Divine Living Interiors

I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since my last post! I am so sorry!! I can’t believe how quickly November has gone… much like the rest of 2011!

Well, tomorrow is December and my goal for the month is to post at least 2 times a week…  5 days would be FANTASTIC!

Let me catch you up… my studio is in our finished (about 80% finished) basement. I need to remind you that this basement has been done by us with very little outside ‘professional’ help… so it has been at its current state since March 15 th (which is the day our youngest was born). The  basement  is wonderful in summer because it stays nice and cool, so I don’t have to turn on the air down there. However, it has been FREEZING lately and the ‘studio’ just isn’t really working out right now. We still don’t have any flooring down or window coverings to help keep the cold out… plus the thought of wasting all of that gas to warm up that space just freaks me out! So, I decided to bring my studio upstairs to the most unused, ridiculous waste of space (that is how I sold it to my hubby) in our entire house… the formal living room. We are a very informal family, as you can imagine with 2 little boys. So, I had my neighbors stop by one night, along with my brother (both not knowing what they were coming over for) and whalaa- the studio has now been moved upstairs

Being an interior designer by trade… the thought of the first thing you see when you enter my home is  my unkept and very unruly studio really stresses me out! So, I am in desperate advice of what to do to help keep this space either hidden or well organized … how about both? I don’t want to go crazy, because  I would like to go back down to the real studio someday!

Here are some of my favorite studio spaces… I will post pictures of how my turns out when I get it all finished!

This is too cluttery for me, but for some reason I still like it!

I am actually making one of these today!

Got any ideas or a  craft space/studio of your own?

i spent an unbelievable 8 days in high point, north carolina selling my chairs & pillows. for those of you who don’t know, high point is the furniture capital of world. buyers from all over come to see what is new on the market in hopes to providing the latest and greatest to their clients & customers.

because we’re a small outfit over here, we did things a little backwards. most companies set up days, if not weeks before the show… not us, we got there at 12 and the building closed at 3 with the show starting the next morning at 8. so, we had 3 hours to get it right… that was a bit stressful, but we handled it!

days before leaving, i took drawers from an old dresser in baby Gavin’s room and painted {with annie sloan chalk paint, of course}, and distressed them. we mounted them on the wall to use as the pillow display.

i met tons, i mean tons of people, buyers from boutiques to corporate buyers from l.l. bean & kirkland’s. let me remind you that the furniture business is still pretty old fashioned, most of the men that graced the halls were still in suits with perfectly combed gray hair. i must admit, when the packs of corporate buyers would stop in the booth to talk to me, my palms got sweaty and my heart would start racing. i would have to remind myself that they put there pants on one leg at a time & that i’m the courageous one out promoting my small little business to the world. by the end of day 2, talking with everyone seemed like an hat. with that said, i am so excited to say that i have chairs & pillows in maryland, michigan, north carolina, and tennessee, mississippi! can you believe it? i am still in shock! i was approached by magazines and spoke to lots of people in the media. not sure if anything will come from any of that, but it was still fun talking about my product to anyone who would listen.

it was a long week away from my boys and from everything normal in my life, but it  sure was my little bit of hollywood that i will remember forever. i am looking forward to going back in april, but next time being much better prepared!

side note: nicoleflint.com is still in the works of being finished up. hopefully next week everything will be rockin’ {just in time for scott’s}.

here are my pictures from the week…

the outside of my building

the booth

day 1

the drawers i was telling you about

my cute antique laundry basket from scott’s

my dad came up for 2 days to keep me  company.

thanks for all of your support and encouraging words!

Today is the day! We are heading to the BIG show for the next 8 days. I am super excited and super nervous at the same time. I wanted to take the time to say a big thank you to my family for being so supportive and for ALL that they have done to help me get ready. So, let me just share that this really has been a family affair:

Thanks to my grandmother who came and helped with the boys while I sewed pillows like crazy, she also was the pillow stuffer. Thank you to my dad who drove all the way up to the show on Tuesday to take a load of chairs {5 1/2 hours each way} and then drove all the way home in one day and he is coming up on Monday-Wednesday to keep me company & for always going along with my crazy plans. Thank you to my mom who has taken days off from work to stay with the boys through the weekend & for all of the encouraging words. Thank you to Hugh for coming to help my mom man the fort and make sure Keegan gets to his t-ball game. And a HUGE thank you to my super hunky, super sweet and totally awesome husband, Chris, who has been beside me every step of the way. We have had many late nights this week getting everything finished up. He was the envelope stuffer, sounding board, car packer, chair wrapper, nerve calmer and when I start feeling like “what have I done,” he reassures me and tells me to pray about it and he will be working the booth with me this weekend {and we will be celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary in the booth}. so again, thank you!

Something totally separate… nicoleflint.com is up Don’t worry about having to change websites to f ind me, the amazing Reni {over at bliss and tell} will be redirecting you shortly, so if you type in divinelivinginteriors or if you follow me, you will automatically go over to the new site… it’s still in progress, so you’ll only see the home page. we will be working on the other pages while I’m out of town. go check it out, it’s super cute!! be sure to let me know what you think!

wish me luck, say a prayer and I will be sure to write while I’m gone!

-N

let me catch you up… high point, north carolina is known as the furniture capital of the world. every april and october they host a huge furniture market where thousands of small boutique owners to big retail conglomerates gather to see what’s new in the furniture industry. this year, high point is doing a special pavilion called made in america. i have been asked to come debut my chairs and pillows at the october show! i am super excited and super nervous… manufactures who make thousands of pieces a year will be there right next to me… who is lucky to make 4 chairs a month!

i haven’t had too much time to prepare, so my goal is to take 7 chairs {they are all ready to hit the road} and 50 pillows {16 down, 34 to go}. the show is 6 days long… and while doing this is stressful enough, my biggest stress is leaving my boys for 7 days! i believe in the power of prayer and i know that this opportunity came about because he has a plan for me. so, the show is the 22nd-27th… yep, next week! so reni and i have been working like mad to get my logo, business card, and information cards all ready for the big show! i am so excited at how everything turned out, i thought i would share!

business card:

front side…

back side:

the cards actually are round corners and are this crazy shape… what do you think?

i have been doing a lot of thinking lately about what is important to me & what exactly i am trying to accomplish with this once designer turned chair maker. if you know me, you know that i change… A LOT.  i have been feeling like “divine living interiors” isn’t really encompassing everything that i do. i feel the need to have a ‘brand’ that is easily adaptable to my ever changing plans.

i was reading over at miss mustard seed and she had been out of town and had received the cutest branding bundle from reni over at bliss & tell branding company. i was so impressed! after stalking her website for weeks, i finally contacted reni. she and i have been working on my brand for a couple of weeks. she asked all of those hard questions that i have been pushing to the back of my mind… like  ”what is your goal?” “what is your look?” “what service are you providing?” and many, many more!

i really had to sit down and think about what it is i want from this and how i plan on getting there. what do i want my ‘brand’ to say about my business? most importantly, what do i want to call myself? reni really helped me get through all of the tough questions and gave me honest feedback.

she first asked me “what are you thinking of calling yourself?” i said “sitting pretty,” which sounded cute at first but we agreed that “sitting pretty” is much like Divine Living Interiors… pretty limited to what it encompasses. so, we thought past just the basics of what i do now and thought about the future. so, with that said… reni, her design friends and myself agreed that…

nicole flint collection

is the best choice and the most flexible. i must admit, it took a couple of times to get used to saying my name over and over and over. i rolled out with the new name at the september scott’s market & at the roswell arts festival. using my name made my products so much more personal. it was fun hearing “are you nicole?” instead of “what’s your name? and “what was it again?” i am confident that nicole flint collection is the best choice!

we started with the logo… here are the concepts

concept 1:

concept 2:

concept 3:

what is your favorite?