About

Founder & Editor Holly Becker is an American award winning and best selling author, journalist, interiors stylist and workshop leader. She launched decor8 in January 2006 after a decade-long stint in the corporate world as a human resources and facilities project manager before design blogs became  popular. 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 worldwide to over 48,000 daily readers who tune in to see what she has found and to connect with Holly through the comments section on her blog. 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.

Kevin Sharkey, Senior Vice President and Executive Editorial Director, Decorating, and Executive Creative Director, Merchandising for Martha Stewart Living Omninedia, Inc. (MSLO), calls Holly Becker a, ” World-renowned blogger” and refers to decor8 as one of the, “Most influential blogs out there”, stating that what she has built up is, “Quite an accomplishment.” With over a million page views per month, it’s no wonder why decor8 is known as a leading design blog. In addition, she has over 53,000 followers on Twitter, 151,000 followers on Pinterest, 46,000 followers on Facebook and 23,000 following her on Instagram.

Holly’s blog 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.

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 and has enjoyed tremendous success claiming the #1 spot for Interior Design books on Amazon for nearly two years (so far) and was reprinted 4 times in both the US and UK. Decorate is now published in 12 editions including German by Callwey Verlag under the title, Lust auf Wohnen and is a best seller in Germany. Other languages include Swedish, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Czech and Slovak.

Decorate Workshop: Design and Style Your Space in 8 Creative Steps is the title of her newest book published on October 31, 2012 by Jacqui Small Publishing, followed by Chronicle Books who released it in North America in November 2012 and in December, Murdoch Books released the book in Australia/New Zealand. In March 2013, Callwey Verlag published the German edition under the title, Holly Beckers Wunderbare Wohnideen: 8 Schritte zu einem kreativen Zuhause, in March 2013. A French and Danish edition will publish later in 2013.

Holly’s book tour for Decorate in 2011 kicked off in London with an impressive launch party at iconic British department store, Liberty, then the tour went to Amsterdam followed by an Anthropologie-sponsored book tour in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York City, St. Paul and London. Decorate was also part of top design fairs, 100% Design, Decorex and at the Design Center Chelsea Harbour during London Design Week where Holly had book signings and gave lectures about blogging and social media for those working in interiors. Her official launch party of her book in Germany was hosted in Berlin at the prestigious Soho House sponsored primarily by leading woman’s lifestyle magazine, Brigitte. She presented and signed copies at the Frankfurter Buch Messe, then in Munich. Holly also was the winner of the Myself Magazine Liebling Award for 2011 in the Design category.  Holly has signed and presented her book in over 20 cities worldwide and views its success to her team at Jacqui Small and Chronicle Books along with her devoted global audience of readers on decor8 who have supported her from the start.

Holly’s third book, a collaboration with her business partner and friend, Leslie Shewring, will release in the Spring of 2014 by Chronicle Books and Jacqui Small Publishing.

In addition to her books and her blog, decor8, Holly was 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. She is also a columnist for Where Women Create: Business – a magazine that launched in January 2013 under the Stampington brand. In her column, she shares her expertise on blogging and social media for business owners.

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, including those in her own studio space in Hannover, Germany. Some of her most recent workshops include a blogging, photography & styling weekend in New York City, Lecturing at a food styling retreat in Germany, a gift wrapping workshop for an Anthropologie pop-up cafe in Berlin, a decorating and creativity retreat in Marrakesh and a blogging and styling workshop in Hannover taught this past December 2012.

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 regular columnist for Real Simple magazine online (2007-2011), 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 also contributed articles for smaller niche magazines such as Sweet Paul, Matthew Mead magazine and Mowiekay and has worked on a variety of assignments for HGTV, HGTV Ideas magazine as a Style Editor, Boston magazine, Adorn and LUXX magazine in Singapore.

Holly 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). She also wrote the foreword to two upcoming titles, Happy Home: Everyday Magic for a Colorful Life (2013) by Charlotte Hedeman Gueniau and Furniture Makeovers by Barb Blair from Knack Studios.

Holly is an experienced public speaker and teacher who can be booked for events of any size. If you would like to inquire about a speaking, television or teaching opportunity she is represented by Rebecca Friedman at Hill Nadell (rebecca at hillnadell.com).

(Portrait of Holly Becker by Georg Moritz, Berlin.)

Monthly contributors 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. 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emilie Guelpa is French author, photographer and stylist who writes the monthly column, Playing With Food, highlighting creative ways to cook and display food, some columns include recipes, too. Emilie also authors a gorgeous blog, Griottes, and lives and works in Paris.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

German graphic designer and cookbook author Lisa Nieschlag lives in Münster and German photographer Julia Cawley, resides in Brooklyn, New York. Together they produce, Food In Motion, a once-monthly video for decor8 readers that shows a dish or dessert from start to finish in less than two minutes with a recipe so you can make it, too. Also known as Liz & Jewels, these talented friends and colleagues blog over at Liz & Jewels where they challenge each other to cook, style and photograph the same dish without knowing what the other is doing, and then they share the outcome on their blog. You can follow their column on decor8, which began in April 2013, here.