The Visual Vamp has moved, she is out of the hood and living in a glam new blog at The Visual Vamp.What she misses the most is the nearly thousand of followers she left behind. Blogger doesn't allow her to take you all followers in the moving van. They say that YOU have to make the decision to FOLLOW her at her new blog site.She knows that sometimes that can be a pain to do, so she is bribing you with some free Missoni!Click HERE to visit the new blog site, then become a Follower and leave a comment saying so. One will be chosen at random and be awarded a free Missoni. Ever since my blog was hijacked a few months ago, assigning me a sign in name not of my choosing, I have felt uneasy. So Alberto finally helped me move it. I haven't gone far. I am still with blogspot. I like the format and am very used to it after three years.I could not use my original blog name because it's taken (by me!). So we just added one crucial word: THE.So the new blog is: I kept the Follower feature located in the right hand margin.

But alas, I could not transfer my followers, so it's like starting all over again. So please follow me if you like.We also transferred comments that had to become part of the text. If I missed someone, please leave a new comment at the new location. You can also leave it again on any post at the new location.The new format is a little more colorful, but still very classic.I will not be posting on this blog site, but it will remain up.So please follow me to The Visual Vamp!Thanks for three great years here and for reading nearly 5000 posts!!! I can't believe it's the finale tonight of Million Dollar Decorators! Go over to Houzz and see the collection of things I found to get the look of Mary McDonald's fab glam office HERE My sister is visiting me! We have not seen each other since Katrina.I have also been busy with some freelance projects, and some changes for The Visual Vamp blog. which is as they say, "under construction".New and frequent posts coming soon. Hang in here with me.

As part of the changes, I want to ask you guys how you feel about the "Follower" feature. Is it important to you? I appreciate every reader and follower. How would you feel if I did not include the "Follower" feature on the updated Visual Vamp blog?PS The sisters in the photo are Lady Gaga with her sister Natali I love stacks of hats! Stack 'em high on entry hall tables or chests! I stacked these this morning on the Union Jack near our front door. Alberto painted this for me a few months ago HERE, and it has turned out to be so handy, a nifty little "coat" closet and a place to hang leash, and for me to stack some of my huge hat collection.I share a few images with you to inspire you to stack your hats! Send me photos to show everyone.Debra stacks her hats in her French Quarter home - So I get a Tweet a couple of months asking me if I was up for a styling job. I followed the Tweet to an email that led to phone calls that led to a most interesting job.The premise was a progressive dinner party to take place in three French Quarter courtyards, a benefit for NOCCA (New Orleans Center for Creative Arts), in particular for the Culinary School.Target was the generous sponsor, with the one request to use the Smith & Hawken product they sent for the party and for a photo shoot to be used for their various PR needs.

And send it they did! of beautiful merchandise that the Target product designer and I chose to fit the personality of each of the three courtyards.black diamante curtains 66x90It was a complex and interesting project from receiving and organizing all the product in a hot New Orleans warehouse, to arranging for the home owners' things to be taken away and stored, to dealing with copious amounts of trash that all the packing materials created, and all the regular issues involved in planning a party, with everything done in triplicate!montgomery red rosaline curtainsTarget and their PR team in New York were spectacular, the vendors in New Orleans impeccable, the French Quarter hosts stellar, generous, and helpful, and NOCCA was involved in the best possible ways.the tortilla curtain arroyo blanco summary

It was the beginning of our record breaking heat wave in New Orleans, but that did not stop people from attending the sultry party, with nearly $60,000 raised in one night of fun for NOOCA!the curtains edsbynLet's start with courtyard #1.Small and charming, with the old servant's quarters balcony at my disposal. sedar curtains ajmanThe home owners are avid collectors, and one of their collections is of copper pots and pieces in their kitchens. eclipse round and round thermaweave curtainsTarget offered me product from their Smith & Hawken line, and there were many beautiful copper pieces to choose from.I used Smith & Hawken zinc lanterns in all three homes, starting with this one, where they lined the narrow alley way that is the entrance to the courtyard.

I chose to use wax battery operated candles for the whole project.Colorful fans rest in a Smith & Hawken copper boot tray for guests to take and use - a jazz brass band of student musicians from NOCCA played for the Second Line to accompany guests to the next location - Note the color of the fans...Courtyard #2 is long, and at first glance very large by French Quarter standards. But where do I put 50 people for dinner? I wanted this to be a seated family style dinner.Acrylic pool cover by Event RentalI placed Smith & Hawken teak tables on top of the pool! Host chairs are also Smith & Hawken, but I could not use the teak dining chairs to accommodate 58 people, so I rented bamboo folding chairs. I wanted to use a chair with a low top line so the Target product on the table could be seen and featured. I was wearing two hats: Product Stylist and Event Decorator. For the table: I chose to leave the tables bare, to show off the gorgeous teak wood finish. I added Thomas O'Brien dinnerware from Target, and tea towels from Dwell Studio for Target for napkins.

I love mixing the sophisticated pattern and color Dwell uses. More Smith & Hawken zinc lanterns were used on the tables, and ceramic pots (also S & H) were used for bright bouquets made by Dwell Studio dish towels were used as napkinsThere is an incredible terra cotta stucco wall in the courtyard, that gave me my color cue. I requested rusty orange cushions and umbrella. I mixed in navy blue accessories. I think orange and navy look so sophisticated and fresh together.Let's look at the courtyard again the day I went for the first walk through...And here's the same view on the night of the party. An extra table had to be added at the last moment for extra guests coming. I always go from plan A to Z with a smile. I had to pull a couple of rental tables from other uses, and juggle the seating arrangement. I visually pulled it all together.Courtyard #3 belongs to someone many of us bloggers know and love. She's my fellow "New New" as she calls us, someone from New York and New Orleans. Her home was used for dessert.

Again this third courtyard is a tiny gem, so a bar was set up there, and some seating for anyone wanting some sultry romantic ambiance. So the dessert buffet done by was set up on the dining table. Do you recognize it?I used garden ornaments from Smith & Hawken on the table: peacocks for whimsy, and mini birdbaths to hold macaroons.Sucre did the macaroon topiary!Small pastel bouquets were placed around the sitting room...Tommy's did these too (and all the flowers for all three homes).Just reading all this and looking at all the pictures must have worn you out!!!!I loved every minute of this project, and I hope you enjoyed a little insight into my work world, and I hope you got some good ideas to use for your next party. Do check out Target and get some of these things. The summer sales are in full swing, and there is still alot of summer entertaining to do.And speaking of summer entertaining, go on over to Eddie Ross and read about his backyard bash. Alberto and I went to it a year ago!!!

How fast another summer has rolled along.All photos of Art of the Feast by Valorie HartExcept dessert buffet - photo by SucreRead more HERE A few months ago I posted a reader's home (Kellie and Marc). It is a wonderfully designed space that we all enjoyed seeing. As I have gotten to know Kellie better, I have found out that she comes from a family of designing women.The home of Kellie and Marc HEREThere are four daughters (Kellie, Maggie, Sara, Jenni), each one a decor maven with one house cuter than the other, and each one looks very different in decor personality. But all share put together looks that anyone of us would love.Knowing that my own design awareness came from my mother, I asked Kellie about her mom. And sure enough the mother of this family of designing women is the inspiration for all of the daughters.You know I had to see Mom's house. Her name is Jill, and she has made a career out of making the family home unique and beautiful. All the daughters are grown with homes of their own, so Jill has recently made an empty nest for her and hubby Peter that all the daughters and sons-in-law and the five grandchildren love to fill.

Jill's house is unique from the get-go. She took two old falling down single shotgun houses that were on lots so narrow that you could almost touch the house next door. I love the way she used color and repetitive elements to visually join two houses together as one.The center "bridge" addition connecting the two old houses is genius. It is meant to be the front door, but the family secret is that they all use the door on the house on the left side.The brick courtyard was made from bricks that came from fireplaces that had to be knocked out. Jill is an amazing re-cycler, and up-cycler extraordinaire. Walking across "the bridge" you enter house #2, which has two guest rooms and a bath, and the kitchen.Each guest bedroom is furnished with sweet textiles and mementos. There is a framed shadow box with a purse in it! It belonged to Jill's mother, the girls' grandmother. They said grandmother carried that purse everyday of her life that they remember. The photo over the bed is of the grandmother.