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A Day with Ballard Designs

December 8, 2012 By Rhoda 40 Comments

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Imagine my glee at getting to spend a day behind the scenes of my favorite catalog store. Yes, tis true!   Ballard Designs put together a blogger event and I was so very fortunate to be asked to attend this first ever Ballard Loves Bloggers event right here in Atlanta, where they are headquartered.  Not only that, but many of my fave blogger friends were there too, so that made it even more fun.  We all love hanging out together anyway, sharing ideas and just chatting about what we love, so getting to be there together was just icing on the cake.

Ballard Designs, started in 1983 by Helen Ballard Weeks, has grown into a company with over 100 million in sales and they send out 37 million catalogs annually.  Wow! That’s a lot of catalogs.  I bet you have a few of them laying around your house too,  right?  I know I do!

blog friends

This is a bad iphone pic, but here are a few of my blog friends:  Front row l to r, Cassity, Melissa, me, Traci.  Back row:  l to r, new blog friend, Michael, Sarah, Beth, Kate.  We were treated to a wonderful dinner the first night at Ecco in Midtown and then stayed at the Hotel Indigo that night.  All of these folks flew in from out of town and Kate let me crash in her room to avoid the traffic the next morning.  Slumber party!

Ballard offices

Next morning, we all convened at Ballard Designs headquarters for breakfast and lots of learning about how Ballard runs their 30 year old business.  It’s a fascinating process for sure.

Ballard boardroom

Of course, we were all ga-ga at all the beautiful Ballard items just hanging around for perusing.  How distracting would it be to see this every day when you go to work?  We all decided that next to blogging, working at Ballards might be the next best dream job there is.

barn door

Their offices are very cool with an industrial feel and all those Ballards goodies in every office.

Sherry Lori Erika

I’m so blessed to know so many wonderful bloggers all over the country and several of my Atlanta blog friends were there too, Sherry, Lori and Erika (who’s about to deliver baby #4 very soon!)  in this pic.  Dayka was also there and I missed her pic.  I worked with all these ladies in the Room Service Atlanta project this fall and they are all such talented designers.

Ballards meeting

We were welcomed and hosted by James Pope, Director of Business Development, Mollie Kitchens, Marketing Manager, and Karen Mooney, VP Creative Services.  After an initial discussion about Ballards, the company and learning so much about the behind the scenes, we went on a tour of the offices.

meeting at Ballards

James Pope, next to him, another Ballards executive (sorry, didn’t get the name), in green is Britany Simon, top 2 finalist on last season’s Design Star (great to meet her!) and Kate.

my ikat fabric

There’s a pretty lampshade on one desk sporting my beautiful Ikat fabric.

Mollie

Mollie sharing lots of good info for us.

cool offices

It’s an energizing environment with lots of creativity flowing.  Our kind of place, for sure!

Mood boards

Mood boards with upcoming color trends were abundant.

Ballards tour

We found out everything there is to know about how Ballards operates.  Very impressive company, they are doing lots of things right.

cool cubicles

Have you ever seen a cubicle this cool?  Actually, back when I worked in corporate and did live in a cube, I did make my cubes cute! Maybe not this cute, but I tried.

Ballard products

Fabulous chairs and fabrics.

antiques

Ballards shops the world, especially Paris and Europe in general, for interesting products to develop and then mass produce, like this huge clock.

Mirrors

Love these mirrors.

learning at Ballards

We so enjoyed our tour of the Ballard corporate offices.

warehouse

The warehouse looks like this, shelves after shelves of beautiful things. There are those famous Ballard pears up there!

beauty on shelves

So pretty, the fabrics and accessories.

Karen Mooney

Karen Mooney shared with us all about the creative process of putting together their catalogs, which go out 5 times a year.  That’s a whole lot of catalogs!

dropping boxes

We even got a look at their quality control process and how they drop boxes many, many times to test them for durability.  If they can’t ship their products out in one piece, they don’t make the cut.

Photo shoot house

We took a break after a delish lunch in the offices and went  to a photoshoot at this beautiful house.

copper on roof

Lovely house in a million + neighborhood.  The homeowners rented it out for a few days to Ballards to do their Spring 2013 photoshoot.

blueroom

Inside, there were all sorts of furniture pieces, props and accessories all waiting their turn to get in a photo.

Michael and Sarah

Michael (who is a delightful guy!) and Sarah (and all of us) took a turn petting Ricky Bobby, Jill Sharp Brinson’s cute pug who joined her on location.

fabric I love

I fell in love with this fabric and may have to get it this spring for my kitchen windows.  Pretty, isn’t it?

Ballard Photoshoot room

This room was all decked out for the photoshoot and you will more than likely see this in the Spring catalog next year.

Jill Sharp Brinson

Jill Sharp Brinson is an amazing creative director for Ballards and has been with them for many years.  She is one talented lady and we all enjoyed meeting  her.  She sure knows her way around a photoshoot.  I had already met her and James at the Bosch house in Serenbe earlier this year, so it was nice to chat with her again.

photoshoot with Jill

She explained how the catalog comes to life in the photoshoots.

office photoshoot

It was fun just to see the rooms staged for photos.

bookcase photoshoot

Beautiful pieces and new fabrics.

Fabric buyerWe then went back to Ballards and got to meet the merchandising team, who go all over the world looking for products to go in the catalogs and then working with factories to get them produced.  That is such a fascinating process too and it was fun to hear from all of them with their particular product lines.  This is the fabric merchandiser and she gave  us some great insight on how fabrics are chosen.  She had just returned from High Point, NC.

vintage fabric

Even vintage fabrics like this 200+ year old fabrics are used for inspiration in new designs.

So, what a fascinating way to spend the day with Ballards!  It was such a treat to be there with all of these other bloggers and I’m so happy that companies are reaching out to bloggers like me to partner up in spreading the word on design and beautifying our homes.

I’m definitely a Ballard Designs lover and even if some things in the catalog are out of my budget, I can certainly gain tons of inspiration from it.  I’ve bought my share of bargains from their outlet here in Atlanta over the years, in particularly 3 of my light fixtures in my new house.

We also got a gift certificate to spend and wow,  was that fun!

Ballards print

I picked up this little beauty in the DeFoor Ave. store and it was a really nice bargain. Marked at $50, they had a 30% off sale and I got this beautiful painted canvas for $35. It’s huge and I’m not even sure where it’s going yet, but it will be in my house somewhere. The watery tones are beachy in feel and I couldn’t pass it up.

I also got a 5 foot long shelf and brackets in black just like the ones in my office at the Roswell outlet for $26!!   Crazy good deal and this one is going in my laundry room.

So, that’s been my fun week and I wanted to share it all with you too!  Thanks for tagging along.

I’ll be sharing lots more Christmas décor next week too. 

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Filed Under: Travel 40 Comments

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. [email protected] Before Meets After says

    December 9, 2012 at 10:29 am

    How fun! It is amazing to me what they can do with a room. The house for the photo shoot is gorgeous!

    Reply
  2. Kate @ Chic on a Shoestring Decorating says

    December 9, 2012 at 11:05 am

    What an awesome experience! I’m so happy for you that you were able to go but I have to say I am completely jealous because Ballard is my absolute favorite. 🙂 I loved the behind the scenes and sneak peaks at the spring colors, fabulous colors!

    PS: I love your blog and have been lurking around for quite some time without commenting, I tried but couldn’t due to some glitch with blogger, but it’s fixed so I can finally tell you how marvelously your house is coming along! 🙂 xoxo

    Reply
  3. Karena says

    December 9, 2012 at 11:48 am

    Rhoda what a super experience!
    I have a gorgeous mirror I purchased online about 16 years ago! Oh and also a couple of their indoor-outdoor rugs!
    I wish we had an outlet in the Kansas City area! Adore Ballard!

    xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

    Reply
  4. Marianne in Mo. says

    December 9, 2012 at 2:10 pm

    How fun that visit would be! I’m envious! Wish I were a blogger and could get in on some of that behind the scenes action! You are so fortunate! I LOVE Ballards too, but can’t afford most of it. Doesn’t stop me from drooling! 🙂

    Reply
  5. Sally says

    December 9, 2012 at 2:31 pm

    How cool!! I love your photos! Jealous!

    Reply
  6. Connie McCallum says

    December 9, 2012 at 2:32 pm

    Oh Rhoda, I am so jealous, That must have been SO much fun. Thanks for taking us along with you, 😉

    Reply
  7. Paula J says

    December 9, 2012 at 4:29 pm

    Thanks so much for sharing… I know that must have been a fabulous day!

    I have several items from Ballards on my wishlist ~ their fabrics are so striking. And I love all the texture in their products… the burlap is a lot of fun, too!

    Reply
  8. Michael Wurm, Jr says

    December 9, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    What a beautiful and fun recap!! And thanks for all the love. You are the sweetest thing!

    Wasn’t this such a fun trip!? I’m hoping they will invite us back again.

    Reply
  9. Brenda @ DIY Home Decor Blogs says

    December 9, 2012 at 9:23 pm

    How fun! I love the blue room at the house you did the photo shoot!! Definitely pinning for inspiration in my own house!!!!!

    Reply
  10. Pam says

    December 9, 2012 at 11:59 pm

    Hi Rhoda!!!

    What fun you must have had. Going behind the scenes is great!!
    I love the new spring colors!! The house where they were going to shoot for the spring catalog, is beautiful.

    The lighting in number 9 photo is simple, but, elegant.

    Thank you for taking us on this trip!!

    Pam
    xox

    Reply
  11. Ira Morse says

    December 10, 2012 at 12:37 am

    Wow what fun it is, I love the mirror with vintage look. Thank you for sharing this informative post. 🙂

    Reply
  12. Lori @Vintage Charm Restored says

    December 10, 2012 at 9:48 am

    Dream trip!! I am so loving the behind scenes posts!! I absolutely adore Ballard Designs. I gaze through their catalogs for inspiration on many of my refinishes. Thank you for sharing sooo many great pictures and wonderful details with us Rhoda!! Have a wonderful day!! ~ Lori

    Reply
  13. barbara says

    December 10, 2012 at 12:13 pm

    Wow! So way cool!!! thanks for sharing this 🙂

    Reply
  14. Christina @ The Frugal Homemaker says

    December 10, 2012 at 5:33 pm

    such fun behind the scenes pictures! Man, we need to plan a blogger outing to those Ballard outlets – I have never been to any of them! And you got some great deals! 🙂

    Reply
  15. [email protected] says

    December 10, 2012 at 8:32 pm

    Oh wow Rhoda! How lucky are YOU?! You certainly do get to do some amazing, fun things. Isn’t it funny how life leads us to places we never could have imagined?

    Funny thing about that large clock. I have a 42″ round wood table that needs to be replaced and I mentioned to hubby we should make the top into a clock. Not sure where we would put it, but I thought of that when I saw your pic. Very cool!

    Reply
    • Rhoda says

      December 10, 2012 at 10:06 pm

      Doreen, I know! I have to pinch myself sometimes at all the blessings that come my way. It is incredible to get to do what I love to do and be involved in all of this design stuff. Truly a dream come true for me!

  16. [email protected] Charm says

    December 11, 2012 at 1:20 pm

    Rhoda,
    How neat that you got to go behind the scenes at Ballards…thanks for sharing it with all of us.

    Blessings,
    Linda

    Reply
  17. katie says

    January 19, 2013 at 12:05 pm

    Looks like you had an amazing day!!!! I’m so excited they will be sponsoring Haven this year!

    Reply
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Thanks for stopping by! I’m Rhoda, from Atlanta, GA and I love decorating and DIY projects. Decorating a home doesn’t have to cost a fortune and I’ve spent years thrifting at antiques markets and yard sales, finding those treasures that make a home unique. I’m here to inspire and encourage other women to find their own inner creativity. Won’t you join me?

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