Yup. There’s no doubt about it: Covid has changed everything…
Andrew J. Howard
We don’t know about you, but we’d done approximately three Zooms before quarantine. Now they’re a daily occurrence! But we have no complaints about working from home–especially when the home office is as gorgeous as this!
Add up to a peaceful work space–in PJs if you please! What are your essentials for a home workspace with style?
Thanks so much for making Design Chic a part of your day! We always love it when you stop by!
Today is the day! I’ll be announcing the THREE winners of the first advance copies of UNDER THE SOUTHERN SKY this afternoon. To enter, simply share the cover on Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #underthesouthernsky!
Head over to Instagram to enter our super fun giveaway with Southern Sugar Bakery!
Back-to-school time (even if it’s just virtual!) always gets us in an organization mood.
Don’t get us wrong: There is nothing sweeter than the off-schedule, laid-back, lazy days of summer.
But when the time comes, we’re usually ready for a little structure–and our houses are too!
Humphrey Munson is giving us all the inspiration we need today to empty those drawers, clear out the pantry, and finally toss the Tupperware and water bottles whose tops have seemed to disappear…
Because there’s no doubt that an uncluttered space feels like a giant exhale.
To a casual space for family lounging, Humphrey Munson kitchens can do absolutely no wrong. We hope these gorgeous inspiration kitchens have motivated you to live your best kitchen life like they have us!
Thanks for spending your summer with Design Chic. We love seeing you here!
HUGE thank you to Today.com for featuring my sixth novel, Feels Like Falling–and me! Need a great end-of-summer read? Check out my instant USA TODAY Bestselling Feels Like Falling! Looking to write a novel? Check out these 8 awesome tips by favorite authors!
Looking for your next Summer read? I would love it if you would pick up a copy of my instant bestselling novel, Feels Like Falling!
Good morning, chic readers! Do we ever have a treat for you! The lovely Laura Hodges is here today for a chic chat, and we can’t wait for you to hear about where she gets her inspiration, her commitment to sustainable design and her biggest accomplishment to date. We think her work speaks for itself, but, even still, it’s so fun to get the story behind the design star. But don’t take our word for it. Enjoy!
1. How did you get started as a designer?
I’ve always loved interior design but I never realized just how incredible this industry could be. I initially earned a business degree then, after working at a marketing firm for a few years and feeling a need to be more creative, I decided to pursue a degree from New York School of Interior Design. While at school I interned with Jamie Drake and after school I worked briefly with Thomas Jayne before starting my own firm in 2016.
2.Where do you get your inspiration?
I find inspiration from my clients’ unique taste whether it’s art and textiles they already own, their favorite travel destinations, or simply a curated collection of their favorite spaces.
3.Do you have a favorite project to date? Or a favorite type of project that tends to be your favorite?
A favorite recent project was a loft with 18’ high ceilings and lots of custom design elements such as a new set of stairs and railings, a 15’ high bookcase backed with grasscloth and fully custom kitchen and bathrooms. I also had the opportunity to design some beautiful custom pieces of furniture and accessories for this project.
4.What is the biggest challenge you face as a designer?
My biggest challenge is sourcing sustainable furnishings for our projects. We work hard to make sure that our design is not only beautiful and functional but also environmentally responsible and healthy for our client’s homes.
5. What do you consider your biggest accomplishment to date?
I’m very proud of growing the business from just myself working at home to now having my husband directing the operations and an assistant designer and design coordinator working on projects with me. We also have a small home decor shop, Domain, that’s both a brick and mortar and online.
6.Are there any designers that particularly inspire you?
I love Kelly Wearstler, Athena Calderone and Darryl Carter. Their individual taste and styles are very different from each other but equally inspiring to me.
Go-to paint color?
I love Benjamin Moore’s Simply White and Healing Aloe, depending on the space and existing materials of course.
Ebooks or hardbacks?
I’m definitely a hard back reader, no e-books for me, but I love audio books too.
M&Ms or Skittles?
Peanut M&Ms are the best!
Coffee or tea?
Always tea. I was born in England so it’s tea all day.
Thanks so much for spending your summer with Design Chic. We always love seeing you here!
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Looking for Something fun to do this Week? Join me at one of these fun events!
Tuesday, August 4
Kristy Woodson Harvey in Conversation with Julie Pennell. Garden District Bookshop. Virtual/Zoom Event. 7 pm EST.
Sometimes the simplest things can make the most beautiful statements. As spring moves into summer, we are swooning over a touch a freshness in every space.
Thanks so much for making Design Chic a part of your day. We love it when you stop by!
Our favorite season is in full swing! Have you picked up your summer reads yet? I would love it if you’d consider adding my sixth novel, Feels Like Falling, to the list!
Memorial Day week is officially here! And, yup, just like most things, it’s going to look a little different this year…But that doesn’t mean that we can’t still get out the hot dogs and baked beans and celebrate with our families. (Socially distanced and 10 at a time, of course!)
To get you in the celebrating spirit, check out ten of our favorite family rooms that are the perfect place to gather the ones you love most–even if it’s just for family movie night.
And if you can’t make it to the beach, at least you can look at it from the comfort of your family room. For indoor style, we don’t think it gets much better than these chic spaces. Which is your favorite?
“Feels Like Falling” by Kristy Woodson Harvey @kristywharvey was a definite 5⭐!!… This story has a dual POV, alternating between Gray and Diana. Gray just lost her mother to cancer! She is the CEO of her company and recently split from her husband who cheated on her. She goes to spend the summer at the North Carolina shore. Diana who loses her job at the pharmacy has just broke up with her boyfriend, moved out of their shared apartment and planning to just live in her car! Just so happens, Gray has a spare guest house and offers Diana to stay there. These 2 , very different women truly Bond and help each other through the hard times in their life. They learn so much about themselves, and what really matters in life! I loved both characters!! This story was sweet, dealing with love, loss, romance, motherhood, and life!! This truly was a perfect beach read. A very endearing, positive read.
Happy Wednesday, chic friends! We hope you had an amazing Cinco de Mayo! I can’t believe that my new book, Feels Like Falling, has been out in the world for more than a week! Have you picked up your copy yet?
If not (or, if so) we wanted to share the inspiration for one of our favorite houses in the book, that of Marcy, Gray’s best friend, who lives right next door, rent-free, in the waterfront home that her parents, who live in Maine, bought for investment purposes and only visited once a year.
Gray and Marcy have one of my favorite friendships of the entire book.
About Marcy, Gray says,
“I couldn’t help but laugh, which was something Marcy had been good for since the day we met. The day my now almost ex-husband Greg and I closed on our beach house five years ago, Marcy came by with a measuring cup in her hand.
“You need sugar?” I’d asked. “No,” she replied. “Vodka.” I knew right then and there that this girl and I were going to get along just fine.”
Now, more than ever, I think we can all appreciate the value of an amazing neighbor–and an even better friend.
Marcy’s house (inspired by this stunning Amy Berry-designed home). is perfect for a fun, carefree, thirty-something about to embark on a new chapter of her life.
And a porch for entertaining friends and dining al fresco all year long, this is the quintessential “Cape Carolina” house (the fictional setting of Feels Like Falling!), and just one of many places you get to visit in my sixth novel, Feels Like Falling!
Feels Like Falling has received numerous accolades, including Goodreads’ “It” Book of Summer! It’s available now from your independent bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Amazon and on your Target, Walmart or Kroger run! The perfect read for right now, Publisher’s Weekly said, “In pitch-perfect tones, Harvey creates two Southern women doing their best to deal with everything life throws at them, and her able plotting will keep readers turning the pages…Harvey’s optimistic tale just might convince readers that bouncing back can actually land a person in a better place than where they started.” —Publishers Weekly
Upcoming Virtual Events!
May 6: Friends + Fiction, 7 pm. With Mary Kay Andrews, Mary Alice Monroe, Patti Callahan Henry and Kristin Harmel.
May 7: Conversations from a Page Virtual Event, 12 PM EST, RSVP Here. And sign up for the wonderful CFAP Newsletter Here!
May 8: Story on the Square Zoom event, 6:30PM. Details to come.
May 19: Summer Songs, Books and Breezes with Adventures by the Book! Featuring Mary Kay Andrew, Mary Alice Monroe, Amy Mason Doan and Kristy Woodson Harvey. 7 pm EST. Register here!
May 20: M Judson Booksellers Zoom Virtual Event, 12:00PM.
Please remember your indie bookstores first! You can pick up Feels Like Falling on your Target, Walmart or Kroeger run–or at your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble or Books-a-Million.
Good morning, chic readers! I can’t believe it, but my sixth novel, Feels Like Falling, officially releases tomorrow! If you’re looking to add to your bookshelves–or your beach bag–I’d love it if you’d check it out!
And, of course, a cozy sitting area where one can curl up with a good book is practically mandatory!
Whatever look you love best in your bookcases, I would love it if you added Feels Like Falling to it! Here’s a little more info:
From “the next major voice in Southern fiction” (Elin Hilderbrand) and the bestselling author of the Peachtree Bluff series comes an odd-couple tale of friendship that asks just how much our past choices define our happiness.
It’s summertime on the North Carolina coast and the livin’ is easy.
Unless, that is, you’ve just lost your mother to cancer, your sister to her extremist husband, and your husband to his executive assistant. Meet Gray Howard. Right when Gray could use a serious infusion of good karma in her life, she inadvertently gets a stranger, Diana Harrington, fired from her job at the local pharmacy.
Diana Harrington’s summer isn’t off to the greatest start either: Hours before losing her job, she broke up with her boyfriend and moved out of their shared house with only a worn-out Impala for a bed. Lucky for her, Gray has an empty guest house and a very guilty conscience.
With Gray’s kindness, Diana’s tide begins to turn. But when her first love returns, every secret from her past seems to resurface all at once. And, as Gray begins to blaze a new trail, she discovers, with Diana’s help, that what she envisioned as her perfect life may not be what she wants at all.
In her warmest, wisest novel yet, Kristy Woodson Harvey delivers a discerning portrait of modern womanhood through two vastly different lenses. Feels Like Falling is a beach bag essential for Harvey fans—and for a new generation of readers.
Thanks so much, wonderful readers, for being so incredibly supportive not only of Design Chic for these past nine (almost ten!) years but also for being such ardent supporters of my writing career. I am here, six books later, because of the incredibly generous blogger and influencer friends I’ve made along the way and because of my steadfast readers who continue to buy my books, review them on Amazon and Goodreads, put them in their book clubs and show up at my events. I am unspeakably grateful for each of you!
Speaking of Showing Up at My Events… Here are the Tour Dates for the Next Few Days. Or Check Out the Full Tour Schedule!
April 27: Fountain Bookstore Virtual Event via Crowdcast
April 28:SIBA Virtual Event via Zoom, 3:00 PM, 20 min presentation with a 20 min Q&A. Books available fromFiction Addiction. Full list of participating booksellershere.
April 29: Kristy a Part of BookSpark’s Keep Calm and Read On Virtual Event.
April 29: Kristy Virtual/Drive-by Event with Beaufort Linen Co, Noon, Kristy & BL Sending Email/Paper Invitation
April 29: Kristy on Zoom with Liz & Lisa at Warwick’s. Click on the link in the Kristy Woodson Harvey event details. Enter the Meeting ID: 728 655 614 and Password: 397363.
