My Personal Best

I don't know what made me come up with this title other than the fact that I have successfully completed the "May Challenge" at our local Pure Barre ( even with missing an entire week while at the beach!) and that got me to thinking….about why I don't have time to sit and read blogs anymore! Let alone WRITE blogs posts anymore or just peruse the internet for great recipes, design ideas, etc… Was I really spending THAT much time on here before I took up Pure Barre? I'm beginning to think the answer is a resounding "YES"! And even though I know that my personal best isn't just met with a successful 20 days in attendance at Pure Barre for the month of May…or the fact that I now get a big discount on my next purchase of classes in Pure Barre.

It sure does help!

(see if you can spot me in these pics! horrifying as it is!)

My personal best lies in a lot of different areas in my life…as it does in yours. It is made up of every day choices, time spent with family and friends…helping those less fortunate than us and even taking the time to call your parents and grandparents. It's the little things in our every day lives that make up our personal best. All of that to say, if I can complete the 20 day May Challenge in Pure Barre then certainly I can accomplish a lot of the goals that I've been wanting to set. 

There are several that come to mind but I won't bore you with all of them! The one I will talk about is that lately I've been quite discouraged with my shop and trying to decide if it's worth keeping open. I feel like I am completely out of ideas to make it what it should be…to keep up with the times so to speak! Then, I had a visit from a dear friend who is also an extremely talented designer here in town. He told me so many stories and we laughed and talked…and then he said something that really stuck with me. He was telling me that the trend he is seeing is that design is headed back towards the traditional and not the trendy…color over neutral…etc, and that of course it's still fun to add that "extra" pop of color with fun lamps or add a piece of what he calls, "mid century modern" furniture. Basically, he was saying that his style is what it is and he decided he wasn't straying from it. That is exactly what I've been wanting to say because in the end, if something doesn't sell I am ultimately stuck with it so I had better LOVE it! I also think I've frustrated myself with trying to be something that I'm not! Does this make any since to you? I sure hope so! Although I am a traditional girl I happen to love a lot of different styles and my home shows it. My mother in law said many years ago when she came over and was in our den, "Hmmm…somehow this all works together!"
I didn't take it as anything but a compliment! What she meant was that I had many different patterns going on and yet it still looked good to her! It is still that way today and I've never tired of it! I guess the point of this personal best post is this…I want to set goals and attain them. I want to get a clear picture in my mind of what I want my shop to be and stick with it and quit trying to please the young designers who aren't quite into traditional yet! Even more so... I want to understand them so that I CAN have a clear picture in my head on where design is headed…not that I want to compromise my love for traditional…I want to grow it! I want to grow my traditional, personal best!

Thank you, Steve Holmes for shedding some light on how to attain these goals…even when you thought you were just entertaining me with your fascinating design world! ( and you WERE! trust me!)
I hope to be able to do a post on Steve's fabulous work if he will let me! We shall see! Until then, I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and that you attempt to reach your personal best goals!

Birmingham Spotlight: A Mocha Light with Steve Holmes

On a hot afternoon in July, I had the privilege to stroll down to Starbucks and meet one of Birmingham's greatest interior designers for a mocha light frap.  

Steve Holmes is the owner of Mountain Brook's Timeless Interiors. With a client list reading more like a Who's Who of Birmingham, Steve manages to reinvent himself with each project.  He prides himself on not creating spaces that scream "This is a Steve Holmes house" but a space that says "This is the Jones' home".  

Like most designers, he, of course, will look to magazines and other printed works for inspiration, but he really looks to the client to make the design perfect.  Where is their home located? in what climate? in what region? But he takes it a step further - Where do they read the paper each morning? How close is it to the cereal? How can he make that experience easier and fuller?  Where do guests congregate in the home? How many come over? What do they end up doing?

'Cause lets be honest, if you're swinging from the chandelier each night, Steve better know to be sure that thing is bolted into the ceiling and that you've got enough clearance for your dismount!

Climate?  Did I just say he is inspired by the climate and region? Yes! Many of Steve's projects are done across the states.  A home in Phoenix is very different from a home in Birmingham.  The weather is different, the bugs are different, the energy of the people is different, and although that gorgeous Georgian red brick house is a show stopper on Canterbury, it just wouldn't make the same statement in Phoenix and a fabulous outdoor kitchen & living area would need to be weather proofed completely different for the weather on the West Coast.

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In school, we were taught that a great designer's longevity is due to his or her ability to forecast trends and to be ahead the curve.  When I asked Steve about trending, he's response was simple.  "Design is cyclical."  He noted that design is on an a cycle- it ebbs and flows with the economy, with the state of the nation, and the generation that has gone before.

Design is extravagant in time of plenty, and it simplifies in time of stress, and then, with the economy, it recovers to be brighter and fuller than before.  

"We don't want the Persian rugs and Louis the XIV chest of drawers from our parents house- we want what was in our grandparents house- the mod, the sleek, the simple."  He notes this is partly due to the fact that we don't want what our parents had simply because they are our parents, and partly because when our grandparents decorated, the economy was recovering from a time of loss just like today.

[Side note: We at Mulberry think it is perfectly fine for you to love Mommas Persian Rug- and if you need a place to buy one for yourself- call us! ]

So the next big thing? Take a look back about fifty years, and you'll be able to see whats next.

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As a young designer, I would have been totally foolish to have finished my latte without asking Steve to give advise to someone who is just starting out and hoping to have a successful career like his, and because I love y'all, I'll share his wise words.

"Try Everything.  Touch Everything.  Experience Everything."

Steve explained that each life experience gives me the opportunity to relate to a future client, to expand my frame reference, and to make me a more whole person.  This works on a personal growth level as well as a design level - how can I know which silks are the purest until I touch them all!

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I am so thankful for Steve's time.  I left feeling more inspired and enriched for knowing him, and I hope now that you do too!

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Gotta have him for your next project?
We think so!

Timeless Interiors

Steve Holmes

(205) 879-2714

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