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As most of you know, I’m living with my parents in SC while my husband is deployed. He’s been gone for 2 months already, and my parents have been keeping me busy which helps the time pass quickly.

While I’m here, my mom and I are hoping to tackle a ton of home improvement projects, from totally updating their kitchen to painting and making over the bedrooms. My mom has a great eye, and we recently partnered on opening an ECP Home booth at a cute shop in Augusta, GA. Check out our Facebook page for before and after photos of the booth and if you’re local, go check it out in person at Southern Charm on Washington Rd!

One of the rooms on our list of projects is the dining room. We have big plans for painting, adding new curtains, and installing an updated light fixture, but for the time being we switched a few things out and styled it for summer. Almost everything we bought new is from Magnolia’s Hearth and Hand line at Target.

Tablescapes are one of my favorite seasonal updates to tackle! There’s so much room for creativity and it seems the more you add and layer, the better it gets!

The napkins, napkin rings, and black plates are from Hearth and Hand. My mom had the galvanized chargers tucked away for a rainy day and they worked out perfectly with our color scheme.

We found these fun black placemats at an antique store while we were in Alabama spending time with family. They were actually the first thing purchased for this tablescape and were the springboard for the whole color scheme!

We carried the color scheme into her China cabinet, and I’m so excited with how it turned out! It’s important to continue including the main colors of the tablescape design into other aspects of the room. We did this by using milk glass, black Hearth and Hand chargers layered on top of white dinner plates, and a silver tea set. The farm plates on the top shelf are another find from the antique store in Alabama, and I just love how they bring in a touch of farmhouse without making the room too casual.

You can shop all of the Hearth and Hand items we used by clicking the photos below!

What are your go-to tips for your tablescape? Comment below!

My parents never took me to Disney World when I was a little girl…but going to High Point Furniture Market is my personal Disney World, and I try to go every chance I get!

According to the HPFM website, “The High Point Market is the largest furnishings industry trade show in the world, bringing more than 75,000 people to High Point, North Carolina, every six months. Serious retail home furnishings buyers, interior designers, architects, and others in the home furnishings industry can be found in High Point twice a year because if you can’t find it in High Point…it probably doesn’t exist.”

Map of Most of the Buildings at HPFM

This was my second time attending, and it was my first time attending for my own business. My friend Brikelle, who I met in NC and whose husband is also a Marine Corps pilot, joined me for this trip and we had a great time together. She loves interior design as much as I do, but has a slightly different style. It’s so neat to look at the same exact showroom or piece of furniture and see totally different visions for how something could be used in a space.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed at the beginning of our day…we were too tired to take an “after” photo at the end of the day!

Highlights

The big highlights of our trip were touring the Magnolia Home showroom and meeting Drew & Jonathan Scott (aka the Property Brothers).

Magnolia Home

Ever since I was introduced to Fixer Upper, I’ve wanted to go to Waco to visit the Magnolia Market and all of its sister businesses. The Gaines are such an inspiration for not only their vision and creativity, but the way they live in such a God-fearing way that’s evident to everyone they interact with. I recently read the Magnolia Story and it made me love them even more. Definitely add it to your summer reading list if you’re a Chip & Joanna fan!

I haven’t made it to Waco yet, but the Magnolia Home showroom is about as close as you can get! Every nook and cranny of their showroom has been touched by Joanna’s design vision and you can tell how much time she pours into making each space functional and beautiful.

Property Brothers

When I attended HPFM last fall as a designer with a local interior design firm, we attended a seminar hosted by the Property Brothers and snagged a photo with them afterward. They were excellent speakers and such nice people – I was so excited when I saw the opportunity for a meet and greet with them at the spring market!

Brikelle and I waited in line for about 30 minutes to meet them. After walking 3 miles by 2pm, we decided to sit down on a windowsill while we waited. We weren’t paying much attention (I’m pretty sure I was on Instagram…) and we heard someone walk up to us and say “Geeze, you guys should really stop being so lazy and stand up!” I couldn’t believe someone would be so rude! But when I looked up, it was Jonathan and everyone was laughing.  A few minutes later, someone else walked up and said “Hey what are y’all waiting in line for?” and it was Drew! They have a great sense of humor and I’m so glad that Brikelle was there with me to meet them.

There were also dogs at the meet and greet…to be honest I think I was almost as excited about the dogs as I was about Drew and Jonathan. 

Trends

One of my favorite parts of attending HPFM is seeing the variety of styles and upcoming trends. We only spent one day at market, but we covered a lot of ground (more than 5 miles to be exact)! A major trend we saw was rattan/Scandinavian style furniture, which I haven’t seen much of – especially in the South. Target’s new Opalhouse line (which I love!) is definitely following this trend, so we may see it creep into our decor soon! Magnolia Home’s showroom also showed off touches of this trend with a modern farmhouse twist.

Something else that was new this market is a focus on books as decor. We saw more than a few decor vendors marketing sets of same-colored books for designers to use as accent pieces. Yet again, Joanna Gaines is on top of this trend – if you watch Fixer Upper, one of the final episodes featured an entire bookshelf filled with bright blue books.

Fixer Upper Loft Apartment, Photo Credit: HGTV

More Photos!

Of course we took a ton of photos, but a photo truly does not do the experience justice. I was so sad to leave, and I can’t wait to be back. My mom, mother-in-law, and I are heading to Atlanta in July for Americasmart and I can’t wait to see what’s different and new at that market!