What's Hot: A one-of-a-kind fashion show!

I’m getting hot just thinking about it! What, you ask? Our What’s Hot in 2010 Home and Business Trend Fashion Show that we had at our business mixer last week.





We had our first Mix It Up! event of the year at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii last Thursday, and it was smoking! Almost 300 people showed up to mix business with fun. There were delicious pupus, and as always, fun networking games to get the crowd mingling and getting people to meet our online experts.









We even had booths where companies could display their products and services—the biggest and the best belonging to Central Pacific Bank and Central Pacific HomeLoans, our presenting sponsors for the night.






The big winner of the night was Chuck Allen, who won a $1500 diamond and blue topaz pendant from Dale Cripps and Mihye Cortese of Dale Cripps Antiques and Treasures, longtime sponsors of RSVPstyle events.






But the highlight of the evening was our What’s Hot in 2010 fashion show. You know me, I like to do creative, out-of-the box, crazy things, and this was no exception! I emceed as our participating experts worked the runway, showcasing what’s going to be hot in their fields in the coming year. And boy, did they rock the stage!

There was all kinds of action, from Jeff Fox of Kahala Associates throwing money into the crowd to show how he can put money back into your pocket, to Tracy Wright Corvo, who brought out adorable models to illustrate how to adorn your walls with giant art photographs of your child. They were so cute as they paraded onto the stage with their photos in front of their faces.

One of the most creative was American Carpet One, showing why Karndine flooring is hot: It can withstand pets, spike heels and babies, and on top of all that, it’s water-resistant! Very clever.

So if you missed out on all the fun and excitement of this Mix It Up!, be sure to make time for the next. As I always say, Who says you can’t mix business with fun?

Life behind-the-scenes

Acting and being on TV may seem glamorous to some, but not to me. Not after the experience I’ve had filming our how-to DVD series and this upcoming $30,000 Style My Room TV show. Don’t get me wrong, it can be fun and exciting but it’s also a lot of work and takes a REALLY long time. And for a person like me who doesn’t like to wait around and wants everything done yesterday, it’s difficult to hurry up and wait.

Here’s what I mean.

We had an on location shoot for our Style My Room Makeover show at American Carpet One a few days ago. Call time was 8 a.m., that’s when the crew needs to show up. It generally takes about an hour-and-a-half to set up the lights—you don’t want shadows on faces and people looking green under commercial fluorescent lights, right? So while that’s happening, it’s time for us to get miked up, do a sound check and have our coffee and donuts.

This is also a good time to look over my lines. There are no cue cards, no teleprompters, so I can’t remember word for word what’s on the script. At the same time, I’m trying to be spontaneous and make the Agenas, our fantastic Style My Room Contest winners, comfortable on camera. At the end of the take, sometimes I can’t remember what I said! That’s why we have an assistant producer who makes sure I’ve covered the important ideas. After all, the show chronicles the Agenas as they learn how to decorate their own home and the show needs to unfold in a way that makes sense so our viewers can learn along with them.

Then we do a run through of the scene so that both cameramen and the lighting guys know how to block the shot. Blocking is where the director lets everyone know where their marks are, including the Agenas, me and the cameramen. We do a couple of dry runs and then it’s action.

WHOOPS! Not so fast! Someone hears a popping sound in someone’s mic, or the lighting isn’t quite right or the battery on that camera just went dead. You get the drift? It all adds up to being a long day.

But you know, this is the nature of the business and that’s partly why major motion pictures can cost over a hundred million dollars.

Fortunately, we have a great crew to work with, starting from the top with our director James Brennan, our two camera guys, the grip and the lighting guys, the sound guy…you’d be amazed at the number of people on board for this shoot. Everybody gets along and has a lot of fun. It’s a family environment and we’re all working toward a common goal—to get the show over with! Just kidding! To turn out a really great show, I mean.

Location shoots like this one at American Carpet One are a little more difficult because we’re mindful that we’re in a place of business. Customers are coming in, phone calls are being made, business is going on as usual. Every distraction adds to the delay, but everyone at American Carpet One was so easy to work with and so accommodating that it wasn’t that bad at all.

Our day ended right on time, just before five o’clock. We filmed two sequences—our flooring and window treatment segments—and a little teaser tip for our website. And by five sharp we had cleaned up and were ready to go. It’s a wrap! …until our next shoot!

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!