Friday, December 2, 2011

Christmas at Moving Designz

It's hard to believe that December is here already.  This year has flown by so quickly.  My Christmas planning started in early November when I was a guest speaker for a design series in Charlottetown. 

Sneak peek at Moving Designz at Confederation Library
early November  

It has occured to me (and so has guilt) that I should have blogged long before now.  Within the last week 3 people have asked me to start blogging again.  Thank you Jen, Melva and Bev for the reminder and encouragement.

And sooooo....
For todays post I'm going to share a look inside Moving Designz Home & Cottage.  We've been busy for weeks and months buying, planning and getting ready to deck out the store with yummy Christmas merhandise and inspiring store displays.

Welcome Christmas 2011 - The shop display window today.  

We haven't taken on one theme, we've taken on several... from pinks, to blues, to white, to cream, to reds and greens and let's not forget purple.  The shop is packed with punch and texture and very very pretty things this year.


Always loving bling... 
Silver Starfish, white birds nest with silver eggs and pink glass hearts = LOVE!


Pretty candles displays and scented candles to bring Energy, Serenity and Relaxation.


This is our newest sofa the Mika, with tufted foam backs and brushed chrome legs.  We've been waiting for this baby for a month hoping it would make it for Christmas.  Paired up with apple green side chairs and graphic pillows and artwork.  Charcoal grey, green, blue and white, what's not to love?


We've got lots of colourful glassware, vases and balls in shades of blue and purple.


Do you have summer lanterns?  We had a few left from the summer so we filled them up with Christmas balls for a festive look.  You can too!


These candle holders were simply magnificent and sold out almost immediately earlier this week.


 One sofa two looks.  Look #1, pale grey sofa paired with turquoise, yellow and graphic zebra printed pillows.


Look #2, pale grey sofa paired with yellow, purple, silver and lots of crystal glassware.


Inspiration straight out of the pages of my favorite read, Style at Home Magazine.  We have these Chinoisery bowls in green and cream and also orange and cream.  More on SAH below :)


This year in August one of my design projects made the cover of Style at Home Magazine.  It was by far one of my biggest career accomplishments to date. 


I was also invited to contribute seasonal articles for all of Occasions Magazine issues this year.  So for me, Christmas started in July when we did this pretty bedroom photo shoot.



Back to the shop.... and more Christmas ideas...


We try to decorate the floating shelves behind the cash desk with a different theme every year.  This year we chose greenery, gold seashells, red magnolia blooms and pillar candles. 


Time for some chair love...


This chair has such beautiful lines.   


Pretty chairs with shiny chrome stud detail. 


Button tufted chair in a soft grey fabric paired with hot pink.


Although not entirely Christmasy, this sofa display with its purple accents and pink orchid arrangement makes me very happy :)



 This fire burner is just amazing... burns either candles, tealights or clean burning ethanol fuel. 



It's a perfect piece for setting the mood and placing inside a wood burning fireplace. 


Set the tone for your entry with this classic holiday idea vignette.  A vase with some epsom salts and sparkly Christmas blooms.  Add a charger plate, top with pine cones, candles and some pine sprigs.


Thanks for reading.  Have a wonderful weekend!
Susan

Monday, July 4, 2011

Summer at the Shop

For todays post I thought I would post some pretty pictures of the shop over the past few weeks.  Featuring lots of pretty colour combinations of furniture and accessories.





I'm crazy about blue, red and tones of white for summer. 



Oranges, yellows and soft greys are a hit too!


Chocolate and blue. 


Lots of colourful lady finger starfish have just arrived.  $3.25 each  We also have the teeny tiny 1" size in purple, pink, white, yellow and blue $1.25 each



An easy to create arrangement using a coloured starfish in a glass container with a little bit of white sand on the bottom and a couple sprigs of beach grass. Easy, simple, classic summer tabletop decor.




We have a great selection of colourful pillows and patio lanterns.



I like mixing up orange, chocolate and teal.  The patterned pillows are indoor/outdoor.



Bedding options. 





These are great choices for soft colour palettes.


 

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!
Susan




Monday, February 21, 2011

Searching for Style

For this week's blog post I am going to share my recent buying for Moving Designz Home & Cottage.  Normally every January I go to Toronto for the both the furniture and giftware shows.  However this year I decided to do switch things up a bit and go to Las Vegas.  After doing some planning and research I chose to attend The Las Vegas Market. 



The market is a combination of furniture and home decor and takes place at The World Market Center.  It is huge with 5 million square feet of merchandise in 3 very large high rise buildings.  After 5 days I'm pretty sure I only covered about one third of it... so big.

Connie (my sister), me and Karrie (my bff)

I chose The Vegas Market for a few different reasons.  Mainly, I wanted needed a vacation.   So I figured why not combine one with work.  Being a working vacay meant my sister and my best friend could come with me.  We could enjoy Las Vegas and still get to shop merchandise for the store.  It so helps that the American dollar is on par with Canada right now!!!


I made the all important list of things I was on the look out for.  Top of the list were lamps. 


I feel in love with these ones ... so pretty and so colourful.  



And these ones are perfect for the cottage.  Coming in green, yellow and blue.




Everyone who knows me knows I like sparkly things.  Those little dots on the lamp are rhinestones.  I think a pair of these glam ones would be most perfect for the bedroom. 


I really like the street name prints.  I ordered LA and NYC.  One of the LA prints is for me and the other for a condo project I am working on.


It certainly was no problem finding colourful accessories, which has been an issue the last few times at the Toronto show. 


I could not resist these lovely felt pillows.
Not to be selfish but I ordered a deep pink one for me.  I think it will look perfect on my bed :)


Colourful throws are a must this year.


Here is a sample of the area rug line that I picked out. 


I'm loving the patterns.


Some very pretty and colourful cut out ceramic spheres.


Our first shipment arrived last week and this corner of the shop has been remerchandised with some of the turquoise ceramics I picked out.  Still loving turquoise.... but what about pink since it is the colour of the year?  To tell the truth I hardly saw any pink in accessories... HOWEVER ...


I did manage to find this gorgeous pink handbag while we were out shopping for ourselves :)
In fact, both my sister and I each bought the same one.  Good thing we live in different cities. 


This was one of the pretty display windows all done up in delicious pink.  If you look closely, see those little pink bags on the table... yummy cotton candy!  I know this... it was good.


I might as well tell you Vegas is big on hospitality.  Almost every showroom had some sort of refreshments available.  Even wine was being served by 11am :)


Sitting down to the most loveliest of designer lunches.  Even the plastic spoons were silver.
Yes ... that is a silver plastic spoon!


Trend spotting... Old is the new new.


I was seeing lots of weathered woods combined with natural materials again this year.
Very cool!


Gorgeous texture, texture, texture


I think the best words to describe this look is "Rustic Elegance".


I ordered lots of colourful pashminas for our girlie section.


A most excellent quote.  I am a quote person.


Another view of the shop today with more new things.  I love the quote pillows.  "you can always bet on yourself"  and "breathe in the good breath out the bad".


For sure this year we have lots of striking colour and something for everyone at the shop.



My really big news is that upon returning home I was invited to be a guest writer for our local paper. 
Last Monday I got almost an entire page to write about the Las Vegas Market. 
So exciting!!!


Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!
Susan