Friday, January 23, 2009

It’s showtime!

Last night was the first night of the BIA Home Show. We were at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall til 9 p.m. and got a lot of nice compliments on The Honolulu Advertiser booth, which we’re sharing with them to promote our joint $30,000 Style My Room contest. I thought I’d share a few photos of our dramatic yet cheapo transformation.

Originally our booth looked like everybody else’s: standard black carpeting and the white drape that serves as a backdrop and separates you from your neighbor. No, no, no, this will simply not do! This kind of décor will not excite and motivate people to enter a stylish makeover contest! Our booth has to have style!
So out went the black carpeting and in went camel-colored carpeting graciously donated by one of our contest supporters, American Carpet One. Thank you, thank you, David Arita!

Then we purchased from Pacific Home Furnishings a very affordable black fabric that Lissa and her mom stayed up until midnight the night before last to sew up as drapery that would serve as our dramatic backdrop. Thank you, Carol Ing!

Now our color palette was in place: a dramatic, neutral background. It was time to texturize! We took over some white leather chairs and an accent table from our office, and for color and contrast we layered in a green area rug, candles and plants to create warmth and interest in our space.
And with a comfy, stylish chair, a reading lamp, a bookshelf to house knickknacks and Homescape magazines and Renovation supplements, and a glass vase with freshly cut monstera leaves from right outside the Exhibition Hall (shhh! Don’t tell them!), we created a reading area. We were even able to position our banner in the back to look like a piece of art. After all, this is The Honolulu Advertiser booth, and they are a great read!

We did all this using what we had in the office and what the Advertiser had in storage. The bookcase was in a storage locker. We dusted it off and added what you see. Here’s a quick photo I snapped after vacuuming. It looked fabulous. If we could do this at the Blaisdell, you can certainly do it at home!
We do know that Saturday and Sunday will be the busiest days, but still, it was a little bit quiet last night. We need to liven up the joint! We’ll be here all weekend, so come by and say hello!

0 comments: