Dial Your Next Party Up to "Special"

Irwin Weiner ASID - Jay and I love to host parties. We hope you do, too. If you enjoy interior design and creating a lovely home, then the natural extension of "home love" is to share it with family, friends, and neighbors. Entertaining is an art, and if you don't do it very often, it can be a chore. But if you keep with it, and mix parties for a small group with bashes bringing in a larger crowd, you'll feel right at home being sociable. The slideshow above show scenes from a small dinner party we threw this Christmas Eve. Total attending (including the two of us): 11.

We hand-selecting international dishes for their "yummy" factor and festive colors (the slide show contains a menu), and we began by serving Admiral Russell's Christmas Punch, a big hit and so festive and tasty! I went to a local Walmart and selected holiday ornaments to fill four footed bowls running up and down the table, we added madcap color-changing electric candles in votives, and I bought coordinating fabric and made the tablecloth and napkins (are you impressed?!). And we did fun things we'd never tried before, like using wooden paddles to hand-roll individual balls of butter and printing out our menu and putting it by each place setting on little snowflake placeholders. It was lots of fun! As we approach New Year's Eve, everyone at Design2Share hopes you have an amazing 2013, and your home is filled with the sound of entertaining, good parties, and celebration. (And a big thank-you to the amazing Jana Kolpen for taking the photos in the slideshow.)

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Tabletop Decorating - Under the Sea Children's Themed Party

Katie Berger - I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter who is obsessed with The Little Mermaid (not to mention every other Disney Princess). She covets her Ariel doll and sleeps with it every night. She is her mother's child because she has already started planning her birthday party (it's in June, just so you know ... not next week!). I thought I'd step away from weddings for a while and focus on an Under the Sea themed little girls birthday celebration ... and the idea that Emma is running with for her party. Oh my, I have a lot of work ahead of me....

The following photos and amazing idea comes from Courtney Dial at one of my favorite blogs, Pizzazzerie. 

Click here for a direct link to the Under the Sea party blog for complete details ... and trust me - there are plenty of gorgeous details.

I hope you enjoy the following photos and can dream along with my little Emma about her ideal birthday party! (In the meantime, adapt as many ideas as you can for wonderful tabletop presentations.)

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Broadway Backwards 7 Rocked the House

Irwin Weiner ASID - A brief departure from our usual interior design posts, so please indulge me as I rave about Broadway Backwards, a one-night fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and The Center. This night benefits gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender causes - and the "backwards" part is that men sing songs traditionally sung by women and vice versa. This year's 2012 event was this Monday, March 5, and featured stellar performances by stars like Betty Buckley, Mario Cantone, Len Cariou, Nancy Dussault, Charles Busch, LaChanze, Bryan Batt, Anthony Federov, Robin De Jesus, Andrew Rannells, Shawna Hamic, and the incomparable Bruce Vilanch (photo at right). It was the most thrilling evening on Broadway we've ever experienced, with such a galaxy of talent and moving, imaginative performances stemming from the creative direction and choreography of Robert Bartley. In coming years, we look forward to alerting everyone to the next Broadway Backwards event, well in advance, so you too can join in the packed house and excitement. The following video will give you a taste of the great performances we experienced! 

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10 Home Lighting Tips from a Tony Winner

Irwin Weiner ASID - Go to an interior designer for all-things decorating, including lighting. But sometimes even the pros need to get a little inspiration from specialists in the field. One such font of wisdom is Kevin Adams, a Tony Award winner who specializes in lighting.

Here are some of Kevin's home lighting tips:

• At a dinner party, try not to have overhead lighting glaring down on your family and guests. "Light coming straight down on people is not flattering to the face or any object in the room."
• "Layers of light" will create the desired lighting for any party or special evening. Kevin uses table lamps of varying heights to create warm and friendly pools of light. The interplay of light and shadows is highly desirable.
• Install dimmers on all your lights to adjust the level of light at any time of day in your home. "Even the music sounds better when the lights are down."
• Put low-wattage light bulbs in your table lamps for parties - after all, no one's going to be reading a book!
• "People look very handsome in amber light." Kevin uses 13-watt amber-hued compact fluorescent light bulbs or CFLs - colored CFLs will produce a more saturated color than traditional incandescent bulbs.

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