Carolyn Westbrook live from Houston

Hey Everyone

We are in Houston this weekend for a great event...The Urban Market Houston. A great place to remedy the winter blues with some antiquing therapy. I did a little shopping on the way down. I cannot resist an antique mall signbecause you never know where a treasure may be lurking. This is a really good show that is some of the best dealers with fantastic finds.

This time of year, I am always ready to start refreshing. You do not Havering completely overhaul a room to change the look. Sometimes it is one awesome piece that inspires you. Just by changing your couch pillows or a rug or adding a great painting to a room can make for a change. Love to bring in plants and flowers during this dreary time of year. Especially at Valentines Day...there are all kinds of beautiful tulips, hyacinths and such.

Also, wanted to let you know that I just received the book layout for the new branded book Carolyn Westbrook"Through the French Door." It looks amazing and I think looks better than the last...hope that y'all will agree.

Last, just handed off the Spring/Summer 2013 collection. I did a survey on my Facebook for the toile color.. virtually. A tie between blue and brown...blue was the winner....
Very excited about that too. Big Box retail market in two weeks, so back to NY...woo hoo!

Hope to see you in Houston!
Xo Cdarolyn

Carolyn Westbrook: NYC Bergdof at Christmas

Hey Everyone! Hope you are enjoying the Season!! Here are more photos as promised from the Bergdof windows in NYC. First, is Alex excited to be posing in front of the windows. All I have to say, is it is a good thing that my friends, Gina, Heidi and Portia were not here with me, because we would have never been able to leave this location. Seriously, the next day, they would be scooping us up off of the sidewalk, as we would have stood out there all night trying to see everything, which is almost impossible. The detail is incredible. One window is all items made of wood, then another all white, and another is all mosaic jeweled items that looks like an underwater fairyland, and another is all black and white.

I hope that y'all enjoy these pictures, as it was really special. I am sort of numb today after too many sausage balls, turkey and dressing, and pecan pie...ughh! But it was a wonderful time for the entire family.
We have another member of the family now. The other day, after returning for New York, someone "dropped off" a little abandoned cocker spaniel. We named her Coco Chanel. She has found her a home and living in luxury, as she sleeps with me and follows me wherever I go. If I am not here, then you will find her curled up next to someone. She seems to have abandoment issues, as she will not go outside to potty unless someone goes and stands with her. I guess she is afraid that we will run off and leave her. Then, Victoria brought her Husky puppy "Coda" to live here for a while. Now we are back up to four dogs, 10 chickens, and Alex got an aquarium for Christmas...so now we have fish too, and an occasional cow.

Life is never boring. Believe it or not, there are even more pics to post....enjoy!

xo Carolyn

Carolyn Westbrook: More from NYC

As promised...here are some more photos of the Christmas windows in New York. Hope everyone has all of their last minute shopping done...tick, tick, tick.

xoxo Carolyn

Carolyn Westbrook: Christmas in NYC...

It has always been a dream to be able to see Christmas in New York and this year, that dream came true. Alex's birthday is right after Christmas, and she always gets a bad deal, as everyone combines birthday and Christmas. So, this year is her 18th birthday, and I decided to make it special and surprised her and my son Nick, with a trip to NYC. It was AMAZING! Of course, we were all there for different reasons. Mine was all about the window displays, Alex was all about the shopping, and Nick wanted to see the Natural History Museum and a cool Broadway show.
We walked for miles and miles the first day. First, was the Macy's windows. I took so many pics, that I thought that I would break them down. The Macy's windows were all sort of industrial inspired with gears and gadgets, and rockets, and turning things, and they did not disappoint. You can see a bit of that here. Then the other side of the building, was all about the book, Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus. They had these windows within the windows, and you can see here as you peek into the library, and they were incredible.
That night we were off to see "Chicago" and since Nick plays the trumpet, he really enjoyed it. In fact, I have seen it before, but it is my favorite. Times Square was really, really crowded, with hustle and bustle, and some dancing Salvation Army volunteers, right outside of the 3-story Toys R Us, which had lines for miles. Like I said, Bergdof's windows were fantastic and left me speechless. I will save those for the last. I wish you could have all been there with me to see them, as the pictures cannot possibly do them justice. I want to meet with the people that came up with the concepts of these windows, as they are genius. Detail, detail, detail...incredible. I hope that all of you and yours are enjoying the excitment of the holidays and will post more tomorrow!

xoxo Carolyn

Carolyn Westbrook: Life from the Plantation

Even the dogs are decorating. I ran across this photo of my beloved Princess, and wanted to share it. Made me laugh and remember how great she was. I have missed talking to y'all and there has been much going on around here. The past three weeks, we have been going through operation: renovation. We got the news that the big muckety-mucks from one of the biggest retailers had agreed to a meeting/luncheon at the plantation. It started out, that we would showcase two of the collections. Then, my manufacturer thought that we should showcase all four. Plus the photographers were flying in from NYC for the last shoot for the book. I had people come in to gut one of the downstairs rooms, and by gut I mean ripping up carpet and tack strip, and pulling nails from the hardwoods. Floors were refinished, walls were repainted to match the bedding, and it turned out amazing@! Then upstairs, I decided to touch up the trim in the 40 ft. long hallway. When I did that the other trim looked dingy. So, had to paint all the trim and then the walls looked HORRIBLE. Then, had to repaint the entire hallway upstairs, but the problem was there was no break down the stairway, so had to paint ourselves down the stairs and into the downstairs hall. Crazy...right?? Did an entire overhaul on Alex's room. Her room ended up looking like a mid-century NYC apartment. With only 3 days to go, I am off to the lot to find the perfect tree for the downstairs hallway. The ceilings are 14ft. so it had to be tall. It goes in an urn atop a table and thought that I normally do not get them tall enough. Got a tree, got home and as Joe, Nick and I hauled it atop the table and it is touching the ceiling, Alex comes down the stairs laughing, saying "Hey Clark Griswold, is that tree big enough??"

It was down to the wire. The photographers came in Monday and it has not stopped since. The big retail people came out and we served them a real plantation lunch, with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, homeade rolls and peach cobbler. I think that one of the gentlemen could be my brother...he loved all of the things that I do, Paris, New York, toile, ticking and we swapped our stories about being searched when we tried to bring back a chandlier in a duffle bag or was it a bird cage, as we came through customs. I would love the opportunity to work with him, as he has 14 tubs of Christmas decorations for one room in his house. He might have me beat?? So y'all keep your fingers crossed that this works out.

Next, we lost the Colonel and now another of our roosters to an owl. The only one left is Chik-Fil-A. We put him in the pen with the ladies, and he seems to be in heaven. No more late night roaming around...he is the first in the roost for some shut-eye. Think he could be wearing himself out. WE also did a complete renovation of the chicken house that is original and built in the 1800's. We added some shutters, and some FAB urns with topiaries and candlelit lanterns.
The publishers had said that they wanted more shots here at the planatation, so we worked ourselves to death to get the house redecorated, remodeled a few rooms, and had to do Christmas all at the same time. I need a rest!!!

The good news is now I can have a Christmas get-together and it is all done. Woo Hoo!

This morning I woke up with glitter on my face and paint on my fingers...must have been a wild time.
Hope that you are having fun getting ready for the holidays...my favorite time of year!

xoxo Carolyn

Carolyn Westbrook: Party at the Plantation

(Alex and friends had to get a shot with the hot pink pony.)
Hey Y'all! Last night was a huge party here at the Plantation and it was one helluvabash! It was time to celebrate with my niece Carrington's 4th birthday and Victoria's 22nd birthday. It was a pink confection with Hello Kitty everywhere. We have been from NYC to Houston, and trying to get all of the orders out this week, no time for a rest, and knew this party was coming up. Not to mention another photo shoot in two weeks and having the NYC team coming here...no pressure. But, it was all about the party yesterday and Alex decided she needed to go look at a new car yesterday, as we committed to getting something. We thought we saw the perfect Mustang convertible, so thought we could run to Dallas and have a look at the car, and then come back and get it all done in 2 hours. What was I thinking??
(Victoria and Carrington, the birthday queens of the night!)
I might have been a little over-confident as we were hustling to get it all done before the first guest. Christi and I were going crazy, and the Victoria's showed up to help. We called in all of the troops and everyone was busy doing something. I kept disappearing into the warehouse and coming out with good stuff, and then off to the barn and some of the warehouses to find tables, chairs, fabrics, drapes, etc. We strung lights, and had tables with tablecoths, it was all about the black, hot pink and princess. Chandeliers hung from the tree limbs over the tables and urns and statuary were the centerpieces. Cake stands were loaded with candied apples, and cupcakes and jars were full of hot pink taffy, and pink jelly beans.Even a pink glitter pony...wishing for one with "saddlebags full of money" after this party. We had a stage, music, karaoke, castle bounce house and loads of hot dogs, and fixins. We had all ages from 3-70 and everyone had a great time. At one point, EVERYONE was out on the floor doing the "Cupid Shuffle" dance. Totally fun for all. We roasted ooey-gooey marshmallows and had loads of hot dogs with chili.

(Left: Alex and Carrington pose for a pic)
THe kids were going crazy, partly from sugar and partly from the excitment. The best part was when one of the little boys was running around and shouted, this is the best party that I have ever been to, and Alex said...I think our parties just get better and better. That was a home run!

Now have to get busy with the makeover of 3 rooms for the next photo shoot and Christmas decorations, as we are shooting Christmas in mid-November. So crazy, but at least it will be done! and just before the New York team comes in to discuss the fall/winter bedding line for 2012 at the plantation. The good news is...I could not be working with better or more talented people. They are hip, fun, and experts in the business of bedding.

Can you believe that it is almost November, boy this year has flown!

XOXO Carolyn

Carolyn Westbrook: Live from Roundtop

Tomorrow is the last day for the best show held only twice a year. Come see us at Zapp Hall in Warrenton, Texas. We close ar 4pm, so
hurry on over or wait until spring. Hope to see y'all there!

xo Carolyn