Merry Christmas!

I’m back with one last unplanned post for Christmas Day.  I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas holiday with your families.  We are really excited bout the possibility of snow here in Atlanta!  My mom, who is visiting from Huntsville, has been getting texts and pictures all morning from her friends telling her about the 3” they have on the ground so far.  It’s supposed to be headed this way so we’ve got our fingers crossed that we will have a white Christmas! 

Here are the last few pictures of holiday decorations that I have to post for my Christmas Time series.  I promise these are the last ones.  :o)   These pictures come from Blayne Beacham of This Photographer’s Life who lives in Atlanta.  Blayne’s home looks so beautiful this year.  I wonder how many of those Christmas presents have been opened by now.  Thanks for giving us a glimpse into your home at Christmas time Blayne!

{Images – Blayne Beacham}

Merry Christmas to all!

LiveJournal Tags: holiday pictures,this photographer's life,blayne beacham

Almost Christmas Time

I hope you all have enjoyed seeing the fun holiday decor that all the readers have sent in.  I have really enjoyed getting a sneak peek inside some of your homes.  Today will be the last installment of the Christmas Time Series.  Thanks so much to everyone who sent in their fun holiday pictures.  I hope you and your families have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  I’ll be taking the rest of the year off from blogging and will return with a new blog post onn January 4th. 

Before I share today’s holiday pics, I thought I would share our Christmas card with you.  Billy and I had a blast making making them. 

Happy Holidays Everyone!

xo, Cristi

***************

Today, Stacy who lives in Macon, GA and writes the blog Simply Delicious is giving us a little glimpse of her home.  Stacy is always posting yummy, gluten free recipes on her blog.

 

And my absolute favorite picture of all is this close up picture of Stacy’s Auburn ornament.  I’m super-excited about this year’s National Championship Game and so is Stacy.  WAR EAGLE!!! 

{Images – Stacy – Macon, GA}

LiveJournal Tags: christmas decorating

More Christmas Time Decor

Today’s bit of Christmas decorating comes from a few different places.  First up is Melissa author of the blog Living a Beautiful Life from Manchester, New Hampshire.  Earlier this year Melissa’s cozy home was featured on ApartmentTherapy.com.  CLICK HERE to tour Melissa’s mid-centery modern home.

{Images above – Melissa - Manchester, New Hampshire}

Next up is Barbara from right here in Atlanta.  Barbara lives in a high-rise in the heart of Midtown and has done a fantastic job of making the most out of her space.  My favorite picture of all is the way she has decorated her modern model home with miniature Christmas trees.  It’s adorable!

And lastly is Glenda from Holtville, Alabama whose tree is beautiful.  Christmas trees are so hard to photograph but Glenda’s tree looks wonderful. 

Thanks again to everyone who has sent in their lovely Christmas decor photos to be featured on my blog.  I’m planning to do one more post before Christmas so please send in your photos if you would like me to feature them on the last “Christmas Time” post.  The details on how to send in your photo can be found HERE.

LiveJournal Tags: christmas decorating,atlanta,holtville,alabama

Christmas Time + A Winner

Before I get to today’s Christmas Time pics I want to announce the winner of the beautiful pillows from the Taylor Galen Workroom.  And the winner is Tina Steele Lindsey. Tina is one absolutely amazing artist.  If you haven’t seen her work you must check it out.  CLICK HERE to go to Tina’s blog.

Thanks so much to Taylor Galen from Outside the Workroom for giving away the pillows.  Taylor also sent a picture of her door to share with us.

{Taylor Galen – Atlanta, GA}

Next up is Melissa from Norcross, GA.  I love the white theme that Melissa has going throughout her house.

The galvanized bucket in lieu of a skirt is such a creative idea.

{3 mages – Melissa – Norcross, GA}

These place settings are beautiful and reindeer plate is adorable.  Love them!

Thanks Taylor and Melissa for sharing your holiday decor!

LiveJournal Tags: holiday decor,outside the workroom,giveaway

Christmas Time

Well, somehow I managed to get all of my Christmas shopping completed in two days.  I will hopefully never ever have to wait until the last minute again.  It wasn’t too fun braving the hoards of people who were out doing the same thing I was doing, but at least it’s over with.  Now I can try to relax for the rest of this week and do some really important stuff like baking. 

Last week I asked for readers to send in pictures of their homes decorated for Christmas so that I could share them with everyone.  Up first is is Kelly’s from Columbus, OH, and here is a link to Kelly’s blog 1551 Transformed.

Enjoy!

 Cute pooch!

Adding Christmas lights to your wine bottles is such a festive way to decorate your kitchen or bar area.

 

{images – kelly}

Kelly, thanks for sharing your pictures with us. 

What a beautiful home! 

LiveJournal Tags: christmas decorating

Christmas Time..Show Me Your Stuff

{Atlanta Homes & Lifestyle}

If you haven’t noticed it’s getting pretty darn close to Christmas.  I am definitely not prepared this year.  I’ve bought a total of 2 whole gifts so far.  I’ve got one shopping weekend left and I’m sure it’s going to be a madhouse out there.  I’m going to put on my brave face though and get it done. 

One thing I have done is my Christmas decorating.  We only did a tree this year due to lack of time to decorate anything else but even our tree adds just enough Christmas to our home. 

I thought it would be fun if I featured some of YOUR Christmas decorations on my blog.  It will be fun for me to see how you all have decorated your homes but it will also be fun for everyone else to see as well. 

So here’s what I need from you.  Send me an email to charmhomedesign@gmail.com and attach a picture or two of your decorated home.  It can be of the outside or the inside.  In the subject line of the email write “Christmas Time” and in the body of the email let me know 2 things: 1.) Your City and State, 2.)  Your name, blog or twitter handle(or you can choose to show your picture anonymously). 

Start sending your pictures as soon as  you get them ready.  I’ll start posting these pictures on Monday of next week.  I can’t wait to see all of your incredible decorations.

 

xo, Cristi

LiveJournal Tags: christmas decorating

Unlocking the Secrets to Success

Just a quick note…check out yesterday’s giveaway post if you haven’t seen it already.  I’ve got some really cute pillows to give away! 

CLICK HERE to go to the post.

This weekend Erika from BluLabel Bungalow, Capella from A Curated Lifestyle and I spoke at the Lavish! conference about turning your readers into clients.  Since we consider ourselves designers who blog instead of bloggers who design it was a perfect topic for us.  We met a few times before the conference so that we could brainstorm on the best ways to reach out to potential clients and bring more readers to your blog. 

For those of you who couldn’t make it to the conference I thought I would share some highlights from our tip sheet.

Interiors & the Internet: Unlocking the Secrets to Success Through Your Blogging and Social Media Efforts

Why Launch a Blog?

~Blogging is basically free [at least monetarily free] marketing for your company.

~Posting consistently is extremely important when you first create your blog.

~Blogging is a great way to show your company’s personality.

~A blog is a great way to increase search engine optimization.

Blog Design

~Your blog’s design is your first chance to make an impression on readers & potential clients.

~Be recognizable and keep your graphics consistent throughout each of your social media platforms.

How Do You Reach Your Target Audience

~Step One…Determine who your target audience is.

~Engage your readers by commenting on their blogs, creating newsletters and email subscriptions and communicating on Twitter

~Making connections and networking is just as important in the blogging and social media world as it is in the real world.

Create Content that Keeps Them Coming Back

~Have a unique point of view and position yourself as an expert

~Blog with a plan, a purpose and consistency

~Engage your readers with questions/polls/surveys

Show Your Stuff

~Remind readers that you are a designer.

~Use your blog for progress shots and your website for professional portfolio shots.

~Emphasize your brand.

Inter-Networking & The Big 5 (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Linked-In, YouTube)

~Develop a content strategy that will engage your audience.

~Grow your fan base by posting quality content.

~Add Your Social Media info to your email signature.

~Learn which social media outlets your target markets use.

Transforming Readers Into Clients

~Be patient, building trust takes time.

~Offer something of value to your readers (ebooks, giveaways, newsletter, coupon codes).

~Be responsive, but not pushy.

~Ask for the business, Give quality service, Thank client, Repeat.

***Check out Erika’s Blog to download our actual tips sheet as well as see links to notes from other speakers’ sessions.

******************************************

And that is our presentation in a nutshell.  These were just some of the highlights.  It would be a pretty long post if I wrote out our our entire 45 minute presentation.  I hope this will be useful to those of you who have a design related company and are trying to turn your readers into clients. 

xo, Cristi

LiveJournal Tags: Lavish conference,blogs,Blulabel bungalow,A curated lifestyle

Lavish! and a Pillow GIVEAWAY

Over the weekend I attended the Lavish! unconference.  It was pretty amazing.  I spoke on a panel at the first session on Saturday along with Capella Kincheloe and Erika Ward.  Our discussion was about turning your blog readers into clients.  It was so much fun sharing some of our experience with other bloggers.  I’m planning to do a little recap later this week for those of you who couldn’t make it to Lavish.  Not only did I speak at the conference, but I also sat in on other great workshops as well as met tons of new blogging and industry friends.  I didn’t want the fun to end, but I have to admit that I was pretty exhausted from it all. 

More to come on Lavish throughout the rest of the week!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Now onto the GIVEAWAY!

About a year ago Taylor Galen, a window treatment specialist here in Atlanta, contacted me and wanted to get together for coffee to let me know more about her company.  Taylor was awesome, and we hit it off right away.  I told her the ins and outs of having a blog.  Soon after we met she created her own called Outside the Workroom where she focuses mainly on things that inspire here and as well as posts images of her window treatment projects.

{image – outside the workroom}

Not only is Taylor super-sweet but she is also very talented at what she does.  As a window treatment specialist Taylor works with the residential clients to help them create the perfect window treatments and bedding for their home.  She can work with fabrics that you have already selected or she can help you select your own fabrics, hardware and woven blinds.  She also works with interior designers and has a full workroom. 

Taylor contacted me a few weeks ago and offered to host a giveaway on my blog.  We brainstormed and came up with a giveaway of two 18” down-filled throw pillows.  She also offered to extend Charm Home readers a 10% discount on their first order of custom bedding and drapery.  This discount will be valid for the next 3 months.  All you have to do to get the discount is mention that you read about her on “Charm Home”. 

Here’s a close up of the pillows. 

They looked so good on my sofa that I may have her make some more just for me.

Now for the deets on entering the giveaway…

You have three options for entering and increasing your odds of winning the throw pillows.

1.) Leave a comment on this post; 2.) Tweet about the giveaway and then come back to let me know you tweeted about it; 3.) “Like” Charm Home’s Facebook page and then come back to leave a comment letting me know you did.  {If you are already a fan of Charm Home on FB then you can leave a comment letting me know that too.}

The giveaway will be closed at midnight on Monday, December 20th. I’ll announce the winner on Tuesday the 21st.

Please make sure you check out Taylor’s blog and let her know if you are in need of any window treatment services.

GOOD LUCK!

LiveJournal Tags: giveaway,lavish,outside the workroom,facebook

a work in progress

if you are visiting my site over the next few days and things don’t look quite right, don’t be alarmed.  i’ve been working with a graphic designer to come up with a few updates for my blog, website and business cards.  i’m really excited about the upcoming changes!  the transition of the old blog design to the new blog design will be happening over the next few days, and i’ve got my fingers crossed that there won’t be too many glitches during the transition. 

until then here are a few more pictures from my latest design project.  if you would like to see more of this home you can view more pictures on my facebook fan page.

LiveJournal Tags: my design,blog design

one room two ways

i just finished up a new model home in dallas, and i came upon a situation that sometimes happens in model home design. 

the strange thing about model home design is that i don’t see the actual home until the week i go to install it.  i do all of the planning and design based on a set of architectural blueprints.  Most of the time the installation finishes up seamlessly and there are no issues.  Occasionally though, the builder will decide to knock out a wall on site or change up a room, and they’ll forget to let me know about it.  There is usually never an instance where the problem can’t be fixed on site, but it does sometimes present a problem with the furniture that i have selected. 

with this home there was originally a dividing wall show on the plans.  this wall divided the breakfast area and the family room and also had a fireplace in the middle of it.  i drew in where the wall would have been on the photo below.

a few weeks before the install they decided to tear down the dividing wall and put the fireplace in the corner of the family room.  it was definitely a good idea.  taking out the wall really opened up the whole living area.  while i was assuming there would still be a wall in that area, i had planned on using a very narrow table with small bentwood chairs.

once the builder walked through they decided that they wanted a slightly larger table that showed more seating.  so, i headed out to world market and bought a trestle table with two benches.  it worked out perfectly. 

…and here they are side by side.

so which do you like the best?  have you ever run into a similar problem yourself?

{all images  - charm home}

LiveJournal Tags: my design,world market