DSA Newsletter - May / June 2011

Notes from Natasha

Dear Members,

Spring is buzzing in the air, and we are busy as bees diligently working behind the scenes to drive potential clients to our website and your portfolios. Take advantage of your spring cleaning motivation to clean up your portfolio so that your work can shine in its very best light. One of the keys to a fabulous online portfolio is quality, not quantity.

As part of our latest efforts to serve you, we recently launched the Designer Society of America Facebook page. You can help drive consumers to your DSA portfolio, click just once here to "like us" to help drive more consumers to the DSA site to view your portfolios! We are taking advantage of increased social media opportunities to drive even more traffic to our website and your beautiful portfolios. Please support our online efforts, the more support we have - the better for you!

We are the fastest growing residential interior design society in the country! In order to continue our growth, we need your help spreading the word - so go ahead, tell all of your friends about our talented and inspiring society of designers!

All the best!

Natasha Lima Younts DSA

Designer Society of America
support@dsasociety.org
229-888-2459 ext #6

R.I.D.E.

Have you been thinking about increasing your credentials as a residential interior designer? Or maybe you have an amazing assistant who you would like to position with more credentials?

The Residential Interior Designer Exam (R.I.D.E.) is available to individuals and interior designers looking to advance their education, career and professional status in the interior design industry. If you are driven to succeed and dedicated to your profession, successful completion of the R.I.D.E. will train new designers and increase the credentials for designers currently practicing. The RIDE course will enhance your status when meeting new potential clients and increase your credentials among residential interior design peers who have also reached this higher level of certification achievement. The R.I.D.E. program is recognized as an industry standard for excellence and certification can be the professional boost you need to grow your business and your reputation.

DSA is offering a great deal for a limited time,
$200 off!


Please call 1(229) 888-2459 to receive your discount, and mention the password: POWER. To speak with a live operator, please press "0." Our lines have been ringing off the hook!
About the exam

If you can't get through to our line, please email us at support@dsasociety.org with the password, POWER, to receive your discount. We will honor all discounts for those who email or call us. This offer expires May 19, 2011.

What is Feng Shui Home Staging?

The pinnacle of home staging methods, Feng Shui Staging, is the best way to sell your home quickly, easily and profitably.

Why?

Feng Shui Staging is the only home staging technique that bolsters savvy sales strategies with 5,000 years of wisdom.

More than fifty percent of human communication is nonverbal. When a prospective buyer walks into a home and is immediately turned off, often they have a hard time articulating exactly why they are uninterested in the home. Usually they are being affected by invisible cues such as scent, placement of furniture, color, and clutter. These factors may sound irrational, but they make a very big difference to your bottom line.

Feng Shui - pronounced fung schway - deciphers nonverbal language so that you can create an environment that is welcoming, relaxed, and supportive. By applying this practice to standard home staging techniques, you can arrange your home so that buyers will feel safe, secure and supported enough to pay the asking price without a qualm. Prospective buyers will linger longer and feel good in the newly arranged home. Feng Shui Staging delivers powerful results!

Mary Dennis, DSA

Executive Director
School of Graceful Lifestyles
www.gracefullifestyles.com

Member Spotlight

Elizabeth Palumbo DSA

Tracy Morris DSA

Fresh, vibrant, and accessible, Tracy Morris practices a collaborative "we're in this together" approach that demystifies the design process. She breathes life into rooms, giving them unexpected flavor. Her inspired dynamic interiors showcase her clients' personalities and passions and empower them to look within and create a home that is their own true reflection.

Launched in 2003, Tracy Morris Design crafts transitional interiors defined by eclectic American chic where eras and unexpected materials mix effortlessly and the patina of life shines through. Morris's attention to balance and her intuitive color sense affords clients truly enjoyable comfort in timeless customized living spaces. Praised by such noted taste discerners as Daily Candy, Morris is roundly praised for her ability to "zero in on the comfort of clean linens, the textures of sofa pillows, and the vibe of music to create the perfect feel throughout your house."

Morris's projects have been selected for publication in The Washington Post, DC Modern Luxury, Washington Home & Design, The DC Examiner, Daily Candy, Capitol File, and Washington Spaces, among others. She has participated in such show houses as the Washington Design Center, the National Symphony Orchestra's Decorators' Show House, and the DC Design House, benefitting such charities such as the Women's Committee of the National Symphony Orchestra and Children's National Medical Center.

Published designers know this company:

Granite Metal Services

In 1996, Bob Watts and his team of skilled fabricators started a company with the intention to provide quality, custom products and services to New England, now available nationwide! Upon that foundation, a business built with it a reputation of integrity, quality performance, and referrals from satisfied customers. The key word here is "custom".

Granite Metal Services uses stainless steel, zinc and copper to build custom-made, beautifully designed countertops, vent hoods, back splashes, outdoor kitchens, tables, credenzas, shelving, fireplace surrounds, sinks, window sills and desktops.

In addition to increasing a home's value, the unique designs add character and charm to any space. Stainless steel, the most popular material used, helps keep kitchen-space sanitary and maintains green standards because of its recyclable quality.

Granite Metal Services is not only used for home enhancement, their work is also found across the nation in hotels, universities, bio labs, restaurants, concert venues, hospitals, nursing homes, high schools, design centers, food processing plants and nuclear energy plants.

DSA celebrates the artisans that help us achieve excellence. We are proud to support Granite Metals Services and thank them for catering to designers, excelling in their designs and quality, and for shipping nationally.

We encourage you to check out Granite Metal Services extraordinary work on their website: www.granitemetalservices.com

Residential Designers "Before and After" competition still OPEN

Speaking of portfolios, we great news! The "Before and After" Design Shuffle competition date has been extended to August 15,2011. Please don't forget to enter your before and after photos of a room of your choosing in our "Design Shuffle" contest. In addition to free advertising and exposure to potential clients, the winner will also receive a beautiful award for display in their home or office. Please email us with your name at support@dsasociety.org once you have uploaded your photos to your portfolio. It's time to be a star and shine!

Please check out the guidelines below if you are interested in competing:


  1. Login to upload your before and after photographs to your portfolio.
  2. Title your new pictures as "Before and After Competition.”
  3. Immediately following, please email: support@dsasociety.org to let us know that your photos are up and ready to view. Additionally, you may submit a brief 30 word description of your project.
  4. Don't forget to include your name and contact information in the email.
  5. The winner will be chosen September 15, 2011

View some of your "Before and After Competitors"



Published in several Interior Design magazines and selected winner by Architectural Digest Magazine's Open Auditions, award winning design star Tracy Murdock has been designing the interiors of LA's celebrity and business elite for over a decade now. Tracy's travels all over the world have imprinted and shaped her style today. Her signature "drop dead design" covers the gamut from classic to colorful and dramatic to contemporary.

Studio Webware

Studio Projects

Studio Projects is a tool that allows you to publish orders for your vendors to view anywhere, anytime. Your vendors can interactively select to view any order - current or past - you have placed with them, view detailed information about the item and order, and send messages to you about the current status. The vendor messages and your notes are all accessible at anytime. Through a simple click of a mouse, the vendor can also acknowledge your orders.

Select the following link to view a tour of Studio Projects:

Learn more about web tools for interior design professionals at: www.StudioWebware.com.