The people of IDS11

Whoops – due to a technical glitch, the previously scheduled IDS11 Sibling Revelry post will have to wait until tomorrow. In its place, today I’m bringing you the people of IDS11.

{FYI, I HATE seeing myself in pictures and definitely do NOT make a habit of plastering my face all over the internet! But for this post, I’ll make an exception because I want you to “meet” some of my wonderful blogger friends.}

Of course, there were loads of well-known Canadian designers at the show – Sarah & Tommy, Jane Lockhart, Arren WIlliams, Ramsin Khachi, Karen Sealy, Kelly Deck… but there were a lot of equally great but not-so-well known decorators and designers there too. And I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to some of them…

Paul Anater isn’t actually Canadian, but he loves Canada and spent a lot of time here when he was younger and he ate poutine last Thursday night, so let’s make him an honourary Canadian :-) His blog, Kitchen and Residential Design, is one of the first blogs I followed when I started blogging in January 2009. We’ve been friends ever since, but never met… until IDS11! Paul is such a great guy, and talking with him was so inspiring. He also introduced me to his friend Gloria at Kitchen for Living and some representatives from Masco Cabinetry (I’m such a schmoozer! ;-) Thanks Paul for being such a good friend!

Lindsay at Aubrey + Lindsay’s Little House Blog organized a casual blogger get-together on Friday afternoon at the show. I wandered down to the VIP room (ooh-la-la!) with Paul, and ran into some blogger friends there, including Jennifer from Rambling Renovators, Vanessa from Decor Happy, and Amy from eye see pretty. (Check out Jennifer’s review of the latest episode of Sarah 101 here, and her special inside peek at how the homeowners feel about their Sarah 101 experience here.) Amy and I headed back upstairs to wander around the show together. We had a great time chatting and checking out the booths. Amy, we need to shop!

And I can’t forget the always glamourous and sexy GlamaMama herself, Christine from Decor by Christine. This woman is seriously stylin’, and I lost track of how many times she hugged me! {Holy crap, my head is a watermelon!}

I know I’ll forget to mention some other friends I met up with at the show, but when you have a watermelon for a head, that’s what happens! I bumped into Staci at Inspired by Life a couple of times, and how freaky is this – Chania from Razmataz actually came up to me and asked “Are you Kelly?” And it happened not just once, but TWICE! Michelle and Carolyn from MyDesignerMuse also came up to me and asked me the same thing! So this is how being a celebrity feels ;-) Hahahaha! No, not even close! But it was extremely flattering to be recognized by my fellow bloggers – it was great to meet you Chania, Michelle, and Carolyn :-)

I can’t end this post without mentioning Jane Lockhart. We spoke for a little while at the Gresham House Furniture booth where her new Platinum Series furniture was being featured. I’ve loved Jane for ages, and it was a thrill to talk with her. I sent Jane a request for an interview on Monday, and it’s already in the can, so to speak :-) I’ll be posting the interview early next week – don’t miss it!  {A special thank you to Suzanna for for all your help}.

OK, that’s way too much of me for one post! Tomorrow will be my Sibling Revelry recap, and that’ll wrap up my week of IDS11 posts. See ya then!

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