National Home Show

The spring brings about many home shows and this year several CDECA Members were sitting in the Homes Publishing Booth, for Reno & Decor Magazine providing complimentary design solutions.  It was a great success and many people booked appointments and came with samples, floor plans etc., ready to gain some professional advice.  Great fun and met some great people.

Jeannette Wisby

Deb Darlington

Helena Asikainen

Audrey Macdonald

Designing French Style

Designing French Style

As an interior decorator  in Mississauga & Oakville, I have the opportunity to attend some really interesting home furnishing events put on by local suppliers, manufacturing and retail businesses in Oakville, Mississauga and Burlington.  I recently attended an event at SOFA about French Design.

SOFA Marketplace, Presented David Thomas of French Market Collection  who spoke on Designing French Style. 

Within the next few years, we will be seeing a lot of the French Style theme blowing up the trends. The French country theme will likely become very popular.  Many home décor showrooms have already been incorporating the beautiful French style décor in many homes especially, homes in Oakville and Mississauga.  It can be added with a more modern look to the old French country, perhaps a nod to French shabby chic. Lots of new merchandise will be showcased in the coming months.

A view of a typical French themed kitchen. Complete with pastels and rustic looking pots and pans.
A typical French theme is a ceramic roosters and lemons on the kitchen counter, very popular in French décor.

 

The French country theme includes rustic looking furniture with slightly faded or worn fabrics. Mixing and matching dark and white furniture also goes well with the theme.  Pastel yellows, greens, blues, black and white accessories are the perfect accents when decorating any room. Accessories such as French ceramics can be placed throughout your living room on the mantel, side tables, and cabinets.

Sunflowers are also very favoured in the French culture as seen below.

A typical French country themed living room lots of pillows and lots of textures. Some decorators would recommend a little less would give it a new French twist and less clutter.

   

Back in the 16th and 17th century, the King Louis of France had their own style of furniture that differentiated from the others, however the tradition of the chairs remained fairly similar with minor changes.

The image below are Louis XIII styled chair. This pair is from the 19th century with new up dated upholstery early Louis XIII straight back, curved arms and turned legs.

CDECA PD Day

We are all looking forward to this event...

PROGRAM

Professional Development Boot Camp Get Your Business in Shape

Client Centricity: What It Is and How It Can Impact Your Bottom Line 9:15 – 10:15 am - Catherine Mitchell, One Voice Productions Inc.

A client-centric approach translates to: More business. Better business. More joy. More inspiration. Less stress. And better technical skills. Working through some “game-changing” exercises, you will learn how to be client-centric and will leave this session with simple ideas you can put into place in your business immediately.

WSIB Bill 119: How do the new rules apply to my business? 10:45 – 11:45 am - Ryan Connelly, Subject Matter Expert , WSIB Ontario

WSIB Bill 119 came into effect on January 1st, 2013 affecting decorating and design professionals. This session will provide in-depth information on the changes reflected in the bill and who it affects. Attendees will have a chance to ask questions of the Subject Matter Expert representative from WSIB Ontario.

Risk Management and Business Insurance 11:45 am - 12:15 pm - Neil Felder, Insurance Specialist, LMS PROLINK Ltd.

Decorators are faced with making dozens of decisions each day. Managing your exposure to lawsuits is an important consideration for all professionals. Neil will provide an in-depth overview of the various types of Business Insurance that decorators and designers should consider for protection. He will also outline CDECA’s insurance program tailored for members.

Interactive Panel on Sourcing 1:45 – 2:30 pm

This interactive panel will discuss best sourcing practices as well as tips and techniques. Attendees will be able to ask questions of the CDECA Accredited and Affiliate Member panellists.

Project Management Critical Success Factors 3:00 – 4:00 pm Andrew R. Thomas, PMP, Project Management Consultant

Haveyoueverfoundyourselfscramblingtogetafixonwhat’shappeningwithyourproject? Doyoufindyourself wonderinghowyougotintothemessthatyou’reinandpromisingyourselfnevertoletithappenagain? Thissession will look at best practices that are known to lead to project success. These practices include: assembling the right team, having clearly articulated goals and objectives, effectively engaging the client, understanding who all the stakeholders are and what motivates them...these are just a few of the key topics examined in this presentation.

The Westin Prince Toronto

900 York Mills Road, Toronto, ON

2013 Pantonne Colour of the Year - Emerald Green

It's official - the new Pantonne Colour for 2013 is Emerald Green.  Wow!  We really are getting bright and colourful.  It is such an electrifying colour and is seen everywhere.   Green symbolizes abundance, prosperity, hope, nature and has a powerful energy.  It is the colour of new life, grown and can also be calming as in nature.  Here are a few places you will see it popping up...

A little Christmas Celebration combined with our meeting.....

Our December meeting was held at Parsons Interiors on Lakeshore, in Mississauga, the showroom of one of our members - Jackie Connolly.  It is a beautiful space designed by Jackie and we had a great time finishing up the year's business and did some planning for the coming year.  We had a draw and  then we enjoyed some great refreshments.

See you all in 2013!!!

The GTA West Chapter Ladies head out to St. Jacobs

A little retail therapy is always a nice change for us in our busy lives.  In our professions as Decorators and Designers, we get to shop a lot when sourcing for clients but this king of shopping was just for us!!   Clothes, jewellery, accessories, what could be more fun.   The ladies took St. Jacobs and Elmira by storm last Friday and what a time we had.  Nothing could stop us, even the horrible rainy weather.

We met, at a bakery, (of course) and enjoyed some morning treats then hit the streets.  Such a great variety of clothing stores.  We all came away with some great items including including meat, cheese and sweets from the local shopkeepers as well as clothes.    I think we will be going back again sometime soon.  We also had the opportunity to check out some of the antiques, and artifacts offered so that we were keeping up for our clients.

We did break for a monthly meeting and lunch and welcomed some new members to the group.  A great time was had by all.

Top Trends from Highpoint Market, by Jamie Alexander

High Point Market is the largest home furnishings industry trade show in the world, bringing more than 85,000 people to High Point every six months. Serious retail home furnishings buyers can be found in High Point twice a year because if you can't find it in High Point, it probably doesn't exist.  I wasn't able to attend the recent show, however was lucky enough to attend a local seminar at SOFA, www.visitsofa.com presented by well known Interior Designer, Furniture Designer & Retailer, Educator and Presenter, Jamie Alexander, www.jamiealexander.com

Jamie's topic was quite multi faceted touching on how we, as decorators and designers can improve our connections with U.S. furniture makers and getting the products to Canada with some great tips on working with the sales reps; ways to save on shipping; how many custom items are now being stocked and available immediately with shorter lead times and so much more great information.  He also shared that many manufacturers are now listening to what Designers & Decorators ask for and we have become a driving force, inspiring furniture makers.

Jamie spoke about the connection between fashion and furniture and which came first.  It's still up for debate but what isn't is the great information he shared with us on the latest trends coming out of the Highpoint Market, www.highpointmarket.org .  To enhance his talk were the great photos and his wonderful sense of humour.   He is a really fun guy!!

Here are some of the 'trends' -

•Mixing finishes - metals the golds and silvers.  

•Duller finishes - brushed

•Crinkled finishes

 •Rounder lines

 •Layering

 •Accessorizing Walls with items other than Art

 •Clocks - big both on walls and tabletop.  A wall of many clocks is a current trend

 •Vintage - reclaimed but not necessarily greyed - they are doing a reclaimed look

•'Fashionista' style with curved legs, seats and 'details'

 •Lots of patterns and colour

 •Wings on upholstered Headboards

•Lots of tufting on upholstered pieces and in places like the sides of the arms, not just the backs

 •Rolled arms are much smaller

 •Mixing different styled dining chairs but keeping the same finish and fabric for interest

•COLOUR  - very big   Blue, Orange, Purple, Neutral and so on.......