Decorating Ideas for Days…

We focused on the walls – all types of art and what to do with it.

And that is just the beginning – BE THERE.

Charlotte and James Huniford promote Design on a Dime on morning TV

For More Information, Please Visit Housing Works’ Website.

Participating Designers:

Alan Tanksley
Asler Valero
Beale-Lana
Bob Richter
Boffo-NY
Brad Ford ID
Brett Design
Buzz Kelly Interiors
Calypso
Cannon for Kmart/Sears
Country Living for Kmart/Sears
Charlotte Moss & Co.
Daniel M. Pafford
De La Torre Design Studio
Dean & Deluca
Derek Warburton
Eldon Wong
Flair
Frank Hodelin
Gabriel de la Portilla
Huniford Design Studio
Jaclyn Smith for Kmart
Jamie Drake
Jarret Yoshida
Joshua Ingraham Design
Juniper Tedhams
Kim Hull
Kristen McGinnis
Larry Laslo for Decor Insider
Laura Bohn Design Associates
Laura Kirar for Traditional Home
Luis Caicedo
Mark Stephen
Michael Bagley
Miles Redd
Nathan Egan Interiors
Nathan Thomas
Oskar Torres
Peter Som for Sferra
Steven Sclaroff
Steven Gambrel
Suzan Piovaty and Lori Weatherly
Thomas Cooper Design
Todd Romano
Ty Pennington for Sears
Yetta Banks for MTV Networks

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Our country, and the world, has stood to support Haiti.

Progress is slowly being made, but the needs are vast!

IN ADDITION TO UNICEF, THERE ARE MANY OTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO GIVE…

A $25 “Fashion for Haiti” T-shirt will go on sale February 12 at retailers across the country with proceeds benefitting the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, which is raising funds for immediate, high-impact relief and long-term recovery efforts to help those who are most in need of assistance.

“The tragedy in Haiti has affected everyone and most of us individually have given money for relief,” said Diane von Furstenberg, President of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. “However, I think it is now important to send a message and create a channel for funding from fashion as an industry.”

“The total devastation of Haiti is unimaginable. I am always amazed by the strength, talent and compassion of our industry and now more than ever it is essential we come together and help make a difference,” said Ralph Lauren.

“The devastation in Haiti has touched us all deeply,” said Tory Burch. “Now more than ever is the time to ban together and help them get back on the road to recovery.”

“As we watch the story unfold in Haiti, it is our obligation to act,” said Andrew Rosen, President & CEO of Theory. “We must move quickly to raise the much needed money and support for the relief efforts that are beginning now, and that will be required in the months and years to come.”

GO TO www.CFDA.com

VERIZON customers have donated in excess of $7.82 million to the Red Cross, by texting their donation on their Verizon wireless devices!

Here are SOME of the organizations you can support using your Verizon phone…

Text the word “QUAKE” to 20222 to donate $10
On behalf of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund

Text the word “Haiti” to 20222 to donate $10
On behalf of the Clinton Foundation Haiti Relief Fund

Text the word “Haiti” to 52000 to donate $10
On behalf of the Salvation Army

Text the word “Hope10” or “UNICEF” to 20222 to donate $10
On behalf of UNICEF

Text the word “Save” or “Safe” to 20222 to donate $10
On behalf of Save the Children Federation, Inc.

Text the word “Give” or “World” to 20222 to donate $10
On behalf of World Vision Inc.

Of all the celebrity-studded, glamorous New York benefits and charity galas, this one is always the most fun!  Benefiting Housing Works, the largest community-based AIDS service organization in the United States, this event raised over $650,000 last year alone!

Created by my good friend James Huniford, of Huniford Design Studio, Design on a Dime invites decorators, design firms, shops, stylists, manufacturers and even your favorite magazines (Country Living) to set up a 10 foot by 8 foot room showcasing their wares, their ideas, and their supreme generosity!  Here’s a link to my interview with David Boyer on the Housing Works website.

Of course, the best part of all of this is that EVERYTHING on display is for sale, at unbeatable Housing Works prices!!  If you missed it this year, you can still try and catch a few great finds at a Housing Works shop, but put it on the “To Do” list for next year.  I got a snap of fellow blogger, Heather Clawson of Habitually Chic, buying a fabulous neoclassical cachepot from my booth.  A feather in both our caps!

This year’s event, Design on a Dime 2009, will benefit Housing Works 874 Jefferson Avenue Residence Project. A new Housing Development project consisting of 12 permanent units of supportive housing for single, formerly homeless adults living with HIV/AIDS, the Jefferson Avenue Residence Project will consist of the substantial renovation of a three-story brick building in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Wedgwood, one of the world’s greatest basalt manufacturers, Bloomingdales department store has invited me, Barbara Barry, Jasper Conran, Monique L’Huillier and Trish Foley to use Wedgwood china to decorate our own tables – and the tabletops will be auctioned off to benefit God’s Love We Deliver.

I have always loved basalt, and the pink and black were a great match – a color palette reminiscent of Madeline Castaing.  Wedgwood just produced its new, streamlined collection of modern basalt tableware.

And while you’re at Bloomingdales, have a look at their retrospective...

…two hundred fifty years is a LONG time, and there are many masterpieces on display, like these porcelain shoes made for the Queen (in Wedgwood’s signature blue) or these luscious 18th Century pieces.

I hope you will also look for a new book by Trish Foley, At Home with Wedgwood: The Art of the Table, which will be released June 2nd, in which we were also asked to participate.   It’s going to be a good one!

Remember that for what one might spend on lunch, you could enrich someone’s life in ways you may not know were possible.

www.godslovewedeliver.org

“The ballet was really stunning and a new experience.  I really enjoyed Romeo and Juliet – that was my favorite part.  We also loved the pizza at Cafe Fiorelli and meeting Charlotte. “

- Emanual, Matrobi, Yasaairy and Lavona
after the New York City Ballet

Setting the stage….

Back in April of last year, Charlotte got to meet Ms. Emery’s Eighth Grade Class in East New York, Brooklyn, through Teach for America.  As teacher for the day, her topic was “The Future Authors of America: I wrote a book – you can, too.” Each student was given a journal to jump start their writing process!

Charlotte kept in touch with Ms. Emery and learned that she started an after school ballet class – and the response from the students was overwhelming!  Far more students showed up than Ms. Emery had expected.

As patrons of the New York City Ballet, Charlotte and her husband Barry wanted to host the students for a matinee performance, complete with pizza lunch after the show.  The class seemed to really enjoy the performance -all but one of the students had never seen a ballet before today.  Charlotte loved being able to bring that opportunity to the students – and with one of the best ballet companies in the world, no less.   And what a meaningful experience,  getting to see the benefit of that contribution – and the resulting smiles & shrieks!

The musical conductor of the ballet, Fayçal Karoui, joined us for lunch…we caught him red-handed during dessert!

After the performance...and everyone had worked up an appetite!

(l-r) Hilary Gumbel, Amy Robbins, Charlotte Moss, Pamela Fiori, and Lucy Lui.

The UNICEF Snowflake is a dazzling, illuminated crystal ornament that graces the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in New York City and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills each holiday season as a beacon of hope, peace and compassion for vulnerable children around the world.

This magnificent creation was designed, engineered and entirely handcrafted by Ingo Maurer and his team in Germany, using 16,000 Baccarat crystal prisms. The three-dimensional structure consists of 12 double-sided branded and is 23 feet in diameter, over 28 feet in height, and more than 3,300 pounds. The largest outdoor crystal chandelier of its kind, it was dedicated to UNICEF by the Stonbely Family Foundation in 2002.

Event Planners DeJuan Stroud and Jay Bell - Whose heart wouldn't race, when they saw a Tiffany box of their place? (www.dejuanstroud.com)

Pamela Fiori and Charlotte Moss, Project Co-Chairs
Hilary Gumbel and Amy Robbins, Gala Co-Chairs
Maggie Betts and Barbara Bush, Junior Co-Chairs

Spirit of Compassion Award: Lucy Liu, UNICEF Ambassador
Helenka Pantaleoni Award: Gary M. Cohen, Executive Vice President, BD

Here are some great reads out now to inspire and guide you to giving back to all those things you care about.

Kenneth Cole edited the collection of essays in Awearness: Inspiring Stories about How to Make a Difference as a call to action for us all. With some many overwhelming issues – global climate change, poverty, education reform, genocide – we often feel helpless and don’t know how to help. These essays look at how we all can do good and change the world for the better through simple acts of volunteerism and activism.

Wendy Kopp dreamed up the revolutionary program Teach for America as part of her senior thesis at Princeton University. Twenty years later, the program is still going strong, bringing college graduates into needy schools. Donna Foote examines Teach for America and its educational idealism, all it’s triumphs and short-comings, in her latest book Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach for America.

Reynold Levy’s Yours for the Asking: An Indispensable Guide to Fundraising and Management shares how he has been able to raise money and get people involved in numerous causes. Important lessons for everyone involved in fundraising and delivered with his charm and wit – to know him is to be inspired by him.

It’s a season for being thankful for all the wonderful things in our lives. A season to gather our family and friends. Most importantly, it is a season for giving and giving back. There are many ways you can make a difference this holiday season, and we would like to share with you some of our favorite charities.

www.supportunicef.org

UNICEF helps those who need our help and support the most —children suffering in poverty, malnutrition and disease. With so little you can do so much to help improve the lives of these children around the globe through UNICEF.

• $20 will feed AIDS orphans in China.
• $40 can cover the monthly hygiene and sanitation costs of a day-care centre for HIV-positive children in the Ukraine.
• $100 can provide a year’s worth of school materials, and daily hot meals, for two children orphaned by AIDS in Malawi.
• $375 can provide the entire range of services to an HIV-positive mother in Guatemala to prevent transmission of HIV from herself to her infant.

www.operationsmile.org

We have long been inspired and touched by Operation:Smile. With volunteers, they work throughout the world to repair facial deformities and cleft palates of children, bringing medical care to places where there is none. These operations give these children a new lease on life and the ability to participate actively in their own communities. Can you believe that you can by a smile for $250 – and $750 pays for the operation and post-op expenses? To find out how more about how you can give, visit:

www.teachforamerica.org

Education is a cause very near and dear to us and Teach for America even more so. Teach for America aims to eliminate education inequality by recruiting and training dedicated recent college graduates to the public education system. We believe that everyone deserves the access to the best education no matter where they live and ensures that no child is truly left behind. Charlotte and Barry sponsored a teacher and Charlotte taught in a classroom last year. A priceless experience. By donating or volunteering for Teach for America, you too can help.