One Room Challenge: I can see clearly now

This #OneRoomChallenge home office makeover has been a real journey for me, but it is not over yet! I have made significant progress to the point where my very large desk is completely clutter free, walls have been repainted, and one of my favorite pieces of original art – a custom framed signed print from fashion designer Jason Wu – is now hanging right where I can see it every time I sit down to create.

There is still a bit of styling to do, and organizational pieces to bring in, but for now I am very pleased that I made it this far (even if everyone else’s rooms are done!) I could have given up many times throughout this process, but I allowed myself to just get started and set small goals. Even my kids are pretty impressed with the change. My youngest was in awe, grabbed himself a pillow, and laid down under my desk which is 8 feet long. He never would have fit under there amidst all the to-be-sorted boxes before I started this! 

Thank you for coming by to check in on my progress ... my next post will show more of the room for sure! I hope all of the other One Room Challenge participants are enjoying their freshly designed spaces as much as I have enjoyed seeing them come to completion. And special thanks to Linda from Calling It Home for creating this opportunity to tackle our design to-do-lists with the “we’re in this together” inspiration of a community of bloggers cheering us on : )

to be continued ...

One Room Challenge: Fashionably Late

Jason Wu signed print that will soon hang in my office.

Over the years, I have participated in eight different show house type events, including small 10 x 10 foot vignette-like spaces to somewhat challenging bathrooms to a suite of rooms for a holiday design show. I typically am ready for the opening day regardless of how much time I have to prepare, although I have been found hanging art or walking in with a key design piece at the very last minute on several occasions. This One Room Challenge has been a bit of an exception. When you are working on your own surroundings, even if your business is designing for others, it often is a much more emotional process to get through. That can slow things down ... a lot.

I signed on to this challenge to motivate myself to tackle the years worth of life accumulations that had ended up in my home office. Being held accountable to others who are working just as hard to meet their own goals is quite inspiring. We are all rooting for each other. This is not about competition. It is about goal setting, being resourceful, and being honest with ourselves and whatever difficulties we may encounter as we strive to bring our design visions to life.

I am proud to say that I have managed to work through the sometimes uncomfortable task of realizing just how much I have neglected to do in my own home. Don’t get me wrong ... we have done a lot with our 1904 farmhouse over the past ten+ years. But for the last five, as my work and family life has gotten busier, I have let a lot of STUFF takeover when I really should have been dealing with it on a regular basis. Keeping it simple is all about establishing routines, and habits, and designing a good system to help deal with what is allowed to enter our spaces while making sure the unnecessary goes out. That is my wish for this makeover.

So while I have not completed my office makeover at the six week mark, I am definitely in a better place than I was even yesterday. I am thankful for the support and encouragement I have been receiving virtually along the way from the Calling It Home One Room Challenge community of design bloggers. It really does make a difference!

So please come back next Thursday to see my final reveal. I was always disappointed when a show house participation ended, so this is one way of keeping it going I guess!

I did take a bit of time today to take note of the accomplished spaces of the other link-up participants. Below are images of just some of the home office transformations that may inspire you to tackle the room where you “make things happen” at home. Visit Calling it Home here to get to each link. Enjoy!

These two by a couple of my local design friends are not offices, but are worth checking out ...

And here is the link to the sponsored participants final reveals.

Would you ever consider participating in the One Room Challenge? The next one begins in April of 2016, so start planning now!

One Room Challenge + The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Ok, I am going to make this brief. I have many rooms in my home that are challenging. Years have passed, and life has piled up, and motivation has dwindled. But I am ready to make a change. Now that I am working from home full-time again, I need to clear some debris from past projects, positions, and bouts of creativity. The photo below is of my home office, taken almost 5 years ago superimposed over a ghosted image of my office today. I can’t even post a picture of what it looks like right now ... it is that bad!

My dirty secret ...

Clutter has taken over every surface in my existing office. Am I a certified hoarder or am I just lazy? Have I given up or am I just too busy looking for instagram worthy moments outside of my four walls to pay much attention to what is right in front of me? Or is it that I am just too micro-focused on creating that I neglect to manage the chaos that ensues from being overly involved in multiple projects? Constantly living in a state of construction while running a household of six certainly doesn’t help, but others manage to make it work – and do so in elegant surroundings – so I really do not have an excuse. But now I do have a deadline, so I am hoping that will help!

My goal in entering the six-week One Room Challenge blogger link-up event hosted by Calling it Home is to hold myself accountable. To put my designer challenge out there into the blogger universe, and to work towards creating a designer worthy space that I am not embarrassed to share with others (including my boys who come in to chat, but seriously have no where to sit!)

How I am going to get it done ...

Have you read the best selling book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” by Marie Kondo? I now have it downloaded onto my kindle, and the plan is to use it as a road map to finding my way back to my former uber-organized self. 

Six weeks from now, I am hoping to be able to post a pretty photo of my newly organized office that is a true reflection of my ability to transform a space into a welcoming environment, one that will assist me to be creative while comfortably celebrating my family and all that is important to me. But first I have to clear the clutter. Stay tuned for next weeks post to see how I do. And be sure to link up to follow the progress of other design bloggers who are tackling far more ambitious projects than my own! It takes serious commitment and resources (whether financial or emotional) to undertake a room makeover. But we are all in this before and after journey together, right?! Good luck to the rest of the One Room Challenge participants and to all of you who decide to muster up the courage to tackle your own projects, whether a complete room makeover or just clearing out a junk drawer!

#oneroomchallenge

Please vote for Design Vignettes!

{click here to cast your vote}

Design Vignettes has been nominated for the second year in a row for Best Blogger Interior Design! My blog is up against a number of design blogs that have also been nominated (13 total in the Interior Design category) so every vote counts. If you enjoy this blog on a regular basis, I would truly appreciate your vote of support! 

Even more so, I would like to know why you follow this blog. Do you like the before and after makeovers, the sharing of design trends, local design event coverage, or other art related content? Is there a topic you would like to learn more about? Are you interested in reading more personal posts that are not design specific? Or do you rarely read blogs anymore and prefer a stream of Instagram images?

Since starting this blog in 2009, my life has certainly had a lot of significant changes ... from being a stay-at-home-mom of 4 who needed a creative outlet, to becoming a design show participant (on 8 different occasions), to creating a year’s worth of issues of a digital design magazine, to guest blogging for dozens of brands, to being invited to several design blogging events across the country, to working full-time for 3 different companies over the last 5 years.

I know that the opportunities that have presented themselves have without a doubt been influenced by the simple act of writing this blog, which helped to define my creative path. And how fun has it been to connect with and meet other design bloggers on the same journey!

And while my blog posts have certainly decreased as my work life has become more structured – and as my growing boys lives have required a new type of attention – I still feel compelled to post every now and then for whatever reason. To those of you who continue to come back to check in, thank you! And my sincerest gratitude to any of you new visitors who stopped by today and read to the end : )

Putting pen to paper ...

writers coffee rings poster

(bloggers = wine rings?)

I recently discovered that November is National Novel Writing Month. Across the country writers are being challenged to pen 50,000 words in 30 days, and are gathering together in person and online to encourage one another to write that novel that is inside them. I have always imagined writing a novel. These days, however, my story telling is strictly blog related. My son, who is just 11, loves reading and writing. He has been actively working on character studies and plot development for the past year or so. He just might be the real writer in the family.

#BlogTourLA designers/writers on our last night held at

the private rooftop club at boutique hotel Petit Emeritage

When I was in Los Angeles in early October with the dozen or so members of #BlogTourLA, we each discussed our blog writing schedules. Some of us were down to one post a week or month, while some still try to write every day. A lot of us write not just for our personal blogs, but for other online design destinations, so our own blogs sometimes get put on the back burner.

There was a time when many bloggers felt compelled to write multiple times a day. I remember enjoying morning, noon and night updates from some of my favorite bloggers (I was home with the kids back then, so it was a great way to connect with the outside world!) Today, there seems to be much less free time to write and enjoy posts. But the need to “tell a story” is still there.

I am the first to admit that my blog posts tend to run long. I do a lot of research and try to fill each post with original photos and valuable links to learn more. This takes a lot of time. Sometimes I put off writing because I need a good chunk of undisturbed quiet time to finish a post. Even so, I am going to challenge myself to dedicate more time to writing this month – the posts may end up being shorter or less fine tuned – in order to share all the great design content I have experienced lately.

typewriter poster

The aspiring authors participating in National Novel Writing Month set a goal of 1,667 words a day. I may not write that many, but I will try to pen something daily as an exercise in writers solidarity!

Today I am kind of cheating by sharing a post that went live this week on Williams-Sonoma Designer Marketplace where I explain the pros and cons of participating in a designer show house. Seems appropriate that this post came out the day that work began on the Danvers Historical Society Glen Magna Farms Designers’ Holiday Show House. I was there today doing some measuring and prepping ... stay tuned for updates (see, more content to write about!)

photo credit Eric Roth // interior design by Katherine Hawkins for Trio Design

{Read my 1,500+ word Designer Marketplace post here.}

Sneak peak of my space at Glen Magna

Countdown to BlogTourLA!

A Modenus curated collection I saw while visiting

the Architectural Digest Home Show in 2012

Remember when I almost won a trip to London as a guest of Modenus.com to tour the London design scene with a group of interior design bloggers? If you follow me on twitter then you already know I did not win the coveted spot. The tour is actually wrapping up now ... follow #BlogTourLDN to see the fun places they have been and fab products they have seen.

Although I was disappointed not to be heading to London, I was really happy to have been selected. It really meant a lot to me to be noticed for what I do, which lately seems to lean most towards the promotion of interior design related events, luxury brands, and the art of design. There are many people out there who still do not fully understand the reach and influence of social media marketing and what a valuable tool it is when trying to engage an audience online and in real life. Veronika Miller at Modenus gets it:

“BlogTour has grown in leaps and bounds since we first launched in London in 2011 and we are now one of the most visible blogger initiatives out there with four full days of trade shows, architecture and design and lots of local culture. It’s not just about hopping from cocktail party to cocktail party, although we never say no to a glass of bubbly, it’s about discovering trends and inspiration in far off cities and it’s about empowering you as talented bloggers and designers.”

I am happy to say that there was a silver lining to my not being on the London tour. I was asked by Veronika to attend the next event on her busy schedule as she is hosting back to back tours this year! In early October I will fly out to Los Angeles to attend the WestEdge Design Fair with the next BlogTour group, BlogTourLA! I was invited to attend as a guest of the BlogTour sponsors (yes, all expenses are paid!) and how could I say no?! A number of the sponsoring brands are sold in the Designer Bath showroom where I work. I am looking forward to meeting the people behind these products, learn about new ones, and get to know the other professional interior design bloggers who I will be spending lots of quality time with while on the West Coast. Some bloggers I have met before on other research + development trips, so it will be another fun reunion!

Modex sink by Blanco // photo courtesy Blanco

+EDITION collection by Poggenpohl // photo courtesy Poggenpohl

“The new +EDITION collection from Poggenpohl combines classic details with modern appeal. This innovative kitchen design features natural walnut wood veneer along with white lacquer cabinetry, available in flat panel or thin frame detail door styles. New black glass upper wall cabinets include the same thin frame details with finished interiors and LED lighting.”

Gocchia faucet by Gessi // photo courtesy Gessi

Sponsors of BlogTourLA include Blanco, Poggenpohl, DuVerre Hardware, Gaggenau, Gessi, Lamps Plus, Laufen, and Mr Steam.  Thank you for allowing me to be part of the BlogTour community! I know I will learn a lot on this trip (which I will share upon my return) while being inspired by great design in the company of like-minded individuals. There is something special about being with people who understand what you do, why you do it, and are willing to discuss design industry topics almost exclusively (while sipping the aforementioned bubbly, of course!) I’ll toast to that! 

Stay tuned for more #BlogTourLA updates!