1 MEMPHIS: the peabody hotel

Last week I was fortunate to attend a reunion of the Blogger 19 hosted by Brizo Faucet. All the guests were treated to a suite at the historic Peabody Hotel right in the heart of downtown Memphis.


The lobby at the Peabody has historic décor...


...everywhere you look there are beautiful details...


...this was just one of the vent covers!




The hotel is famous for its twice daily duck march and fellow attendee Chris got the best shot of them doing there thing. It was really cute!


Brizo set up workshops for us to learn about their newest product lines in the ballrooms (More on that later!)


And the guest rooms were surprisingly the cutest shade of lavender.


I loved this comfy king sized bed, and the headboard had reading lights that flipped out of it. Another cool feature of the room? Motion triggered LED lights underneath the bedside tables. No need to fumble for the light switch in the dark!


After we all checked in on Tuesday night, a group of us headed out on the town in Memphis. Brizo put together such an amazing group of bloggers and design professionals; it was awesome just to chat in person with the people I follow online everyday! Tomorrow I'll share what we all did at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Delta Faucet manufacturing plant!



*My stay at the Peabody was sponsored by Brizo.

3 raleigh: lunching with rachel stewart

As promised, I'm going to be featuring what's going on in the Raleigh area more on the blog! I thought it would be great to start of with a lunch date with my friend Rachel Stewart. We went to lunch a while back at this super cute grille called Rock Harbor Grille. The food was amazing! It's located just southwest of downtown in Apex. A little out of the city limits, but worth the trip.





I loved the tin tiled ceiling...


...Rachel being fabulous as usual!


Rock Harbor specializes in seafood, and this plate did not disappoint!


I was excited to see that they had a good selection of local craft beers too. I forgot which beer I'm drinking in this photo tho, oops!


And I had this amazing salmon burger with fire roasted tomatos, pesto and melty provolone cheese. So good!

By the way Rachel has a new collection up on her site! It is inspired by her favorite sci-fi novelist Octavia Spencer. I love the statement pieces, because they are a great way to dress up a simple outfit in this humid hot weather without adding more clothing.




Check out the rest of Rachel's new collection HERE.

6 design talk webisode 12: quintel gwinn

4 room service atlanta room design sneak peek

THANK YOU x 10000 so much for the generous donations I've received thus far for my Room Service Atlanta room! In a little over a week I've already raised nearly $600 towards transforming this space for a deserving young man. In addition to monetary donations, Erika & Dayka have been working hard to gain product donations from our premier sponsors! I'm so thankful to say that my room will feature a brand new bed from Room & Board, as well as two lamps and a rug donated from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams. I scored some AMAZING pieces from Pottery Barn that will finish out the room, like the pillow you see featured above. I'm also donated a wingback chair of my own that I thrifted a couple years ago. I love this chair! But I no longer need it and it will fit perfectly in the space so I am giving it to the cause.

Beyond creating a beautiful functional space for this young man, my aim is to show that you can mix modern pieces, with older refinished pieces to create a really eclectic look. I want to bring in lots of color while still giving it a young masculine feel. I'm also doing some original artwork for the space that I can't wait to show you all in the reveal! :)

Again, thank you so much for all of the donations and I can't wait to share the final look! I'm still in need of donations to cover paint & painting supplies, bedding, extra linens, hangers, storage bins and more. If you'd like to make a donation, click the button below.

2 design talk 8: where do you want to go?

We wanted to share our destination wishlist with you in this brand new webisode of Design Talk. Where would you go if you had all the time & money you want to travel? Click play to hear our picks!

2 thanks for the feature!

Thanks so much Le Rapport Minoritaire for featuring me as one of '100 Outstanding Individuals in Art & Design'! It's always humbling to get recognition from my peers, and to be included amongst such a great group of professionals. The magazine is fabulous too, check it out below!

Open publication - Free publishing - More amani at home

5 glamourai digs

One of my favorite fashion bloggers is the Glamourai. Here effortless style and great DIY tips keep me anticipating every post! She also has a great eye for decorating, as exhibited by her beautiful apartment.


Ms. Kelly Framel aka the Glamourai, photographed by Garance Doré

Detailed shots of her treasures...


I love this mirror with little cherubs gracing the top!





And here's a shot of her recently revamped living room:

Animal prints, glass, leather and brass = one luxurious space! Adding the live plants makes it fresh too. See the before here.

Inspired? I know I am. Go check out the rest of her blog, you won't be disappointed!




All photos via www.glamourai.com, taken by Kelly.

3 design in color

Fab blogger, graphic designer and teacher Andrea Pippins is a huge inspiration to me. I remember when I first stumbled upon her blog,Fly, in 2008 I spent hours reading it from inception to present just because I couldn't get enough! I love this project that she created highlighting designers of color as educational materials. I think it's so crucial to provide examples of careers in the creative arts to minority kids. Growing up, I was always encouraged for my artistic talent, but I had absolutely no guidance on how to translate that into a career.

Design in color provides current examples of designers making a difference in their prospective fields.





With the overabundance of stereotypes presented to kids, this is an awesome alternative. I hope it inspires you as much as it did for me! All photos via andreapippins.com. If you don't know her blog, go check it out NOW!

6 beacham series launch party

Last night I was fortunate to attend the launch party for the latest issue of The Beacham Series. I met Blayne, the Creative Director for this magazine, at the CRAVE event I attended last week and we instantly clicked! She told me about this project that she'd been working on for months and I wanted to come out and support! I fought the (ridiculous) Atlanta traffic to make it to Buckhead for this party because I knew it was going to be amazing and it was totally worth it! It was great to meet more fantastic Atlanta natives and see this beautiful home. The pictures I took don't really do it justice, but I'll share anyway!


Claire (of High Gloss Blue) and her beau checking out the beautiful entry way.


Blayne & her brother - great hosts! ;)


Kitchen


Formal Dining


I loved these chairs....


... and this settee! I would never sit on them though. Ha!


Hey! There I am :)


The master bedroom had a great way to hide the TV; these antique window frames lined with mirrors were perfect.


More of the master bedroom, which had a sunroom over looking the courtyard.


And last but not least, THE CLOSET! This closet was bigger than my current bedroom and bathroom combined.


Can you imagine?


Afterwards, I enjoyed my copy of The Beacham Series with a little coffee from Atlanta Bread Company while waiting for Armon at the airport. It was great to tour this gorgeous home and hang out with my blogging buddies Claire & Blayne. You can view The Beacham Series magazine online here, and please visit Blayne's blog to let her know what you think about it!


Happy Friday!