2013 was a blessed year for Kandrac & Kole Interior Designs, Inc. I looked back thru my iPhoto and realized what a truly adventurous, exciting, scary and happy year it was!
Here’s a re-cap of 2013, a month by month highlight reel of one of our best years yet!
January
We kicked off 2013 with exciting news as we rebranded and introduced our new logo, website and blog. Thanks to Shari Miller with Little Blue Deer Design, the response was amazing!
February
You can’t succeed if you don’t keep learning so in February we attended Design Camp Atlanta hosted by our talented friends Lori Dennis and Kelli Ellis. This two day event at the Fox Theatre was packed full of inspiration, learning, networking and catching up with designer friends from around the country. One of the highlights was meeting Barry Dixon who was one of the keynote speakers.
We also began work on one of our most favorite projects to date – a rebuild/redesign of a historic commercial office space.
Photography by Emily Followill
March
March was busy too as we worked tirelessly for one our favorite charity projects, Room Service Atlanta. This was our second go-round with the United Methodist Children’s Home and this time we were fortunate enough to design a studio apartment for a young adult woman. We were inspired by a set of vintage bathing suit prints from Wendover Art and the rest is navy and emerald history!
April
In April I was selected as one of nine Style Spotters for High Point Market. Our team traveled to High Point, N.C. and scoured the market for the latest and greatest in design trends. We shared our finds on Pinterest and participated in a fierce competition for the best board. We broke the record for the most re-pins in Stylespotter history!
You can see the fruits of our labor on Pinterest HERE.
May
We bit the bullet in May and moved our office of three years from a historic 2nd floor walkup in Acworth to a new, charming house in Kennesaw. We’ve got plenty of space now with 3 offices, 2 workrooms, 1 conference room, 2 kitchens, 2 bathrooms and a storage room! Please come visit any time!
June
Intern Tracy joined our team in June to spend the summer learning and working. We put her to good use since June was the month that we filmed our first HGTV pilot! We still can’t share many details because the show hasn’t aired yet but we will say that we had a whole lot of fun making over a master bedroom and bathroom in gray and green!
I headed to Guatemala with my daughter Riley and designer friends Pamela Copeman and Melinda Headrick for my semi-annual trip working with Catalyst Resources International building homes for the poor.
July
Summertime was in full swing in July and our team was jet setting across the country for their vacations and travels. Along the way I stopped in Memphis for the Brizo Blogger 19 reunion and to tour the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. What an honor to experience first hand the impressive partnership between St. Jude’s and Brizo and to know that one of our favorite vendors is supporting such a worthy cause!
My friend Rebecca Reynolds with a young patient on our visit to St. Jude’s. Photo courtesy of Brizo and St. Jude’s.
August
The Southern C conference came to Athens, GA in August so of course we had to attend! We met and mingled with some fun new friends (like this impressive young man named Aidan Hornaday – check out his website) and got some great business advice from a wide range of speakers!
September
September was memorable because we were FINALLY published in our first national magazine, Southern Lady. What a long awaited thrill! Our four page spread included several of our favorite spaces and shared some of our tips for creating “Friendly Spaces.”
Of course our design work never ends. We had a year of GREAT clients and fun, creative projects like these.
October
In October it was time to travel to High Point Market again, this time as sponsored bloggers. We were sponsored by two companies, Tomlinson and W. Schilling and got a priviledged behind the scenes look at their product lines.
October was also the month that we were nominated by lighting company Lamps Plus as one of 25 Best Home Blogs of 2013!
We installed another project that was a complete rebuild/redesign that we are very proud of!
Photography by Emily Followill.
November
In November, we were proud to send our Jr. Designer Lauren to Maine for the first ever Thos. Moser designer apprenticeship program. She spent 3 days at the workshop building her very own chair and learning about this all-american furniture company. Visiting a factory is the #1 way to really appreciate a manufacturer!
Always on the hunt to learn more, we signed up to attend the first ever U.S. Business of Design seminar hosted by the Canadian superstar business woman/designer extraordinaire Kimberly Seldon. We took 2 days away from the office to focus on all the things we do right running Kandrac & Kole and to brainstorm on the many ways we can continue to improve our operations.
Because the adventures of Kelly and Joann never cease, what do we do when the year is almost up and we are exhausted? We say YES to yet another HGTV pilot show! This one was produced by a New York based production company and should air in the next few months (so sorry – mums the word until then). This time, we designed an entire house and it was a transformation you’ve got to see with your own eyes!
December
We ended the year wrapping up several special projects, donating our time to Operation Christmas Child, and being published AGAIN – this time in Cobb Life Magazine.
It’s been an exciting and slightly crazy year here at Kandrac & Kole and that’s just the way we like it! Thank you for always coming along for the ride. We are excited to show you what’s up our sleeve for 2014!
Kelly
