Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show

With just a few weeks left until the Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show, I am getting my display ready! I am designing a modern family/entertainment room as part of their Designer Showcase. Each room is designed for a local media personality, and mine will be designed to honor Roxanne Vargas of NBC Miami.

The room will be a mix of dark, polished flooring provided by Atlas Concorde, and white, modern furnishings. It will have a warm, yet modern feel....with lots of accents in rich tones of red, gold, and metallics. I have designed a custom bar, which will be upholstered in large squares of red leatherette. Kohler is providing a great entertainment sink and faucet for the bar as well. Special thanks to Contour Fabrications (bar), Custom Design Studio (upholstery and pillows), Gasa Construction, and Imperial Stone (countertop) for helping make this all possible! I am excited to put it all together at the show! It's going to be a lot of work, but I've got a great team to help me!

The show is from Friday September 3rd until Tuesday September 7th at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Please stop by and see the finished product! I will also be part of a panel at the show, ('Hiring a Contractor')on Saturday, September 4th at 3:00 pm. We will be discussing all the things to look for when hiring a contractor to do your remodeling project. It will be a very informative session for anyone thinking about starting a renovation project.

Comcast Newsmakers

Yesterday, John Ryba of Artistic Cabinetry and I filmed two segments for Comcast Newsmakers.

We discuss the importance of hiring licensed Contractors for your home improvement projects. There is also a segment where we speak about the upcoming Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show September 3-7th, and the seminars and panels that the NKBA will be offering at this show. It will air locally on Channel 29 in South Florida (CNN Headline News) throughout the month of August. I will post the schedule soon!

Great New Website to Check Out... InterviewHer.com

I recently had the opportunity to share my story with 'InterviewHer.com,' a great website that profiles women who have started their own businesses. The site has many inspirational stories about women accomplishing great things with the businesses they have started. Check out my interview, as well as many others!

Benjamin Moore 'Experts Exchange' app

Check out the Benjamin Moore 'Experts Exchange' app on Facebook! It's a group of Designers, Architects, Contractors, and Color Experts who will answer questions and give advice on color selection.

Send questions my way, and I'll be happy to help out!

South Florida Today Show

On Thursday, June 3rd, I was a guest on the South Florida Today Show, on NBC 6. It was a segment on the upcoming Home Design and Remodeling Show, where I spoke about great 'aging in place' products for the kitchen and the bath. I had a great time, it was a lot of fun!

I will be speaking about 'Aging in Place and Universal Design' in further detail today at 5:00pm at the Home Design & Remodeling Show at the Broward County Convention Center. Stop by if you can!

Fort Lauderdale Spring Home Design & Remodeling Show

I will be speaking at the Fort Lauderdale Home Design and Remodeling Show on Saturday, June 5th at 5pm. My topic will be focused on Universal Design for the kitchen and bath. Afterwards, I will be at the NKBA booth, answering questions with my fellow kitchen and bath design professionals. Stop by if you can!

Schedule of Speakers and Events for the Spring Home Show

Installation and Design Showcase at Coverings

Last week, the Inaugural 'Installation and Design Showcase' took place at Coverings, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. Expert tile installers from all over the country teamed up with talented designers, to create five beautiful bathroom spaces that were installed live at the show! It was a lot of work, and the dedicated team of installers worked tirelessly to complete the displays by Thursday's reception. While the installers were finishing up the displays, the designers participated in a Panel (moderated by Luxe magazine) on their design inspiration for the showcase as well as upcoming bath trends.

I truly enjoyed my involvement in the showcase, designing the 'Universal Design' bath display. My installers, Artcraft Granite Marble & Tile from Mesa, Arizona were wonderful! It was great to work with such a talented group of installers, who really made my vision come to life! I also enjoyed meeting all of the other designers involved in the showcase. Each of the spaces were so unique and beautiful!

I was also happy to have Ceramic Tiles of Italy as my tile sponsor, their vendors gave me a lot to choose from for my design. Their booth at the show was absolutely beautiful, and I enjoyed the cappuccinos and pasta lunches as well!

Overall, it was really a great experience! While live installation can be very stressful at times....I felt like it truly was a depiction of what real life design and installation can be like....things that occur, making decisions during installation to fix them, working with a team of people, etc. This kind of connection with the installers makes it all come together....which is what this was all about! I really enjoyed taking part in this experience, and meeting everyone involved!