Hi Friends! How Is everyone doing in hopefully a once in a lifetime experience for us all?!! What a silver lining to see and hear so many uplifting stories of people helping others. The local news is now full of those stories and entire programs are dedicated to thanking those who are keeping our cites going and us safe!!

Another first-the whole world working together for the good of all. Let’s stay the course, wash our hands, not touch our face, stay 6 ft. a apart, wear a mask, not gather and stay at home if not at work or running essential errands. We can do this and as Gabe Grunewald says so well ” You can still make something beautiful and something powerful out of a really bad situation.“

Now for some Spring Time Fluff!!

I read an article in Shape Magazine that really hit home about how organizing your home and office can improve your happiness and many aspects of your life! With us all social distancing what a perfect time to fluff and organize. So, with the offices, we knocked a few projects off our list to put everything in its place!

Did you know that people who work or live in an organized space are more likely to pick up an apple for a snack than a chocolate bar!! Since pool time weather is approaching us, I felt the kitchen was a great place to start! With open shelving and limited storage space, grouping items in like containers, makes access easy in a beautiful way. The metal baskets I used were from RH Teen. Keeping our flatware in a caddy also saves drawer space. The antique piece from Joyce Horn Antiques purchased years ago has a new SegretoStone top giving more counterspace to this island base.

A pretty glass jar keeps all of our coffee in one place and the dishes are grouped together by height and type. Notice the hand towels and cups?

They both were purchased on line from Personalization Mall. It has really made me look forward to that morning or afternoon coffee even more! What wonderful gifts for hostess, housewarming, or college grads!! Available in many colors, what cute conversation pieces!!

What is bursting from the seams at your home? In our offices it is samples, samples, samples and book boxes, book boxes, book boxes!! Deciding to group samples and hanging them all the walls as art, and putting boxes of books under every table and desk was our first step.

Skirting tables and desks are great ways to hide storage items. Whether if is a side table next to your bed or a shelving unit in your playroom, some fabric and a rod or Velcro are easy affordable ways to make what you have more functional.

These Ikea desks now serve as places to store as well. Looking at two many things at a time on your desk can effect your ability to focus. Clearing off her desk, Leslie Simmons is blowing though her many projects!. Leslie, now mom Carter and Bryn, started with Segreto right after collage. One of our talented designers, get to know her by following the links to see her wedding and home redo on Wedding Dreams, A House Redone Part 1, and 2.

Our main powder now has a place with its skirted SegretoStone basin to hide all of our bath and cleaning supplies!! We finial hung our trademark certificate for our own Segretostone!

We used the same acrylic frames from Wexel Art. They have all sorts of standard sizes, but you have the capability to also customize the size you need. Because of hanging covers and ………………

………………creating books filled with all of our press, I was able to though away boxes and boxes of entire magazines which had 5 or so pages of Segreto’s work in each. What a great time to organize your photos as you can do it from home! I used Milk for ours as I liked the cover and sizing options. Note: I work on them as I have time and print the books when they are full and a coupon of 30% or more is available!

As you enter, with the framed to the right we placed “The Eleanor” a SegretoStone table with a plaster floral art piece hung above.

Accessorizing is key to complete the look. Books are great decorative pieces to use, group depending on size and height and layer items on top. Notice two books and three accessories. Keep balance by altering groupings, two books, three accessories.

Lots of projects to complete in these areas!! The first is displaying our paint colors! We use to have an unused desk-clutter- to the right. Moving it, a perfect wall was created to house our paint!

I had purchased these cup hooks for something else and never used them. With a level and a measuring tape, the grid was laid out first and these hooks screwed into the wall!!

This will save us so much time at work in finding our clients perfect color!! ” When you’re organized at work, you’re more productive and efficient, which means you’re able to finish at a reasonable time and go home. This leave you with he time you need to exercise, prepare a healthy meal, relax and get more sleep”- Dr Selhub

Think about telling a story with your shelves rather than filling it with as many accessories as possible will help them look artful! For us we wanted to display our books, awards, and a few cutting edge art samples, which can be rotated our. Think about what you would like to group together, or what collections you have at your home. For more ideas on grouping art go read our post on Grouping Elements To Make An Art Wall!

This area is dedicated to SegretoStone. With all the colors, our mini fireplace prototypes and photo examples everything is all in one place!!

Super exciting news! Limb Design, who helped me with the graphic design of Segreto Impressions, entered it into the AAF Houston American Advertising Awards competion. Segreto Impressions won Gold for book design and Best in Show for print! Wow! Thank to each and everyone of you for your support and your projects. For a limited time you can save big on The Segreto Book series making it affordable to gain design inspiration while you are distancing at home! Order here.

We all are having to do things a bit differently. New Spring, a wonderful non-profit dear to my heart which supports at risk kids though art, holds an auction each year to display the student works and raises awareness for the organization. This year getting creative they are hosting the auction on line!! The bids start at $100 per piece of art and goes to such a great cause. Bradley’s Art and Frame and Framecrafters, who generously donated all the framing for the art, are currently closed. So place a bid to support a student, imagine it in a gorgeous frame and help restart these two local framers who in the past have been so generous to restart their business by taking your win to them for framing. The link to the site is: https://newspringart.cbo.io

Maybe you will spy the perfect piece for your home or office fluff! Stay safe, give love and hope to others and stay strong! We still need to wash our hands, wear our masks, stay 6 ft. apart and not touch our faces!! Much love! Till next week xo Leslie