Top 25 Interior Design Blogs in the World

Tent London Interiors has been mentioned in "The Top 25 Interior Design Blogs in the World".
I am honored to be nominated and happy to be part of such a great group of bloggers, including my friends Ivan at Meade Design Group and Patricia at Patricia Gray.

Thank-you Designs-n-Deal.


©2013 Tent London Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".
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Social Media fatigue



  
Don’t get me wrong…I love social media but lately I feel I am spending too much of my time on it and sometimes lots of what I read need to be ignored, like junk for the mind...so as the lady in the image (at Clignancourt Flea Market) I may walk away even if only temporarily.

Blogging requires hours of research, writing, editing and keeping up with other interesting bloggers.

Facebook with hundreds of “virtual” friends requires to scroll their news daily, stop and comment on some, take note of interesting ones.

Twitter, even if faster, for me requires deciphering obscure messages (when worth it).

Pinterest is always fun, great to find stunning images, useful to have them all in one “folder” for future reference.

LinkedIn is good to make connections but again time consuming.

Tied up and tired!

At the end of the day (when actually I have some time to dedicate to social media) all of the above tasks take my little left energy away.
I may take a break,  it may be just as brief as a week or much longer but I am sure at some point I will return refreshed, renewed and ready to play again.

 

You know how much I value your comments and likes…

Would you wait for me? Have you ever felt the same?

Photography © Albarosa Simonetti

©2012 Tent London Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".

Tent London Interiors now offers also online consultations so please send an email and we can start the process. It will be an investment in happiness at home, a well designed house is always a good part of a great life and a beautiful room will make you happy every time you walk in!

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What House Beautiful is reading this week…

House Beautiful says: What We're Reading This Week

From bold pencils to a recipe for spring, here's our weekly roundup of the Shelter blogosphere.

The links we clicked on:

• Scouts Honor Co. features bold red-and-blue pencils from the Czech Republic.
• Tent London Interiors does a house tour of a colorful home in Italy.
• CasaSugar rounds up 20 eco-friendly furniture finds for spring.
• Design Sponge shares a recipe for sweet potato, green bean, and smoked paprika salad.
• Inhabitat explores easy gardening projects to try this weekend.

Photo: AB

   ***

Tent London Interiors is so happy to be named and so happy to be in such a great company…
Thanks House Beautiful, one of my favorite magazines (the only fault is that sometimes I see the magazine in stores much before it lands in my mailbox but it happens with all my subscriptions…everyone listening?)

     ***

And don't forget to play the game: Can you guess whose house is this?

      ***

©2011 Tent London Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".

Tent London Interiors now offers also online consultations so please send an email and we can start the process. It will be an investment in happiness at home, a well designed house is always a good part of a great life and a beautiful room will make you happy every time you walk in!

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A-Efendy Blogging, Interior design, Magazines, Tent London Interiors

Pinteresting

 Albarosa Simonetti design

 

After a few weeks of trials and errors I am finally able to use Pinterest and now… just what I needed… I am hooked to that too.
Do you already know about Pinterest?  It is a great way of organizing and sharing pictures, your own or the ones that most appeal to you online.  I use it as a reference digital book for inspiration and also to relax looking at beautiful images of interiors. I admit, sometimes it gets too intense, like craving for sweets and reading patisserie books with vivid images of scrumptious pastries!

Joe Ruggiero Sr. design

I must be very careful though, between blogging and Facebook, lots of time goes without noticing (I am not really keen on Twitter yet, even if I use it at times, but I found it difficult to follow…most of the time I don’t know what people are talking about, like:
#circus@xyz… you are right!  (about what? mystery…sometimes there is no thread of the conversation)
or
at XYZ cafe’ right now having a tall macchiato caramel with a hint of cinnamon
(no idea why people want you to know they are having coffee right now…do I need to know?)
Facebook is always more fun even though at times I need to delete a few people who I obviously did not accept carefully but it was very exciting in the beginning to be asked to be friends so I jumped on everyone (not literally) and now I am slowly editing my list because I want it to be mostly for business, to learn from others, to be exposed to new ideas, to connect with similar minds (or with totally different ones that can bring me a wider vision of my world).

Beth Collier design

Maria Killam design

Pinterest is a fast way of keeping informed on Interior decoration, since many Pinners (? is this the word for users of the system?) download not only their projects but also images from magazines.

Brooke Giannetti design

Through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and of course my Blog I made so many new contacts with artists, designers, writers, photographers, architects and some I may even consider “virtual friends” since at times we exchange personal emails or we are able to meet in person.

Linda Merrill design

Grant K. Gibson design

Nancy Marcus design

Irene Turner design

Scot Meacham Wood design

I had to limit my virtual friends named in this post to just a few, chosen randomly between old friends from blogging and new ones from Facebook or Pinterest but you can see what I mean:  great inspiring ideas.

So…are you Pinning? What are you waiting for?
Start now to create your own Pin Board and let us know your Pin-Name, it will be adding to mine and my readers collection of beautiful, inspiring images.
Share with us what you think about social media, are you part of some?

©2012 Tent London Interiors writes about new trends, timeless decor, iconic pieces, design ideas, or at times just musing about "a certain Italian way of doing things".

If you need help to enjoy your home more, please send me an email.  It will be an investment in happiness at home, a well designed house is always a good part of a great life and a beautiful room will make you happy every time you walk in!

If you receive this post by Email and wish to leave a comment please click HERE and go to the comments section.

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And the Award goes to…

  
Do you know Claudia Juestel of Adeeni Design? She is a great designer, editor and  blogger from San Francisco and I invite you to know her better through her Blog, where you’ll find “Tea with Claudia” featuring interesting interviews, the latest with Kyle Bunting, great stories and what also intrigues me, frequent referral to European culture, being Claudia from Salzburg and I from Milan, two cities not far away. 
Now back to the title:
She was so kind to nominate my blog on The Stylish Blogger Award and I am honored and grateful, being in the company of extraordinary bloggers and designers.

Seven images of what I consider style true to itself:

Ischia, under a pergola a set of 1950's chairs

Macerata, geraniums in terracotta pots and a spectacular view

Milan, vintage chairs and a chandelier made of recycled glass shades

Milan, an Ikea lamp and an antique lacquered Chinese table

Venice, an antique bookcase, vintage objects and art books

 

Milan, in a XIX century building a sleek set for an icon of style

Grado, VI century, the Romanic style church

Seven  quotes by great personalities:
1) Only great minds can afford a simple style. Stendhal
2) Fashion fades, only style remains the same. Coco Chanel
3) When we see a natural style, we are astonished and charmed; for we expected to see an author, and we find a person. Blaise Pascal
4) Style is knowing who you are, what to say, and not giving a damn. Gore Vidal
5) Oh, never mind the fashion. When one has a style of one's own, it is always twenty times better. Margaret Oliphant
6) He has found his style, when he cannot do otherwise. Paul Klee
Finally a controversial quote on style:
7) Style is a fraud. I always felt the Greeks were hiding behind their columns. Willem De Kooning

Now it is my turn to choose and …The Stylish Blogger Award goes to…
Grant K. Gibson: who I follow from the beginning of my life as a blogger and who I have seen blooming exponentially.
Patricia Gray: for her fabulous blog and for pushing me in the blogosphere when I did not even know how to spell “blog”.
Ivan Meade: for the fresh approach to design, his weekly eye candies and for the intriguing interviews to top designers.
Vicente Wolf: who I had the great pleasure to meet recently and whose blog I follow to learn everything I can from a master designer.

I hope they can share their 7 thoughts on style with us!
Believe me, I have so many more names in my mind, some were already nominated, but for now I need to refrain myself.

Images© in color by Albarosa Simonetti
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I love to hear from you!

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Good-bye Tent London Home Decor

A new year, a new name...

Good-bye Tent London Home Decor

Welcome Tent London Interiors

Year 2008 - Ben Ze Wang, a talented graphic designer and a good friend helped me to structure  my website three years ago. At the time, for still to me mysterious reasons, and only me to blame, I chose the name Tent London Home Decor, only after a few months it  did not appeal to me anymore but company was formed, business cards were printed and soon I had my own blog by the same name. I am not even mentioning the fact that most people spell Tent London wrongly because in English is Brilliant with one more " i " but I decided that Tent London needed to stay because was the major part of my identity... too bad, so what...keep calm and carry on!

Year 2011 – The great team at Meade Design Group helped to rebrand Tent London and changes were made to my web site and logo, new business card and stationery were printed and so on. All of you with a web site or a blog know how many little details are part of each project dealt with countless phone calls, emails, moments of panic (on my side) thinking “I have lost every data” moment of despair (again on my side) “This will never work” but at the end like magic and very much like in Interior design business everything comes together beautifully.
It is priceless to have the right tools to promote your business properly and in a professional manner.
My deepest thanks go to Ben Ze Wang for creating  my beautiful website three years ago and taking some of my portrait pictures, to Gareth Sirotnik for patiently editing my original web site text and last, but only in terms of time, to
Meade Design Group for giving me a new identity of which I am very proud of.
Thanks Ivan, thanks Jeff, thanks Natasha for being patient with me and understanding my needs!
I am very excited also about the integration made by Meade Design Group between my blog and my web site, now you can click on the top menu and voilà...you are in my web site.
Now a short story about the logo:
Talking to Ivan Meade he persuaded me to add a symbol to my logo and  since I had an image of a Potiche*** very dear to me, being a family heirloom, on my web site first page he suggested a silhouette of a jar, which soon enough gave birth to others multiplying on my stationery as you can see.

*** From the Free Online Dictionary:
“Potiche [pɒˈtiːʃ]
n pl -tiches [-ˈtiːʃɪz -ˈtiːʃ]
(Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Ceramics) a tall vase or jar, as of porcelain, with a round or polygonal body that narrows towards the neck and a detached lid or cover.”

To add even more to this story another Potiche  appeared on my very first post for this blog, so unknowingly a vase in this particular shape began part of Tent London identity from the very beginning.

I love how life unfolds at times but I need to stick to the subject so...
Tent London Interiors
It is still me, same approach to interior decoration, styling, photography, just with a better name and more focus on what is my specialty: create atmosphere in interiors and styling rooms adding an European touch but always carefully interpreting and respecting the personality of my clients.

My mantra continues to be:

“ A well designed house is always a good part of a great life

and a beautiful room will make you happy every time you walk in.”

Now it is your turn:
What do you think of my renewed web site? what do you think of my new name?
Comments will be treasured during this exhausting but very exciting transition.

Photography by Albarosa Simonetti

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Tent London's 2011 social media resolutions

I will not check ten times a day my stats!

I will learn more about using Facebook!

I will start to Twit-Twit-Twitter-Twit-Twit (beware you all)!

I will follow more closely my Facebook friends, time permitting!

I will post more frequently and hopefully more of my own projects, so far I am lacking interesting enough photographs. No matter how I design, source, arrange things there is always something I cannot change that clients love and I don't want to show!

I will not comment anymore on blogs that not once have put a comment on mine, even if I did comment constantly on them for two years or more! Don't make me name names...

I will respond to all the comments I receive, either with a comment on the other blog or with a response on my own site!

I will read more posts and be able to comment on more blogs, time permitting!

I will Re-brand my company, name, website, blog, stationery will be different even if maintaining most of the present look, the great team at Meade Design Group is helping me already and I will disclose more about that as soon as the project will be completed!

Excluding the last resolution, already on its way, I should have typed "I will try to..." for all the others, being more realistic.

Is any of the above sounding familiar?
What are your social media resolutions?

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Question of the week

Do you Rue? is the question of the week.

Well, I am probably the last one to talk about the "much talked" new online magazine Rue, but I am really excited about it...

Virtually flipping from page to page I saw many familiar faces whose blogs I am regularly following, even from their very first post for some, so at Rue I feel at home with my virtual friends:

I saw Heather Clawson from Habitually Chic, I virtually follow her every week around New York and learn what is new, what is happening there from a chic insider.
I saw Grant K. Gibson from the eponymous blog, a great designer from San Francisco who will soon be part of  the first Elle Decor Showcase House in his own city.
I saw Tobi Fairley, who I not only admire but who I met in Vancouver in real life two summers ago (I have two posts on her) thanks to my friend Ivan Meade.  She is a talented Interior design but she also has a great, warm personality. 
I saw Ronda Carman from All the Best super refined blog, which I read regularly, enjoying her interviews, her style, tips on travels, her recipes.
Finally I saw Vicente Wolf, an icon whose blog I follow to learn from him everything I can and to enjoy his extraordinary view of the world of design.

Rue is a fresh, innovative magazine, full of ideas and great images so if you did not subscribe yet, please do it today so you will enjoy every issue the moment they hit the stand, oops, the screen.

Congratulations to the bloggers who created the magazine, Anne Sage of The City Sage and Crystal Gentilello of Plush Palate (The only Italian thing in this post is perhaps the Italian sounding surname of Crystal...is that enough?) and thanks for a new way to stay informed and entertained.

I have to say that paper magazines are still my best friends but it is good to have different options, that is why I also love to check for quick references some of my favorite magazines on their online version.

Let's celebrate Rue while keeping reading on paper too.

Images bluntly stolen from their blogs

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A-Efendy Blogging, Designers, Magazines, Tent London Interiors