#HPMKT STYLE STATEMENT MOODBOARDS featuring John-Richard

With High Point Market happening this month, I thought I might share with you a few moodboards this Monday I created, featuring one of the market week premier showrooms, located in the 200 Steele Building at the Hamilton-Wrenn District called John-Richard. The John-Richard Collection is a family owned and operated luxury home furnishings  manufacturer, with its corporate office located in Greenwood, Mississippi. JR primarily focuses their merchandise assortment to a more high-end, traditional clients, which is fantastic for luxury residential designers as well as commercial designers. Since 2013, many of the designs featured in the John-Richard Collection are designed by Mark McDowell, when they first introduced this designer line. Consumers who would be interested in this luxury lifestyle brand can find John-Richard home furnishings at retailers such as Horchow, Nieman Marcus, and even right here in North Carolina at the family owned Furnitureland South - the worlds largest furniture store. Below are four vignettes I created with the John-Richard Collection, featuring some of the leading trends happening now in the home decor & interior design industry:

 Wardrobe - Dressing Room - Merging Fashion & Decor

 Black + Gold - Abstracts & Animal Prints

 Garden Style & Asian Influences

 Mixing Antique & Modern Looks

All John-Richard pieces featured on my above style statement boards can be found on the John-Richard Pinterest board I created called 

FURNISHINGS by JOHN-RICHARD.

Each season, close to a 1000 new items are introduced to the John-Richard collection from all categories offered. These designs are influenced by the world around us...richness found in exotic cities, architecture from off the beaten path bistros or the color of a blouse worn on a city bus. The inspirations are boundless, and the products are timeless.

I first learned of the John-Richard Collection when I wrote about them for Leslie Hendrix Wood, as they were her blog sponsor for Fall HPMKT last year, and my first thought was that they were extremely traditional. A few months afterwards, I was able to tour their showroom for myself, during this past Spring market when I wrote for them as a HPMKT sponsored blogger, and i was pleasantly surprised to see a mix of transitional, modern, and traditional home furnishings. In addition to writing for them, I also shared some of their fine furnishings via my social channels: Facebook, Twitter, G+, Flickr, Instagram and even Pinterest. You can view all of these previous posts listed below:

HPMKT Fall - Fashion & Decor pairings for Hadley Court

 HPMKT: Couture Paired With The John Richard Collection

 HPMKT: Lux Lighting + Fashion: Highlights From The John Richard Collection

HPMKT Spring - Showroom Tour, Showroom Shoutouts, Market Trends

HOME DECOR TRENDS + HIGHLIGHTS FROM SPRING #HPMKT 2015 

NAVIGATING #HPMKT + SHOWROOM SHOUT-OUTS + LINK LIST  

Showroom Tour blog post- HPMKT - Spring Market Week 

Furnishing Faves From John Richard - Pinterest

John-Richard - #HPMKT Spring Showroom Album - Flickr

 

The 200 Steele Building - High Point’s premier building for luxury home furnishings, located in the Hamilton-Wrenn District

  

John-Richard Showroom

 200 Steele Street, Suite 1
High Point, North Carolina 27260

Fall High Point Market happening October 17 - 22

 If you're heading to High Point this Fall, be sure to stop by the John-Richard Showroom, which also turned into one of the Spring favorite showrooms to tour by the Style Spotters!

Thanks for stopping by,

CELEBRATING OLIOBOARD - ITS MANY USES + TIPS!

It's hard to believe, but the moodboard maker site called Olioboard launched four years ago this month! At the time, it was one of the only online moodboard makers - beside Polyvore & before Pinterest - where you could creatively pull together thoughts, ideas, and concepts for room designs, party planning and even fashion. Its primary use today is for interior designers, stylists and stagers to use the site for creating 2D and 3D room plans for their clients. Even home enthusiasts and DIYers can pull a look together for a makeover, or even retailers have used the site for pulling together trends. The depth of details on these boards have changed - A LOT - since the site's launch. Everyone in the Olioboard community has learned from each other, from sharing concepts online in Twitter feeds or emails and even joining a member administrated OlioboardFanRoom on Facebook. Four years ago today, Holly Becker of Decor8 had written about Oliboard's app for Real Simple. Although I didn't join in June of 2010, I did manage to find their site in July 2010 (see Creating Online Moodboards at Olioboard.com) where since then, I've been a loyal fan of the site.  I've even had the chance to meet the co-founder, Sheilah MacSporran at the Design Bloggers Conference, plus I've enjoyed joining a few of the many design challenges and sponsored contests the site has offered over the years. Here are a few of the latest boards I've been able to create on Olioboard, plus a peek back at a few firsts and some of Olioboard's game-changing applications and uses...

The two above 3D boards are the latest boards I created, and add into a design challenge at Olioboard, where a member suggested designing a room inspired by blue & white porcelain. You can add an existing board you've created (as I did here) or create a new one from focused on the challenge criteria. Both of these boards I did were inspired by mixing my love of the beach with my latest decor obsession of blue & white. This particular design challenge is a voters placement + award badge, unlike a retailer sponsored contest...

One of the last retail sponsored contests at Olioboard was not only voters choice to place, but 5 products from Hayneedle also had to be used in the board designed with an outdoor space in mind. After the Top 50 boards qualified, judges Lori Dennis and Kelli Ellis selected their picks for Top 3 boards... Thankfully I placed in the Top 3 - and we all won a ticket to attend Design Camp this summer at LVMKT. Since I'm attending as a guest, I had held giveaway on my blog, to giveaway my winning ticket to design camp - and the winner of that giveaway was Laura C. Moffatt!

CONGRATS LAURA!!

You can see from the above boards of today (shown above) that time and practice helps to develop your skill set on Olioboard - but not all boards are 3D room designs. When I first started on Olioboard, I first experimented with sample board layouts (you can see below) - showing only the items I would use in a designed space...

These types of 2D boards are great for homeowners to get an idea of colors and textures that can be used in their space. Eventually, since you can upload any image to your Olioboard library or sets, I used Olioboard as a means of pulling together "Concept To Completion" boards as well as before and after boards...

 Olioboards can also be a great visual tool when working with a client. Both 2D and 3D boards can pull together the look of a project, and also be printed to organize in a project binder. When the online boards are printed into a binder, it becomes a "go to" tool because within that binder you can also keep fabric samples, paint swatches, product info sheets, and most importantly: the correspondences and receipts from the project...

 

 

The Olioboard site can also help stagers or homeowners who are selling or planning to move - since you can create a virtual staging of a vacant space (read: How To Use Olioboard For Online Home Staging), or even merge together floor plans + exterior photographs when house hunting...

 For bloggers (or retailers), Olioboard can become a means of creating online content (see Kids Room Design BlogHop) from curating trends or merging fashion and decor onto boards (see blog link up Passion For Fashion - Spring Fashion & Decor) to even planning your dorm room (see Dorm Decor - Planning Your Residence Hall Space) - all ready to share from the Olioboard site via Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest. Or you can download your boards, save to your computer and further enhance your boards via online tools such as Picmonkey, where you can add frames, overlay your logo, add text, create covers (ex: for Facebook) or even convert your room board to black & white. Boards uploaded to Picmonkey can also create even more pinnable (vertical) content to share on your social networks - a great way to market your brand OR create marketable content for an event...

Here I just used my logo, but you can add whatever text you want to communicate - Try different arrangements and test different layouts to see what works best for you. 

Here are a few tips I've learned over my time using Olioboard:

1. Make use of creating sets within your library it will help when you're saving new items or when you're looking for something specific for your board (for example: your logo, plants or blue chairs).

2. The take time to learn the editing tools - eliminating the white background is great, but make the image stand out when it's layered vs. being transparent.

3. Think mobile device when building a board - white space is your friend - not every surface needs to be covered as a real room might.

4. Utilize 'tags' on the site - This helps with searchability not only on Olioboard, but in Google (images) as well. For location, add your zip-code as a tag with key words such as "Interior Designer", "Interior Decorator" -- great to use if you've recently moved and you want locals (over time) to find you.

5. Speaking of Google searchable images: when saving your Olioboard, add either your name, your company name or your blog name in the image description on your computer. Again this helps your SEO. For example: Google search your name - afterwards, click "images" and see what pops up. Your boards can pop-up along with the photographed work you've done, whether it's on your blog, or another site featured, or pinned to Pinterest.

Olioboard recognized by 

"For aspiring interior designers and overall design enthusiasts, Olioboard is an easy way to communicate complex artistic concepts visually. Use it as a brainstorming tool or simply to visually organizing thoughts." - Mashable

What's next for Olioboard? This year, they are branching out to test the waters of further merging online designers with some of their site's top selected retail brands to help consumers shop - A great way for students to get started in the industry plus a great means of retailers teaming up with industry tastemakers to curate current trends for them, while having a chance of making a little extra cash.

 

 plus see a collection of my boards in the tab above: Roomboards

Personally, I'm grateful for the site having been developed. I could sketch 3D, draft and render, but I had the hardest time learning CAD. Working with a site such as Olioboard has helped train my brain and hand to computer aided design - and it's so much faster to do a quick change to a plan or create plan A, B, C to choose from - by simply hitting "Duplicate" board on site - make your changes and presto, new board.

Have you tried Olioboard? 

How did you like it?

What have you used it to help you create?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Birthday Olioboard!

Outdoor Living Design Challenge Sponsored by Hayneedle & Design Camp at Olioboard!

There is a fun & new Design Challenge happening at Olioboard! The challenge is sponsored by Hayneedle + Lori Dennis, Inc. for Interior Design Camp. All you have to do to enter is create your own outdoor living design board, utilizing five pieces from the Hayneedle Outdoor Living set, (set selections picked by Olioboard's CEO, Sheilah MacSporran) and add your board entry to the challenge. Enter the contest or vote for your favorite design boards - Once Daily - Now thru May 23. After the votes are tallied, and the Top 50 Boards meeting the rule qualifications for the Inside-Out Contest on Olioboard will become eligible for the first place prize: a $1000 shopping spree from Hayneedle PLUS (and this is the big win!!) receive a ticket to attend this summer's Interior Design Camp with Lori Dennis & Kelli Ellis! 

I haven't been on Olioboard since holiday time, and this contest was exciting to learn about. Although I've entered but not won a chance to attend other design camps, I'd especially like to go to this camp because it's being held at Las Vegas World Market during Market Week (a design event on this side of the country! yay!!). I had attended LVMKT Winter Market - and loved it(see my recap video too!) But now that winter is FAR behind us, it's time to get outside and enjoy outdoor living. Here are some of my Outdoor Living boards I entered in the contest - taking on the perspective of a homeowner or a consumer creating a 3D board, plus a merchandising board to shop the look featuring the 5 key elements & pieces from Hayneedle I included in by board designs...

To View & Vote - Click here: A WALK IN THE PARK

Tis the season to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather outdoors - Taking a walk in the park is a beautiful place to start inspiration for your outdoor living space.

To View & Vote - Click here: A WALK IN THE PARK HN5

OUTDOOR LIVING - SMALL SPACE 5

From park inspiration, include these 5 key pieces into outdoor living space - even if it's a small space: 

1. A comfortable outdoor ottoman to kick your feet up onto.

2. Bold stripes

3. Fun patterns to mix.

4. Comfortable conversation area.

5. Extra seating, or even a bistro for sipping morning coffee at.

 To View & Vote - Click here: SPRING SPLENDOR

Create an outdoor dining & entertaining area for your deck or patio.

To View & Vote - Click here: SPRING SPLENDOR HN5

OUTDOOR LIVING - ENTERTAINING 5

Include these 5 key elements into outdoor living space - great for entertaining:

1.Garden stools can add pattern & texture + become extra seating in a pinch.

2. An outdoor dining table - Rounds are great for small square spaces.

3. Bring pattern outside with outdoor textiles such as pillows.

4. Just like you do inside, mix wicker finishes - seats vs tables - to break up a "matched set" look.

5. Soften hard edges of pergolas with outdoor curtain panels. Here, I chose white to pop among the greens and wood.

Finish off the area with interesting containers for plants (bringing the garden to your deck or patio) - not to mention: be sure to include a great grill for all those delicious summer recipes you've been pinning all winter!

To View & Vote - Click here: ZIGZAG GAZEBO

My board is not a copy by any means, especially when trying to use more specific items featured in the Hayneedle Outdoor Living set on Olioboard. The TRUE inspiration for my "ZigZag Gazebo" actually came from a design showhouse in Atlanta I saw featured in my stream on Facebook.

ABSOLUTELY LOVE this outdoor space! The Ultimate Cabana, designed by Lance Jackson & Parker Kennedy for the Atlanta Symphony Showhouse (more about the showhouse and this space in an upcoming post!)

To View & Vote - Click here: ZIG ZAG GAZEBO HN5

Even if the lattice look isn't for you, substitute for a gazebo tent - Customize your canopy top with a scallop edge valance.

 

Gazebo available at Hayneedle - or locally at Home Depot, Lowes, or Target.

While at Hayneedle, also be sure to enter their Great Outdoor Giveaway!

 LOVE this square scallop valance!

Not a board I entered - I just created for fun, but great to show the merging of fashion & decor!

OUTDOOR LIVING - POOLSIDE 5

Include these 5 key elements into outdoor living space - perfect poolside:

1. Add mirrors outside to help create depth & luxury (especially when framed in gold!).

2. If you love a pattern inside, you'll also love it outside and create a natural flow from the inside-out.

3. Don't fear whites outdoors: they only get naturally brighter from the sun.

4. Break up B&W patterns with a crisp color splash of green.

5. Create privacy, shade, and drama outdoors with outdoor curtains, which when done in multiples can create a soft curtain wall, even behind lattice work.

The contest prize at Olioboard for Inside-Out get even better since the summer design camp will be held at Las Vegas World Market, during Summer Market Week plus one of the guest speakers on Day 1 will be Sheilah from Olioboard!

 

LVMKT SUMMER July 27 - 31 - Visit site here for seminars, book signing events, networking cocktail parties and new product + showroom launches! It was a wonderful event for winter and I'm sure the summer one will be even better!

 Design Camp July 29 - 31 - Visit site here to get the camp agenda!

The judges selecting the winning board(s) from the Top 50 boards in the Inside-Out Outdoor Living design contest on Olioboard will be Design Camp Co-Founders Lori Dennis and Kelli Ellis!

Whether you create your own board, or visit Olioboard to view and vote for your favorite designs, it can become another source of outdoor inspiration ideas for your own home - with pinable boards you can save, plus share your faves via Facebook and Twitter. 

Thanks for stopping by - and if you voted, THANK YOU - I greatly appreciate your votes!