I attended the High Point Furniture Market in October and the impression I got and buzz that I heard
was that it was slow. That the economy was definitely effecting market.  Well I expected this, in fact, I purposely went because of all things, I was excited about this.

I am an experienced designer with a new location.  I have been in the design industry since the late 80′s, working hard at it, taking time off for kids, working at it again, etc. etc.

When my husband took a job in AZ I knew that I had to start again.  Build again.  Start with a library again, seeing as I no longer had large design centers at my fingertips.  Well visiting High Point in a slow market and eager showrooms and reps have certainly helped me.  I never understood why manufacturers shrugged their noses up at designers and only welcomed the furniture stores with the large orders. Can’t there be both?Designers are the ones that are keeping the constant flow of revenue……..
Upon my return, I have received numerous amounts of material to help me facilitate my business and I will make sure I return the favor.  Thank you.

Now about the exciting things I saw!!

(more…)

High Point Market thought outside of the box and suprised market go-er’s!!  You never knew where they were coming from and if they were standing right next to you…….they definetely looked the part!!
So much fun!!

Did you know Thermador was the first to:
1.  Invent and Introduce the first Built-In Wall Oven & Cooktop – 1947
2.  Brought the first warming drawer into the appliance world – 1952
3.  Developed the first Self-Cleaning Oven – 1963
4.  Brought  first Black and Black Glass Appliances into the market – 1965
5.  Introduced the  Downdraft Ventilation System for cooktops – 1978
6.  Brought the cook the first professional range for home use – 1990
7.  Introduced the first induction Cooktop with Sensor Dome – 2009

And that’s just to name a few that stuck in my mind at the BSH Designer Luxury Summit…..

September 27-29, I, along with 25+ interior designers, architects & kitchen designers gathered together at the Hyatt Gainey Ranch here in Scottsdale, AZ to be guests of Thermador, Gaggenau & Bosch.

What an amazing learning experience to be brought in, pampered, wined & dined and whisked away (more…)

Arizona Luxury Real Estate & Vicki Bergelt Interior Design have decided to put our heads together and “Brand” Two Great Businesses that have to do with what is very close to our hearts……Our Homes.

We are seperate, yet together!  I really loved the way this ad came out and wanted to share……….



Two Companies Thinking Like You!!



I just absolutely love chairs!  I collect small chairs….they are everywhere in my house!  If you want to get me anything, get me a small “unique” chair!  I guess that makes sense being a designer!

When I find someone who takes a chair to a new level I want to shout it to the world….”Buy this chair!!  It’s the greatest!!”  I know I don’t have space in my house (or I would have everyone of them) yet I just want someone to have it….so I know someone I know is getting pleasure from this find!!

Well here are such finds:  (And if you like them……click on the link!!  I couldn’t post all of them!)
Jimmie Martin Creative Chairs in the UK

Unique Creative Chairs

Pantone is a standardized color system. It allows all manufacturers to use the same color, yet in their own unique way.

I just discovered the IPhone4 “My Pantone” app….and what a great app it is. It’s like a paint fandeck, with over 225 colors, on your phone and so much more. You can take a picture of something or use an existing photo, it scans the photo, picks out the colors that apply, then displays them. You can then select the colors that you want, drop them into a menu, save them, email them or both!

I can’t wait to play with this app at a clients home. I just love new technology!

I belong to a designer chat every Tuesday and the topic today is “What is my niche?”

Well…good question and takes a bit of thinking, can you smell smoke?

After contemplating this one for a bit, I don’t feel like I can just describe just one niche….I think I have a few different niches, so I will list a few that I am more passionate about. (You can recognize these with all the “loves” in the sentence, couldn’t think on another word!)

** I love to renovate. I love the history in older homes and buildings, I love to preserve or incorporate old and new. I love going into an old house and opening up walls to make it more open and into today’s world. I love to wonder who lived here before and before them and what they did for the world.

My niche: Combining old with new to give an updated look and feel

** I love to do framing walk-thrus on new construction. I always find hidden areas that can become storage. I find areas that reflect more or less light than I originally thought and use that to my advantage by using a mirror or a reflective accessory to bring more light into the room or a place for a halogen spot to light up a particular piece of artwork. Framing stage is also a phase to reassure any electrical questions you may of had.

My niche: Seeing and Understanding All Aspects of the Job in the Construction Phase.

**I love color. I love when a client is not afraid of color. I love when a client gets excited with me when I suggest using something bold and something that makes a statement.

My Niche: Color is definitely my niche!

**I love installing jobs. I love opening up the boxes at the job site and putting the picture that is in my    head into reality. I love presenting the final project to client and they are as happy as I am.

My Niche: Loving what I do and feeling the passion until the very end!!

While registering for my WordPress blog (which is a good place to start to put your blog on wordpress….but as far as I got for now…) I came across this article!!  Cool??  Yes!!  But Drunk phone blogging….oh no!!

Phone Your Blog by Matt  http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/telephone/

It’s happened to all of us. The night starts off innocently enough with a little gin and tonic, maybe a mojito, then next thing you know you’re doing tequila shots with the bartender and the girl from Brazil and you find yourself thinking it would be a treMENdous idea to call up your ex and see how they’re doing and perhaps impress them with your newfound wit.

We’ve got the cure. Now, instead of drunk dialing random friends, lovers, and acquaintances one at a time, what if you could dial your blog and talk to the whole world at once? It’d be like something out of Star Trek.

The future is now, folks. You can now go to your My Blogs tab, enable Post by Voice, and get a special number and code to call your blog. After you’re done, the audio file from your phone call will be posted to your blog for all to listen to and enjoy. (And added to your RSS feed for podcast support.)

So now you can post to your WordPress via the web, email, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, desktop clients, and now any telephone in the world. Of course when you post it can be pushed to Facebook, Twitter, and more using the Publicize feature. What more could you want?

Right now this is completely free, but we’ll charge you money to take down posts. Just kidding! We’re making it free and allowing recording lengths up to sixty minutes, but that limit may go down without a paid upgrade in the future. Mostly we’re just curious to see how people use this.