Yes, My Wednesday Night Magic Report!

A full plate of design work hasn't left much time for blogging...I'm sad! I have such a backlog of photos and inspirations to write about, it is maddening! On top of a heavier than usual work load, I am having a new and exciting new web site designed ( my part is a bit overwhelming) and the High Point Market is just around the corner...then, Paris!  

That being said, there continues to be the cutest ever merchandise coming in the back door, so I thought I would share some of them with you. I'm going on the record to say that I have some very steady blogging goals, so you can count on me picking up my game!

Take a look at a few of the cute things we put out tonight!

These cheerful stacking tables just make me happy! Cool for a hip daughter's room or an accent to make the great room sing. Love!

This new art duo found the perfect home in this room setting. I could just load this whole grouping in the van to my home. Hmmmmm. Not a bad idea.

I love the new graphic mirrors that define this neutral space. Pretty spot on perfect.

After months of waiting, this striking custom piece came in from Vanguard., Vanguard offers any Sherwin Williams paint you select in their Make It Yours program. Wow! My perfect color...orange! There are many choices of solid wood furniture pieces to choose from. Select a color, I or will help you! I'm in heaven.

I'm always happy when beach season is just around the corner. I'm starting a new project in Margate that promises to be stylish and striking! Look at these little butter post sized plates with sea turtles! Oh. My.

You'll have to hurry to get this before it goes to a client project...or my family room!! Who wouldn't want a chrome finished rhino?!

Another Vanguard side table came in , in chrome and gray . Pretty much perfect. I. Want. This.

I'm not sure which one I love more...the giant orange lacquer pepper...the stainless trough with an organic mix, the perfect coffee table accent...or, the lively tomato plants!  

A few new clocks, pewter finished vessels, and some great new art accents are in place and ready for ooo-ing and ahhhh-ing. 

Hope to see you soon!

Enjoy the Bragging Rights!,

Tomorrow night we will kick off the first of our classes partnering with Amy Howard Paint! The possibilities are limitless with abundant colors of the One Step paint. Each participant will complete a project with instruction and tips for success, and we will be demonstrating a Black-eyed Susan project during the class.

So often when I am consulting my design clients, I see perfect vintage or sentimental hand-me-downs that are perfect for this paint program! Amy Howard, a successful furniture manufacturer and well known high style designer, has launched her paint line, partnering with select retailers. We are excited to be the retailer in our area to be trained and offer these classes .

Take a look at the step by step progress as we prepare for tomorrow nights class, look around your house for tables, vintage frames, well loved arm chairs, or perhaps a favorite desk or curvy vanity! You'll surely find something that could be recycled and re purposed using our stylish colors- neutral or bright!

We started off with this vintage three tiered pie crust table. The beauty of the One Step paint is no priming is required! The piece must be clean, and wiped down, then you are good to go!

 Kelly started from the base. This Chinese bristle brush is suggested. We will go over the preferred application and the amount of paint needed in the class. The recommended time for drying between coats is 30 minutes. We will use this time to talk about techniques and additional ideas for other projects. A little snack will be provided as well! Oh, and don't forget your paint and official Amy Howard apron will be a take home as well! You'll learn loads of tried and true tips for a successful end result.

It's important to protect any special finishes (in this case, brass feet) so the paint can be applied for a perfect and neat finish. We chose a new gray color for this piece. What's not to like about gray, right?! There are several gray tones if it is of interest. Neutrals, vivid colors and black as well!

Stirring and off-loading your brush as important steps we will talk about...

Progress....

More progress...

We love the tag line adopted by Amy Howard, "enjoy the bragging rights"! 

Classes will be repeated several times per month, some evening and some during the day. There are also products for antiquing mirrors and lacquer techniques! Oh so cool! Waxing your piece for added aging and personality will be demonstrated as well with our One Step class. 

We hope to see you in another class soon! Call for signup or email us at Kelly.besusan@gmail.com or Susan.besusan1@gmail.com for more class options. Whether it's a new nursery, guest room furniture, or accent table you want to personalize, you can learn the tips from our experts in class! Come see the magic.

Store Flip!

Every few months, my team of merry magic-makers and I move the entire store around. I mean, as if everything single item in the store gets moved to a new place...

Sofas, tables, chairs, rugs, lamps...every table top is then re-merchandised with a fresh new look. Whew! It is a huge effort that take about three days and well into those nights as well...late, late nights! 

That move was executed last week...

We had a few unusual challenges to deal with at the same time...

 We lost our power due to the ice and snow storm right in the middle of this overwhelming task!

My building is a historic stone building...cold cold cold. We lost two days and nights work, but luckily got our power back much sooner than I did at home! I was actually happy to have such a project to keep me busy and give me a place to hang out that was warm and had lights! At home, I was not so lucky. I'm not much of a "rough it" kind of girl. I really need my makeup mirror , a hot shower and a hairdryer to make my day go well. So, that sets the stage for the few next long days and nights...

For those of you who read my blog and market reports, you may recall that Pantone announced their 2014 color of the year during the January Market. Radiant Orchid...and radiant it is! Not to be left out of the trend, I selected an impact wall and had it painted . Naturally, Radiant Orchid!

We paired it with chartreuse and charcoal. (Since this photo, I have had the inside of the fireplace mantle painted black, which looks great and more convincing of a room setting.) Taking in the effects of this horrid winter weather for the past 8 weeks, it feels fresh and happy! I'm not sure you would want to paint an entire room in this color, but if you pick up an issue of Local Living, currently on the news stands, you can read an article I wrote for them about how to incorporate Radiant Orchid into your rooms. It is a beautiful color paired with navy, gray or taupe's. Even an intense lime-y chartreuse room or predominant fabric would be the perfect compliment!

Team members were busy painting my prop furniture and my supportive and every ready painter, Walt, stepped in to paint several areas for us in order to make the change complete. 

When you look around the store and every surface is empty, and you see that everything is on the floor, piled high on permanent surfaces, and tucked into every corner everywhere, it is pretty overwhelming. Just picture 8000 square feet of containers, leaves, books, busts, art, mirrors....well, you get the picture.

There is a fine art to moving every single  piece of furniture at one time and a certain amount of engineering goes into it. Which do you move first to create a path? Where can that one go while this one is put into place? Sneelock and my son, Ryan were the man power and myself, Lisa and Kelly moved our share of whatever we could manage. Can I just say that one is very tired at the end of such a night!

Here is another area I'll spotlight, but the rest of the store will have to be a surprise for you when you next visit! There are lots of beautiful new accessories and lamps, new art and spring floral accents as well.

It may be an arctic blast outside, but it looks springy and refreshed throughout the store!

Navy continues to be a strong trend. We paired it with a backdrop of strong contrasting lime and white in the accent accessories.It is a very basic color and there are loads of accent colors to pump it up. You'll be inspired with the suggestions we have for you!

These curvy french feeling sofas talk to each other around an oval black glass table, grounded by the Heaven white shag rug.

Gray pierced lidded ginger jars dress the mantle along with fresh greenery. One of my favorite sets of mid-century side chests flank the fireplace and give surfaces for lamps and accessories.

Everything is fresh and bright! If you're looking for a relief from this dull, cold, icy cruel joke of a winter, I hope you'll stop in and have a tour of the new beauty! 

Black-eyed Susan was recently named Best of Houzz 2014!! Follow us on Houzz to be inspired with the newest trends and projects in progress. Our Instagram posts are regular and entertaining as well! Our Instagram address is besusanstyle. Follow us here: Black-eyed Susan Instagram .Come follow us to keep up with the trends!

Hope to see you soon. It's a whole new Black-eyed Susan for you to love!

Winter Market Day 7!

Our carts are definitely getting heavier, bulging with catalogs, samples and water bottles. There are strong young men posted at most stairways to help the likes of shoppers like us, but tomorrow only the diehards will be roaming the halls. No more manly help for us. Eek. 

We have a few key appointments tomorrow and then we pack up the rolling carts for home!

Exciting news for today! We met with our paint supplier, Amy Howard for a few new tips on using the newest introduction to the line, Lacquer Paint Pens! These will allow you to add pin striping details or completely personalized accents to your accent lacquer pieces! We are  working on our newest samples for the next booking of classes for all you DIY designers! The classes will be held at multiple times during the winter months. Watch for emails to announce the dates and paint finish options. Classes will be fun, educational and fulfilling. Come join us!    

 It's been a long week. Some fun. Some stress. Some tired feet. Some sleepless nights. Some exciting finds. Too many glittered rodents. Some inspirations. Some overload. Another Winter Market completed.  Too soon is will be time to get down to the business that is waiting in my retail store. Oh. My. 

Another Black-eyed Susan Christmas designed and ordered. Merry Christmas 2014!

*sigh*

Winter Market Day Six

This stage of our market work gets to be more of a challenge.....

*what shoes should I wear today?

*how many garlands have we bought?

*where is that list?

*why doesn't the elevator ever go down?

*where is the room key?

*why does the air conditioning have to be on in the showrooms?

*what's for breakfast? 

*why are there so many glittered rodents?

*furthermore...who is buying them?!

Even though there is a lot of everyday work to be done, the interest and stamina is fading. We were happy to have a bit of relief from Christmas order writing and here are a few of the distractions we found;

This happy room setting punctuated with pink!! Linda was singing, naturally! We walked one of the High Design temporary corridors and this cheered us. Watch for my article to be published in Local Living this month! Think pink.

Our next to last day is tomorrow...and yes, we are thinking of which of our shoes will take us through tomorrow...and the next day. 

*sigh*

Winter Market Day Five

We began our day with a great unexpected find that is exciting! The line was designed based around Downton Abbey, including the characters, set and costumes.
The showroom was set up to show merchandise from the "downstairs" life of the servants, as well as the "upstairs" life of the privileged .




So enchanting, these aprons and tea towels with the Downton monogram embroidered on it. We loved these. The merchandising was clever as well, note the kitchen utensils and crock of flour in the background! Just below is a portion of the "upstairs" collection, with pillows that have quotes from the dowager. I gave them a few of my own favorite quotes to consider!



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What a great merchandising plan, an easy to love collection of pillows, aprons and linens with the clever marketing tied into Downton Abbey. All are based on the story lines and quotes of the major characters. We were hooked immediately, and I think you will be too!!

The set and costume designers for Downton Abbey were consulted in the design of the product and their was even a cute jewelry line designed on the same premise.





Pictured here are linens to set your formal table with. Tablecloths, napkins and guest towels. Ironing required, naturally. Hopefully, you have your own "downstairs" staff to carry that out. Personally, I enjoy ironing fine linens!




"You'll soon get used to the way things are done here", one of a great collection of pillows we ordered. Can't wait! Linda's children chimed in one by one on Instagram that this one sounded like their mother speaking! Oh. Dear.




Cute staging for more tea towels...





The "upstairs" offering was staged like the formal library with volumes of fine leather bound books, velvet settee and phonograph.



The Butler's Pantry complete with chafing dishes and fine linens...





Linda posed in the "upstairs" parlor with another famous quote pillow, " What is a weekend?". One of our favorites was the pillow quote, " You'll soon get used to the way things are done here".




This is a sampling of some of the Downton inspired jewelry. Dainty and pretty, and the collection was designed with the collaboration of Downton Abbey's costume designer.





We also placed orders for the newest paper runners from one of our favorite vendors, Kitchen Papers. Our offerings will soon include custom monogrammed placemats and this new garden runner, perfect for a Bucks County summer.

We had a productive if not too long day on our feet and had a little break from Christmas designing. Tomorrow it's back to Christmas orders for a good part of the day. *sigh*

I'll keep you updated on the Downton Abbey collection ship dates! We are loving it all!

Winter Market Day Four

There appears to be a mounting trend that we somehow have missed...it seems rodents and possibly foxes are the "new owl". Just take a look at the assortment we were inundated with today!








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Anyone want theses foxes to guard your tree?





We also accepted that glitter really can go wrong.







Glittered branches, yes. Glittered boughs, yes. Glittered ornaments, yes. Even glittered shoes...but this is just wrong.

What we did find trending was beautiful gold ornaments and containers. Gold votives, pinecones, candlesticks and trays. And, gold jewelry is back, too!




There is also a trending towards pink, much to Linda's joy! We didn't order it because we don't think you will buy it, but sometime in the future when we open our jewelry store, we will deck the halls in pink!





We found a great new line of magnetic posting boards that can be customized and used from teen rooms to design offices to boy's dorms. So stylish!







(See that little herringbone one in the background?!)

Another great discovery, our Luminara flameless candles now come in tapers and two sizes of votives!! And, with remotes. One remote will work on all candles! My staff is going to love me during store opening and closing procedures. You're going to love it when we design a lantern for you filled with boughs, and interesting objects perfectly placed and you don't have to disturb it ! With your remote in hand, the design is preserved. Candle too high or too deep for your reach? The remote solves that problem. It was a good addition to a very successful product we currently carry.

Tomorrow we hope to do some more everyday buying mixed in with a bit more Christmas sourcing.

Stay tuned for more trend reports!

For now, I've got to make a shoe plan for tomorrow.