Founder & Editor Holly Becker is an American author, freelance journalist and interior design consultant who currently lives in northern Germany. She launched decor8 in January 2006 after a decade-long stint in the corporate world as a project manager long before design blogs were a popular source of information on the web. Holly wanted to write on topics that she felt passionate for and her goal was to live a more creative life and encourage others to do so and felt that leaving her career to start anew was a leap of faith she was willing to take.
From the ground up, Holly built decor8, an established site known as a reliable design resource around the world to over 48,000 daily readers who tune in to see what she has found next and to connect with Holly as she enjoys interacting with her through the comments section on her blog. With over a million page views per month, it’s no wonder why decor8 is a leading design blog.
Her best selling interiors book, Decorate: 1,000 Inspirational Ideas For Every Room In Your Home, was published by Jacqui Small in London and Chronicle Books in America along with Murdoch Books in Australia has enjoyed tremendous success claiming the #1 spot for Interior Design books on Amazon for over 7 months and was reprinted 4 times in both the US and UK. Decorate is now published in German by Callwey Verlag under the title, Lust auf Wohnen and is already a best seller in Germany. It was also translated into French and published by Editions Ouest. Danish, Finnish, Polish and Czech/Slovic editions will be released in 2012.
Holly’s US/UK and European book tour kicked off in London with a huge launch party at iconic British department store, Liberty, then went to Amsterdam followed by an Anthropologie-sponsored book tour in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York City, St. Paul, then wrapping up in London at Anthropologie on King’s Road. The book was also part of 100% Design and Decorex during London’s Design Week where Holly also had signings and gave lectures. In October, Holly launched her book in German at the Frankfurter Buch Messe, then shared it in Munich where she also won the Myself Magazine Liebling Award for 2010 in the interiors category then had her official launch party in Berlin at the prestigious Soho House sponsored primarily by leading lifestyle magazine, Brigitte. Holly has signed and presented her book in over 20 cities worldwide and views the success of her book to her team at Jacqui Small and to her global audience of readers on decor8 who have supported her from the beginning.
decor8 (a creative play on the word decorate) is a site dedicated to sharing honest opinions, fresh decorating ideas, beautiful interior spaces, independent art and design, products and services, and articles meant to inspire readers to live a more fulfilling, authentic and creative life.
decor8 is updated daily throughout the week and features a curated selection of design finds from sofas to stationery along with product reviews, reader discounts, contests, book reviews, interviews, store and home tours, do-it-yourself projects, and trade show coverage. Topics range from decorating to small business ownership, travel, blogging and independent design — all meant to encourage and engage readers as well as connect them with talented emerging and established creative types around the world.
In addition to decor8, Holly is a weekly columnist at Real Simple magazine online and she maintains a more personal second blog, Haus Maus, where she documents her life as an American expat. Holly also founded Blogging Your Way in February 2009, a series of online workshops that she instructs virtually about creative blogging, writing from the heart, and how to make a blog a personal reflection of one’s own style and taste through text, careful curating, styling and photography. She also teaches workshops in person, most recently a gift wrapping workshop for Anthropologie in Berlin and a decorating and creativity retreat in Marrakesh.
In addition to decor8 and her new book, Holly has worked for a number of top magazines, newspaper and television networks. Some of her most recent contracts include her work as a columnist for Domino magazine online (2006-2009), Cookie magazine online (2008-2009), and she was a bi-weekly columnist for the Boston Globe Style & Arts section reporting on design trends. She has worked on assignments for HGTV, HGTV Ideas magazine as a Style Editor, Boston magazine, Adorn and LUXX magazine in Singapore. She is currently in her fourth year as a columnist for Real Simple magazine online, a leading lifestyle and home magazine in the United States. She has also been quoted and/or contributed to the following books, Lotta Jansdotter’s Handmade Living by Lotta Jansdotter (2010), The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin (2010), Appliqué Your Way by Kayte Terry (2009), Blogging For Bliss by Tara Frey (2009), Little Stitches by Amy Butler (2008), and Creatively Self-Employed by Kristen Fischer (2007).
Holly is an experienced public speaker and teacher. If you would like to inquire about a speaking, television or teaching opportunity or if you are a member of the press interested in interviewing Holly please contact her directly: holly AT decor8blog.com
(Portrait of Holly Becker by Georg Moritz, Berlin.)
Monthly contributor to decor8
Canadian photographer and stylist Leslie Shewring is a once monthly columnist on decor8 since Summer 2009 who produces a monthly color story, Color Me Pretty, focusing on color palettes and inspirational photography meant to inspire creativity.
Leslie, a former product designer, relocated to the United States to earn a degree in interior design and then went on to complete a Masters of Architecture. Immediately after finishing school she had the opportunity to team up with a manufacturing and distributing company. In collaboration with them Leslie developed, designed and handled packaging direction for many products sold in major retailers in North America. After stepping away from her job to raise her two small children, Leslie now accepts small design projects and finds creative passion in photography and styling. In addition to her Color Me Pretty column on decor8, you can find Leslie producing color and travel stories on her own site, A Creative Mint, as well as for top national publications such as Somerset Life and Artful Blogging by Stampington & Company. Leslie currently lives in Vancouver Island, Canada.
If you would like to follow Leslie’s column, you may view her most recent posts here.
