It's been a long roller coaster of design work the past two weeks!

Part 1: Mississippi Mayhem

The Boss and I took a trip to Mississippi to do walk-throughs of the property and spot artwork. These are supposed to be last minute touch-up kind of things. We arrived and quickly realized we had been mislead as to the progress of the site. The finishes (but not furniture or built-ins) in the guestrooms were mostly complete, but the public spaces were nowhere near ready for an opening day 4 days away. So instead of walking the property and making a list, we ended up moving furniture ourselves and trying to find items that had been misplaced. Not typically what designers do, but no big deal right?

Wrong.

Please do not get the wrong impression about my next few thoughts. I appreciate a hard working person that is employed in hard labor. I know that their jobs are just as important as mine in the big scheme, and I know that while I may receive attention as an individual for my design, the construction workers most likely will never be individually recognized for their efforts. That said, the team on site was IMPOSSIBLE to work with! They needed to be spoon fed instructions. We repeated the same tasks 3, 4, 5 times in the 4 days we were there because they could not/would not see the big picture.

It was so incredibly frustrating and disheartening. By the time we left, it felt like we had been
running in circles for 4 days and getting absolutely nowhere. A few examples of the lack of common sense on this site.

Painting base trim while dirt and dust is being whipped around by strong wind

Building the ADA refrigerator cabinet 6 inches from the end of the sofa (a wheelchair will never fit in there)

Unloading brand new furniture a zillion feet from the hotel entrance... it poured rain 20 minutes later

It was a completely exhausting experience, and The Boss said it was the worst site visit he had ever been on in his 8 years of design work. Maybe I can hope the worst is behind me and better projects are to come!

Part 2: Redemption in Miami

We attended the Hospitality Design Boutique Expo in South Beach, and it was all I needed to get re-inspired, re-energized, and rejuvenated. We took the first day to relax on the beach and get settled into our hotel, The Catalina. The entire hotel was booked, but somehow I ended up in an ADA room (i.e. there was fields of space compared to the other rooms!).

We were taken out dinner each night at the nicest restaurants I have ever been to like Barton G and Gotham Steak.
At the show, I fell in love with design all over again. All of my frustrations from the week before melted away as I viewed fresh tile designs

Beautiful upholstery on cozy yet modern chairs


and lighting that turned me on! (I admit, that one was a little too far)

There were parties to attend, product reps to take us out, and plenty of free goodies to take home. It felt like everywhere we went, I was handed a drink and a business card.

The highlight of my trip, however, was meeting one of my favorite design icons, Stacy Garcia.

I was introduced to her on the showroom floor, but only spoke to her for a moment. Probably a good thing too, because I was totally starstruck. So when we saw her that night at a club and we were able to have some real conversations, I felt like some kind of ID-VIP. She even asked if I was on Twitter and suggested we follow each other. Of course then I had to confess that I had Tweeted about meeting her earlier that day (eek!), but luckily she thought it was flattering and not creepy (phew!). This is one of her stunning carpet designs

Awesome no?

I am so grateful to be designing and working full time in what I love. I am learning all I can from the amazing experiences as well as the amazingly terrible ones.

G

P.S. I got the "Internet Chair" position on the board I mentioned in my first blog! Huzzah!