  I usually take pictures of this event and did take my camera but alas, was having such a great time, I completely forgot to take any snaps.  We had two great presentations during the day, one from the people at Norwalk Furniture giving us the latest colour story trends and the other was Kimberley Seldon and her business coach Marysia Czarski.  Both were enlightening.  To top it all off we had a great lunch compliments of TDC and there were draws for great prizes.  I even won one!!  Remember next year to sign up early for this great event.  Many thanks to the Munros for a great day as always!

Updates

Don't forget to check the upcoming events page as well as the SoFa Window page tabs, so that you can see what we have been up to over the past few weeks.

July Sourcing Day

On July 17th, the GTA West headed to Designers Walk, http://www.designerswalk.com/ in Toronto.  Even though the weather was extremely hot, we had a great group of decorators show up for our tour.  We  visited the following showrooms Thanks for a great and informative day:

Hunter Douglas and the Resource Centre, with coffee and muffins

 provided by Helen Nichols, who arranged our tour for us.  

The resource area has conference rooms for us to use for 

meetings with clients as well as many small booths 

which showcase some of their vendors.

http://www.designerswalk.com/resource-centre.html

W Studio where Sarrah showed us their beautiful rugs, 

and taught us a few things about silk carpets.  

The selection was amazing, and we learned about their great delivery program as well.  

These rugs are all hand knotted, and come in a variety of modern to classic.

                                           Mille Luce Designs,  is an amazing lighting 

showroom, where we saw all sorts of new 

and wonderful products. 

We also saw the new light bulb by Phillips 

which is basically indestructible and lasts 15 

years- great for those hard to reach areas

We finished our tour at Robert Allen Fabrics, 

where we were like "kids in a candy shop"- 

there is something about seeing row upon row of beauttiful fabrics 

that make decorators hearts beat a bit faster.

Happenings at SOFA

June 28th brought many decorators and designers to SOFA, www.visitsofa.com once again for a great seminar from Karl Lohnes. Everybody seems to really enjoy Karl's great spirit and he has such a way of speaking and presenting facts he keeps you entertained. You want to know him better. He has presented to CDECA members in the past, most recently at our annual AGM and we all come away in a 'happy place' thanks to him.

'Another Packed House' to hear Karl Lohnes speak  

This event was sponsored by Magnussen Home, www.magnussen.com who are located in the SOFA showroom area of the International Centre.  Thanks to Linda Kafka and Azma Ousmand for arranging such great seminars and great speakers.

The topic was: 'Keeping the design ball rolling" during the slowest times of the year! Great presentation. Karl gave us much to ponder and act upon as well as sharing his recent "status" as an Artist. Yup, Karl has signed to have his very own piece of art available through CB2, www.cb2.com (new store by Crate & Store). Wow, that is really something and as Karl told us, he just felt like being creative and fun one weekend and someone showed somone, and someone else and so on and on; just from a little networking and people sharing, he got the attention

of top people at C&B and they loved what he created and voila you can now purchase his artpiece. Karl shared some other interesting options ahead for him, so keep following

A bit of England to celebrate the Queen's Jubliee

I came away with a lot of tips and was glad to have confirmation that some of what he shared, and I have already started, is a good thing. I believe the reason Karl is so sought after as a speaker and why he captures his audience, is that he talks to them as if we are all friends just sitting around having a little talk. He shares situations he has been in and how they generated business and does it such a way that is so down to earth, one feels, Yes, I could try that.

The seminar offered many great ideas and also stressed Social Media, Networking, the importance of good and honest Communication with potential and current Clients & Suppliers as well as other ventures you can stream into that could be related to your current career as a Decorator or Designer. 

A new focus can also be an enhancement to your current business as well as generate additional income, especially during the slowest times of the year. For instance a lot of us write for magazines, newspapers, why not a book?? Perhaps you can do DIY projects, sew, paint or any other creative work.  

I am a little late in writing this blog, but now that the hot days of July are upon us I am working on some of Karl's great tips!! Gonna go and tweet Karl now.......

 

GTA West Chapter Summer Luncheon.....

June 21st,  the beginning of summer was marked by our chapter luncheon.  We had a fantastic turnout including several of our fabulous and supportive affiliates.  Our venue was Il Fornello in Oakville and a great time of networking and just catching up was had by all.  What a great way to start summer - good friends and good food!!

We will be continuing our monthly meetings in a more casual manner during the summer months of July and August as we did last year with our "Summer Sourcing Days" where we as a group visit different industry showrooms..  It was met with great success so we are doing it again.  Our first Sourcing day will be in Toronto at 'Designers Walk' on July 17th.  Keep watch for more details....

SoFA Vendor Showcase and Jane Lockhart on Colour

Many of the CDECA Members as well as others in the design community turned out to the Spring Vendor Showcase at SoFA. 
Leading industry vendors were  on hand to showcase their product lines and offered us in depth, detailed product knowledge!

Here is a list of participating vendors: 

Alendel, Antex , Avant Garde , CDECA, CSP International, ' Cambria Canada,
Coast Appliances,Dann Imports,Designers Gallery,Distinctive Appliances - Opening Soon ,
Eddystone, Elite Window Fashions,Equus,Fawn Chang,Hunter Douglas,IDRC,
Joanne Fabrics,Kravet,Maxxmar,Maxwell,OTB Marketing,PPG Pittsburgh Paints,
Pride of Paris,Prime Walls,Saletex,Sequins, Shade-O-Matic,Sheridan Nurseries,
Soletex,Sun Glow,Renaissance ,Robert Allen,View It Technologies,Watermarks Kitchen and Bath Boutique

This event was sponsored by Alteriors, Pittsburgh Paint, Umbra and Indigo/Chapters.  Overall they provided prizes, refreshments and lunch.  Thanks to all.

Following the showcase event we enjoyed a lovely luncheon and then many attended the Jane Lockharts presentation "Colour Foundations for Design Professionals" which was an ARIDO CEU approved credit.

Speers Paint Event

Our GTA West Chapter's May Meeting was sponsored by Speers Paint in Oakville.  We began the evening with refreshments and a short business meeting. 
Following the business meeting, Carlos Pignataro, store manager, provided us with information on preparing general specifications, including estimates, scope, examination of surfaces, surface preparation and workmanship. Wayne Woodley of Penwood Painting and Craig Lowe of Lowe Painting discussed wallcovering installations, painting systems, working with contractors and managing expectations of clients.  The area representative of Benjamin Moore was also in attendance to discuss characteristics of Benjamin Moore paints and recent developments.

Enjoying refreshments provided by Speers Paint while we have our business meeting 

Audrey introducing Carlos 

Carlos  & Guido picking winners for their draw

Save The Date!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

12:00 noon

GTA West Chapter season finale at Il Fornello, Oakville

More information to come.

Janette Ewen at SOFA

April 3, 2012

"Stuck in a Design Rut" with Janette Ewen

A very inspirational visit was had by all recently at SOFA with a
standing room only presentation from Canadian Stylist Janette Ewen. Best known for her regular appearances on City Line, and more recently co-hosting HGTV's 'Inside the Box' with Ty Pennington,  Janette discussed the top trends in home decor, and  where to look for inspiration to develop and maintain a creative mind.

She shared her inspirations, from travels around the world, to walks in her neighbourhood, and included some sites to find and organize ideas.
http://www.houzz.com/
http://pinterest.com/
http://www.sweetspot.ca/SweetHome/janette_ewen/page/1/

Thanks to SOFA for organizing this event, it truly was inspirational, and a pleasure to meet Janette.

Speers Road Broadloom Event in April 2012

GTA West at Speers Road Broadloom

Many CDECA decorators attended an event at Speers Road Broadloom entitled 'Hands On' Installation and gained extremely valuable knowledge.

Carl French from Speers Road Broadloom organized a professional flooring trainer to attend. His name is Dave Adams. He is a real specialist that works with a number of flooring products.   We we given information on the newest in vinyl flooring; Polypropelene Carpets and how easy they are to live with as well as wood step covers. 

 

 

 

 As in the past Carl arranged for lovely refreshments provided by Janna French-Kugler of SPECA Marketing and Event Planning.www.specsplanning.com 

 Thanks to Carl for arranging to have his suppliers on hand for this informative evening.

Gardening Tips for Decorators

A Good Time Was Had by All

All eyes were forward in eager anticipation as some 50 plus decorators and designers watched the designers of Sheridan Nurseries perform their magic. No one was disappointed.        

The SOFA Spring Container Design Seminar was packed with information and tips for successful container gardening. Proper drainage, enriched potting mix, slow release fertilization, and proper watering all contribute to success. The perfect container, the thrillers, fillers and spillers, all customized, create the complete design.

Thank you so much to SOFA and to the inspiring designers from Sheridan Nurseries. I know this decorator made a detour to Sheridan Nurseries on the way home to set up my Corporate Account, which entitles me to 20% discount off regular retail price. Happy gardening fellow decorators.

The month of April brought us to our CDECA Annual General Meeting and once again our meeting was held at the Estates of Sunnybrook in Toronto.  Attendees enjoyed two professional development seminars, a fabulous lunch and great networking with peers and affiliates as well as the Awards Presentations to our Winners of the 2012 Design Competition. As well as all the fun there was the business of our general meeting and the National Board of Directors for 2012 - 2013 were duly elected.
If not for the generosity of our wonderful affiliates we would not have had such a successful day.  Many thanks to all who supported this event.   All in all a great day for everyone.

Karl Lohnes spoke on the topic of 'Following Your Instincts, Not The Trends

Fawn Cheng spoke on the topic of 'How to use Acient Wisdom in Modern Colour & Design

GTA West Goes to the Hamilton Home Show

On the weekend of March 9th - 11th, we had 12 members of the GTA West Chapter of CDECA participate in The Greater Hamilton Home Show.    Planning started months ago when we checked out several local venues throughout the GTA West and the decision to participate in this particular show was twofold – we were given an excellent booth cost and they were rolling out a new area entitled “Designers Walk” where the main exhibits would be design/décor related.  Along with our organization there were indoor and outdoor exhibits with different décor items displayed and available for purchase.

Prior to the show everyone was asked how they wanted the booth to be designed and coincidentally all were in agreement of a colourful, nature inspired/organic look:

In promoting the show, the management in turn was promoting CDECA with print ads, brochures, social media and signage which all included our Logo.  There was also an opportunity to highlight CDECA and what we do through a TV interview with CHCH TV.

We actually participated in two booths.  We created a lovely booth with all the bright and sunny colours of spring and summer along with an organic theme.  We approached some of our affiliates and they were generous enough to provide furniture, custom carpeting, custom table and many accessories and art which really made our booth amazing.  We received many positive comments.  We were promoting our own businesses as well as CDECA and had a video running of past winners of our Design Contest.

Secondary to this we assisted the venue in their “Ask a Decorator” booth where there again, was more advertising of our organization’s participation.

All in all it was a positive experience and some of our decorators gained clients from this event and we brought CDECA’s name forward as the place to “find a great decorator”.

March 2012 - A great day at SOFA

The Hunter Douglas Studio, Canadel and AGA Marvel welcome you to SOFA for a morning of sourcing and fun! 

When: Tuesday March 20 from 9.30a.m. to 12p.m.

Where: SOFA the International Center Mississauga. suite 209 second floor

Theme: "Sourcing at SOFA" Event  

• -Our first stop will be the Hunter Douglas Studio in Marketplace Suite 209.  We will gather here between 9:30am - 10am for coffee and morning treats.
•  -We also have our official meeting 10 am (15-20 min)
• -After that we are going to discover why so many are choosing Window Fashions By Design as their preferred Hunter Douglas Supplier.  Tour the Hunter Douglas Studio, view the exclusive Collections and learn how you can grow your sales with this Resource Program Tailored for the Design Professional. 

 -Our next stop will be the Canadel Showroom for a kitchen and dining room product knowledge tour, as well as tips about how to increase your furniture sales.  Kitchens and dining rooms are the heart of our homes.  Let us show you how Canadel Furniture can be centre stage for everyday life, as well as your client's most cherished memories.  Let us build your custom designs.  Together we will make your clients proud! 

• -We will end up at the AGA Marvel Showroom for a cooking demo and light bites for lunch! You will be introduced to their high end product line of undercounter refrigeration systems from Marvel and Heartland Appliances. Watch a cooking demonstration on the AGA Total Control, brand new model of the Iconic and best Loved British cast iron cooker. Introduction to Culinary Architecture kitchen design with La Cornue from France.

February 2012 - Learning about Wood

GTA West Chapter of CDECA  February meeting Our next meeting will be held  at Exotic Woods, a new CDECA Affiliate Member, located at 5229 Harvester Rd, Burlington Ontario Thursday February 16th, 2012 at 10:00- a.m.

Exotic Woods has become well known in the wood industry as a supplier of fine quality hardwoods, softwoods, veneers and plywoods. Exotic Woods also offers high quality custom machining services, providing lumber machined to exact specifications for a variety of applications . Located in Burlington, Ontario, Exotic Woods occupies over 20,000 square feet of space for a full machining facility, showroom and warehouse. The customer base ranges from luthiers, wood turners, cabinet makers & local contractors to wood enthusiasts across North America. Here is a table that Exotic Woods has donated to CDECA to let us use for the Home Show in March- Many thanks for that!

Winter 2012- Great start to the New Year

GTA West Chapter January Event

When: Tuesday, January 17 from 6:00 – 9:00pm

Where: TheDecorating Centre, 5195 Harvester Road  Unit  12, Burlington: 905-681-2000

Theme: Recharging, Refreshing, and Setting your Intentions for 2012.  We want to embrace positivity and how to translate that into our business practices, essentially through storytelling about success.

Event Agenda: 

Participants would be required to do some preliminary homework.  Namely:

·         What was your best client / project experience of 2011?  Briefly describe it.

·         What were the most important or significant factors that either led to or contributed to that success.  (maximum of 2 points)

We will then use something known as Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to explore the commonalities and learning points.  It would be quite interactive and therefore is best with a maximum number of participants.  The themes from the stories will be summarized so that everyone can take away that one thing they will do differently – or more consistently – in running their business in 2012.

Fall News for the Chapter

Our November meeting was wonderful:  we had two fantastic presentations “How to Take Better Photos of Your Designs” followed by:  “Food and Wine Pairings for the Holiday Season” the meeting was a great success.

Of course, in early November, many members attended the CDECA PD day at SOFA

In December a small group of the GTA West members spent an evening shopping and browsing the quaint shops in downtown Oakville, ending our evening with some tea and dessert.

Newsletter- September 2011

GTA West September, 2011

·      

·       On Sept 8^th, many GTA West members attended a great “lunch and Learn” day, hosted by Prosource, Mississauga

·         On Sept. 12^th we had our monthly meeting at Wicker Emporium, a new Affiliate, whose tag line is “Wicker…and so much more”- lovely wooden furniture, leather chairs, and accessories too.  We had 17 members attend the function, and were treated to wine and cheese, homemade goodies, and a tour of the store.  Wicker Emporium introduced a new CDECA member loyalty card, and would like us to extend an invitation to the Ottawa chapter, that they would be happy to host a chapter meeting for them.

·          Attached is a photo of our new window “Tools of the Trade” at SOFA.  The Window Committee worked hard to get the window ready for the Ramsin event held on Sept. 14^th.  We approached some Affiliates about donating things for the window, and they came through for us- Maxwell Fabrics, PPG Paints, Crown Wallpaper, Royal Lighting, Prosource.  By scrounging around and finding old ladders etc. this lovely window was put together at no cost to CDECA at all.

Sept. 20^th sees the GTA West hosting a booth at The Decorating Centre’s Design show.  Volunteers have agreed to “man the booth”, everyone taking a half hour turn. 


Here is the latest photo of our "window" at SOFA