MBDG: Insights

It’s a Meadowmont Village Spooktacular! Come to trick-or-treat at the shops and enjoy special refreshments and promotions all over the village. Minta Bell Design Group will have hot spice cider and yummy cookies for parents and candy for kids and a drawing for a fine home accessory. See you Friday between 4-6!

Azure Grille Treats for children and witches brew for adults…and the best Julia Child Costume wins a bottle of wine!

Café Carolina Trick or Treat and enter a drawing for Two Dozen Cupcakes! There will be two winners!

Fleur Candy treats and 10% off Friday and Saturday

Gateway Bank Refreshments and employee pumpkin carving contest. Come vote for the best pumpkin.

Great Earth Vitamins Treats on Friday! Dark Chocolate and Wine Tasting and Integrative Medicine open house Saturday. See store for details.

Jesters Tricks, Treats and Witches Brew! Children’s Raffle, too!
20% off Vietri Oct. 29-31.

Lickity Split Free face painting!

martin + mary 20% off non-sale merchandise Friday and Saturday and trick-or -treating!

Maupin Travel Special treats for all and enter a drawing for a $50 gift certificate.

Minta Bell Design Group Hot cider, goodies and a drawing for a fine home accessory!

Monkee’s Enter a drawing for a special gift certificate and treats for kids!

Salutations An additional 25% off sale merchandise (already 40% off!).

Studio 91 Treats for the kids and ‘Create Your Own Plate’ Special for Mom and Dad for $5 with the purchase of 2 glasses of wine!

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One of my favorite things (I know I am repeating myself!) about interior design is meeting and forming relationships with all the very special craftsmen, artists and furniture makers who are dedicated to providing the highest quality materials and furnishings. Now, a maker of Chinese inspired furniture has moved production to North Carolina! Not only an environmentally conscious decision to reduce energy required to ship wood to China and furniture back to the USA, but, we can now customize the pieces to fit specific situations. During my tour of the Big Yellow House to view the collections, the owner, Carol, introduced each piece in a way that you know it is carefully and thoughtfully considered many times over before it is released. You can almost feel the process from initial inspiration to final product.

Shadow was a very frisky, but, diligent model of each piece!

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Our first day at the Fall High Point Furniture Market revealed fresh looks and fine craftsmanship.

Our first stop was in view of finding new and interesting pieces for our shop. Minta and I both respond to handcrafted details and textures that make a piece special. In one of our favorite places to “discover” unique objects we purchased some wonderfully active Foo Dogs and glass vases that reveal their beauty as you encounter them from different view points, along with many other objects that shall remain a surprise (we hope to have them in our shop ina few weeks!). I love how this lamp feels like a handcrafted sculpture, reminiscent of some artwork I enjoyed on a trip to Santa Fe a few years ago.

You may remember the hot pinks and oranges of a showroom I featured last spring after visiting the Spring High Point Furniture Market. Here is the same showroom, transformed into a dreamy lavender, plum and amethyst interior. This North Carolina upholstery company’s design team knows how to incorporate fashionable colors to highlight timeless upholstery pieces. Not only are the sofas and chairs very high quality, but, the incredible thought and consideration of even the smallest of details is a tradition and source of pride.

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I was fortunate to be among the potters and supporters of The North Carolina Pottery Center at The Umstead on Wednesday night, October 7 to see a special showing of the CRAFT IN AMERICA segment on NC Pottery, presented by PBS. The wine-and-dine event was a fundraiser for the Pottery Center. Dining tables were planned to include a potter or a potter’s representative at each table, giving the attendees a chance to ask the questions we so seldom have the opportunity to ask.

I sat at Ben Owen’s table and loved hearing about Ben’s study in Japan after college, his trip to China two years ago onto which he added a trip to Japan to visit his host family. His treating them to a night at the Ritz-Carlton was a delightful way for him to repay them for their generosity to him at an earlier time in his life.

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Mark Hewitt and Jugtown Pottery owners Vernon and Pam Owens, along with their children Travis and Bayle, will be featured on the Peabody Award winning series “Crafts in America”. The show will be broadcast nationwide on Wednesday, October 7th at 8:00 pm on PBS-TV. Entitled “Origins”, the show also includes interviews with a weaver, a blacksmith, a glass blower and a bead artist.

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Color has rained on Minta Bell Design Group! The new color on the walls is Benjamin Moore After the Rain.

We love the way it looks with all the crystal and silvery accents we have in the shop. It also is great with our red rug and our taupe, beige and browns. Did you know that deep lavender can be so versatile?

We selected the matte finish. It has a very tiny amount of sheen, between flat and eggshell. After a thirty day curing, the matte finish is scrubbable. It is also able to be touched up more successfully than eggshell.

We are excited about our new look and are debating more changes to come! Join the discussion and let us know what you would like to see in the shop!

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