Look What I Found at the Bookstore

Happy Friday friends! I hope you all have had a fabulous week. My schedule this week has been a little off due to Ben working noon to 10 p.m. all week. I didn’t think I’d mind it too much but I really hated it. Luckily he’s back to a normal shift next week so my schedule can get back to normal as well.

Wednesday night I went out with one of my really good friends who just moved to Kansas City. We had sangria and snacks at Bravo and then went to see Chef. I didn’t know much about this movie but I had read Meg’s glowing review, so when Rachelle said she wanted to see it I was game. It was wonderful! It was one of those rare feel-good movies that isn’t the least bit cheesy. I would definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a good movie to see.

After the movie I stopped in to Barnes & Noble just to look around. I was walking back to the children’s section to check out The Mark of the Dragonfly when some design books caught my eye, so I decided to browse the interior design section. That’s when I came across this beautiful guy:

I was introduced to Scalamandre last year when I worked on Dining by Design and I fell in love, especially with the iconic zebra print. But the main reason I pulled the book was to check out this page:

It’s the table I worked on at Dining by Design! The design was all by Katy Sullivan, I just assisted in gathering and assembling all the materials, but it was a really exciting project to work on nonetheless. Seeing a gorgeous photograph of our table in this big beautiful book was a little surreal.

For a better look at the table, here are I few of my photos from the event:

Next time you’re browsing at a bookstore I would suggest flipping through Scalamandre: Haute Décor, it really is a gorgeous book!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Dining by Design 2014

Last Monday I mentioned that I had an extra busy Saturday: I spent the morning at an awesome HomeGoods shopping event and the rest of the day at Dining by Design. For long-time followers of the blog, you may remember I worked on this event last year. If you’re not familiar with Dining by Design, it’s the signature fundraising event for DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS). Designers from different disciplines (interior, floral, retail, etc) create unique table designs for a big gala dinner. Gala attendees get to sit at one of these amazing tables for a delicious dinner as well as enjoy entertainment and bid on some incredible items during a live auction.

I volunteered at the gala dinner as the lead on china change-up, which is when a group of volunteers remove the expensive china and silverware a designer doesn’t want the guests to actually eat off of for dinner. I didn’t snap any pictures during the night event, but I did get a chance to mingle and enjoy myself more during the afternoon’s Conversations on Dining.

Here are a few of the gorgeous tables at the event:

A panel of experts from Kansas City gave their tips and tricks for entertaining like a pro. Another highlight for me was hanging out with Katy Sullivan, my former internship boss and design mentor. She’s also the genius responsible for the table with the navy tablecloth and gorgeous pink flowers as well as the table with the gold sequin tablecloth and sparkly donuts.

A few yummy treats from the day: a Patron cocktail (Patron was one of the night’s sponsors), a red velvet cake pop, and some pretty red ribbon cookies.

For more (and much better than my iphone) photos, be sure to check out the photo galleries on spaceskc.com. You’ll see more of the gorgeous table designs as well as some of the attendees (you might recognize the people in photo 28!). And for even more pictures of the tables, here’s a drop box gallery of photos by Crissy at Dastrup Creative Group - Photography & Design.

What do the St. Louis Arch and this table have in common?

What do one of the U.S.’s most recognizable monuments and this pedestal table have in common?

They were both designed by the same person, Mr. Eero Saarinen!

I told you all about my visit to St. Louis over the weekend, during which we spent a lot of time at the Arch. I was reminded during this time that the same person who designed several notable modern furniture pieces.

Saarinen was born in Finland and immigrated with his family to the U.S. when he was a kid. He studied architecture at Yale and later teamed with Charles Eames to design furniture for a home furnishings competition. He had a very successful career as both an architect and as a furniture designer for Knoll.

Saarinen Womb Chair (source)

The TWA terminal at JFK in New York (Ezra Stoller)

 

Saarinen Tulip Chair

Construction of the St. Louis Gateway Arch

 

Saarinen Tulip Side Tables

I hope you enjoyed my little design history lesson for the day

Dining by Design Recap

Hello everyone! I think I am finally recovered from this crazy weekend and I’m starting to catch up on life. Dining by Design was amazing!! This was my first time participating or attending the event and I was so happy with how it turned out! The tables were absolutely gorgeous, I had fun mingling and meeting new people, the food and drinks were delicious…it was just all around an amazing night. I will admit that I am happy it’s over though, it was a LOT of work. Totally worth it though

I helped my boss Katy Sullivan with two tables. We did a Moroccan table for 20 people in the walkway of The Gallery. The benches and tables were custom built and all the table décor and lanterns were loaned to us from Pryde’s Old Westport. The beautiful rugs were borrowed from The Knotty Rug. We also had custom draping installed to add more color and atmosphere. I absolutely love how it came together!

I wish I had taken more pictures at night; it was so pretty in the low light!

Katy was also asked to design a table for Scalamandre. They were promoting their new line of china by Lenox which is absolutely gorgeous in person! This table was so different from the Moroccan table but I love it just as much. It made a huge impact in the space too.

I am so proud of our tables! They were definitely attention grabbers and we got a lot of compliments on them. Of course there were a ton of other gorgeous tables by other designers. Here are just a few of the ones I loved.

Completely gorgeous right?! I had so much fun being a part of this event. I highly recommend checking it out next year if you’re in KC, or check to see if there’s a Dining by Design in a city near you!