Although I am confident that I could personally wire the twenty light fixtures that I am using for my Dining By Design table without any of them catching fire, I am extremely pleased that Renaldo of SOS Electric is willing to throw his manpower into the picture. What a great team, between Andy Fae, Renaldo and my crew; we should be in great shape!

This big idea I’ve been putting together for the Dining By Design event is going to require more than just the Jessica Hall Associates team to make a reality. I have been searching for the right contractor for the job and thankfully I heard back from Andy Fae. Thank God for good relationships! He is willing to give his time to the cause… I just hope that he doesn’t walk away when he sees how much work we have ahead of us…

I attended the download meeting for all of the designers who will be participating in this year’s Dining By Design event. The room was packed with an excited buzz… Many first timers like myself had all kinds of questions. Boy, if I had known in the beginning what I know now, the experience would have been a bit easier. What a great reminder though that this is an amazing event packed full of opportunity and more importantly, WHAT A GREAT CAUSE!!!

Back and forth and back again, I heard from Silk Trading today and they said that they might have display panels that I can have for my table at the Dining By Design event. They will need to be split and hemmed but at least I won’t have to forgo my desired addition of softness.

The concept I came up with for the drapery that is to be used for my Dining By Design table required a bit of softening around the edges. I visualized a fabric that started dark and eventually became light at the top but we’re talking about a lot of fabric. With a ceiling height set of 11.5’ and a total length of 48’ linear feet, I might have to forget about my fantasy drapes. I figured that if the fabric was 54” wide then I would have to get my hands on roughly 100 yards. Oh my goodness, maybe you should forget I said drapery…

So I asked Rossi if they would be interested in contributing to my Dining By Design Table. I said that I would build the table and that the only thing I would need from them is the material for the tabletop, which in and of itself is asking for quite a lot. The only comparison I can really make is that it’s kinda like asking for gold… They said yes so now we’re really cooking!

I have the lights, the rug and seating accommodations for the Dining By Design event. What am I missing? … The table of course! Now there are two ways of handling this, I know what I would like, that wonderful bubbled glass that Rossi does… Should I even hope for such a beautiful material?

Janus et Cie and I were able to find a style of chair that works with my Dining By Design table and that they can lend me. Now I am sure that the people attending the dinner will be happy. Not only will they not have to sit on the floor, they will be able to sit comfortably and in style thanks to Janus et Cie!

I called Heather and Company today to see if they had sofas for my Dining By Design table. They are on board! I need to make a trip to their shop to finalized everything but it sounds like they have the perfect solution. They have a pair of high back sofas with sophisticated lines. The addition of slipcovers will make them perfect. I can infuse a surprise through my choice of fabric. I plan to use a contemporary fabric and let the aged wood arms peak through for stylistic contrast.

The chairs aside, I love the idea of having sofas on either end of my table at the Dining By Design event. Sofas would serve as a great way to breakup the multitude of chairs plus the addition of the sofa’s fabric would be really nice. I will try Heather and Company and see if they have a pair of antique sofas for me to put slipcovers on… onward!