Designers, please join in the chat!

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/96ae03533e25c8fb1c252e18003b43d9?s=256&d=identicon&r=G" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/96ae03533e25c8fb1c252e18003b43d9?s=256&d=identicon&r=G" width="200" /></a></div><br />Barbara Segal, founder and host of <a href="http://designerchat.wordpress.com/">Interior Designer Chat</a> holds weekly Tweet Chats for interior design professionals on Tuesdays at 6:00PM EST. Each week, Barbara invites a design professional to be the Guest Host with the theme of the chat based on the guest host's area of expertise. This week, Barbara has asked me to the Guest Host and the topic is blogging for design professionals!<br /><br />So, designers and decorators, I invite you to join me on Twitter tomorrow night at 6:00 EST with many, many other design professionals to discuss blogging. There are a few ways to join in. You can go to the standard Twitter.com and do a search for the hashtag #intdesignerchat , or you can do as I do and log into http://tweetchat.com/room/Intdesignerchat and use the hashtag #intdesignerchat to select only our tweets. The nice thing about Tweetchat is that it will add in the hashtag on all your tweets automatically. You can also use HootSuite or Tweetdeck.<br /><br />I hope you'll join us - I look forward to chatting with you!<br /><br /><div style="background-color: #d5a6bd;">If you would like my help on your design project, I would love to chat with you! Please <a href="mailto:linda.m.merrill@gmail.com">email me</a>. Thanks!</div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54487/40/61AD69B5456EE9E48D48218DA34439B1.png" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent; border: 0pt none ! important;" /></a> <br /><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/EQjz" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border: 0pt none; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/EQjz" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml">Subscribe to ::Surroundings::</a>

Designers, please join in the chat!

Barbara Segal, founder and host of Interior Designer Chat holds weekly Tweet Chats for interior design professionals on Tuesdays at 6:00PM ...

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It's cover shoot day!

I'm so excited as today is the day I'll be shooting the cover for my next issue of <a href="http://www.surroundingsmagazine.com/">::Surroundings:: Guide to Decorative Living</a> with the über talented <a href="http://michaeljleephotography.com/">Michael J. Lee</a>.  When Michael and I agreed to partner on creating cover shots, it was his brilliant idea to select a showroom or store in which we'd do the shoot.  The goal is to create a shot that looks like it's part of a home and tells a story, even though it's not. And we hope that showcasing different showrooms and shops will bring a little publicity their way as well.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.webstercompany.com/images/homepage_image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="http://www.webstercompany.com/images/homepage_image.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />So, I'm thrilled that our first dedicated cover shot will be done in the beautiful  <a href="http://www.webstercompany.com/">Webster & Company</a> showroom at the Boston Design Center. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.webstercompany.com/images/category_furniture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.webstercompany.com/images/category_furniture.jpg" /></a></div><br />Webster & Company carries a wide selection of furnishings, fabrics and accessories from designers such as Rose Tarlow, deGournay, Clarence House, Holly Hunt, Lulu DK, Dakota Jackson and more. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.webstercompany.com/images/category_accessories.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.webstercompany.com/images/category_accessories.jpg" /></a></div>So, last week, I spent a couple of hours perusing their showroom to pull together items that I thought would work to create the striking vignette we are looking for. I pulled together three concept groups and sent the images to Michael and was thrilled when his response was "#1!!! LOVE!!!!" as it was my favorite grouping as well.<br /><br />So, tomorrow we'll be on site with cameras, lighting and some other goodies as well. If you're in the building, please feel free to stop by and get a sneak peak!  We're starting at 10:00!<br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Images of <a href="http://www.webstercompany.com/">Webster & Company</a> showroom. </span><br /><br /><div style="background-color: #d5a6bd;">If you would like my help on your design project, I would love to chat with you! Please <a href="mailto:linda.m.merrill@gmail.com">email me</a>. Thanks!</div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54487/40/61AD69B5456EE9E48D48218DA34439B1.png" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent; border: 0pt none ! important;" /></a> <br /><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/EQjz" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border: 0pt none; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/EQjz" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml">Subscribe to ::Surroundings::</a>

It's cover shoot day!

I'm so excited as today is the day I'll be shooting the cover for my next issue of ::Surroundings:: Guide to Decorative Living with...

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Something a little different, but empowering

Okay, this isn't a design post, but the message is one I felt worth sharing. And, I think it relates to the world of blogging and design - the concept that we can do anything with a little help from others. My friend, and fellow business mastermind group member, Stacey Shipman is a motivational speaker around the topics of stress management and self-empowerment. She has a post on her blog called <a href="http://staceyshipman.com/2011/02/28/what-happens-when-people-help-people-and-a-short-clip-from-a-recent-talk/comment-page-1/#comment-1638">What Happens When People Help People</a> that I thought was especially wonderful. <br /><br />Here's the video that's part of the post. I'd also like to give a little shoutout to <a href="http://loiswood.com/">Lois Wood</a>, graphic designer and also a member of my business roundtable group, who is the participant in Stacey's experiment. Lois designed my <a href="http://ifda-ne.org/">IFDA chapter's website</a> this year. <br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JOR2N-YUCZM" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe><br /><br />I so agree with Stacey's sentiment that we can all go far with some help from other women, friends and colleagues. No man is an island, as the man said. <br /><br /><br /><div style="background-color: #d5a6bd;">If you would like my help on your design project, I would love to chat with you! Please <a href="mailto:linda.m.merrill@gmail.com">email me</a>. Thanks!</div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54487/40/61AD69B5456EE9E48D48218DA34439B1.png" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent; border: 0pt none ! important;" /></a> <br /><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/EQjz" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon16x16.png" style="border: 0pt none; vertical-align: middle;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/EQjz" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml">Subscribe to ::Surroundings::</a>

Something a little different, but empowering

Okay, this isn't a design post, but the message is one I felt worth sharing. And, I think it relates to the world of blogging and design...

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