I had the privilege, again this year, to attend the Architectural Digest Home Design Show as a member of the press. I got first-hand information on some amazing products on the market in the home, kitchen, bath, and textile arenas. I saw incredible design and technological advances, examples of how art and technology are being combined to create some amazing state of the art products. I met some incredibly talented craftsmen and came home, with aching, tired feet, and wealth of information to share with my readers both here as well as the other websites I write for. I left the show energized and truly inspired.

I first want to thank Veronika Miller and Tim Bogan of Modenus for putting together another wonderful Marys & Mimosas event to kick-off the show. There I had the opportunity meet up with other talented designers, writers and bloggers that I have met over the years, as well as having the opportunity to meet some gifted new ones. Over the next few days I will share all the wonderful and innovative products that so very much appealed to me.

I'd like to tell you about a seminar I attended, The Power of Personal Style, hosted by Architectural Digest's Editor-in-Chief, Margaret Russell and Interior Designer-slash-television star-slash-author, Nate Berkus, where he talked about his latest book, The Things that Matter.



I love listening to Margaret Russell speak. I could listen to her for hours. I could watch her for hours. She's got a refined grace about her that reminds of Audrey Hepburn  Jackie Kennedy. She speaks well - her voice is pleasing, soothing, calm yet authoritative. This year she took the stage with her longtime friend Nate Berkus and you could immediately sense the fondness and respect the two have for one another.

Nate talked about the theme of his most recent book, the things that matter and how this is so important in design, in our homes. I've written dozens of articles and posts on interior design - I've written about the dos as well as the don'ts. I know the rules. I know what works and doesn't work. I also know that rules are meant to be broken. I love to defy the rules. I believe that one's home should reflect one's taste, style and lifestyle. My home absolutely reflects me - who I am and what I am. Any good interior decorator will tell you this. And when you do this you surround yourself with the things that matter.

Nate told us how he renovated his new New York City apartment to better fit his taste and suit his lifestyle. He told us that he filled it with items from another New York apartment as well as from his Chicago apartment. By doing this, and bringing in the things from his past he was surrounding himself with the things that matter - even if you have to alter them to fit your new surroundings, as he had done to a large rug.

He talked to us about the various well known clients he had worked with. One, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, needed to clear out the home she'd lived in for 60 years as it had become over-run with clutter. As they sorted and sifted through all the items and papers he allowed her to keep only the things that mattered. He then told us about another client who was a minimalist. Photographs of her home were displayed on several large screens. In my mind her home was almost bare - too bare for my comfort and liking, but as empty as it was in my mind, to the owner it was filled with only the things that mattered.

As I listened I was taken with this phrase... it resonated... it struck a chord... I couldn't let it go, the things that matter.

I don't talk much about my personal life but here my personal life comes into play. I divorced a just about year ago. I left behind my beautiful large home and almost all the contents inside bringing with me the items that had been given to me by my family... antique copper pots and pans, sets of silver, a late 19th century coffee and tea service, a beautiful handmade Italian dining room table and chairs that my parents gave me, artwork, and a few smaller pieces of furniture that we found over the years at various antique stores... photographs of my children... an old secretary that I repainted (badly!) I had to leave behind my family's old Steinway that Leonard Bernstein once danced upon one drunken night but alas I have no room for it in my new, tiny home. It will remain in my old home just temporarily.

I came with no bedroom furniture, my myself of the children. I came with no couches. We had a no place to sit in the living room. It was as though I was starting over from scratch. I had to buy lamps and cleaning supplies, kitchen supplies, pots and pans, a food processor, bath supplies... On a strict budget I bought the best that I could afford without going over budget - I have three active children, I must be realistic. I am not buying that gorgeous teal high end couch with silver grommets as much as I'd love to...

And as I sit on my non-high end couch, and look around at all that surrounds me, I have, thanks to Nate, a new sense of gratitude and appreciation... as I look around, in every direction I see the things that matter. I see my candle sticks on the mantel... I see the old wooden tea cart that now serves as a television stand... I see all the framed photos of my children... I see the fireplace tools that were in my childhood home... I see the collection of old decorating magazines that featured my all of my grandmother's homes... the framed oils that were in her Oxfordshire home...the large oil of the Maine coast that once graced my parent's Newport home... To my left my wine glass is sitting on the old wooden trunk fitted with a glass top that my ex husband and I found when we were just married... everywhere I look I see the things that mattered. Yes, I left so very much behind, but what I do have are the things that truly matter. For that I am so very grateful. I will one day get back all that I lost... I will have the large and perfectly decorated home... but for now, I have all that matters. And for that I am so incredibly fortunate to have so very much.


XOXO,