May Madness

Sports fans have March Madness, when the TV always has a good basketball or golf game going on, but for us interior design fans, there is May, when it seems like there is always an event geared towards home design.

Last week Rinfret Home & Garden kicked off the month of festivities with a Networking Event that we co-hosted with the magazine, New England Home's Connecticut.

The weather was perfect (finally!) and we had a huge turnout. It was a major networking night that probably had guests calling their printers the next morning to place business card orders.

New England Home set a great tone to the evening with their Editor-in-Chief, Kyle Hoepner encouraging everyone to get to know each other. We love how this new magazine to Fairfield County focuses on networking and building the interior design community. Through networking events like this we have made business connections that have helped Rinfret to grow and that is the experience with most guests at NE Home events. But enough gushing, on to the raffle...

We raffled off a pair of hurricanes (which were filled with business cards from the attendees). Cindy chose the winner, Joy from Joy of Light, who wowed us with her gorgeous matchbook collection (which she gave us samples of). Thanks Joy!

I met a lot of new and interesting people last Tuesday, but to be honest, my favorite part about Rinfret Home & Garden parties is having the chance to have fun with my fabulous co-workers. With Cindy as our leader, we all know how to have a good time, and that we did. Here is, from left to right, Chelsea Garber (Cindy's assistant), Hilary Merrill (the Shop Manager), Kristen Farrington Dawson (Senior Designer), Chelsea again, and me, Elizabeth Ethridge McGann.

The NE Home CT party was definitely the highlight of last week for me but it was certainly not the only thing going on. One might think that Cinco de Mayo was a celebration of shopping rather than to commemorate Mexico's freedom. On May 5th New Canaan held its annual Design Destrict event, which I attended for the first time this year and loved. Hilary Hotchkiss from Moffly Media had told me about it and it sounded like fun but I was really blown away by what an event it was, with all the great design shops in New Canaan staying open late, serving fun cocktails and giving out freebies. It didn't hurt that it was another lovely evening. I'll definitely be back next year. Also on Cinco de Mayo was Art on the Ave on our own Greenwich Avenue. This is such a fun night and it's always great to have an excuse to shop late and check out the work of local artists.

We've barely finished the first week in May and there is so much more to look forward to, with two hotly anticipated events coming up in the next week. This week (May 12 - 14) Rinfret Home & Garden is holding its Fifth Annual Warehouse at Morgan Manhattan (16 Bruce Park Avenue, at the bottom of Greenwich Ave). This is an epic sale and you never know what kind of treasures you might find.

Check out the above photo from last year's Warehouse Sale. Yes, that is a stuffed bear in the background, and yes that sold to a lovely couple with a gorgeous home. (I know because I had the dubious distinction of transporting the bear to its new home.)

But there's a lot more than just taxidermy bears. The Warehouse Sale is famous for its fantastic collection of light fixtures, mirrors and furniture pieces that are marked down to their lowest prices of the year. Come early for the best selection. The sale is this Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm. Hope to see you there!

The biggest event for me this month is without a doubt Blogfest 2011, which I have been anticipating for months and can't believe that it's just a week away.

Kravet and Lee Jofa have organized a whirlwind three days for interior design bloggers where we will meet such industry heavyweights as Margaret Russell, Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Digest, Newell Turner of House Beautiful, the designer Barbara Barry and many others. I am so honored to be included among the outstanding group of bloggers that will be there and am so excited to meet the faces behind the blogs. Stay tuned for a blog post about this event very soon!!

As part of Blogfest, I'll also get to check some other "May Madness" events off my checklist, including the Kips Bay Designer Showhouse and I'll get a sneak peak of the ELLE Decor Modern Life Concept House. I'm literally counting down the days!

Stay tuned for the behind the scenes of the first ever Blogfest 2011...!