I’m quite excited to announce one of my newest adventures – guest-blogging as the Charlotte correspondent for the Remote Stylist! Click here to read my first post (sent to Remote Stylist newsletter subscribers via email), in which I report on Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams’ new book, The Comfortable Home: How to Invest in Your Nest and Live Well for Less. Please, please, please sign up for the Remote Stylist newsletters, so you’ll stay “in the know” – not only here in Charlotte, but around the country and the world. Some of my favorite bloggers – including Shay at the Designer Detective and Paloma at La Dolce Vita – are already on board as guest correspondents in other cities, so it is bound to be top notch!
The fabulous team at the Remote Stylist did edit my article for length – what can I say? I have a lot to talk about! – so I’m going to share the whole shebang with you right here. For my local followers, know that Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams is carried by Max & Company (part of Mrs. Howard) here in Charlotte … and that there’s a MG+BW outlet at the Hickory Furniture Mart! Unfortunately, the closest MG+BW signature store is in Atlanta. Let me know if you need any help with MG+BW furniture … or anything else for that matter!
Oh, and – to make it even better – I have a copy of The Comfortable Home – autographed by Mitchell and Bob – to give away to my faithful blog readers. If you’re interested in winning the book – and you should be! – just comment on this post and let me know. You’ll also need to be a blog or a Twitter follower so be sure you’ve already signed up for one (or both!) of those. Trust me, I do this mainly to weed out the insane spam commenters … because I refuse to email creepy “payday loans,” “shag rugs” or “Loans in IN” for a mailing address, much less send them a book. The deadline for entering is March 1st, at which time I'll draw a winner at random.
Oh, and one more thing before I get to the scoop on the MG+BW book. Congratulations to Loren from Charlotte, Stephanie from Greensboro and Christine from Vancouver, who won my last giveaway – the House Beautiful Colors for Your Home: 300 Designer Favorites book! And now on to my book review …
As much as I love, love, love design books, I buy them more for the beautiful photographs, and not for the design advice. But The Comfortable Home: How to Invest in Your Nest and Live Well for Less by Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams is more than just a collection of photographs. Instead, it is a primer for anyone who loves design – whether you live in an urban apartment or a spacious suburban house – to create a warm, welcoming environment on a budget you can afford.
At the risk of stating the obvious, Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams are the founders of the eponymous company Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, the internationally acclaimed home furnishing company that got its start in little Taylorsville, North Carolina. MG+BW offers furniture, lighting, rugs, accessories and, most recently, bedding to style savvy consumers who have real lives and real needs – you know, like children, pets and clutter.
In The Comfortable Home, Mitchell and Bob share the lessons that they’ve learned during the twenty years since they founded MG+BW. Their practical advice starts with “where to begin” and takes you through to the accessories that finish a space. They even give you guidelines to decide if you should consult a designer – which they themselves have done on occasion in their own homes. My favorite part of the book is how Mitchell and Bob use the same space and decorate it in two, three or more different ways – creating a totally different feel, sometimes with changes as simple as a few pillows and a rug. Although the photographs incorporate many MG+BW products, the book does not identify the products by style name or provide purchasing information. Instead, Mitchell and Bob urge the reader to use the photographs as inspiration to create their own spaces. Let me share, however, that there are many reasons to consider investing in MG+BW products. First, MG+BW is known for its high quality at a reasonable price point – obviously characteristics critically important to furniture buyers. But MG+BW is also a socially responsible company, both in terms of how they manufacture their products and in how they treat their employees. Personally, I feel better about spending my hard-earned money with a company that “talks the talk and walks the walk.” It simply must be the case that the MG+BW’s family values – from day care center to the on-site medical appointments to the college scholarships – lead to a better product … and ultimately a better society. Finally, Mitchell and Bob themselves are extraordinarily kind and welcoming. To meet them in person – as I had the pleasure of doing at Mrs. Howard’s new Charlotte location – is to feel as though you are greeting a trustworthy, long-time friend. Of course, that might also explain the quote from Mitchell, which is reprinted on the MG+BW company coffee mugs: “When a home is successfully furnished, just walking in the door is like getting a hug.” And who wouldn’t want that?
Photos from MG+BW
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