I was amazed at some of the sights we saw driving about, palm trees dressed in gold lame for decoration. We drove to an artist’s “village” a crowded maze of old and new buildings with a “gate” at the front that is home to many artists. It seemed somewhat deserted and we ambled around for at least an hour on stone streets. We came across a house crafted of oyster shells, and a performance pavilion with stunning gold and black “door ghosts.” We also saw a man hard at work mortaring brick and using an old fashioned bucket and pulley for bringing up the sand for his mortar.

Following our meanderings we headed off to visit the studio of Mr. Cuo, an acclaimed contemporary Chinese interior designer. We were greeted by his assistants and viewed all four floors. His work is reminiscent of Ron Arad, Michael Taylor, and Robert Kuo. It is bold in its shape, peaceful in its simplicity, and timeless by its largely organic nature. He had a stunning collection of fish, mostly carved wood, some ceramic that he had crafted. He shared that the fish is not present in the Chinese calendar of astrology, and he felt that it represented his uniqueness. He also had a collection of toilets, both working and decorative because he said (through the translator) that the invention of the toilet was so incredible and had been impacted by so many other countries that China needed to design a toilet also.

I was honored by his request to sign a book he owned on my great grandfather, Frank Lloyd Wright. And he presented me with a clipping in Chinese regarding Fallingwater that he had hung onto for many years. He also presented each of us with a tiny ceramic cup, hand crafted used to toast with Chinese liquor. It was truly a privilege visiting his studio and viewing his craftsmanship and imagination at work.

The Chinese are masters at landscape artistry and even the highways are lushly planted with tropical looking greenery in full flower. They had plumeria, Japanese maples, crepe myrtles, palm trees, fringe flower and too many more to name. They also embraced the art of topiaries and the Foo Dogs here, or lions as they called them, are particularly entertaining.

We visited the historical property The House of Chen. It was in typical Chinese style with polychromed sculpted scenes on the roof line, tiled roofs, stone courtyards, and much carved wood. Most of the carving seemed to be contemporary interpretations of historical representations. They also showcased modern day artists working in the class arts of ceramic sculpture, bone carving, ivory carving, wood carving and more. The doors had enormous colorful painted warrior type figures, one on each door, and are called “door ghosts”) as they are protectors of all who reside within.

Staying at www.hoteldongfang.com. The room is lovely, compact, well designed, and with a soft elegance. Muted sage, basil, and rosemary green accents with contemporary textures. The entry (there is one!) boasts a roomy closet with heavy wood hangars and none of that nonsense with the head of the hangar so small you can’t steal it for home use. (No, I’m not lifting hangars, just appreciate the fact that they are real sized so easy to use.) They also have a nice little breakfast counter in limestone with an electric water pot for tea and coffee Another great idea!

There is a writing desk with leather inset and work lamp, and a console with storage for clothes and the TV is the old fashioned box style exposed. I’m surprised it isn’t a flat screen. A beautiful bench with a limestone top serves as a luggage rack, and it’s much easier than the usual cheap folding ones. The bath is all inclusive with a tub (though I need an extra foot or two to really stretch out) and a full shower. Not a lot of counter space but well placed shelves for all the vanity necessities. The lighting is the only element that really is ineffective as a woman who does put on a bit of a face.

Enjoyed lunch and lots of tea with Ready Zhang, the organizer of this venture, and his assistant. Many types of dumplings, my favorite were fried with shrimp inside. I effectively dodged the fried chicken paws (Ready’s English) and the pig’s hooves (looking like a black beet). I tried the steamed dough with sweet filling, kind of resembled a poached egg, it was ball shaped and white with filling the color of egg yolks. I also tasted the “porridge” which was a gruel like mix of rice and veggies, gray and runny. I’ll pass on it next time. I managed almost all with chop sticks but ran into trouble with some of the crispy fried items, just too slick and I had to revert to a fork.

Home is truly our external heart and as such it needs a lot of care and attention in its decorating and development. Invite friends and family to contribute to the creation of your home. A house is merely a dwelling; it becomes a home when you use your heart to express your environment in a comfortable and inviting manner.

Here are even more great ways to celebrate your home with friends and family.

Build the Deck Bash

I’ve got too many do-it-yourself friends, not to mention handy guys I know, that think decks are the be all and end all of projects. And there are a wealth of manuals on the market for just such a design dilemma. Now generally this is best if coming just off the back of a house with a low drop-off (foot or two), or you need to have someone who really knows their stuff on hand. Often you may not be building new but simply replacing existing decking with new boards or adding a new railing, both appropriate do-it-yourself tasks.

You provide the lumber, food and refreshments and invite friends in the know to bring tools, tunes, and a desire to work. What would have taken you a month of weekends, can now be done much faster with the company of good friends and turned into an experience rather than the project that wouldn’t end. Be sure you have a plan to either dispose of or donate the old lumber if this replaces an existing deck.

Celebrate your home and the great outdoors with a Build the Deck Bash

Deck the Walls Celebration

Got all your furniture in place, but nothing to deck the walls? Make it an event and have guests bring you art for your home. Now, I know it is a little dicey to rely on someone else’s taste so you provide guidelines. You can also register and it doesn’t have to be at some expensive gallery (though go for it if you can!) Consider art from national sources like Pier 1 Imports, Z Gallerie, and Crate and Barrel, many of the major retailers and catalogue companies have registries and not just for brides anymore.

Alternatively, you can rely on just providing a color palette and style, such as Tuscan Countryside, Urban Sophisticate, Coastal Breeze or Classic Traditional. This gives a bit more latitude and creativity to the gift giver. While you may not love it all, you will know that they gave it some thought and you can always pass it on later. (I don’t believe in saving gifts because of who gave them. I also don’t ever check my friends homes for the gifts I’ve given, goodness, I don’t usually remember what I gave!)

Once everyone has arrived, be prepared with a hammer, tape measure, pencil and picture hangars to literally hang it all on the spot. Or, hire an installer during the celebration to do this for you with guidance on placement. Everyone will want to see their treasured gift displayed and know they made a beautiful difference in creating your home.

Celebrate your home with a Deck the Walls Celebration!

Dress the Bedroom Bash

Bedrooms are all about rest and romance. Keep the exercise equipment elsewhere and the desk for work in another room. I’ve also found that too often the bedroom is the last room decorated and often waits until after the great room, kitchen, kid’s rooms and more are done. Yikes! Your bedroom is your haven and deserves to be a priority. Don’t wait; celebrate it with a Dress the Bedroom Bash.

It is up to you to furnish the bed and that means headboard, footboard optional, and a bedding scheme. The rest you can leave up to friends. They can either provide actual furnishings in the form of night stands, lamps, pillows, window treatments, a chair or gift certificates. On the invite include a picture of you lounging on the bed, or your favorite Fido or Rover doing the same and invite them to fill in the gaps.

Yes, you can register pieces if your friends are decorating challenged or you just don’t trust their taste! Most often you can make returns, and it may be fun to see what someone else has in mind with your bed style. You just might find yourself stepping out of the box and getting something more than you expected.

Celebrate your home and optimize your rest and romance opportunities with a Dress the Bedroom Bash!

Knick Knack Party

Perhaps you’ve gotten all your major furniture pieces in place and even have some artwork hung but lack the finishing touches that really make a house a home. So invite your friends to help provide the accessories!

Again, you can register for specific pieces like picture frames, candles, glass bottles and vases, wrought iron figures, florals and greenery, or you can trust your friends, with just a bit about your style in the invitation and a picture or two to give them a head start.

Of course, gift certificates do give anyone an easy out and ensure you get what you want. And you can always do an exchange later. The more information you provide the more likely you are to get tasteful elements that really add polish and flair.

Celebrate your home with a Knick Knack Party!

Spa Bath Moment

It seems every party I go to someone brings the hostess a basket of bath goodies. This is usually much appreciated (except by those of us that are strictly shower types!) and is an easy way to get friends together to celebrate.

Plan a spa bath moment that includes sharing your favorite scents and colors. Do you enjoy lavender or eucalyptus? Lemon or Grapefruit? Are you into fruit or flowers, herbs or grasses? There are so many lotions, potions, aromas, potpourris, candles and more to choose from.

You provide your preferences and consider bringing in a manicurist or masseuse for mini treatments for your friends. Yes, it is usually a girl’s night only. But you can always expand it to guys being included if you have a handy project, like a tub to be replaced or maybe you just need a new shower head installed.

Celebrate your home, relax and rejuvenate with a Spa Bath Moment.

For more great ideas on celebrating your home, be sure to check out Part I of this article. And if you are ready to get the full scoop on Celebrate Your Life! The Art of Celebrating Every Day, go to www.theartofcelebrating.com. Author and lifestyle expert Melissa Galt speaks with audiences nationwide on how to add the celebration to life every day by honoring ourselves, our family, our friends, our careers, our travel and adventure, our health and much more. You can find out more at www.melissagalt.com.

Home is truly our external heart and as such it needs a lot of care and attention in its decorating and development. Invite friends and family to contribute to the creation of your home. A house is merely a dwelling; it becomes a home when you use your heart to express your environment in a comfortable and inviting manner.

Here are some easy ways to celebrate your home with friends and family.

Housewarming by the Room

So few people it seems remember to throw a housewarming or if they do it is a couple of years after moving in. So, to get this ball rolling, don’t wait for the entire house to be complete; instead, celebrate room by room. Very few folks decorate their entire home at once anyway, and it counts to measure the small successes, even if it is a powder room, not to mention the big successes like a kitchen or bath remodel.

How many entertaining opportunities have you missed by waiting to get your house complete? Remember if your friends are waiting to see your drapery and not you, you might want to consider some new friends! Life is in the connection, not in the stuff. Celebrate every step rather than waiting for just one big one.

Celebrate your home with room by room housewarmings!

Stock the Pantry Party

No one likes to show up at a party empty handed and this is an easy way to get guests to bring what you need and want, while you share the welcome of your home and hospitality.

Create a master list of pantry stockers desired or even register if you are including kitchen appliances like blenders, toasters, and food processors. Let everyone know what you are into, whether it is a pantry full of bottled water, chips and dip or you are a bit more of a cook and want great exotic spices, tins of imported specialty foods, and international flavors. Sure flour and sugar are necessary staples, but I bet you can get more creative.

On appliances and kitchen tools, think hard about what you want and what you’ll use. Sure some are almost required like the blender and even a toaster still, but what about a divine bread maker, the latest ergonomic palm held peeler, a butterfly trash can by Simply Human, or a classic wine rack. You can even suggest gift cards from favorite big box retail kitchen good stores like Bed Bath Beyond, Williams Sonoma, and Crate and Barrel.

Celebrate your home with a stock the pantry party!

Grow the Garden Party

This is one of my favorites as I’ve come relatively late to the realization of a green thumb. The grow the garden party is ideal if you enjoy potting house plants, or dream of a cutting garden, or perhaps harbor visions of growing your own herbs and vegetables. Invite your friends to an outdoor picnic and while you provide the food and drink, ask them to provide a plant or garden tool.

Of course you may want to suggest gift cards from local nurseries for those that are green thumb challenged, and you’ll want to specify full sunshine or shade for desired plants. The point is that you get a more eclectic mix and when all are in bloom, they remind you of each guest and their personal contribution. You could even name each plant with tags after the person that provided it.

Celebrate your home and Mother Nature with a Grow the Garden Party!

Demolition Bash

Okay, you’ve made the decision to remodel and it is a big project. Kick it off in style with a Demolition Bash. Perhaps you are tearing out the kitchen or bath making way for a major update or reconfiguration. In any case, it’s got to go. Be sure you time this with your contractor’s schedule, and invite friends to bring a dish and a camp out in your newly emptied space.

(If you have handy careful friends you can actually invite them to assist with demolition, but be cautious in mixing a party atmosphere with hammers and other serious remodeling tools.)

It is always rewarding to enjoy even a day of the space unfinished before the work of putting it all together gets underway. Do be sure you have made all of your decisions at this stage and you don’t open up the event to brainstorming. Too many opinions will only result in confusion and frustration.

Remodeling can be an exhausting and sometimes chaotic process so celebrating at demolition can make it that much more tolerable. Be sure to plan the next bash at completion!

Paint Party

Personally, I can’t think of anything I’d rather avoid, but I can do it myself if necessary without training. (Heck, I once sponge painted my whole house, since the contractor had reversed the paint colors in the final coat!) But I do have friends that not only enjoy painting but actually find it relaxing, imagine it.

So if you have one or two rooms to get done and would be willing to do the same for friends or family (turn about is fair play in this), plan a painting party. You supply the paint, of course, but I’m betting you have friends with extra drop cloths, ladders, and even brushes that will be game to come and join you for an afternoon or a day of painting to be rewarded with pizza and beer or a cold cut sandwich buffet and icy sodas.

This can save the cost of a contractor and actually make an otherwise mundane and potentially arduous task fun. Many hands make light work, so invite others to help.

Celebrate your home with friends that will help you transform a room or two and a Paint Party!

For more great ideas on celebrating your home, be sure to check out Part II of this article. And if you are ready to get the full scoop on Celebrate Your Life! The Art of Celebrating Every Day, go to www.theartofcelebrating.com. Author and lifestyle expert Melissa Galt speaks with audiences nationwide on how to add the celebration to life every day by honoring ourselves, our family, our friends, our careers, our travel and adventure, our health and much more. You can find out more at www.melissagalt.com.

Chairish the Future was a big success! I have to say having never attended a live auction before that was a blast! I knew just when to bid to drive up the pricing and at the same time when to bid so I’d win and I did. I’m the proud owner of three new chairs for my ever growing collection with a fourth on the way since my Prince commissioned one that had sold! We also snagged a week at the beach in an 1800 square foot condo, ooooh fun! And I met VERN YIP!

San Francisco bound! This week I’m in San Francisco for Alex Mandossian’s TSS Reunion. I’m truly looking forward to meeting my mastermind members first hand and connecting with successful mentors to continue my business growth.

ACC Craft Show coming up! Are you going to attend? The weekend of March 13-15 is Atlanta Market but also the American Craft Council Show and I will definitely be checking it out. Years past I’ve gotten great finds in art apparel as well as artwork for clients and my own collection. It is a global gathering of talent you don’t want to miss.

Prospering by Design, ALWAYS!

MG

www.chairishthefuture.com is this weekend! Vern
Yip of HGTV fame is emceeing the event at the King Plough Arts Center
in Atlanta. There is still time to buy tickets and partake of a
wonderful evening of food, drink, fun, connecting, and chairs! I will
be there with my new beau (I am too old for a boyfriend!) It benefits
the Metro Atlanta Furniture Bank, a great cause. Who knows, I might
even pick up a few additions to my collection. Love to see you there.

You asked to see The Bag!
I had readers request to see the bag that “he” bought me spur of the
evening on Valentine’s, so here it is. And I have to confess that my
real treasure was a red balloon that he gave me at lunch the day before
Valentine’s and I kept it attached to my purse (not the one here, the
everyday bag) for over 8 days as it continued to fly high! You’ve no
idea the amused looks and comments it drew from men and women alike,
unfamiliar with seeing an adult with a red balloon.

Under the Big Top again! Heading
into Atlanta this weekend for Cirque du Soleil. Betting many of you
have seen a show or two, if you haven’t DO, if you have DO AGAIN! There
is nothing more stunning than seeing the human body used as a living
art form and that is really what Cirque does. It is also a brilliant
reminder of how DESIGN is a totally engulfing sensory experience
touching our sight, our hearing, our touch, our smell, and our taste. How can you DESIGN a total experience for your clients? It isn’t about the sofa but about the experience they will have by owning it . . .

Prospering by Design, ARE YOU?

MG

We all have a creative spirit whether it manifests itself in a talent for home improvement, sewing, craft projects or perhaps computer programming and writing music. Too often we suppress this side as a part of ourselves we will indulge when there is more time. There won’t ever be more time and we need to develop and nurture our creative spirit at all times. This will help us to be better balanced and rounded individuals and allows us to share gifts with others on another level.

Here are even more opportunities to celebrate your creative spirit!

Garden Magic

I know you are thinking you have a black thumb, well get over it. I thought I did to but just until I really started to dabble in my garden and realized that if something didn’t make it, it might not have anything to do with my thumb, but instead the neighbor’s dog, too much sun, or just a finicky plant disposition. Sharing plants and planting tips is a wonderful way to indulge your creative spirit.

Pick a Saturday and plan to spend the time in your garden and a friend’s sharing gardening tips and digging in the dirt. Be sure to take a pot or two to say thanks for the help and these can go in the garden too. (While I love indoor live plants, my pets love them a bit too much too!) I tend to like an organized chaos of blooms with layering of color and species, others are much more orderly and formal in their choices. There is no right or wrong just what blooms and what needs extra care.

Grow your creative spirit with travels in the garden.

Photo Memories

One of the best gifts I ever got was from a friend that had spent Thanksgiving at my home with another friend. She had taken photos and put them in just a small album. They chronicled my oven catching fire with marshmallows from the sweet potatoes (you do know this tradition, don’t you?) then the arrival of the fire department much to my embarrassment. I offered the brigade a bottle of champagne for their trouble but they politely declined. This same friend then proceeded to land the no longer flaming sweet potatoes on her blouse during dinner! It was a riot and the picture album stayed on my desk for over a year, a happy reminder of a wonderful holiday with friends.

The power of photos is often underrated and while until digitals appeared I had the unique knack of cutting off people’s heads and being perpetually out of focus (thank goodness for digital do-overs), I now take photos everywhere and share them widely. It is a way to capture the present for the future. Celebrate your creative spirit with digital memory making, keep it simple.

Paint a Plate

Sometimes we can take a lesson from the craft projects kids bring home. I often see painted plates in client’s homes and I am familiar with the trend of the last few years to go to a do-it-yourself pottery source where you can paint your own plates and have them fired for use at home. This is an easy creative outlet and fun to wrangle friends or family into joining you.

You can either make the plates for decorative purposes or for everyday. You could even make one as a gift and have everyone sign it with a quote or quip. Personal makes a difference in a world where we can buy everything.

Sign a Pillow

I used this idea when I was back in grade school and realize I am going to resurrect it for my next bash. A large canvas style pillow and a package of colorful sharpie markers can take the place of a guest book and then be tossed into your décor for a memory making accent. Each person that comes in signs the pillow with a comment about the event, and it becomes a personal reminder of a great time.

If you really want to carry this a step further, have everyone sign a flat piece of fabric and then when you have collected enough of these from a few years of celebrations they can be put together to form either a wall tapestry of memories or a floor cloth (sealed with polyurethane). Tap into your creative spirit for preserving moments of celebration.

Jewelry Making

There is such a wealth of bead making places available now, sometimes at a craft show but even at the mall. This is another fun way to realize your creative spirit with handmade baubles and bangles. Whether you make something for yourself or family or friends, it is personal and unique.

This won’t appeal to all. I’d just be interesting in picking the beads out and then moving on and letting someone else do the assembling, but then rumor has it I have ADD! There is still creativity involved and I have friends that would defer on the bead selection and delightedly sit patiently and string them all. (It is great when opposites attract!)

Celebrate your creative spirit with the making of bright and shiny objects.

Home Improvement

You may be one of those TV wonders that keeps up with all the DIY shows and can actually DIY a project! I admire you and applaud you, I am not. This is a creative gift and can save you a lot of money in labor costs, and be a rewarding celebration of your own creative spirit.

Whether you want to tackle a dog house complete with lighting and air conditioning (yes, a friend just did this!), or build a deck off the back of the house or maybe you’ll try something on a slightly smaller scale and complete a simple bird house on a stake, have fun with it, get the kids involved if you have any and be open to help from friends and family.

It is not about doing it yourself but in sharing your creative spirit with others in a generous manner that really makes the difference.

We all have a creative spirit whether it manifests itself in a talent for home improvement, sewing, craft projects or perhaps computer programming and writing music. Too often we suppress this side as a part of ourselves we will indulge when there is more time. There won’t ever be more time and we need to develop and nurture our creative spirit at all times. This will help us to be better balanced and rounded individuals and allows us to share gifts with others on another level.

Here are some opportunities to celebrate your creative spirit!

Craft Corner

Establish a craft corner or room in your home. This can be as simple as converting the spare (guest) room closet into a place for projects that might include sewing, hot gluing, collage making, scrap booking and more. It could be as significant as devoting an entire room to these pursuits or creating an exterior work room/tool bench for the pursuit of significant home improvement projects.

You are more likely to cultivate your creative spirit when you have dedicated space to it and organized the tools and materials in an accessible and fun manner. Baskets and boxes of assorted craft materials with a table surface to work at is often all that is needed. You may even be able to create a make shift space in a laundry closet by designing a drop down cover to place over the washer and dryer and using shelving above to store art supplies.

The key is to unleash your creative spirit in a way that works for you. This can also turn into a place for children to work on their school projects.

Scrapbooks/Scrap-pillows

Scrapbooking is now an actual art form. Gone are the days when it merely meant sliding photos between sticky pages and leaving it at that. Today it is about incorporating all manner of mementos with photos and including clever captions, family sayings, and priceless quotes. The challenge is still of course when will anyone slow down long enough to truly enjoy such artistry. I encourage clients to create wall collages instead that can be displayed on stairwells and enjoyed by all in the family every day.

Scrap pillows is also a unique idea that would make a great gift for family. It entails creating a memory pillow with a silk screen of photos stitched to the pillow and other mementos adhered for collage effect. This is often most effective in a country or Victorian decorating scheme.

Greeting Card Originals

I have a faux finisher and artist friend that makes his own holiday cards. Each is a work of art and I have to confess I never opened my birthday card as he had caricatured on the envelope and I don’t want to destroy it! You don’t have to be an artist and it may be easier to do this for the occasional birthday than to tackle a major holiday with a host of cards all due. You can use computer imagery, color copies, original photos, and collage items (coins, fabric scraps, charms, trinkets) you can make this a personal statement and it can even become the gift.

I remember growing up that whenever we asked my Mom what she wanted the answer was always the same, a letter from each of us. Yikes, I couldn’t buy that and it sounded too easy, for years I ignored the request and loaded her birthdays and holidays with scarves and picture frames and other goodies. The year I finally listened, she burst into tears she was so pleased.

Handmade is so rare these days, it means that much more. Tap your creative spirit so share an original greeting with a friend or family member.

Recipe Swap

Yes, I can cook and very well when I want to but I hate to follow recipes and tend to keep my favorites in my head, under six ingredients with limitless variety of add-ins to make it special (or as some friends say “weird!”) Other friends are awesome in the kitchen turning out dishes that my caterer asks for the recipes! Let’s level the field a bit and do a recipe swap.

Now the fun in this is that you get to sample all the goodies you are getting recipes for. Often this is done at holidays with a cookie swap but since I am never big on following rules, do this a couple of times a year and make one appetizers and another salads or casseroles. It is not limited to the ladies by any means, many men are better cooks and really enjoy it. Do a kebob recipe swap, a novel idea and it will get everybody grilling. Or plan a beverage recipe swap just in time for the heat of summer so you get some fresh punch and summer cooler ideas.

Looking for more fun way to celebrate your creative spirit? Be sure to check out Part II of this article on Best Life Design.