{interior design show west 2010}

A terrific time was had by all at the IDSwest this year! Inspiration oozed from all of the displays and the talk by Sarah and Tommy was a definite highlight. They had the audience entertained and engaged the entire hour. The Q & A session started out with a few exciting announcements: Sarah's fab new show, Sarah 101 starts in January and Sarah and Tommy are in the midst of filming Sarah's House 4! Woot woot! Sarah 101 will be 13 episodes worth of a 'crash course' on how to tackle various projects in your home, and for Sarah's House 4 the designers are heading to the suburbs! They'll be showing us how to personalize a newly built home in a restriction-laden subdivision.

I'm a long time SR fan, I've been watching her on TV for 10 years! When all the other kids in high school were out partying I was at home learning how to sew the perfect throw pillows on Room Service! So I snuck myself into the front row for the show, that empty seat beside me is my husband's ... yes it's true, poor guy came with me, he's the best hubby in the world!

The design duo tackled 'FAQs from their F.A.N.s,' {as Tommy put it} that had been posted via Facebook. I was thrilled that my question was the third one answered! I had asked, 'Have there been instances when you were inspired by one particular piece that you design a whole room around that special piece? Would you say fabric is normally your jumping off point?' Here's Sarah's answer:

I was all-ears when Sarah addressed a question about how to get into the field of design, she explained that it's a personal choice whether or not to complete schooling {both her and Tommy had not}. If you choose not to, you need to stay on top of what is going on in the field, you need to have passion, and she really emphasized to keep up on what is new! I kept thinking, blogging helps you do just that doesn't it? If you have already attended design school, Tommy explained your school portfolio usually isn't enough to get you hired, he suggests adding images to it that define your style and explain what your personal taste is.

Here's me hanging out with my new BFF ... okay maybe that's not exactly how it went down. Sarah was gracious enough to stick around and snap some photos with fans. Thanks Sarah! And there's Tommy in the background, wish I could have caught him for a pic too!

Other Q & A's I enjoyed: How do you add personality to an all-white kitchen?

Sarah's tips: Change up the lighting, paint the walls {not white!}, accessorize with color, add interest with fabric window treatments. Here's an example of an all-white kitchen that got a makeover on Design Inc., the after immediately reads red!

How do you decorate a very long hallway?

Sarah dealt with this issue in the farm house, and her solution included adding paneling half way up the walls to break up the height, using grasscloth to add texture on the upper portion of the walls, and have pendant fixtures which hang down into the space to allow your eye to be stopped at several points down the long expanse. Love it!

Some of the highlights from the exhibits:

The media lounge and booth by The Cross was by far my favorite display. The pretty poufs were stacked every where and all of fabrics used in a collage on the walls were fantastic. And that Iguana wallpaper by Timorous Beasties? Fab.

HOMEdelight Furnishings had a lovely palette of gray and purple, and check out the light fixtures!

I took this pic for my friend Kelly over at DesignTies, I think IKEA knows that they are on to something with the bold and pretty Maskros chandelier.

A beautiful little white chair with black piping from Liberty, wish I coulda taken her home with me :( Maybe I should take Tommy's advice, buy expensive things and eat noodles for the rest of the month ... :)

The fixtures over at Robinson Lighting and Bath Centre were just like jewellery, gorgeous! And they had an amazing piece hung over a freestanding tub. With a mirror and spot light placed on the ceiling above, it looked like the chandelier went up to heaven!