I’m so happy to announce that the class I’ve been teaching online for three years alongside of Leslie Shewring is going on a road trip – we’ll be teaching LIVE in NYC on Saturday, March 3rd and Sunday, March 4th. This will be an inspirational and intensive weekend long workshop for those interested in learning the creative business of blogging (for all levels but you must have some knowledge of blogging). We will teach you the art of producing beautiful color stories, still life photographs and gorgeous inspirational vignettes that you can photograph and use on your blog and how to blog your best. (Full details here.) We have split the class into two days so you can take them both or just one, full details are below.

I have been blogging full-time as a business for over six years and Leslie is a color expert, photographer and stylist who holds a degree in Architecture and another in Interior Design who has a background in product design – her designs have been stocked on the shelves of stores like Target and some of her most recent clients include American Greetings, UPPERCASE magazine, Stampington and more. Together, we plan to share our experiences, ups and downs and our expertise in blogging, styling and photography through hands-on lessons and lots of discussions and one-on-one time with our students. We want to share what we’ve learned over the years in a supportive, intimate setting so that you can walk away with the tools that you need to blog your best and to produce content that you can be proud of that is uniquely you and from the heart.

Class No. 1: The Creative Business of Blogging
Instructors: Holly Becker, Leslie Shewring
Teaching Assistant: Melissa De La Fuente
Date: Saturday, March 3
Location: New York City
Time: 10:00-5:00

Join Holly Becker and Leslie Shewring for a day to explore the creative business of blogging. In a relaxed approach, we’ll discuss the key themes from the Blogging Your Way e-course and expand on them with new information and loads of inspiration and take away. This will be a small intimate class, giving you the opportunity to work closely with us to help you achieve your creative goals. We’ll share case studies and tons of tips and tricks that will leave you inspired and ready to blog!

Some topics we’ll cover:
- Finding your niche, personal style + your voice
- Writing from the heart
- Building your readership
- Getting out of creative ruts
- Social networking
- From blog to book – getting published

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Class No. 2: A Day of Color + Styling + Photography
Instructors: Holly Becker, Leslie Shewring
Teaching Assistant: Michelle Verdugo
Date: Sunday, March 4
Location: New York City
Time: 10:00-5:00

On Sunday, Holly and Leslie will spend the day sharing their approach to color, styling and photography. We will go over the importance of color palettes and how to collect inspiration. Then we will share composition tips for styling vignettes for your own photographs so you can watch us during our creative process and then, you’ll be invited to join in with hands-on lessons in styling followed by a photography how-to. Holly will also share her experience of styling people’s homes for photographs.

- Creating color palettes
- Gathering inspiration
- Composition
- Styling Vignettes
- Styling Homes
- Photography tips + editing ideas

Note: Please bring your camera to class on Sunday. It is helpful if you have a Digital SLR camera so that we can talk about manual settings. A tripod is helpful but not mandatory! You are welcome to bring your laptop so you can upload the photos that you work on. Have Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Elements on your computer so we can give you some tips on photo editing, too.

Cancellations: Absolutely no refunds can be given for this workshop friends, so please make sure that you can make this date.

Costs: The cost of our workshop for two days (discounted 10%) includes all materials, coffee breaks and lunches is $711. If you choose to only take one day, the cost is $395.

Location: Saturday and Sunday we will meet at our studio space in NoHo, NYC. Address will be sent to students upon enrollment by February 25th.

Space is extremely limited and we are at 50% enrollment already so if you’d like to join us, here is where you can learn more and make payment. Hope to see you soon!

xo, Holly & Leslie

(image: leslie shewring)

Well what do you know!? I’m posting children’s rooms on decor8! ha ha! It’s a big deal for me to do this and if you blink you’ll miss them but it’s fun to go off the beaten track now and then and show something new. We tend to post things on our blogs that we feel attached to in one way or another and while I love children I think not having any does make me less inclined to think about their room design. Perhaps that will change in the future!

After posting the sweet pink girl’s room, Australian interiors and lifestyle photographer Tara Pearce sent in some great photos of a little boy’s room in cool mint that she asked me to consider posting. A mint green boy’s room? Oh yes please! Lenny is two-years-old and loves his new IKEA bed and minty green walls. His room has many vintage and handmade pieces and his little creative zone made me smile so I have to share it… Plus I can’t show a girl’s room and skip the little guys!

Visit Tara’s blog to see more of her stunning photos…

(images: Tara Pearce)

I rarely feature kid’s spaces but this one is so pink and adorable that I couldn’t resist when the Sissy + Marley team sent it over to me today. They are a fab NYC-based design firm who specializes in children’s spaces. How cute is this???

It’s quite spare for a kid’s room, I know, but I’m sure their little client Ava changed that the moment the photography crew left. :) Speaking on kid’s rooms and decorating, here is some advice from me from a recent interview from the Little Party Goers site. Perhaps some of my advice below will inspire those of you who are parents. :)

LPG: What makes your approach to decorating children’s rooms so unique?

HOLLY: I am not decorating as much as styling as I have no time for private clients right now so my styling work is mainly for books and commercial work. My approach to decorating a child’s space though, is that it really needs to reflect their taste and interests and there needs to be a place for everything – hair bands, dolls, cars, crayons – all need a bin or box or something to store it. Growing up, I had a place for everything so cleaning up my room was always fun for me since I liked arranging things as they were, stepping back to view it clean, then feeling a sense of accomplishment. I loved lining up my dolls perfectly on top of my toy box, for example or neatly folding all of my barbie clothes or putting them back in the Barbie closet on little pink hangers. I took care of everything that I owned. Ideally, you teach your child to respect others and themselves but also material objects through setting an example as a parent so if you help them to organize their room and show them how to maintain it and explain and show why maintaining it benefits them, it won’t be so hard for your child to want to be organized, too. My mother would often come into my bedroom and help me clean up and make it fun – she’d play a song and we’d have to clean it all up by the time the song was over in order to “win”. She didn’t always help me, but on days when she noticed I wasn’t motivated, she would come in with her usual high energy and enthusiasm and turn cleaning up into some kind of magical, fun game. After I was finished, I could then go outside to play or she’d take me to the beach or I could watch television or something. It made me happy as a child to have a neat bedroom too, I enjoyed that.

(images: sissy+marley)

I’m so thrilled to introduce you to a new columnist on decor8! French stylist and author Emilie Griottes is such an inspiration to me and now, she’ll bring beauty and great ideas once a month through her new column on decor8 (we don’t have a name for it yet, but when we met in Paris soon I’ll let you know what we’ve come up with!) beginning in March which will share food styling ideas, crafty inspiration and pretty things that will make your spine tingle!

Emilie is someone I found accidentally online last year and then was surprised to realize only recently that I owned some of her books! She will post on decor8 once a month beginning March 21 (my birthday!) so you will be in for a once-a-month treat from lovely Emilie from France. Here is a glimpse of her gorgeous work.

You can see more of Emilie’s work on her glorious blog. She is a top notch stylist and my favorite food blogger so I’m thrilled she is joining me on decor8. In fact, I’m just so happy she has joined the decor8 team which is just me and Leslie Shewring right now but I’m looking for a few more amazing people to write here once a month so we’ll see if I have more contributors down the road – only time will tell! But for now, I have Leslie and Emilie and that makes me just so honored, I really appreciate being surrounded by talented people and want to thank Emilie for accepting my offer to work for me here.

Welcome Emilie! xo

(images: emilie griottes)

French illustrator Audrey Jeanne has the sweetest little things in her online shop that I want to point you to today. I first found her postcards a few months ago in a local shop and have been meaning to write about her ever since… These posters and cards are just so sweet, aren’t they?

Darling!
(images: audrey jeanne)

Hello everyone! How was your weekend? I hope it was a good one. I got stranded in Holland due to the weather but made the best out of it and as a result, made some new friends and got to meet up with Eline Pellinkhof in her home city of Haarlem AND I was able to see a shop I’ve longed to see for several years now called Ottomania. It was such a great experience and I’m so glad that bad weather brought me to Haarlem though the travel bit was just horrible. I’m home now and made a little “me” time this morning as a result of the stressful journey back by train (a 4 hour trip took 17 hours and two days of freezing on platforms trying to go east into Germany) so a salon visit made everything right again. Total girl power! I thought I’d begin this week by announcing some good news and spotting a lovely trend. I thought I’d share the trend first and then, my next post, will highlight the very good news.

via Design Files the home of Lucy Young.

This is a trend I spotted in Amsterdam last week when I was out and about with Stephanie Rammeloo who is also quite keen on this color combination, too. I saw these tones together on a wall and my heart exploded with joy! It made me so happy to see something before me that I felt such an immediate connection to. Have you ever felt like that about a color palette? I thought to show you the palette best, I’d share some products and images that fit the scheme I’m referring to since I know you’re visual and well, seeing is really believing, isn’t it? From mere text, it wouldn’t seem as though a soft pastel like (god forbid I say this word), “peach”, would look great with neon pink, mint green, butter cream yellow and bold copper but oh.my.goodness it SO does. See for yourself…

Interior ideas from Home Life.

(copper, bright orange, mint green from J.Crew necklace from Anthropologie, tray from HAY, neons from BklynBride)

German ceramicist Nicole Mueller from Maison Sauvage

Different ways to combine these colors from Color Collective.

Confetti System (I wrote about them last January here.)

BrklynBride

Interior ideas from Home Life.

More from Home Life.

Confetti System (I wrote about them last January here.)

I’m loving this trend and feel so inspired by it, you too?

(images: linked to sources above.)

Hello everyone! I’ve been missing in action, I know, but I had such a great week and wanted to share some highlights with you in case you will be visiting Amsterdam soon. I am working with Debi Treloar on my next book, so we have been in The Hague and Amsterdam the past few days on shoots and have had a great time. A snowstorm left me stranded in a town called Haarlem tonight but I found a HEMA around the corner from my hotel so I’m all smiles because I can hit it tomorrow before heading back home to Germany. :) There is a silver lining inside of every cloud so they say, right?

Never tire of the homes along the canals…

A little highlight from my next book…

Spotted my current obsession in Sukha.

Loved everything in this shop called Restored. I highly suggest shopping here!

Our shoots have been so much fun and I’m really loving all of the photos we’re producing together for the new book. While in Amsterdam I also got to spend a day with my friend, stylist extraordinaire, Stephanie Rammeloo and we she took me to some great shops (listed at the bottom) and to an amazing community dining experience that I absolutely loved at an Italian deli and kitchen called il Mattarello owned by an amazing guy and his wife and business partner. He cooked for us and then sat down and ate at our table. The entire experience was so inspirational. I got to meet a TV presenter from the Netherlands who also is a journalist writing about food, Stephanie’s business partner and friend, and a bunch of other very nice people that I would have never met if I didn’t try out this dining experience. If you are ever in Amsterdam you have to sign up for one of their private dinners – it’s the best thing! The address is on the bottom of this post.

Debi at work on our book… She’s brilliant and a joy to work with. I’m so honored to be working with her again, we’ll go to Paris next and then London and the countryside there, followed by NYC in March and then she’ll come over to Germany to shoot my house for the book as well. How neat is that!? I’m pretty excited about it.

AMSTERDAM SUGGESTIONS from this trip from me to you:

eat:

• Il Mattarello, Dinner “Theme” Nights, info@mattarello.nl, Westerstraat 77, 1015LW Amsterdam
• Bar Moustache, amazing food and always call for a reservation, the steak was amazing, Utrechtsestraat 141, 1017 VM Amsterdam

shop:

• Athenaeum Boekhandel, Awesome international magazine shop where I got the latest copies of UPPERCASE magazine, Flow and Donna Hay.  Spui 14-16, 1012XA Amsterdam
• Options! is an amazing store, especially if you love a Danish-meets-Dutch-marries-Japanese experience. I couldn’t leave this place without dropping some cash. I was particularly inspired by their pastels combined with neon colors with splashes of metallic bronze. It was a gorgeous color palette that I can’t stop thinking about. Damrak 49, 1012 Amsterdam.
• Restored is another great store you can’t miss. Loaded with local and international independently designed and handmade merchandise. I loved the jewelry there from jonghlabel, copper lighting by David Derksen, necklaces from Fleur Goedendorp, necklaces and bags from Halona, Maartje Van den Noort fabric pendants and quilts and Mae Engelgeer blankets in bold neons. Haarlemmerdijk 39, 1013 KA Amsterdam.
• Sukha – What a great “green” shop! I loved this place, I didn’t want to leave. It’s retail heaven with lots of fashion and things for the home combined. What a gorgeously curated shop! It’s near Restored so you can visit them both easily. Haarlemmerstraat 110, 1013 EW Amsterdam.

At the magazine kiosk grab these Dutch magazines:

• Flow - Creative, craft, lovely.
• vtwonen – Gorgeous interiors and trends, best mag ever.
• 101 Woonideeen (I’m in this month’s issue!). – DIY and decorating
• Delicious – Gorgeous foodie mag.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I’ll be back for a full week of blogging beginning on Monday. Loads of love to you! xo

(images: holly becker for decor8)

I’m dreaming of a chandelier for my living room and Mud Studio has the one that I want though there is no way I can afford it so it will remain on my dream wish list for a very long time. I’ve become obsessed with Mud Studio, a fan for a few years now but even more now as their beaded chandelier continues to captivate me and my affection for it only grows stronger by the day… Here it is shown in the home of the founders of Mud Studio, Werner and Philippa du Toit, who live in South Africa along with other wares from Mud Studio that I’m dreaming of…

Mud Studio is on one hand, earthly and natural and on the other, very chic I think. I wouldn’t mind having some of their dinnerware, it’s right up there on my Astier de Villatte wish list!

Speaking of Africa, I’ll be in Amsterdam tomorrow (I know, sounds unrelated but I’ll get to that in a moment) for a few days with Debi Treloar as we will begin the first batch of shoots for my next interiors book to be published simultaneously by Chronicle Books (US) and Jacqui Small Publishing (UK). I’m very excited because my home will be in my next book, something I’ve been hoping for, but beyond that I can’t wait to share more of the homes I love with you and to give you more inspiration and ideas through my words and ideas. I’m excited!

But anyway, in Amsterdam, there is a shop called From Africa With Love that I heard opened not too long ago that specializes in design from Africa and I just know I’ll love it. It’s my top priority of things to do during my free time this week between shoots and I’ll even do some shopping with Stephanie Rammeloo from Dreamboat, an amazing stylist and author who had her home in my book and she is such a lovely person to spend time with. I feel so lucky that decor8 has opened so many doors for me to meet so many talented, generous people out there…

(images: mud studio)