I’m back from Vancouver where I attended the IDS West show this past weekend… and what a show it was! There’ll be a whole lot more coming, but this post is about the incredible planning and organizing by our amazing CDLB West group leaders, Victoria Lambert of Edin’s House, Barbara Matson of hodge:podge, Nancy Marcus of Marcus Design, and Karla Adamatsu of Kerrisdale Design Inc. They made this IDS West weekend possible for the rest of us, along with of course IKEA, our premier sponsor who was just incredible. Thank you Victoria, Barbara, Nancy, and Karla. And thank you IKEA!
Let the story unfold…
IDS West was held at the Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre. Have you ever been there?
Isn’t it unbelievable?
There is so much BC wood in the design, including these stunning chandeliers. They definitely set the tone for what lay ahead.
Our CDLB group was invited for a private tour on opening night…
And then to the opening night party too!
This is where we all met up…
To collect our Media Passes for the weekend!
I really appreciated having a Media Pass. And our remarkable organizers managed to arrange VIP seating for the presentations over the weekend too!
This is how our tour began…
A glass of complimentary champagne…
And 2 fantastic hosts!
Jason and Leonie…
Click here to read more about our tour and the opening night party!
Saturday night. Let the rest of the story unfold…
The next big event was our cocktail party at the boutique hotel, the Loden, where a number of us also opted to stay the night.
This is a glimpse of the sitting area in the suite I shared with Andrea Johnson, another member of CDLB West.
It comes complete with nailhead trim and an espresso machine at the back!
And this is a glimpse of the special guests who joined us at our cocktail party…
None other than Mark Challen, House and Home style commentator!
And…
These two amazing designers, Kelly Deck of Kelly Deck Design and Suzanne Dimma, editor of Canadian House and Home!!!
I know! Pretty incredible 🙂 And so were they!!!
The evening was filled with so much laughter the volume would put a football game to shame! There were lots of draws with amazing prizes, a grand draw for a $1000 IKEA gift card… and a Twitter challenge too! The prize was a sleek bathroom faucet from Delta Faucets…
Victoria Lambert Photo
Can you guess what came home with me?! Thank you so much Delta Faucets for your incredible support of CDLB West and our special evening!
And at the end of the evening we were each given a SWAG bag too!
Want to see what was in it?
Well, the Delta faucet wasn’t part of the swag bags, but I thought it should be included in the photograph too! Thank you so much to the many contributors who helped fill the swag bags with design and lifestyle delights!
And as they say, all good things must come to an end…
But for those of us who were still around the next morning, we enjoyed a nice breakfast together.
(L to R: Andrea Johnson, Myself, Karla Adamatsu, Barbara Matson, Victoria Lambert, Erika Reed Cook, Nancy Marcus)
And then some went their separate ways, while the rest of us carried on over to IDS West to take in Kelly Deck’s presentation.
This was the perfect end to an incredible 4 days!
And if you missed my interview with the incredibly talented Kelly Deck of Kelly Deck Design, you can read it here!
THANKS FOR READING!
Great post Sheila! It was such a great weekend, wasn’t it!
Thank you Rosa – I loved your post too! And I’m so happy to have met you… can’t wait for the next opportunity to get together again!
Fabulous round-up Sheila. Thanks for your email. I have come down with a real rotten cold and have not been on my email much!
Can I “borrow” a few photos? I forgot my camera and would love to write a post!
Oh Barbara, I feel so bad for you. You deserve a spa treatment, not a rotten cold! You can absolutely use any photos you want!
Great recap, Sheila! It was lovely to meet you. Hope we can stay in touch! -Sarah
Thank you Sarah!
Actually, I have a photo to email to you… will do that next! I’m so glad you made the trip out. I really enjoyed spending time with you and hope we get another chance to connect again soon!
I’m so happy that you enjoyed your weekend; I know I did!! The best part for me was connecting with my CDLB network friends, some – like you – in person for the very first time! Thank you for coming over and helping to make our event a huge success 😀
Victoria
Victoria, I just feel so grateful to people like you who make things like this happen for the rest of us… I’m not sure words will ever measure what it means to me to be a part of all this!
What a fun weekend it was!! So cool to hang out with you to enjoy the festivities. I look forward to our next meetup!
I agree! And I have a photo of you taking a photo to send to you!!! So much fun… can’t wait to reconnect again soon 🙂
What a great post Sheila, it was so nice to chat with you and catch up. I’m so glad you won the faucet – what an awesome prized. Loved you showing the hotel rooms, I was chomping at the bit to see what they looked like – beautiful (as are you)!
PS Thanks for the kind comments you said to me, they really touched my soul.
Awe, thank you Jil! I’m so happy to have finally met you. I meant every word, and always look forward to what you have to say!
So nice to meet you this past weekend. My apologies again for interrupting your interview a dozen times.
It was lovely to meet you too Sari – and seriously, no worries! It’s all good… now I need to pull that interview together so I can share it with the rest of you!!!
I was waiting for this report all weekend, thank you to share and the gorgeous pictures, Ursula
You are so welcome… there will be a few more post to come from inside the show itself!
LOVED meeting you Sheila!! Can’t wait till next year 🙂
I LOVED meeting you too Danielle – you are so much fun!!! I have a great photo of you in the hollow chair – will send it shortly! Next year is only a few months away, right? 😉
It was a great event, looking forward to next year.
Me too… and next year there might just be a happy birthday sung to someone on her special day at the event!!! 😉
Looks like such a GREAT time! Thanks for sharing it with those of us who wished we could be there.
It was really a great weekend, but the show was so good that I never got tired of going back. Every day there was something new to see, or I was able to revisit an exhibit and spend more time…
Awesome post! So great to meet you Sheila! I hope you can make it over for many more events in the future!
Thanks! It was so awesome to meet you too! I’m really hoping I can come to more events – it’s just so nice to meet the people behind the blogs. I love your blog BTW!