Recently, after making a major move to new state, I have moved into my new house.  Those of you who have moved recently know that the concept of moving means evaluating the items you have and either keeping or purging them.  Obviously, the more you decide to keep – the more you have to move.  Make sense, right?  In unpacking boxes at the new house, I vowed to really edit items and only move in what we truly use.  I also vowed to organize my space like a I have never organized before.  I mean like Martha-Stewarts-got-nothing-on-me organize.  Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day and I’m still finding my organizational groove but I did recently come across this amazing article from one of our go to manufacturers – Delta Faucet – that got me thinking about using conventional products in ways that go beyond the call of duty they were originally designed for.

We love, love, love products in the marketplace that function beyond what they were originally designed for.  Just take a look and see what we mean –

http://www.deltafaucet.com/…/declutter-laundry-kids-room-cl…

~ Posted by Jen

One of the perks of being a kitchen and bath designer is that our vendors, suppliers, and distributors are often hosting events to launch new product lines, thank us for our business, or having a networking event.  Over the winter we attended a casino night, in the spring it was a March Madness party, a summer barbeque pig roast, and last week we even held our own party, but last night was probably the most fun event we’ve ever been to.  Mid-America Tile celebrated their new partnership with Ragno tile by inviting about 50 industry professionals to go on a Chicago Architectural boat tour.  There was food, wine, and a tour through Chicago guided by a lovely woman named Sarah and the entire Designers Point team went.  As you can tell by the photos, we really enjoyed taking an afternoon/evening off and spending it out on the water.

We started out at Burnham Harbor next to Soldier Field; the late afternoon sun and the light breeze coming off the lake were perfect.  We munched on sandwiches, wraps, and mini quiches and drank wine while looking at Soldier Field and the city skyline.  Once the boat took off, we headed out to Lake Michigan, and the waters got rough; as a lifetime lover of water and boating, I really enjoyed the bounce and chop of the boat, but it stopped when we slowed down to head into the Chicago River via the lock system.  Our tour guide was entertaining, funny, and incredibly knowledgeable about Chicago, its history, and obviously the architecture.  As we went through the city, the sun went down and the magnificence of the city was pretty awe inspiring.  I think my favorite thing about Chicago is how it is considered a working-man’s city, or a blue-collar city, but it has such fantastical architecture and creativity in artwork, fountains, and landscaping.  The entire tour was three hours long and we had a wonderful time; the atmosphere was laid back, fun loving, and respectful.  If you ever have a chance to take an architectural tour through Chicago, do it on a late August evening and bring some of your favorite people, it’s definitely one of my favorite experiences in Chicago!