Hello everyone and a very happy new year to you! I've been trying to blog less over the past month to focus my energy on a big project coming up AND to spend more time with my little boy who will turn THREE next month. We are doing well and he is such a wonderful child, I couldn't be happier as a mom and definitely had such a nice time with him during our pause time. My husband and I really enjoy him - he is a super energetic, a comedian and already speaking in sentences in both German and English, so he's definitely keeping us on our toes. (my imm mood board above, to give you a general idea of the decor8 booth concept)

Okay, so! I have to tell you about this very exciting and a very big FIRST TIME project I'm currently assigned to by the imm and LivingKitchen fair (more info here and here). But first...Do you know about the imm and LivingKitchen?

If not, it's one of the largest fairs in the world, and certainly most influential, for home and kitchen. It's THE fair to attend if you want to catch all of the largest trends from the leading companies plus, to see all of their brand new collections before anyone else. What is even MORE special is that this time, they are including a special hall just for Blickfang, which is an International Fair for independent designers, so they are giving small brands a chance to be seen and experienced by their visitors. I find this very fresh and inspirational.

But that's not all... They have partnered with me and also Desiree from Vosgesparis, so we each were assigned a booth in one of the halls to present our own trend show. This is so exciting for us both, I'm certainly looking forward to it! The theme for our booths is "immspired – the bloggers’ trend show" and we were asked to design a booth from the ground up and source and order in all of the products we'd need to loan from some of our favorite companies, and we had about 6 weeks (including the holidays) to do it. This proved to be challenging but exhilarating because I was traveling for my European book tour during the planning stages AND since it landed right during the same time as my family "pause" time for the holidays among a thousand other things I have going on in my business!

So far, so good! Thing is, it was nice to work on something like this with such little planning time because I had to just make FAST decisions, improvise, and not over-think anything. For a creative/perfectionist/semi-control freak like me (at least for work-related tasks, definitely not in my private life), it was nice to have a very short planning and execution time because I would have doubted and revised and perfected to death every step along the way. The pace of this project has been intense and quick, but I'm still confident the results will be very nice and the fair will be so pleased with the results, as well as our guests. I really hope you will come to meet me and see the booth in person if you can! I feel so relaxed, not nervous at all, though with an estimated 70,000 people flooding to this influential fair, you think I'd be a wreck but I'm surprisingly so chill about it because this is something I love so much - combining my vision with meeting people and being immersed in a beautiful setting with inspirational people and products. HELLO HAPPINESS.

The decor8 space is planned at 11 meters by 7 meters, so it's a decent size spot with a small kitchen nook, dining area, seating area and a fun Instagram printer for you to use, free coffee, wifi and a big mood board project where you are invited to take part. I'll have tools for you to use AND we'll be posting on Instagram (you too!) where we will have a winner who will get special prizes from me shipped in the mail after the fair that you will love from my favorite companies.

I've finished my booth design (at least the major pieces), so I will show you more in the days to come... Then, during the fair on Instagram, I'll show you on Instagram Stories (@decor8) with live video AND with photos on my stream so you can see the booth. I have a bunch of bloggers visiting me at the booth too, so I'll be sure to share them with you when they stop by on my Instagram feed. You can follow the fun on Instagram with hashtag #immspired. Come visit me and if you want tickets at a special rate, click here, so you can come during the second weekend between January 20-22. I will be at my booth to meet my visitors on Monday, January 16, Saturday, January 21 from 11-and Sunday, January 22 from 11-4. If I'm not there when you stop by on those dates, just ask the person who is in my booth (we have a host present at all times) to send me an SMS so I can come by to meet you - I may be off touring the fair or working elsewhere for a bit. If I know you have come to meet me, I'll do my best to see you so please do stop by.

For now, I want to thank some of the companies in advance who are lending me products for this wonderful project. They include: FERM LIVING - Lighting and accessories SKAGERAK - furniture MENU A/S - furniture, lighting and accessories WOUD - furniture and lighting PIET HEIN EEK - furniture N BY NABER - kitchen CONNOX - furniture ATELIER SUKHA - accessories FARROW & BALL - paint

I will also have special paintings from SANIA PELL and small ceramics from DIETLIND WOLF along with magazines to read and enjoy as you lounge from KOEL, FETE PRESS and BELONG.

I expect to add a few more collaborators our list above in the next 48 hours, so I'll update this post when I do to share them with you.

TO ATTEND AT A SPECIAL PRICE (8 Euro for the entrance on the private visitor days including free train ride) CLICK HERE and enter this code at checkout: 2017lk+imm

I'm so happy to share this project with you... More to come in the next days, so stay turned and again, a very happy new year to all of you.

Love and peace,

Holly