It’s been an interesting year for us at GBGP, filled with some awesome jumping-up-and-down-in-excitement moments and an equal number of “what-the-heck-are-we-doing?!” ones. In 2013, we focused a lot of our time and energy on building our interior design practice, taking on clients and projects that really inspire us, and continuing to build our brand awareness through our blog and other press opportunities. It’s crazy to think we’re entering into our third year working together, riding the ups and downs of owning a small business. As we’re sure many of you know, starting (and maintaining) your own business is a daunting process, but at the end of this year, we’re feeling pretty grateful to have each other to lean on–cheesy, but true! With that being said, here are a few highlights from our year, we certainly couldn’t have done it without your support. 
2013 started with a trip down to Naples, Florida to give a talk to the members of the Seattle Study Club on our first book, Good Bones, Great Pieces: The Seven Essential Pieces To Carry You Through a Lifetime. Here’s Lauren signing books in her PJs the night before the event. Book #2 in 2014? Yes. It’s a goal for us.
It’s really important for us to stay current on what’s new in the home world for both our blog and our clients. Our equivalent of New York Fashion week is High Point Market in North Carolina. Vendors from across the country congregate here twice a year to showcase what’s new for Spring and Fall. We went down to High Point for both markets this year. Here we are at Spring market outside one of the free concerts the High Point Market puts on. We were pretty happy to be outside at this point–HP Market can start to feel like an endless maze of furniture and accessories!
Below, Suzanne takes a breather on the fabulous blue and white ikat sofa at Design Legacy’s booth at Fall market. We actually traveled to North Carolina a total of THREE (!!) times this year, most recently as guests of Hickory Chair’s University. Over the span of two days, we were taken through every inch of Hickory Chair’s incredible factory. Seeing how this American made furniture is produced was an eye-opening experience. The workmanship and dedication of the folks who work in all aspects of the company was impressive, particularly after a challenging year for the company. Read more about our trip down to Hickory Chair here. We did a fair amount of traveling for antiques this year as well, making several trips to Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Long Island searching for pieces for both clients and One Kings Lane. In Maine we went as far as to rent a U-Haul truck! Watching each other drive this massive thing from one dusty barn to the next was pretty hilarious. Here’s Lauren (as a red-head!) with a few of our finds from a trip out to the North Fork of Long Island. One of the most gratifying moments of the year was seeing three of our projects featured in the newly relaunched issue of Domino magazine. We were especially honored to have the dining room we designed for Abby Larson used as Domino’s print advertisement (you’ll get to see more of this house in the next issue).The office we designed for the new Editor-in-Chief of Lucky magazine, Eva Chen, was also featured. This was one of those super fun projects that don’t come along everyday–when you get the chance, you jump. And we did. You may remember last year’s recap of 2012 where we posted this picture of us at the lease signing of our new office space……Here’s that same space 6 months later:We were asked to be a part of Ethan Allen’s relaunch of their brand called “The New Eclecticism” this fall where we got to design the windows for their Madison Avenue store. Here we are at the opening night sponsored by the Hearst Design Group with a few of our favorite Ethan Allen pieces. If you haven’t checked out the new Ethan Allen collection, hop over there asap–they’re making some great changes!Here’s to another year of decorating fun! Happy New Year! Thanks for following us on our journey.