Must Have Book: Design Sponge at Home

I was in the new Anthropolgie store on Newbury Street this past weekend in Boston, and I couldn't get enough of this book, "Design Sponge at Home" by Grace Bonney, the creator of the very popular blog, www.designsponge.com She basically filled 400 pages of photos and DIY ideas along with 200 pages of Sneak Peaks of designers' homes with tips on how to replicate the looks. I just couldn't put the book down. My favorite was the chapter on Before and After DIY projects. I definitely got some great ideas for future projects. You don't have to go to Anthropolgie to buy the book, except I think you get a special Anthropolgie version if you do. If not the book can be found on www.amazon.com for a few dollars less that Anthropologie.  I need to order my copy!

So there was another reason that I was in Boston this past weekend. I ended up going to an open casting call for the next season of HGTV's Design Star. I've never been to a casting call before, which was a really interesting experience. After waiting in a large room with dozens of other designers, I was called in by one of the casting recruiters to answer a few questions. "What do you do? Where do you work? Why do you want your own show on HGTV? What would be the design concept for the show?" It was hard to think of a good idea off the cuff like that, so I said I would love to host a design show where I would visit a military family and redesign a room in their home. Hey, it was the best idea I could think of. I didn't get a call back the next day, but I'm still glad that I went and tried something new.