Got lucky in Vegas!

Boy, did we get lucky in Vegas!

We just got home from the Las Vegas Furniture Market, where our first bit of luck was catching up with Arlene Horna, our Traditional Home magazine sweepstakes winner (you'll find that blog post right below this one).

We checked in at the Venetian, where Arlene is the HR manager. Of course we brought her the traditional Hawaiian goodies: Kona coffee toffee mac nuts, coconut and espresso cookies and dried mango. She was a happy woman! Reconnecting with Arlene was a great welcome after our red-eye flight.


Joining me on this trip were Caty, making her third trip to Vegas with me; CM's newest designer, Tonya; here's Arlene in the middle; and me and Kara, who's come to this awesome furniture and interior decor market with me so many times I've lost count.


Our first afternoon, we got to catch up with Susan Dickerson of Home Accents Today. Lucky for me, she interviewed me, and I found myself on the cover of the next morning's Home Accents market daily! It continues to amaze me how quickly they can turn that around!

And who were we there to shop for? Our lucky design clients! The Cathy's Marketplace design team is working on several residential projects, and we found great inspiration pieces ranging from rugs to furniture.



Lucky for you, we can report some exciting trends in interior decor: Lots of neon and bright, bold colors. Fresh white hues everywhere, from furniture to ceramics to lacquers.


Orange and blue are still strong, as are shades of purple, and we didn't see as much of the blue-and-chocolate combo that was popular a few years ago. Also continuing strong is the trend of mixing materials. Here are two examples: a wood-and-metal table and a metal-and-leather chair.


Bling, sparkle, glamour and fur are all still relevant, and Priscilla Presley is now joining in with her own line. Her showroom is a range of hues of purple, a rock 'n roll edge mixed with glamour and femininity. I actually thought she did a pretty good job and her showroom was intriguing.

Having been to Las Vegas Market for several years now, I'm seeing a sad trend: Fewer rooms with one-of-a-kind pieces. I guess many of the smaller vendors can't afford the time and cost to make the show, which means more of the same old. I mean, you do get to see new colors and styles, but I miss the awe and wonder that I felt five years ago, when there were so many more boutique vendors showcasing their new products and ideas.

Oh well, sign of the times, I guess. The only other negative was I didn't get a chance to have my Reuben sandwich from the Golden Nugget! We had some great dinners, like at Sushi Samba, where we let the waiter pick our menu, which was amazing.

Mainly the trip was all about walking and shopping, from 8 in the morning til 6 at night. You'll be seeing a lot of what we found in our upcoming projects as we beautify homes across Oahu. We'll keep you posted!

Coming to you from summer Las Vegas Market!

Our second day in the desert started and ended with a bang. Caty and I arrived at the summer Las Vegas Market early Monday morning, fresh off Hawaiian Air’s Sunday night red-eye from Honolulu. One of my first missions was to meet with Susan Dickenson of Home Accents Today, who wrote that great article that came out in the magazine’s July issue. If you haven’t read it, here it is.

Fittingly, we met her at Groovy Stuff. Not only is this a perennial design favorite of mine, it was also Groovy Stuff founder Chris Bruning, who once lived in Hawaii, who told Susan about me and what we’re doing at the Cathy’s Marketplace retail showroom, and that’s how the feature story came about.

Here at the market yesterday, Susan did a quick interview with me and said it would be out in Home Accents’ Las Vegas Market daily paper today, and lo and behold, here it is!

As if that weren’t exciting enough, the day ended with an appearance by POTUS, aka the former President of the United States, Bill Clinton! Caty went to hear him encourage designers to work together to keep America competitive in the face of global challenges ahead.

Too bad I missed Mr. President himself! Oh well, tomorrow’s our third and final day at Las Vegas Market, and Thursday we’re back home in Hawaii already! We’ve got people to meet, new products to ogle, and interior design trends to keep an eye on! Full report later, I promise!

The gang’s all here and we’re so excited, we’re off to Vegas for the Winter Furniture Market at World Market Center! This is the biggest crew ever going from our companies. Kara’s joining me again, and this time so is Caty, our creative director, and Chelsey, our showroom manager. Lissa and Mari are holding down the fort back home, and I know they’ll be waiting for their lucky chocolate coins!


As you know, Las Vegas Market is an enormous showcase of hot new trends in interior design, furniture and accessories. For me this is the most exciting market ever, because we’re going with two purposes: first, to find the latest, greatest, hottest home accessories for our Cathy’s Marketplace showroom, and second, to find items for our Cathy’s Marketplace concept house.

What’s this about a concept house? Generally we don’t take on private projects, but some friends needed help outfitting their home, and with our showroom opening soon, we decided why not design a concept house and outfit it with items from CathysMarketplace.com as well as things we’ll also be selling in our new showroom?

Boy, do we have a huge task ahead of us. And we’re getting the keys to our showroom next week, so we have to make it a whirlwind trip. We’re flying out on tonight’s red-eye on Hawaiian Airlines, arriving at Las Vegas at 6:30 in the morning, dropping our luggage off and going straight to the market to work the show.

We’ll be scouting and shopping all day Monday and Tuesday and coming home on Wednesday. I think Kara, Caty, Chelsey are in for a great bonding experience—especially since we’re cramming into one hotel room. Hey, the budget’s going toward the new showroom. A company’s gotta do what a company’s gotta do!

Wish us luck, and we’ll keep you posted from Las Vegas. And now we’re off. Yeah baby, Vegas, here we come!

Catching up: May to September

Phew, I have a lot to catch you up on! Where do I even begin? Let’s start with one of my passions, shopping for furniture! You know me, I love to attend the annual Las Vegas Market to keep up with what’s happening in new furniture designs. Mel, Sam and I were there in July. In three days we ogled our way through three buildings of about 10 storeys each, something like 150 million square feet! My feet hurt just thinking about it. As for designs this year? Movement is still clean and contemporary, with lots of texture and metallics. Just what I love!

Right on the heels of that whirlwind was another trip to South Carolina to finalize details for our bedding and furniture lines. We met up once again with Travis and his family. Boy, am I learning a lot! And it’s a blast. I’m designing totally new textiles that are to be manufactured in coming months. I can’t wait for you to see them and will definitely keep you posted.

In early September we had the privilege of giving something back to the men and woman who give so much for our country. Being asked to do a mini decorating workshop at the Navy Exchange over Labor Day weekend was a thrill for all of us at RSVPstyle. As I did at Macy’s home department last year, I put together live onstage mini-vignettes of rooms for NEX shoppers. Military families are challenged with personalizing temporary housing, so for them I created different looks for bedroom, bathroom and living room. I loved that my mom and dad, a retired major in the U.S. Army, were able to be there. Click here to read more about that story.

Our website and company are built around inspiring people, so it was a real treat when Chaminade University asked me to speak to business students in the Hogan Entrepreneurial Program. I shared my experiences, insights, successes and failures, and most importantly, what I’ve learned through all of it. The best part was the end, when the students stood in line to shake my hand. Seeing their fresh faces and enthusiasm for the future they’re about to embark on reminded me of myself many, many, many years ago!

And now? I’ve done final tweaks for the bedding line. When our manufacturing plant in China is ready, I’ll go have a look at the samples. And tonight I’m writing a short thank you speech. My alma mater, Sacred Hearts Academy, has named me as one of its distinguished alumnae, and they’re honoring six of us at a dinner tomorrow night at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. It’s a lot to condense so many emotions and thoughts into 90 seconds, but I’m finding it’s a tremendous opportunity to reflect on all that’s been happening.

That’s it for the catch-up. I’ll keep you posted later with more!

Sin City, here I come!

I’ll keep this one short and sweet because I’m packing my bags—yeah baby, I’m off to Vegas!

No, it’s not what you think! I’m not there to roll the dice or bet on the Super Bowl. Even better, I’m going to World Market Center for the Home Furnishings Las Vegas Market.

What’s that? It is an industry convention and trade show for designers, buyers and retailers, but mainly it’s an opportunity to buy furniture. It can be overwhelming because the show occupies floor upon floor in building after building. There are thousands upon thousands of people, and the displays of furniture and accessories and lighting just go on and on and on!

So it can be overwhelming, but for anyone in the industry, it’s beyond fabulous! I can’t wait, it’s so much fun, like being a kid in a candy store.

I know you’re going to want to take a peek too, so I’ll be sure to send you some pics from Vegas! And who knows, maybe I’ll have a go at the slot machines! Ciao, baby!

It’s All About the People

Last day of Las Vegas Market! We got a very early start. The show opened at 8 am and we were right there. We met a lot of fabulous people today. I’m a true believer that the people who bring the passion to a company really make all the difference in its success.

As we started out, a brilliant sparkle of bling-bling caught my eye. I had to stop. It was this really cool mirror that was trimmed in Swarovski crystal. It was beyond fabulous—pretty, feminine and over the top. I’ve never seen a mirror like it. I was fortunate enough to meet the lovely man who is the owner of the line and showroom, and he also happened to be the designer of this mirror! His name is Anthony Montenegro, and it’s obvious he brings passion to his pieces. He has The Casey Collection and Encore Decorative Accessories. I have a picture of him and me, and I’m pointing to him and to the mirror to show that he’s responsible for this fabulousness. I think it could dress up a bedroom, it would be hot in a powder room, ultra modern, luxurious and playful.

Next I want to tell you about environmentfurniture and Jackie Fitzgerald. This is a showroom that I had been to at last year’s Las Vegas Market , and just fell in love with, but I could not remember where they were. I told Kara I’ve got to find this line, I want to share with our online community what they’re doing. I finally found them on my last day! This company does not sacrifice the mission for the look. Their furniture is beautiful, architectural, bold, striking, chunky—exactly what I like. Jackie was wonderful in explaining to us that all the wood is reclaimed from old barns or responsibly harvested in Brazil. They don’t spoil the natural beauty by putting on finishes or treatments. She clearly believes in the company’s motto that nature is the best designer, and I truly agree. She showed us the nail holes in the benches and beds and mirrors and it makes you wonder where they came from and what stories they have to tell. It gives it that much more beauty, knowing that no trees had to be sacrificed.

At the end of the day I went back to Phillips Collection to place an order, and saw Jason Phillips, who is the son of Mark, who I took a picture with in front of the black sheep. Jason is the creative director and one of Phillips’ designers. I took a picture of him in front of a wall with some of his sculptures. He’s a cool young man with a great creative mind and refreshing ideas. I found out he even judges design contests for architecture students. He’s extremely personable and it was just so fun to meet him and his family, and I can see why they have such a successful line, because it’s all about the people. It was the end of a long show and he and his dad were still there, working hard.

That’s how we ended our last day. The market closed early today, at 4. We hadn’t had a single meal because there’s no time for food when there’s so much shopping to be done! We were absolutely starving. I am a Reuben connoisseur and last year I had the best Reuben ever and I wanted to see if it was a fluke or really the best so I went back to The Grill at the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino, and I’m happy to say it did NOT disappoint! It still ranks at the top of my list. In all its greasiness it was delectable, topped off with a side of fries, so I had to offset that with a diet Coke! If anyone has any Reuben sandwiches they recommend, then I would love to hear from them.

Now it’s 5:30 and I have just 3½ more hours before the outlet mall closes. Kara and I have not done enough shopping. Everything has been about furniture and we’re getting back on the plane tomorrow, so we need a few more hours of retail therapy. Now that we’ve had some nourishment, we’re going to go check out that outlet mall!

I think we did pretty good! We got some great buys.

On a Mission

Today was all about inspiration pieces. One of my priorities coming to the Las Vegas Market was finding furniture and accessories that can inspire future rooms that I’ll do, new ideas and exciting starting points. Another priority was finding stuff for my daughter Nicki’s bedroom. We moved a few months ago, and I’ve been so busy I’ve yet to do her room and she’s been dying for me to do it. She’s 8 years old and she wants a pink room.

The day started out slowly, found amazing things but not exactly what I was looking for. Then I saw a loft from Berg Furniture’s Kids Headquarters Collection. Nicki’s been asking for a bunk bed for the last five years, and we’ve always said no. But now I realize that if she’s going to enjoy one, it will only be for a couple years more. My baby is growing up so fast, I want to keep her my baby for a little while longer! This bed is pink and white and it has a desk area underneath where Nicki can do her homework. It has steps, not a ladder, which I think is safer. What’s great about it is the steps are drawers for storage! It’s fun and functional. Little kids love to have something above their heads, like a little cozy clubhouse, and the bunk bed loft will do that.

Then I found this really cool shaggy rug, and another one with lots of texture, sort of iridescent, like there’s millions of pink origami papers glued on top, so I’m going to think about those. It’s so much easier once you’ve found your large inspiration pieces, to find other pieces that will coordinate with them. Now I can determine all the other colors for Nicki’s room.

The day was really beginning to take off! I loved what I saw from MZ Artes from Brazil. They had this really cool 4x4 wall art, panels and paintings using a wood indigenous to Brazil that’s all handmade and stunning, definitely great focal points and inspiration pieces. I took a picture because I may use it somewhere, someday.

I was thrilled when I came across a ZBOX chair—it’s a really cool white chair that sits up at an angle on chrome legs. It’s just very funky and contemporary. The line is Bellini Imports, designed by Stanley Jay Friedman. This is a piece you could build a room around. You just imagine James Bond lounging in it, sipping a martini, undressing a woman with his eyes … ! Anyway, this would be great for a bachelor pad or for a woman with high style. The room could be all-white, with an amazing rug underneath, or a concrete floor. There’s so many possibilities, but it could all start with this one amazing piece. I definitely see a martini with it!

The last picture I took is with people I ran into from Hawaii. Richard and Carol have a store called Pacific Orient Traders, one of my favorites. It was the end of the day, the market had closed, and we sat down at Four Hands, where they had just made some purchases, talking about the things we’d seen and eating pistachio nuts and the most amazing, decadent chocolate cake!

So it was a great, inspiring day. Lots to think about tonight—tomorrow is the last day of the Las Vegas Market, and I’m going to have to make some decisions on what to buy. It closes at 4:00, so it’s going to be a whirlwind day. I’m going to bed early because tomorrow it’s all about work!

Unleashed in the Las Vegas Market

It’s freezing cold! Vegas is in the 30s—this Hawaii girl is not used to that! I broke out the scarf and gloves. But once I got inside the World Market Center, I truly felt like a kid in a candy store. I’m here with Kara Wagner, RSVPstyle’s office manager. When people hear we’re from Hawaii, everyone is so nice. They’re asking us what RSVPstyle is all about, and I show them my Style Kit and they love it, they think it’s a great concept and it’s great that we’re teaching people to train their own eye for design and décor.

We started off today at one of my favorite discoveries, a line called Phillips Collection. “Every piece a conversation” is their tagline—I love that. We met Mark Phillips, who took a picture with Kara and me in front of their resin sheep. They have a white sheep and a black sheep, which are really cute, it’s a matter of whether you consider yourself a white or black sheep! I’ve always considered myself a black sheep, so there I am. Every piece you see in there is amazing, like the seatbelt chair that I lounged in, very comfortably. Just the most interesting, unique and beautiful pieces, and I’m going to be buying lots of them!

We saw a lighting line, Nova, and what I loved about it was they had lights that had color in them. They have these floor lamps that not only illuminate a room, but can also be used as dividers. So it’s a way to create some division for apartments where you need a portable wall, or it would be great for large rooms that you want to section off and add some color to.


Oh, another store that I just smiled when I went into is Global Views. There were these cute eggs, they look like ostrich eggs, and there are feet on them, and they’re walking away. You know how I talk to people about getting something with a touch of whimsy? This was a perfect example.

The center closes at 6:00, and Kara hasn’t been to Vegas in 11 years, so at 6:00 we went to the Bellagio, and they have the most beautiful garden display. They’re celebrating Chinese New Year, which lasts 15 days, so the whole garden is decorated with colorful red lanterns and yellow flowers, and a giant sculpture of a Chinese man in ancient silk robes that must be at least 20 feet tall! This is the Year of the Rat, so there’s a rat topiary that’s so cute! And there’s a beautiful zigzag bridge, which is good feng shui, good because the spirits can’t handle crossed lines and corners.

It’s just so fascinating and vibrant and beautiful, so we had to take a look there before heading to Cheesecake Factory because we’re dying for some cheesecake. We’ll call it an early night because the market opens at 8 a.m. and I want to be there—there’s too much to do and not enough time. Kara and I are just so excited that we’ve been surviving on coffee and the refreshments all the stores put out. It’s 9 p.m. and this is our first meal of the day!