FOCAL POINT STYLING: House Beautiful

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HIGH POINT MARKET FALL 2013

By now, you've probably packed your comfy & stylish shoes along with your favorite tote, camera, umbrella, and a little sweater or wrap to take part in the interior design industry's largest event: High Point Market. North Carolina is the furniture capital of the USA, which is where High Point is located. Even if you're not going to High Point (aka HPMKT), you can still follow along through social media. Starting tonite, a slue of vendors and manufacturers will be hosting soirees to swoon interior designers -- and bloggers -- to buy and implement featured showroom products into their upcoming design projects, blog posts, social media sharing, and shops. Along with all the perfectly presented showrooms will be several engaging seminars, communicating and sharing interior design business tips and industry trends. Market trends will be featured and highlighted by this seasons selected Style Spotters - sharing their finds on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. Retailers, corporations and small business owners take note: THIS. IS. HOW. you make an 'event' AN EVENT!

MEET THE Fall 2013 #HPMKT STYLE SPOTTERS

DecorMentor founder Lisa Ferguson has worked with brands and associations including ASID, Kravet, and Tobi Fairley Mastermind, teaching designers how to elevate their businesses. Follow on Twitter at @decormentor

Interior Designer Stacy Naquin's signature style is a unique combination of modern glamour, timeless design, and current trends, making her one of the freshest faces in design throughout Louisiana and the South. Follow on Twitter at @staceynaquin

Tobi Fairley is providing custom-tailored education, enlightened mentoring, and common-sense tools, empowering people to cultivate their strengths and create inspired solutions for business, design, and life. Follow Tobi on Twitter at @tobifairley

Gretchen Aubuchon combines her love of fashion and home decorating with more than 10 years of director-level experience in Public Relations and Marketing, as well as a background in Interior Decorating. Gretchen founded the Fashion + Decor website. Follow Gretchen on Twitter at @fashiondecor

Believing that beauty is created by making ordinary - orderly, the Traci Zeller Designs team empowers families to live harmonious lives, full of style and grace. Follow Traci at @tracizeller

Janel Labon is the executive editor of Apartment Therapy, the popular home design and lifestyle blog community whose tagline is "Saving the World One Room at a Time." Follow Janel at @janellaban

Founder and principal of Lisa Mende Design, Lisa creates classically inspired interiors with a modern vibe for clients throughout the southeast. Follow Lisa at @lisamende

As president of the interior design firm Studio M, Michelle Jennings Wiebe specializes in sophisticated luxury interiors. Follow Michelle at @studioM_

A professional interior designer since 2001, Shay Geyer’s work has been published in several magazines and she is the design expert for Good Morning Texas. Follow Shay on Twitter at @designershay

watch all week as the Style Spotters pin their best discoveries on the spot! And offer YOUR feedback on the pins by liking, sharing and commenting-on the items we select that you like the MOST. Votes placed between October 19th and November 1 will all be tallied to determine which of us Style Spotters has her finger on the pulse of what inspires you! - See more at: http://tobifairley.com/blog/2013/to-market-to-market/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TobiFairley+%28Tobi+Fairley+Interior+Design%29#sthash.QgP30i0i.dpuf

Follow the Style Spotters on Pinterest at

High Point Market Style Spotters Fall 2013

Get engaged in the convo! Offer YOUR feedback on the pins by liking, sharing and commenting on the items the Style Spotters select that you like the most. By doing this your engagement will count as votes. Votes placed between October 19th and November 1 will all be tallied to determine which of the Style Spotters has their finger on the pulse of what inspires you!

offer YOUR feedback on the pins by liking, sharing and commenting-on the items we select that you like the MOST. Votes placed between October 19th and November 1 will all be tallied to determine which of us Style Spotters has her finger on the pulse of what inspires you - See more at: http://tobifairley.com/blog/2013/to-market-to-market/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TobiFairley+%28Tobi+Fairley+Interior+Design%29#sthash.QgP30i0i.dpuf

Follow all the buzz happening at High Point Fall Market in real-time by following the trademarked hashtag #HPMKT on Twitter AND Facebook.

Join Laurie Chambers Laizure and Donna Frasca who will be broadcasting LIVE to their Google+ Interior Design Community - Saturday October 19, 6 PM EST

Participate in the Google chat today at 4 PM EST to Preview High Point Market with Laurie & Donna at https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/crrgasm5s1vofql77h49ukcqcs8

One of the new products debuting at #HPMKT will be a custom rug collection designed by Dustin Van Fleet being featured at the Amanda Lane Kinney's Antique & Design Center of High Point. Read an interview with Dustin by Leslie Carothers today on Hadley Court.

Learn about the Book Signings, Seminars, Guest Speakers and the 50+ companies featured in this Fall’s Made in America Pavilion and featured at High Point by visiting their site HighPointMarket.org

And also be sure to follow-up with highlights and recaps after the market to be featured within several shelter print publications such as House Beautiful, online publications such as Apartment Therapy, online sites such as Houzz.com and the several interior design industry blogs -- some including myself and Hadley Court.

FALL MARKET 2013 - OCTOBER 19 thru 24

Thank goodness for Social Media! Following along in real time is the next best thing to being at and participating in the Fall High Point Market Event... whose growth has transcended and transformed because of it.

Have a Happy High Point event!

Thanks for stopping by...

LYNDA QUINTERO-DAVIDS

Hello and Welcome to Focal Point Styling! I'm Lynda - sharing simple solutions to style & organize your home, fashion & decor trends, savvy shopping tips, market events, plus local love from the places I've experienced. I started this blog back in late 2009 when I lived in Miami. In 2011, I moved to Phoenix, AZ and rented a house until late 2014, when I relocated back east to the Triad in North Carolina - Join me on my journey!

My First Experience at the Design Bloggers Conference

For me, attending this years Design Blogger Conference was like opening that box of chocolates and not knowing what you're going to get. Not only was it an experience to travel to a new place (more about the LA experience in the next post) but it was also a new forum or means of meeting people. It's super easy to meet people when you're young and in school - you hang with your clique year after year. And even meeting people online, you can get a sense of what they are about from what they share or post on social media (their 'voice'). What you can't get though is the sound of their laughter, the brightness of a smile, a goofiness in their mannerisms or how polished their fashion style really is. Attending a design blogger conference, you get all that PLUS wine & sake tastings, social media takeaways, swag-bags, the thrill of contests, photo opps, showroom parties, dinners, and the moments when a presenter really speaks to your heart, mind and soul - not to mention the new connections for collaborations you're able to make 'in real life' with sponsors.

The stage setting for the Design Bloggers Conference was relaxed with a living room like set furnished by Calico Corners featuring the new fabric line from Nate Berkus (ding ding - LOVED it!) Large screens supported slide presentations and video clips from most all of the presenters - with images of not only SEO graphs, analytics and logos, but sharing how inspiration was transformed into design as well as sharing personal moments during a designer or bloggers career.

In between the DBC presentations, the room of 400 bloggers, sponsors and designers emptied into the hallways for photo opps, discussions and lines were made for coffee or the bathroom :) The other line bloggers rushed to were the charging stations to give their mobile devices a little kick. Thankfully, because of a little tweet chat with some veteran attendees (Thanks Leslie!), I came equipped to charge myself plus those who sat with me, like Olio Sisters Selma Hammer, Leslie Carothers and the CEO of Olioboard, Sheilah MacSporran herself. After all the OlioLove we've shared online, it was the least I could do (to bring an extension cord + power strip!)

In the evening, most participated in a "girls-night-out" type of get togethers at LA showrooms, shops and restaurants. I had been invited to the Lamps Plus dinner at Wolfgang Pucks in Universal City for opening night. I'd say it was the ice-breaker leading up to meeting more people at the main event. I was grateful for the invite (thanks Ivette!) - It was a great way for online connections to share a glass of wine, ask questions, and share inspirational experiences with one another (Thanks Lisa & Brooke!)

The ultimate highlight of the event: Getting to meet Leslie Carothers in real life!

What a genuine & kind person - Smart cookie too!

Some of the highlights for my experience were listening to presentations from designers like Charlotte Moss, Barbara Barry, and Windsor Smith. Charlotte stressed the importance of "Show me the content" and also the importance of crediting image sources correctly on blogs. Barbara shared a personal "ah-ha" moment when she was forced to 'slow-down' and really live in her own home - An injury caused her to stay put a while, and she started to notice placements and lighting in a whole new way. Windsor shared her innovation of 'Room In A Box', plus how success is different to different people - It doesn't happen overnight (Windsor has been in the biz for 17 years), just keep doing what you are most passionate about. Windsor also pointed out how we're spending more time at home: our home has become: our office, our restaurants, and our stay-cation spots.

I probably most related to something Charlotte does that I do too: taking photos of details everywhere you go. Since Jeff drove us over to LA (huge savings on airfare - Thank you sweetie!) I had the chance to take in not only new areas of Arizona, but California was well (more about that later).

I learned a little more about the "what's next" for social media. In a word and beyond Pinterest it definitely is about going viral with video. From a new design network being launch to feature only feature video to the evolution print media today. Newell Turner gave an outstanding presentation on how his shelter magazines are leading the way with social engagement (Pin-able images) and creating apps to bring to life to a static image through the use of video.

Me with Jennifer of Decaporter at the closing party at Harbinger LA.

Love the agate finials and Selma blowing kisses! (Jeff took that shot!)

LOVED meeting and spending time with Sheilah from Olioboard - especially for her birthday Tuesday night!

It was really great to meet Lori Dennis IRL - she thanked me for the retweets & shares of her current challenge + cause.

Received the nicest compliment from Andrew Joseph - He told me he really enjoys reading my posts! Thank you Joseph! Pleasure to meet you!

Though traffic was intense around the city of LA, it was worth sitting in to be a part of the closing party hosted by Kravet and Traditional Home at Harbinger LA. This was another means of getting to meet and even rub-elbows with some of LA's elite designers and create some future prospects / collaborations (that was a huge deal for this thrifty-budget babe!). Because of being connected to more experienced event attendees like Leslie, I was able to meet design blogger & camper super stars like Tobi Fairley and Lori Dennis. I was even approached by the Communications Director of Calico Corners and Lamps Plus, which gave me the opportunity to share posts I've done promoting their product on my blog, as well as discuss some future collaborations amongst us.

What do you get when 400+ people are tweeting in a room?

You get a hashtag TREND on Twitter!

From the girly moment of high-pitched "oh I so wanted to meet you" in the hotel cafe on day one, to the hand-shakes and card swapping through-out to the long hugs good -bye that came Wednesday morning - The Design Bloggers Conference was surely as sweet as that box of chocolates - not knowing what you're going to get, but enjoying every bit of the new experience.

Snap-shots of slides

I took a ton of photos (around 400) between my camera + cell phone and the event was also being photographed by Courtney Price. That I know of, Courtney shared most of her photos on Facebook. I've upload the majority of my photos to sets on Flicker, and shared some of them in small albums on Facebook. I figured by uploading the majority of the photos to Flickr, I'll be able to pin from there to the DBC2013 board I created before going to the event... and I can also share photos on the group board for the Design Bloggers Conference... which was the other important take-a-way: Sharing info & picking your platforms. With so many social media platforms available, engage on the ones that work best for you.

Winner of one of the giveaways: Selma Hammer received $2000 to create a design video to launch on the new Design Network.

Jeff was a HUGE support throughout this experience. He actually went to Rodeo drive and picked up this white shirt at Ralph Lauren and told them about the conference, Olioboard and my blog. They were so interested in it, they actually pulled up my blog and my boards there in the shop!

For more photos see:

DBC2013 LA and DBC2013 LA II

For more in depth recaps of other people's perspective on the conference, check out the other links below PLUS you can still read tweets at #DBC2013

Charlotte Moss: Show Me The Content - L.A. Design Bloggers Conference

(posted March 7)

Lesley Merick - 2013 Design Blogger Conference Recap

(be sure to also watch the great short video too!)

Leslie Carothers - Top Tips + Takeaways

(takes you to her Facebook notes - be sure to also "Like" her page!)

My 5 Top Takeaways from my first Design Bloggers experience:

1. Build your alliances.

2. Content is 'Queen' & Visuals Rule

3. Utilize SEO - Tag your zipcode

4. The next big thing: Go viral with video

5. Think mobile

I hope you enjoyed my first Design Blogger Conference experience... I know thanks to a little encouragement to go from Leslie, I really enjoyed being a part of it!

Thanks for stopping by...

LYNDA QUINTERO-DAVIDS

INSPIRATIONAL DECOR PUBLICATIONS

Over the years, haven't well ALL just been through thousands of pages of decor magazines? Maybe we'd pitch them after viewing because the thrill was gone - its' newness had worn off. Eventually, the push to go green caused us to recycle our mags... and now even greener: magazine subscriptions dropped because people have opted to view online.

Local Ft. Lauderdale magazine ...HOME

Still going ... HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

Some magazines even fell into a past publications graveyard, while some consolidated and are trying to revive their renewals and subscriptions... But then there are some magazine issues we've kept and refer back to ever so often and reminisce because their ideas or color combinations were just THAT good: their inspiration lingers on...

missing METROPOLITAN HOME

dear DOMINO how we miss you so...

The publishing world was rocked once again this week with announcements of changes at Hearst home magazines (read more HERE), followed by several blog postings and tweets. One of my fave related blog postings was about Getting Published posted by Vicenete Wolf (read HERE). So this weeks Photos For Friday is paying tribute to decor magazines, past and present, worldwide and a few locals I've flipped though. Through the years, they've inspired me and contributed to the development of my style...