Coming Up: In Conversation With Nina Garcia

Now that Thanksgiving’s over, it’s back to work work work... I actually did a special event this past weekend that I can’t talk about yet, but maybe I’ll share some info about it later this week. For now, here’s one thing that’s on my mind: next week, I’ll be having a discussion with the exquisite Nina Garcia to discuss my new book Celebrations. 

Nina is one of my favorite people in New York and when she's not taping the fabulous Project Runway, you can find her hard at work on Marie Claire.  She attended the luncheon for the launch of Celebrations about a month ago and we began a thoughtful conversation about why I wanted to create the book and the inspiration behind it. It was such a great talk that we wanted to bring the discussion public and share these thoughts with everyone—why not, right?

So, that’s exactly what we decided to do. I’ll be talking with Nina at the Barnes & Noble in the Upper East Side on December 8th at 7:00pm. If you’re in the New York City area, I hope you’ll stop by and check it out. The address of the Barnes and Noble is: 150 East 86th Street New York, NY 10028.

Within all my books, we include a picture of my incredible team. Here's the latest picture from Celebrations of everyone who created what you see in the book. As you flip through the pages, you'll get to see in more detail what we created together.

I’d also like to hear your thoughts about the book and any questions you may want us to answer during our discussion. Who knows? Nina might pick one of the questions you ask to include in her Q&A. Let me know your thoughts and questions in the comments!

My Thanksgiving Table—After Pictures

Thanksgiving with my family and friends is one of my favorite celebrations. It’s a rare chance I have to spend time with all the people I care about in one room—which is very important to me. I also think of Thanksgiving as the official kick-off to the holiday season, so it’s important to get things started on the right foot!

I spend a lot of time creating transformations for my clients throughout the year, so it means a lot to me to get to do it for my family. Just like surprising my clients, I like to surprise my loved ones with my design and transformation.  Like I said in my post earlier this month I love seeing the look on my family’s face when they walk into the room I decorated just for them. Not only that, but I get to relax, eat great food, talk and laugh with all the people I care about in the world.

My family is so big that each year we empty out my studio to make room for our Thanksgiving table. I showed you the empty space in the before pictures, here’s another picture of the finished table:

I also use this time to hand out my Christmas presents (I’m usually traveling around Christmas), along with little giveaways for each guest. Here’s a picture of one of the giveaways:

Thanksgiving is always a time of abundance, so my table this year is only decorated with fruit. Besides leftovers and presents, everyone is also taking home a basket of fruit:

One design tip I want to share, which I may have mentioned earlier, is that you shouldn’t overlook everyday materials you have laying around the house when planning on what to decorate with for Thanksgiving (or any event!).

I focus on using and re-using readily available, accessible materials for all my personal events. Whether that means going into the archives of my studio and finding leftover materials we can bring back to life, or walking down the street and being inspired by nature’s offering (leaves, twigs, flowers), there’s a lot that can be tapped into to create a fabulous design. Don’t think you need to break the bank to decorate your space, you just need to think inventively about the materials you already have access to.

With that, I’m going to put one last picture of all of us at the Thanksgiving table. We enjoyed a Panamanian feast and I'm still stuffed!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday too.

Getting Ready For Thanksgiving: Before Pictures

Thanksgiving is only two days away (not that I need to remind you!) and there is so much to do before my big dinner for friends and family. I want to make this post quick, so why don’t I let my pictures do the talking? Here's a picture of my studio space emptied, and waiting to be set up:

Here's the undressed table:

Here’s a sneak peek of some of the decorations I’ll be using. My assistants, Samorn and Primrung helping me create the fruit topiaries:

A picture of one type of the giveaways (don't tell anyone--these have candy inside):

The piece de resistance: the turkey (not done baking)!

How will you be decorating your home for Thanksgiving? Let me know. (And share some pictures if you have any.)

DIY Thanksgiving: Napkin Décor

If you’re tired of using plain white napkins every year for your special dinner, try adding a little color and surprise with this simple napkin decoration. You can keep it monochromatic like we did, or you can layer different complementary colors to add a rainbow to your table.

Materials:

• White napkin (cloth or paper based on how casual or formal your dining table is)
• Hot glue gun
• Colored Paper
• Scissors
• Small colored poofs (These can be found at any local craft store)
• Colored ribbon

Instructions:

1. Cut your colored paper into any shape you’d like. We used hearts here. Cut two pieces for each napkin you’ll be using (e.g. 16 pieces of paper for your table of 8). After you’ve cut all your shapes, take half of the pieces of paper (e.g. 8 of the 16) and set them aside. With the remaining pieces, take your colored poofs and hot glue them neatly on to the paper. We started by gluing the poofs along the outer border of the heart and worked our way inward. Set pieces aside to dry.

2. Fold your white napkins neatly into a rectangular shape. Take your colored ribbon and wrap each white napkin. Secure the ribbon by hot gluing the ends together behind the napkin. Take the pieces of paper you set aside and place them inside the ribbon of each napkin.

3. At your dining table, place your napkins down next to each plate and add the decorated paper (with the poofs) on top of the ribbon, a little offset, so you can see the other layer of paper beneath it. Finish off with silverware and you’re all set.

As always, please don’t forget to share pictures of your creations. Email them to my editor: Karell@prestonbailey.com, or post on your blog and leave the link in the comments.

Solos and Song: Theo’s show

The quiet stage before the show began

Last night was an evening full of song and emotions. Hearing Theo Bleckmann’s voice always strikes a very specific chord in my heart, but last night was made doubly special because I had a chance to be part of it by designing the environment for the entire show. It was a busy day with a lot to set up and small details to get right, but the minute Theo set foot on the stage and began, I forgot all about that and just became entranced with the music and his voice. I wasn’t alone. As I looked out at the sold out crowd in Roulette, I could see people reacting with joy, understanding and many times laughter (Theo tells some great jokes).

He played a diverse amount of songs from his discography, ranging from his newest record Schumann's Favored Bar Songs  (out today from Winter and Winter) to his first record ever released. For his encore, he even played a German version of the famous Beatles song, I Want to Hold Your Hand, with the audience clapping along.

Lighting was the biggest component for décor of the set. Ira Levy helped me design the lighting for the night. As Theo played from song to song, we coordinated the lights to change colors from purple to green to blue and so on. A major part of this was a large canopy I created out of fiber optic strands that twinkled above the stage.  Theo’s next performance will be in Munich, Germany in January. If you’re interested in attending one of his shows, check out his tour page for more information.

Tonight: Theo Bleckmann’s Solo Show

Today’s a busy day; Theo is performing tonight. (The show is sold out!) I am so fortunate that my partner is a world-renowned jazz performer. I’ve always wanted to create a set for one of his performances and today I finally get the chance.

Theo will be performing an intimate one man show at Roulette in Soho and it’s sure to be an amazing experience (if I do say so myself). All the sets and the entire environment are created by me, and I really hope everyone enjoys them. We’re setting up the stage right now. I’ll try to get some before and after pictures to post for you all to see.

More About The Trip & Why I Loved Hong Kong

When I sit here and think about everything I want to share with you about Hong Kong, one thing stands out in my mind: the people there were amazing (and so elegantly dressed too). Being in the service business, I just have to say that I was in complete awe at the level of attention and service I encountered throughout my entire trip. I was touched by the many subtleties that combine together to differentiate between a “good” experience and a “great” experience.

One example of this is when I arrived at the Hong Kong International airport. When we walked up to the Asiana airlines counter, all the attendants stood up and addressed us—even those who had no obligation to attend to us. It’s definitely different (actually, let’s say completely opposite) of what you would normally encounter at JFK International Airport in New York city (you know what I’m talking about New Yorkers).

Another thing I loved: the shopping (check out the picture of me in action). Hong Kong is known as a shopping mecca and it certainly stands up to this reputation. I took the chance to deck myself out on this trip and visit many of the stores Hong Kong had to offer. I also enjoyed the food so much! One great meal was a family style traditional Chinese dinner at Peking Garden. The freshness and originality of the Chinese food was unlike anything I’ve tried here.

Overall, it was a fabulous trip and I can’t wait to go back.

Back From Hong Kong

Got back from Hong Kong late last night and there was much to catch up on today. For those of you who follow my twitter you may have already seen this, but let me just say one thing about Hong Kong: the food is delicious. I absolutely came back five pounds heavier. But let’s talk more about the trip...

I was in Hong Kong to install several different pieces in the Atrium at the Landmark in Central, Hong Kong. The picture above is one piece of the installation—enormous chandeliers hanging all across the ceiling. The chandeliers hung over a calming fountain which I also decorated with beautiful bouquets of hydrangeas.

The audience reaction was a wonderful experience. Everyone craned their necks up to look at the chandeliers, taking pictures and talking to their friends. We’ll talk more about the trip tomorrow, mainly more about the places my crew and I visited and some new things we discovered.

DIY Thanksgiving: Fruit Topiary

Here’s a charming fruit topiary for your Thanksgiving table. By combining various types of fruit in shades of one color, you’ll have an elegant and striking centerpiece. (The other nice thing about this project? It’s simpler than you might think to re-create it.)

Materials:

• Foam ball with 4-5” diameter, size could vary depending on the size of your planter (You can find these in a local craft store like Michael’s.) 
• Leftover foam to use as filler, or you could also take old newspapers and crumple them into balls 
• Round planter (Though actually, you could use a square or rectangular one too. Whatever you have around the house.) 
• Plaster 
• Plastic cup 
• Two branches (be sure to choose some that are a little thicker so they can hold the weight of the fruit) 
• Shears 
• Barbecue sticks 
• Various fruit: We used two different types of grapes, plums and cranberries 
• Thin wire

Instructions:

1. The first step is to prep the branches to act as the base of your topiary. We mixed up the plaster (follow instructions on the bag), poured it into the plastic cup and placed the two branches in the center of the cup. Let plaster dry. Once dry, stick foam ball at the top end of the sticks. Place the plastic cup in the center of your planter. Then, take your leftover foam or newspaper balls and fill in the empty spaces around the cup to secure it. If you want to be extra sure the cup will stay in place, you can hot glue the cup into the planter.

2. Take your various pieces of fruit and stick them onto the ends of the barbecue sticks. (See the materials image for an example.) Reserve cranberries (or whatever fruit you’d like) to cover the top of your planter. To secure the grape bunches on to the barbecue sticks, wrap the thin wire around the grape vine and barbecue stick.

3. Once you have all your fruit prepped, start to place them in to your foam ball. Feel free to get creative. If you want to be more methodical, start with one type of fruit (for example: all the plums) and place them randomly around the foam ball. Then, move on to the grapes and the rest of the fruit. There’s really no “wrong” way to do this. As long as you cover all the foam, your topiary will be a success. Once you’ve covered the ball, don’t forget to place the cranberries (or whatever fruit you’d like to use) on the top of the planter to cover the plastic cup and filler.

4. Place on your Thanksgiving table and enjoy.

Don’t forget to share pictures of your creations. Email them to my editor: Karell@prestonbailey.com, or post on your blog and leave the link in the comments.

“You Created A Preston”

My editor received a great email yesterday from a woman named Lilit. She runs a flower shop in California with her mom and she shared some pictures of work they’ve created that were inspired by my designs (plus the picture above of her and me at an industry event). She said, “When we create something that is one of a kind or exceptional we always say, ‘You created a Preston.’”

This totally made my day! 

What a great phrase, and what a nice thing to share with me. I really appreciate that my work has inspired other designers to create something unique and interesting. Here’s a picture of an amazing Gummi bear chandelier Lilit created. She said, “The Gummi Bear Chandelier (made entirely of real Gummi bears) was my own interpretation of taking one unexpected element and repeating it to create something new.” Go Lilit!

I’d definitely love to hear from more of you out there who have "created a Preston." Email any pictures you have along with your thoughts to my editor: Karell@prestonbailey.com. Occasionally, I’ll post them here so we can share the inspiration with everyone. If we get enough feedback it may become a regular series on my blog. Thanks again Lilit and keep at it.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Hello from the plane! My ride to Hong Kong is about 14 hours long, so I have some time to sit here and write a few thoughts for the blog. I was so excited to get on this plane and settle myself in for the long journey. Why? Well, because, a long plane ride is one of the few times I get to step away from my busy schedule and just sit (and read, relax, etc)...

The first question I have when I’m about to go on a trip is: how long is the plane ride? This way, I’ll get a chance to plan how I’ll spend these precious hours in the air. One of the few luxuries I’m lucky to have is getting to fly first class on these long rides.

It’s a real treat to enjoy the amenities of the plane. For example, the flat bed is amazingly comfortable for being on an airplane, and the food is prepared by an amazing chef, and...wait a minute, there’s only one flower on my tray table. What kind of first class is this?? (Just a joke for all those folks who may not be used to my sense of humor.)

I'll post more from Hong Kong soon.

DIY Thanksgiving: Decorated Ribbon Vase

It’s amazing how versatile ribbon is. In the last project we used it to transform a simple cardboard box into a fruit bowl, and this week we’ll use it to enhance the beauty of a plain glass vessel.

Materials:

• Glass vase 
• Two types of ribbons in complimentary colors. We recommend one thick in width and one thin. Be sure to choose colors that will match or enhance the color of the flowers you’d like to use. 
• Scissors 
• Tape

Instructions:

1. Before you begin, make sure your glass vase is clean without dust, inside and out. Then, you can proceed by taking one end of the wide ribbon and taping it to the center bottom of one side of the vase.

2. Keeping the ribbon flat against the vase, wrap it around the vase, covering all sides until you get to to the top. Once you get to the top, tape that end of the ribbon on to the back side of the vase so that no one will see it.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 using the thin ribbon, except when you get to the top of the vase, tie the ribbon into a bow instead of taping the end to the vase.

4. Pick a complimentary colored bouquet of flowers, fill the vase and you’re finished.

Like I mentioned last time, I’d love to see your version of these DIYs. Feel free to email them to my editor Karell@prestonbailey.com, or if you have your own blog, post them on your blog and leave me the link in the comments. Enjoy!

On Inspiration and Finding a Color Scheme

I wanted to take some time to talk about one of the most important first steps in designing: choosing a color.

A few weeks ago when I was at Ivanka’s wedding, I was surveying the room. Everyone was dressed in gorgeous gowns and suits and there was a sea of colors all around the room. But one stood out. The stunning Melania Trump was dressed in a deep purple gown that instantly drew my eye. It was so beautiful that it completely inspired my whole Thanksgiving table. Yes, the color scheme for this year’s holiday will be a magnificent, vibrant purple.

One wonderful thing about this color scheme is the complementary accents that can be used to enhance this hue. I’m thinking gold will do the trick. What do you think? What’s your favorite color?

Update: We received requests for pictures of Melania's dress, so here it is. Enjoy! Photo credit: Brain Marcus

Traveling Around the World: Next Stop Hong Kong

This week, I’ll be going to Hong Kong for the first time! I’m very excited, and it’s had me thinking a lot about the past trips I’ve taken. The picture above is from a fabric warehouse in India. I felt like a kid in a candy store exploring this fabric shop. One of the things I enjoy about traveling is exploring different cultures and seeing what sort of unique  resources each country offers. For example, I heard that Hong Kong has the best tailors in the world. I’m not really a suit wearing person (can you tell from the pictures I post?) but I will definitely get a few made for me while I’m visiting this week.

Later, I will share more pictures from Hong Kong and post updates about what I end up seeing and doing. What’s your favorite place to visit?

DIY Thanksgiving: Handmade Fruit Bowl

This versatile container is beautifully simple, made from cardboard and decorated just with ribbons. It can be used to accessorize your Thanksgiving table to showcase your fresh fruit.



Materials:

• Stapler
• Ribbon (In whatever color you’d like—we used purple here.) 
• Cardboard container (Dig around and see what you can find in your closet. We used a circular one, but you can use a square, rectangle or whatever you have available.) 
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun 
• Tape

Instructions:  

1) To turn our plain Jane box into something more spectacular, we’re going to cover the surface area with looped ribbons. To begin, cut pieces of ribbon into 4 inch strips. The number of strips you’ll need will depend on how large your container is, so you’ll have to guesstimate on the number of strips to cut. I would suggest 50 to start.

2) Take one ribbon strip and fold it over itself (without creating a crease) to make a loop. How full you want the loops to be will dependent on its relation to the size of your container. Feel free to use the pictures as a reference point. Staple the two ends together. Repeat with all your cut ribbon strips.

3) Starting from the top, glue one loop at a time all around the box. Work in rows. After you finish the bottom, move on to the row below it and repeat.

4) Once you’ve covered the entire surface area, fill the container with fruit. We used grapes, blueberries and raspberries to match our color theme. If your container is deep and you’d like to give the contents some height, you can cut out some foam in the shape of your container and put it inside your box before you put the contents.

 5) Place on your Thanksgiving table et voila! Don’t feel restricted by using only fruit. This can make a beautiful candy dish too!

I’d love to see any pictures if you decide to make this project. Please send any pictures to my editor: Karell@prestonbailey.com.

A Big Thank You For Last Night

An iPhone picture from our talk

Thank you so much to everyone who came to the Learning Annex last night! I had such a great time speaking to you and meeting so many people who share my passion. I really enjoyed sharing stories about successes and failures, hearing everyone’s questions, and giving out tips and tricks for everything about our business. I hope the advice helps and I’d love to see you all again the next time I run a class.

Reminder: Learning Annex Tonight

A picture of me speaking at a past event.

Just wanted to remind everyone that I’m speaking at the Learning Annex tonight at 7:00pm. We’ll be talking about how to create one of a kind events, as well as discuss how I built up my business, my design process and how to transform spaces into something completely different. The event will take place at the Tudor Hotel: 304 East 42nd Street New York, NY 10017. To register for the class, click here.

Hope to see you tonight!

Past Thanksgivings

As I’m sitting down today to plan this year’s Thanksgiving, I took some time to look through my old pictures to remember the designs from years past. Thanksgiving is the beginning of the holidays for me. As I mentioned yesterday, I use this day to hand out my family’s Christmas presents. I love being the first of the pack to hand out my gifts, and I look at it as a way to kick-off the gift giving season!

When I think about designing my Thanksgiving event, I approach it similarly to how I design for my clients. I enjoy transforming empty raw spaces into something unexpected, so this is where I usually start with my Thanksgiving dinner. My family is so big that the past two years I’ve held the dinner in my studio space.

Below you’ll see a picture of the space as it normally is (click the pictures to make them bigger):

Here’s how we transformed it last year:

I get great pleasure from seeing the looks on my family’s faces when they walk into the room. The element of surprise is signature for me. It’s a labor of love to design this event for them every year, and I make sure to invest the time needed to get everything just right.

I focus on using readily available, recycled, and accessible materials. You can definitely make something glamorous with materials and objects you find all around you. It’s all about how you put the elements together that makes the impact.