An Anniversary Celebration

There are many reasons why I love living in Atlanta, but having the incredible design resources just minutes away from the office is definitely one of them! The AmericasMart is one of those amazing resources. It’s known to be the nation’s leading gift, home furnishings, apparel, and rug marketplace, but it also serves as host to great industry events and workshops.

This January, VERANDA came to Atlanta for the AmericasMart to celebrate its 30th anniversary — did you know Veranda was founded here?! A very special moment for me was the October 2013 cover feature (shown above) of one of my projects…

To commemorate this exciting milestone, VERANDA asked me to join Carolyn Englefield and some of my favorite Atlanta designers – John Oetgen, Bill Peace, and Susan Ferrier – for a panel discussion focusing on the evolution of design and a look into VERANDA over the years. We had a ball!

I was so excited to participate, not only because I love VERANDA, but also because it had been a while since I’d last been to the Mart. So we decided to make a day of it and arrive downtown early to have a delicious team lunch at the Capital City Club, and then walk over to the Mart and stop in some of the showrooms.

So much to see…

The incredible size of the Mart (more than seven million square feet of space!) can be really overwhelming, so I like to start at the top of the building and work my way down.

J DOUGLAS

Our first stop was J Douglas on the 13th floor. It is a wonderful resource for furniture, pillows, bedding, books, and home and bath accessories.

J DOUGLAS also showcases PIGEON & POODLE, which is a go-to of mine for bath accessories, and local Atlanta favorite, LACEFIELD DESIGNS. Beth Lacefield, the founder, is a good friend of mine and she always has the most fun and colorful selection of pillows and fabrics!

PEACOCK ALLEY is a bedding and linen resource that also has a showroom in ADAC West. It was fun to see how they arranged their beds and linens at the Mart because I was asked to design a bed for their ADAC showroom that will be on display all of February! I selected fabrics from their newest collection in a palette of soft blues and whites.

Surprises and New Discoveries…

The most fun surprise of the day was running into my adorable friend Celerie Kemble who was in the showroom with her new collection of mirrors for Mirror Image Home.

That’s the amazing thing about the Mart – you never know who you’re going to run into or what great new resource you are going to discover roaming around. KASSATEX is one of those places. We walked in and were blown away by their collection of bath accessories, beach and bath towels, and linens!

Their bath towels were exceptionally soft with nice detail. The color palette is beautiful. I also couldn’t get over how gorgeous their bath accessories were and at such a great price point.

And look at these beach towels! I love the stripes and colors and the way they have them displayed. Presentation is everything!

Another unexpected place we stopped was the showroom of the talented artisan TOMMY MITCHELL. I was first introduced to his work when someone gifted me one of his floral pieces and I have been fascinated by him ever since. Working with a combination of copper, brass, and steel, paint and gold leaf, each piece is handmade, completely unique and beautifully finished.

Walking through the halls to our next destination I noticed this spectacular colorful pink sectional inside DRANSFIELD & ROSS. Its 1930s Lyford Cay, they believe it used to belong to the Duchess. It was one of those things I saw and immediately knew I just had to buy it! So, we bought it right there on the spot! Dransfield & Ross has beautiful pillows as well…but the pink sectional from Lyford Cay is pretty tough to beat!

We had to start making our way down to the second floor where all of the beautiful antiques are. One of my favorites who sets up at both Scott’s and the Mart is ILLUMINATI. Cary, the buyer, always has the most beautiful antique mirrors and pieces.

This market he had some interesting artwork by an artist who was friends with Picasso, whose influence can certainly be seen through his art.

R KELLEY ANTIQUES was sharing space with Illuminati and had some stunning European antique pieces in. I loved all of the details…truly unique pieces!

30 Years of VERANDA

By 1:30 I had to be on site in the Designer Workspace to get ready for our panel discussion. I love to participate in panels because I love the fun interaction with the other panelists and moderator, and how we can build off of each other’s answers and thoughts.

This one was particularly fun since we were all designers from Atlanta, but each of us has very distinctive and different looks and personalities. And it is so special that VERANDA was founded in Atlanta, so this was a great place to celebrate 30 years of such an iconic magazine.

Book Signing

I was invited to sign copies of my book TIMELESS STYLE after the panel. It is always a great way to meet some of the audience members in a more intimate setting and answer any questions they may not have gotten to during the panel discussion…

Another look around…

After we finished the panel and book signing, we spent some more time on the antiques floor. We had to make sure we saw everything! I’m always inspired by beautiful details…here are a few I loved…