Whippoorwill

Thank you all for your sweet and interesting comments to my last post.  I really appreciate the love and suggestions received in my inbox too.  Thank you!!  Someone's response to me was, "It's a small, temporary problem."  That is so right.  Very small, indeed!

Spring cannot get here soon enough.  Little guy has stomach bug again, poor fella.  Are there two strains of that virus this year?  Crazy.  So, while I'm working from home today, I'm catching up on an old movie I haven't seen in years.  "Legends of the Fall".  Gah, I had forgotten how incredibly sad and complicated it was.  What a timeless, most beautiful set design and cinematography.  And, Julia Ormand, Brad, and Aiden.  Sigh.

I have six days left to submit as many olioboard creations as I can create to the olioboard contest.  The first two boards I submitted the last few days are pretty theatrical and whimsical in style.  I had to get that style out of my system first.  I realize it's not for everyone.  Haha.  I am open to suggestions on the next ones I create.  What's your style?  Maybe I'll create one for you.  I'm currently creating others for clients and even a potential client on IG who liked the others I showcased.    

The contest theme is STRIPES.  So, I 'have' to incorporate stripes.  I decided to go my typical bold, black and white striped background.

"WHIPPOORWILL"

When I started this board I imagined a girl inhabiting it to be a bit quirky and so I decided to give each board a personalized 'storied' description.  The one above was actually inspired by Will's second cousin.

Description: Samantha enjoys nature and the sport of bird watching. Wild birds in particular. Adventures to mossy creekside knolls, forests at dusk, and the Ozark mountains are among this stylish girl's jaunts. 
"whippoorwill!" ~Sharon

You can vote for this board if you follow this link.   Under neath the right hand corner, click on the check mark inside the red heart:)  You can vote for it one time per day for the next six days.  You can 'shop the look' there too.  

"TEARS OF JOY"

You can vote for this board by following this link.   Same instructions as the one above.

To see all the other entries in the contest, go here.

Thanks for stopping in!  Enjoy the rest of your day.

xx
sharon

Pickwick House is a full service design/build company in the heart of the Midwest!  {Springfield, Missouri's Rountree Neighborhood}.  We handle all aspects of residential renovations from small to large projects and are available for full service and consultation design, and/or stylizing from East to West Coast.  Call or email us today.  We may be on location, but we'll get back to you in no time.

 417-459-8988 *sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com

RUBY DELIGHT Olioboard by SharonTaylorDesigns

Okay, so you remember how I went to Design Camp in October?  It was life changing for me and the business.  I won't bore you with talk of that deal, but wanted to share one of the biggest topics/tools shared there.  Leslie Carothers {twitter link}spoke on behalf of this great new tool called 'Olioboard'. Have you heard of it?  It's an online tool for drafting 2D and 3D room inspiration boards... using a full market of millions of items and brands to pull from.  Once you've created the room at the drop of a fingertip, you can 'shop the look'.  You can shop other user's boards.  Anyone can use it.  Including you.  And it's free. 

For designers it's great, because it's a quick and easy way to present a visual board to your clients. 

Many designers at camp had never heard of it.  I had, but kept resisting using the tool because I really didn't think I had time to learn one more thing.  And i didn't know you could pull antiques and oddities.   {WRONG}

Since returning from camp, I've kept Olioboard at back of my mind.  I remember Leslie encouraging us designers to expand to their larger 'PRO platform', to make more money and also promote the biz. Leslie made most campers leave camp with 'Olioboard' at the top of their priority lists.  Not me. haha.     

Fast forward four months.  Well you know how much of a fan I am of Tobi Fairley, right?  Great luxury designer, inspiring business woman and coach, and overall life-coach for all of us who strive to be better.   Elevating not only our practice, but our inner spirituality and physical strength.  I greatly admire her as a positive business woman and mom!  

RUBY DELIGHT:  A Sharon TAYLOR Designs board

I, of course, follow her on IG, and twitter and noticed that a couple weeks ago she was mentioning her upcoming  "Get Published" for April 9th. Now, I tell you, I've been trying to get to one of her camps for the last few years, but timing never was right with babies and kids activities.  

Then about a week later,  Ronda Carmen of All The Best,  announced that her forth coming book, Designers At Home,  will be launched at the Tobi Fairley camp as well.  And to top it off, Traditional Home editors are guest sponsors and speakers.  Then I was like, WHAT?!  I have to go.  

It's in Little Rock, Arkansas.  I could drive, right?   

So it just so happens that Olioboard is a Team Tobi sponsor, and is hosting a contest right now with the winner to receive 2 tickets to the camp valued at $2400 each.  I'm putting that challenge out there not only for myself, but for all of you designers who would like a chance to win it too.  But, I'm pulling for mostly me.  Haha. 

{No, but even if you're not a designer, it's something you could play with too.  It's like playing in a dollhouse.  Join in and try it out with me!  My profile is:  sharontaylordesigns}

 Well, you know what I did last night after reading about the contest?  Slept maybe four hours, woke up with a catapulting leap, and started plugging away...

This is my first room above.  I know I'm duplicating the one above it, but I had to showcase the amount of clutter I amassed while creating it.  I'm so proud I completed a board.  Not sure if this will be an entry into the contest yet and don't judge me for the wampiness or my untidy, unkept house I keep.  Haha.  I really wanna break out the online paper dolls now.

 Alright, so I named the room Ruby Delight.  Needs some help, but here's the Description:  This room is for the girl who is charmed by all things chic. Delightment filled by all things french, antique, adventurous travels, books, film, science studies and tea!

It was great fun and pretty easy.  With a click of the mouse, I could slide an antique One Kings Lane table out from under a crrrrrrrystal vase, and it SO didn't crash into jillions of pieces.  It was fairly easy,  and I'm already majorly addicted and I think it could work really well for me with my clients' presentations too.  Can I tell you how happy I am that Olioboard offers antiques too!!  I was really pleasantly surprised.

I published this one before I realized I forgot to put away all the things I had scrapped that are up there to the right.  Haha.  And I still don't know how to edit those out.  Anyway, I'll work on that, but I need your help, because, you see, I realize this room is very 'girly'.  And that girly stuff may not be a 'winning style'.  One plus to the contest is, I can enter as many boards as I want.

Okay, SO this is where I need your help.  Tell me what types of moods, styles, trends, products you might like to see created.  I'll incorporate some of those things into boards to create for my multiple, winning entries in the contest.  Be thinking about what some of your favorite things are, and please, please tell me.  {thank you in advance!}

I may need your help at some point too, on voting. It's a judged contest, but viewers can vote daily on their faves.  Not sure that sways the judges, but it might.  Sort of like American Idol?  Haha.

Okay, I know this is a long post, but I thought I'd leave you with an inspiration image and woman to 'glide around on the ice with' today.   I love this painting.  It's of Florence Nightingale.  I think that's one of the prettiest girl name I've heard in a LONG time.  Why has no one in my massive family used it?  Even the last name would make a pretty middle name aside from Florence, I think.

Anyway, did some reading on Florence and thought she was the perfect inspiration for my 'Ruby Delight' board above.  "She was a precocious child intellectually.  Her father took particular interest in guiding her through history, philosophy, and literature.  She was able to read and write French, German, Italian, Greek, and Latin at an early age.  Never satisfied with the traditional female skills of home management, she preferred to read the great philosophers and to engage in serious political and social discourse with her father." ~ You can read more about Florence here.

                               One more:  Miles Redd room.  I LOVE Miles fun with color!

Wish me luck, folks, and try out Olioboard, and tell me what you think.

Happy ICE DAY. Be careful out there, locals!!

xx
sharon

Pickwick House is a full service design/build company in the heart of the Midwest!  {Springfield, Missouri's Rountree Neighborhood}.  We handle all aspects of residential renovations from small to large projects and are available for full service and consultation design, and/or stylizing from East to West Coast.  Call or email us today.  We may be on location, but we'll get back to you in no time.

 417-459-8988 *sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com

xx

sharon

Tobi Fairley Chair Contest Winner

Happy Martin Luther King day! I will be celebrating with my family by participating in a local march across the Martin Luther King bridge. I have never done this before, but am excited for what's to be an uplifting experience for all, I'm sure. How about you? What are you doing?

I haven't been regular with posting, but will be updating with more regularity, and good stuff. We have a very exciting week this week. Promising new ventures, and MORE publicity!

In other news: I won THE Tobi Fairley chair contest I told you about awhile back. It was a fun process! AND, I just love Tobi Fairley period. She's a master of not only design, but of business, and planning for success. So winning was a great honor. Her words were beyond sweet and she even sent me a personal message of congratulation. To see the full post, go here...

A special thank you to heather cherie photography for taking such pretty photos. Also, to BIG Fish screen printing for taking care of all my printing needs.

And thank you to YOU for stopping in today. I hope you enjoy your day and your week! May you find windows filled with much, much sun streaming thru.

xx
sharon

...More Canopy Love

The same day I had the nursery pelmet/canopy installation, I popped over to Tobi Fairley's blog.

Tobi is an amazing designer I've been following for a year now. She's based in Little Rock Arkansas. Anyway, back to what I was saying about popping onto her blog that day...I was so happy to discover all these beautiful gems that she had posted on her Day 24 Things She Loves. I can't decide which one I like the best. What about you?

Images from Phoebe Howard, Kelly Wearstler, Mary McDonald, Katie Ridder, Palmer Weiss, and Windsor Smith {Some of my all time fave designers} Hope you all have a dandy weekend!

I will be working both days this weekend. Another portion of the installation @ the bebe nursery on Saturday, and then a pink baby shower on Sunday {in the panoramic wallpaper dining room of my client's}.

xo

sharon