Page 21 – Claire Jefford

World Market Las Vegas Furniture Show – Designers Tips

Top Tips by Designers For Attending (& Surviving!) Market

The spring Las Vegas Furniture Market was the first Market that I’ve ever attended and let me tell you, it was AH-MAZ-ING! Although I had an idea of what to expect, I didn’t know just how inspirational and powerful the entire experience would be.

So many incredible ladies in this photo taken in the Jaipur showroom, Las Vegas Market, 2017.

Seeing all the latest trends in Interior Design and connecting directly with the furniture reps is exciting, but there is much more to it. Networking and building relationships with other designers & decorators, was without a doubt, the best part for me.

You ‘Must-Ache’ some fun while at market! With Chanda Seymour & Wendy Woloshchuck

With Lauren Riviera and Alinda Morris

I attended the Red Carpet Tour hosted by Jackie Von Tobel and Deb Barrett. They took care of the hotel expenses; organising the visits to each showroom; nights out and much more. These gals work hard to make sure you see the finest showrooms and attend the best parties!

With it being my first market, I came up with the idea to ask other designers to share their top tip for attending (and surviving!) market.

In this video, there are more than a dozen helpful tips from designers all over the USA (and a couple from me…I was the only Canadian on the tour!) to get you ready for market.

Also, see what shenanigans we get up to! (Bloopers at the end)

I was also thrilled to have the opportunity to meet LuAnn Nigara of a Well Designed Business Podcast (which I’ll be a guest on her show next month, eeek!) and attend her interview with Kelli Ellis. It was very inspiring, to say the least.

LuAnn was even kind enough to give me & my facebook group, Interior Design Business Strategies, a shout out during the live event on facebook! Check out the recording of the live interview with Kelli and LuAnn here.

With LuAnn Nigara at the Design Uncorked Event hosted by Curated Kravet & sponsored by Mydoma

Here are the top tips for attending market:

Tip#1:

Photograph the showroom sign before entering so you don’t forget where items are from later when you want to reference them.

Tip#2:

Bring a friend! It makes the experience more enjoyable when you have someone to share it with.

Tip#3:

Create a binder to add your itinerary; suppliers cards/folders etc in order to stay organised.

Tip#4:

Bring several pairs of comfortable shoes!

Tip#5:

Introduce yourself to showroom reps, don’t be intimidated! They work for you.

Tip#6:

Plan it out! Make a plan of where you want to go, there is a lot to see & do at market and you can easily get distracted.

Tip#7:

Plan aside some ‘free time’ so you can meet with friends or see other showrooms & seminars while you are there.

Tip#8:

Ask showroom representatives if there company is ‘Designer Friendly’ before spending too much time in their showroom.

Tip#9:

Take photos of items/furnishings that of great interest to you while you are there, then contact the reps when you return home so not to waste time placing orders while at market.

Tip#10:

Look for consistencies in each showroom to be able to identify upcoming trends to share with clients and on social media.

Tip#11:

Bring a rollerbag! This makes it so much easier to carry everything around it and you won’t break your back!

Tip#12:

Drink a lot of wine. LOL

Tip#13:

Make appointments with showroom reps ahead of time if you are bringing clients to market. Review the types of items clients may be looking for so you can be the most efficient with everyones’ time.

Tip#14:

Go to the Vendor Directory prior to attending market so you can sort through the vendors you wish to visit on your trip. Then use the Wunderlist App that provides you with a section for notes and photographs, so you can organise information from each vendor.

Tip#15:

Allow yourself extra time when setting your ‘Out of office’ email and your pre-recorded voice-mail message. Market is tiring and it’s nice to have a day set aside when you return, to settle back into things.

Tip#16:

Email your client list – which should include both past and current clients – to let them know that you are going to market. Two reasons for this, 1) They will know that you are away and may not be able to respond to emails while you are at market 2) Shows them that you keep on top of latest trends and will have lots to share with them upon your return, should they require further interior design or decorating services.

Be sure to watch the video though, it’s so great to hear it from the mouths of these talented designers themselves and you can see what silly things we get up to as well!

Do you have any other great tips for attending market?

Don’t keep them to yourself, comment below and share with us!

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Take Better Pictures With Your Phone Now

Linda Holt Live Video Interview With Claire Jefford

You’ve heard of the expression, ‘You don’t know what you don’t know’, right?

Well, I had no idea how much there was to know about taking photographs with my phone until I interviewed Linda Holt.

For example – How to adjust my phone settings for higher or lower exposure; turning on grid lines for improving composition; how to hold the camera to get the best angles and so much more!

Linda’s Bio – Pretty Impressive

As one of Boston’s top head shot photographers for over 25 years, and after photographing over 3000 actors, models and celebrities, Linda Holt put aside her camera and returned to school to pursue her life long passion of interior design and decorating.

Her past photography client’s sought her out not only for her ability to have them look their very best but for her skill in having their personality shine through the lens. Today she applies those very same principles to create her signature style of fresh, colorful and well edited spaces.

Linda started her blog, Linda Holt Interiors, in 2011 as a way of merging her two passions of photography and design. Her blogs are a mix of photography tips for iphone users and design inspiration.

Linda holds three different Color certifications and has been quoted in both House Beautiful Magazine and The Huffington Post for her color expertise. She is also a featured writer for Merrimack Valley Home Magazine and writes on industry design trends.

In this live video, the fourth in my Social by Design series, Linda shares so many incredibly valuable tips and practical advice for using your phone everyday to take better quality images than you may have ever imagined possible.

Download my FREE Tip Sheet after you watch the interview.

Grab your phone (unless you are reading this on your phone) and get ready to take your skills of phone photography to the next level!

Boost Your Brands Image & Get More Engagment

The quality and final look of photographs you share, speaks volumes about your brand as a business. I believe that this is also a key element that undoubtedly leads to increased likes, shares and ultimately, building your following on almost any social media platform.

By taking some time to learn how to properly use your camera phone, it can dramatically increase the quality of photographs you take each and every day. Thus, providing you with a better opportunity to reach a wider audience.

What I especially loved about the knowledge Linda so willingly shares, is how she went out of her way to learn about other devices just so she could bring even more value to this interview.

Linda uses an IPhone, but she exceeded my expectations by researching some specific elements of Android phones as well. As someone who is an Android user, I was pretty impressed by that!

Where To Learn More From Linda

To find out more about this topic, Linda has written plenty of blogs about using your phone to take better photographs. Click here to see a complete list of these Linda’s phone photography posts.

What was your biggest takeaway from my interview with Linda? Comment below. Don’t forget to grab my free download here of the Top 14 Tips from my interview with Linda. You will get it along with 5 other FREE incredibly helpful downloads for your interior design business, when you subscribe to my email.

Cheers Linda, for being so giving with your knowledge of Phone photography for interior designers and decorators!

After knowing Linda virtually on line for over 4 years, I finally got to meet her at KBIS Orlando Blog Tour earlier this year

All my Social by Design video interviews can be found here on the Playlist I created especially for you!

Three Things You Never Say To Clients

Ever open your mouth and your foot falls out?

When working with your interior design clients, there are times when you need to speak up about certain things and other times when it’s best to stay quiet & say nothing at all. Continue reading “Three Things You Never Say To Clients”

Current Projects: Mudroom, Powder Room & More

The month of May typically sees a bit of a slow down for new inquiries and that’s ok by me just now as we have plenty of projects on the go. Here’s a round up of what interior design and decorating projects we’ve been working on.

Project: Small Living & Dining Room Redesign

Our Burlington clients hired us to create a new layout for their main floor living areas & assist with choosing finishes for updating their kitchen; sourcing furniture and paint colours for a well put together interior design palette.

Challenge:

Although the size of the rooms we were hired to redesign were not overly large, sometimes the smaller the space, the more challenging it can be to tick all the boxes on our client’s wishlist. However, we came up with a couple of great options for them, because that’s what we do! See below.

Living Room and Dining Room Interior Re-design Layout

Second option for a slightly different layout

Furniture options with Moodboard:

Elevations for Custom Cabinetry Built In Design

Elevation of custom built in design

Finishes:

Interior Design finishes: Paint colours, countertops, fabrics & fireplace surround

A great idea that my assistant suggested was to NOT do an area rug in the dining room.

The reason being was because it is a fairly small space, adding an area rug would draw your eye to the floor and your attention to the bit of hardwood around it. Thus, making it feel even smaller. No rug = more open look with less clutter.

Wallpapered Powder Room

We are also working on 4 rooms for a wonderful client in Oakville, Ontario. We re-designed their living, dining & family room, and a bedroom. (You can now see professional photos of that project here!)

They also asked if I could choose a new paint colour for their powder room.

My response, “How about wallpaper?!!”

Wallpaper adds drama & high impact to a small space like a powder room.

The ledge behind the toilet couldn’t be wallpapered, so I recommended a custom piece of granite. This granite is ‘Black Pearl’.

Not only does it tie in nicely with the wallpaper, it also finishes off that otherwise awkward space beautifully.

With mirror & light fixture. (See the bare ledge behind the toilet before the granite piece went in)

Repeat Clients

When clients hire me back to work with them again, it’s one of the biggest compliments I can get! The funny thing is, when I return to a home that we’ve designed, it feels like I’m coming home again myself.

3000 square foot Contemporary Basement Design – photo credit Stephani Buchman Photography

These lovely clients called me back to re-design their laundry/mudroom. We are going to take down all the walls, add custom cabinetry and try to add in an area for folding laundry.

Current laundry and mudroom

I’m really excited about this project for a few reasons.
1 – I love working with these Campbleville clients
2 – They have great taste and as you can see from their basement project here, they are not ones to shy away from bold colours and fun finishes.

Instagram

I’ve also started to get serious about my Instagram, finally! We are thoughtfully curating a gorgeous feed of our projects. Below is how my feed looks..what do you think so far?

We are just getting warmed up on Instagram and adding new photos weekly, so be sure to follow me here.

Facebook

On my Facebook page last week I did, a Sofa Series where I shared videos of beautiful sofas from my design centre with pricing. I included the retail costs as well as the cost to my clients, after my designer discounts are applied.

Here was DAY 4: SOFA SERIES WITH PRICING
Silva Loveseat: Straight arm; chrome nailheads; tufted back; legs with dark wood & chrome castors
Retail price starting at $3924 My Designer Price starting at $3335.

I try to do regular series, so why not follow my Facebook page here.

So that was my week! Of all the projects that we are working on, which is your favourite?

To ‘Love Where You Live’, contact me here and let’s create something beautiful together!

Build Your Brand on Instagram

Vanessa Francis Live Interview with Claire Jefford

Pretty & inspiring images of all things interior design are meant to live on Instagram.

For your Interior Design business, there is no better platform to showcase your portfolio.

But, Instagram can be a hard nut to crack.

How do you get followers? What exactly should you post and how often? Should you set up a business or personal account?

You have Instagram questions, Vanessa has the answers

Vanessa Francis is the principal and founder of Vanessa Francis Design based just outside of Toronto, Ontario. She is known for creating beautiful & functional spaces for her clients. Her aesthetic is clean, comfortable & effortless with just the right amount of colour resulting in spaces that are timeless, classic & stylish.

She writes the popular blog Décor Happy where she shares her advice and inspiration so that everyone can have a home that makes them happy! Vanessa has nearly 18k followers on Instagram (at the time of posting this in July 2017), check out her beautiful IG account here.

In this live video interview, the third in my Social by Design series, Vanessa openly shares her secrets to getting noticed on this popular platform for interior designers.

Afterwards, be sure to Download my FREE Top Tips of things I learned from Vanessa, after you see this fabulously informative interview.

Are you ready to take Instagram by storm? Let’s do this!

Vanessa Totally Inspired Me!

After my interview with Vanessa, I decided it was time for me to get more serious about my Instagram account. Here’s some statistics over a 10 day period, based on the posts I’ve implemented so far:

I have nearly 1000 professionally photographed spaces from my Interior Decorating business, so we are going through each project, thoughtfully considering how I want my feed to look.

Download FREE 16 Top Tips When you Subscribe to my email list here.

Share Your Instagram Link Below

Comment below with your Instagram account link & let me know what your experience with this platform has been so far.

Are you getting clients from IG? Have you hooked up with different interior design brands through Instagram? Do tell!

A big thank you to my terrific friend and highly talented designer, Vanessa!!

Vanessa and I at KBIS in Orlando January 2017

Must Have Tools For The Initial Consultation

You want to impress your clients.

You want them to know that choosing you as their interior design professional was the best decision they ever made.

You want them to feel confident that their investment in hiring your services is going to be the best money they ever spent.

Am I right? (If you don’t agree, then you are in the wrong place my friend!)

So how can you be sure that clients will fall in love with you at the initial consultation and increase the chances of them asking you to continue forward with them on their renovation or decorating project?

Knock their bloody socks off from the get-go!

One way to do this is to be super organised & always come over prepared to the initial consultation meeting. I like to make sure that I am fully armed and ready to give them as much value as I can.

Some interior design professionals worry that if they give away too much info, then clients won’t need to hire them past the initial consultation stage for future services.

I don’t believe that for one second. In fact, I believe the exact opposite to that way of thinking. I say don’t hold back and give ’em all ya got!

Isn’t that what you would want from a luxury service provider?

In this video, I share with you all my ‘Must have tools’ when I meet with clients for the first time. Being organised with your paperwork, samples, marketing materials and much more will ensure you are giving your clients the best value possible. And, you will be more likely to get repeat business, referrals and fabulous reviews. It’s a win-win for everybody!

Ready to do this? Click on the play button below and allow me to show you’What’s in my bag baby!’

Alright, over to you! Did I miss something? What do you take in your bag interior design consultation bag?

Secrets to Creating a Blog That Gets You Tons of Traffic

Laurel Bern Live Interview with Claire Jefford

Do you feel like no one is reading your blog?

You work so hard to put it all together, doing your research, gathering all your information and carefully choosing just the right images to convey your message to your audience…but is anyone reading? Does anyone care?

Don’t let all that hard effort go to waste, get the right advice. I’ve got that and so much more waiting for you here right now!

In this video, my guest is…THE Laurel Bern.

Laurel Bern is an award winning New York Interior Designer, blogger, brand ambassador and keynote speaker. However, after 21 years as the principle designer in her firm Laurel Bern Interiors, she has turned her focus to blogging as a full-time occupation.

Her award winning blog, Laurel Home has drawn a large following due to her candid style of writing, useful information and warm community of readers.

Laurel is incredible, she doesn’t hold back on sharing some hard truths about building a successful blog. No one said it was going to be easy, but then again, nothing worthwhile ever is.

Laurel loves to share her success story and she disclosed some juicy secrets to writing a kick ass blog and building a loyal following.

Afterwards, be sure to Download my FREE Top Tips sheet from this fabulous interview by clicking the button below the video.

FACT: Since March 2014, Laurels’ website has gone from 4,300 page views a month to well over half a million. Those numbers are freakin’ mind blowing!

Do you aspire to do the same? Then let’s do this!

Click here to get the

Top 14 Tips from my Interview with Laurel Bern

It’s FREE when you sign up for my emails.

What was your biggest ‘a-hah’ moment from Laurel?

Comment below and share what inspired you most.

To see what extremely helpful products Laurel has to offer, both her infamous Roledex & her Paint Palette and Home Furnishings collection – click here.

I had the pleasure of meeting Laurel at the KBIS show in Orlando earlier this year.

I’ve got a stellar line up of guests in my Social by Design series. Next up is my dear friend and fellow designer, Vanessa Francis and we are talking about How To Build Your Brand on Instagram. Oooh, it’s gonna be good!!

Did you miss my first interview with Savvy Sexy Socials’ Amy Schmittauer? Click here to find out trade secrets from the Vlog Boss herself, to learn about how to leverage video in your business.

To see my other fantastic guests that you won’t want to miss, click here.

Leveraging Video in your Interior Design Business

Amy Schmittauer Live Video Interview

Are you using video in your business?

If your answer is no, then you need to be.

If your answer is yes, then I’d like to know if you are leveraging it in the best way to reach your target audience and convert them into paying clients?

That’s the real key. Otherwise, let’s face it, you may be wasting a lot of time and energy with little ROI. (return on investment)

Welcome to Episode One of Six in my ‘Social by Design’ live interview series! I’m super glad you are here.

My goal is to always bring you a no-nonsense approach to building a successful interior design business. I’m so excited to kick this off by interviewing my very own business coach, Amy Schmittauer.

I will have a FREE tip sheet for you to download with the Top Tips that I learn from each of my guests. Click here to get your Top Tips for leveraging video in your design business now, when you sign up for my emails.

Let’s do this!

Amy Schmittauer is the Boss at Vlog Boss Studios. As a new media triple threat —YouTuber, keynote speaker and best selling author— she coaches people to go after what they want in life and leverage online video to make it happen.

Creator of the popular YouTube series Savvy Sexy Social, her channel boasts a global community and millions of views. Now, in her first best selling book Vlog Like a Boss: How to Kill It Online with Video Blogging, she shares her collection of strategies and tactics to help you create video that gets the attention you deserve.

Watch the live video interview replay and get a pen & paper…you’re gonna want to take notes.

Comment below to share your biggest takeaway from Amy – I dare you to be able to choose just one!

Get the FREE Download!

Top 14 Tips from my Interview with Amy Schmittauer

To follow Amy on her Youtube channel, click here.

I’ve got a stellar line up of guests in my Social by Design series. Next up is Laurel Bern…yes, the Laurel Bern. And to see my other fantastic guests that you won’t want to miss, click here.

Are you in my fabulous facebook group Interior Design Business Strategies (IDBS)?

Nicknamed ‘Claire’s Army’, IDBS is a brilliant community of creative, supportive and helpful design professionals.

Click here and request to join IDBS… where there is NO BS.

Laminates Have Come A Long Way Baby!

Wilsonart is well known for it’s countertop materials such as laminates, solid surface & quartz. But at this years Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (#kbisblogtour) it was the laminates that were getting so much of the attention! Watch my video to see why.

Danny Seo was at the show as a spokesperson for Wilsonart and I had the opportunity to see him speak and to get a signed cookbook. I will have to give that to my husband because he does most of the cooking in our house! Danny says he coined the phrase ‘Materials Mixology’ which paired up nicely with Wilsonarts’ tagline: ‘Explore New Surfaces’.

Danny Seo from www.NaturallyDannySeo.com

If you look closely, behind Danny is a vignette they created on the show floor. Watch my video so you can see exactly what products were used and why we designers were all buzzing about them!!

More to come from KBIS very soon!! #kbisblogtour #modenus #designhounds