What a busy and fabulous week!  Sunday I left for Los Angeles to attend the Design Bloggers Conference.  I mentioned I won a scholarship from One Kings Lane, so they paid my attendance fee, which was fantastic!

I couldn’t believe how many people were there.  As you can see from the photo, I didn’t get there early enough on the first morning and ended up way in the back!  I could barely see Martyn Lawrence Bullard (in photo below) who was totally over the top, but some how down to earth at the same time.

We also heard from some of my favorite, and most well known, design bloggers who shared tips on writing their blogs and shared thoughts on where they think the future of blogging is headed.  Here is a photo of these speakers, Rhonda Carmen (All the Best blog), Tobi Fairley (Tobi’s blog) and Cassandra Lavalle (coco + kelley).

Bunny Williams was one of the best speakers who gave us tons of wisdom on starting a design firm, focusing on the fact that hard work and time spent developing skills are critically important to being a fantastic designer.

There was a lot of opportunity to meet other designers and bloggers, such as California designer Kerrie Kelly, Karen Davis, Edyta Czajkowska and product reps from companies such as Sandi from Merida.

The highlight of the event, for me, was the Traditional Home/Kravet/Bunny Williams party held on Tuesday night at Harbinger.  As a store owner, it was fabulous to spend time at this store, owned by famed designers Joe Lucas and Parrish Chilcoat (Lucas Studio Inc).

One of my high school friends, Vanessa Kogevinas, met me at the party and introduced me to all the celebs of interior design!  It was a whirlwind.  I met Nathan Turner (from Million Dollar Decorators), as well as other well known designers, like Peter Dunham, Jamie Rummerfield (Woodson and Rummerfield), Joe Lucas… I could go on.  It was a ‘who’s who’ of Interior Design today.  What fun!  Not to mention getting to see all my girls from Tobi’s group!

Following LA I went up to Seattle (thinking it was so close, but really it is a good 3 hour flight!).  I was visiting my latest clients, my brother and his wife.  I had been working on an ‘e-design’ project for them and their new home, but decided a trip in person would be even better!

It was gray, as could be expected, but with this fabulous view from their deck, who cares!

We spent a day visiting local stores for some inspiration and for me to better understanding of what their style is.  I love going to local boutiques to get ideas, so we headed out, starting at Susan Wheeler Home.  I found this lovely settee any many other great pieces there.  FYI, if you are headed to Round Top, Susan will be there selling antiques and unique items.

One fun find involved a stop into an old warehouse to visit local lighting designers, Graypants, who make pendant lights from recycled cardboard.  Really, all these fixtures are cardboard.  From below they look like wood!

Other stops included Great Jones Home, Watson Kennedy and Red Ticking.

I found this fabulous chandelier at Red Ticking that keeps calling my name….

One of the risks when your job involves shopping!

Many thanks to Scott and Brooke for showing me such a fabulous time in and around Seattle.

I’m back in Austin and getting back into the swing of work.  Next week stay tuned for another ‘Before and After’ from a recent project!