DesignSherpa and Designing Profits on Social Media Leapfrogging

One really successful Interior Designer told me that attending David Shepherd’s Business of Design events helped her to organize her business for purposeful and charted financial growth.  Looking back, a major piece of her learning was centered around the deployment of of social media tools as a foundation for a powerful internet marketing strategy.  So, we were really pleased to get a reference and a call from David, inviting us to participate in his September event in New York City.

We launched our DigitalSherpa turnkey social media solutions last summer, and are now managing close to 1000 social media campaigns for local companies in home design and remodeling, as well as other sectors of the local home and real estate business communities.  The overarching goal of the program is helping companies achieve the results of an expertly executed social media internet marketing program, while saving them the 40-50 hours a month of their valuable time that would otherwise be invested in the usual business of running their businesses.

This is a particularly exciting time for DesignSherpa since the program and its participants are receiving lots of attention across the blogosphere spurred by our recently introduced “What Inspires You” Contest. The contest is open to everyone, DesignSherpa client or not, professional or consumer, with an inspired design sensibility and reasonably strong set of communication skills.  The winner will find him or her self in Paris for ten days, attending Maison & Objet, with a $10,000 cash prize just to make things a bit more luxurious.

The contest was launched to celebrate the amazing reception design professionals across the country have afforded us since the introduction of DesignSherpa, and it is our small payback to celebrate social media, design pros, and design enthusiasts.  We have been simply overwhelmed by the level of two way engagement and participation we have enjoyed with so many design professionals as we work steadily at establishing their social footprints.

Most importantly, we are really eager to share some of the secrets of social media marketing with the design industry in New York in September, and to take it a step further by making ourselves available to implement and execute the programs in turnkey fashion and at affordable monthly rates.

We hope to see you in New York in September!

Where Do Designers Buy the Latest Trends?

Do you often find yourself wondering how designers learn about the latest trends? Where do they find furniture?

For many designers out there, Highpoint Market is the answer. Highpoint Market is held two times a year in Highpoint, North Carolina – once in the spring and once in the fall. The spring event just wrapped up on April 22nd.

The majority of the big name manufacturers and many  smaller names show off brand new products and trends. Store owners, managers, buyers, sales representatives and visual merchandisers come from all over the country. It is a very long, jam-packed, stressful week, but it’s well worth it in the end.

The show presents new products, addresses new technologies, showcases trends and determines which products are being discontinued. Can you imagine walking into a 40,000 square foot showroom of all new products, accessories, wall art and fabrics? It’s absolutely amazing!

Many Continuing Education seminars and presentations are held throughout the week. We always hope that someone attending the event will bring back information for us! Many manufacturers ask a local representative to give presentations for all of those that could not attend. It can still be amazing, but it’s not quite the same as seeing it in person, touching or sitting in the latest upholstery.

Networking is also a big part of the event. Dinners, luncheons and golf outings are often held to give the furniture industry  professionals a chance to reconnect, meet new people and discuss current trends.

Stores place their orders at Highpoint Market and begin to see the product flow into their showrooms by mid-summer. One thing to keep in mind if you live near North Carolina is that many of the showrooms have sales before the event to clear old products off the floor. Some also have big sales afterward to clear out the new products and make room for next season.

If these dates don’t work for you, there are also many mini-market manufacturer showrooms you might be able to visit and purchase what you need.

Have you ever attended a market like Highpoint Market? What do you think about this type of experience?

Letting your art be the focus: How to celebrate your big purchase

Summer will be here before we know it. And with that comes sundresses, flip flops, aloe vera (for me at least!) and a personal favorite, art fairs! Call it what you want – stimulating the local economy, funding starving artists, or just plain shopping! At the end of a long day of gazing and hunting, hopefully you will be the proud owner of a one-of-a -kind art piece. So, how do you take your street purchase and give it a home of distinction in the room of your choice?

If you have purchased a large painting, for instance, make sure you have a wall substantial enough to frame the piece. A good rule of thumb is to make sure the wall is three times the length of the painting. In other words, you should be able to hang three identical painting side by side on the wall. That way when you center the single painting on the wall it will have room to “breathe.” If you have purchased a set of two brother and sister prints, be sure to space them apart. A good measure on this is to take half of the width of one painting and make that the distance between the two. Be sure that you are measuring the piece as a whole, so include the frame, if applicable.

Let’s talk color. If you are planning on hanging the new painting or art piece on an accent wall in your home, make sure the wall color intensity is comparable to the colors in the art piece. So, if you have purchased a landscape portrait that encompasses a scene at sunset, there are most likely bright intense tones of orange, red or pink… so your wall of choice (if a color) should be of a similar intensity. In other words, the saturation of the tones should complement each other.

If your walls are neutral, great! Just be aware that an intense piece, like the one I described above, on a stark white wall could look out of place or wash the piece out. I have noticed that art museums have recently gotten away from all white walls – the warmer the space, the more inviting. So they have moved to warm beiges or even dark jewel tones like navy or crimson. You can take this same approach with your home.

Lastly, when placing a new art piece in your home, be aware of the lighting. Natural and artificial light will need to be considered. If you place an original painted piece in an area that gets flooded with direct sunlight, this will not allow for a longer lifespan of the piece. So be sure to shield the piece from windows and/or skylights. A good way to highlight the piece is to use track lighting to focus safe, neutral light on the wall. A nice soft but direct light works best.

With these tips in mind, Happy Hunting!

Mold Remediation: First steps to recovery before it even happens

I may not be a disaster recovery specialist, but I do know a few things when it comes to water damage. The mainstay statement that I will never forget is that water takes the path of least resistance. Yes, it can be an absolute nightmare. I remember my very first attempt on a job site that had suffered severe water damage during a flood. I took one look at the disaster and though “Where do you begin?”

If you have experienced a basement flood or maybe even a cracked foundation that suddenly creates a new faucet in your home that you can’t turn off, run! The flood gates have officially opened! Guess what? The worst part is that the towels and a mop are only the beginning to the multiple steps in taking care of the problem.

I learned my lesson the hard way when my husband and I had the pleasure of dealing with this animal (also known as water) in our basement. I had gone downstairs to take clothes out of the dryer before going to work that rainy morning. I suddenly felt cold, wet feet and immediately got chills up my spine.

I HIGHLY recommend that everyone who is reading this take a trip to the hardware store this weekend and purchase a sub pump. This model is a little bit more expensive than the one we bought but it will save your life when you least expect it! The final race to the store during a downpour where sub pumps and shop-vacs are flying off the shelves is not the ideal time to get one.

Sub pump to the rescue! We sectioned off the area in our backyard where the water was sitting and attached a hose to the sub pump to take the water away from the house. Running an extension cord to it for power, we made sure that the sub pump was submerged in at least 3” of water at all times and played WAR with the Rain Gods for the rest of the day! By hooking the pump up outside (BE VERY CAREFUL MIXING ELECTRICITY AND WATER IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS), we managed to keep the water from entering into our home.

The storm eventually stopped and we were able to begin clean up. Remember when I mentioned my very first experience with flood damage at a client’s home? Well, I have never been more grateful for the lessons I learned there! Here is a list of things that I recommend preparing for:

1. Those old beach towels that you never thought you would use suddenly come in extremely handy.

2. Get out that old dehumidifier and pray that it still works.

3. Oh yeah, don’t forget the shop-vac! More often than not, this water isn’t pretty so suction is extremely important!

4. Simultaneously call a professional Disaster Recovery Specialist to come out and assess the damages as well as your home owner’s insurance agent. Depending on the severity of your damage, you may consider filing a claim. Both professionals that I listed will have different numbers on their paper when it comes time to pay so be sure to compare their notes!

5. Don’t forget to tell the Disaster Recovery Specialist that you may need a series of air blowers and an air scrubber. These are key ingredients to ensure proper dry out and may need to run for days, even weeks, depending on the nature of your damage. Your insurance agent may come with a moisture detector. Make sure that someone has one on-site within 24 hours. These devices will measure the moisture content in the air as well as the affected areas on the walls, floor, furniture, etc. Be sure that you take a reading in an unaffected area in your home to compare the percentages of moisture. Take dated notes and keep record. This will help you with your claim in the end.

6. Air blowers and air scrubbers are key ingredients in salvaging your home from any mold growth. An air scrubber takes out all of the impure and excess moisture in the air, wall surface and potential mold spores that will begin to grow. Air blowers are like giant hair dryers that sit on the floor and are just as noisy (imagine having a dozen going at once).

Bottom Line is…

Every case is unique in its own way and there is no way of determining how bad it will be until it happens. But by following my steps above, hopefully you will be on a better path to recovery long before the word “MOLD” has to come into the picture.

Boston Design Community Gathers for Social Media Primer

NCI’s Chairman and CEO recently gave a presentation about social media outside Boston to a group of design professionals.  The event was sponsored by New England Home and Kitchen Views.  Here is a link to Dan’s really compelling and eye opening presenation on ways to think about harnessing social media as a new internet marketing tool for the design industry.