So I have this wall behind the TV. Yeah, I know everyone has a wall behind the TV. Mine is a big gapping wall that just gawks at me every time I look at it. It mocks me as I walk by. Sneering at my inability to figure it out. I swear it just needs some love to get rid of its ‘tude problem.

It is pretty darn difficult to decorate the blank wall behind a flatscreen television. Especially when sneers at you and challenges you to even try decorating around a TV.

The wall behind the tv issued a decorating challenge

My wall sort of looks like this. (Please excuse the clutter. A girl’s gotta live more than clean, right?)

Now, while that wall looks puny and diminutive, doesn’t it. Well it isn’t. That console is six feet long. Here is a wide angle view to get a better understanding.

See what I mean? It just acts like a total brat while you are trying to watch your shows.

Oh and in case you were wondering
Yes that was the Heart and Craft Bird Print underneath the clock. Here’s some close up action just for you.

Okay, that’s enough detour time
I’m not sure which direction I should go…a sprawling gallery wall or an organized gallery with shelving. Behold the first option

Decorating around a tv Option #1

Organizing a gallery with shelves
I seriously love the idea of postcard shelves a la Young House Love. It’s worth noting that they’ve installed them up in their home office, and I’m talking about these starring in the living room as an understudy of the TV.

Via Young House Love

For my variation, I would keep the shelves from feeling to heavy by using these acrylic card shelves from ClearDisplays.com that I found on Pinterest. Ranging in price from $6 to $16, these acrylic shelves should be rather lightweight to mount to my older walls. The shelves come in variety of lengths  - 16-, 24, 30-, 36-, 48-inches, so I could do some sort of pattern.

Via Clear Displays

Cool idea and all, but what do you put on these clear plastic shelves. The answer is simple. Postcards. Now I don’t have a massive blog network like Sherry and John to send me postcards. However, over the years, I’ve amassed quite a collection of postcards. They were once one of my favorite things to collect on my travels. Even now I make a point to send some home to my dearest peeps as as mementos of my travels. Besides, it’s always fun to visit their place and see the postcard on their fridge. My postcard collection has subject matter including everything from famous people and priceless works of art to places of interest and crazy tourist finds, it would be easy to switch in and out and relatively inexpensive to update the wall for a brand new look.

I have some reservations though about going through with the gallery via acrylic shelving. There is some concern that it would end up being a wall-o-clutter and bring down the living room’s awesome quotient. For another thing, I’m not sure you could really see them. You couldn’t really get up close to see the postcard since they’d be behind the credenza and the TV.

Just some thoughts. But seriously though this wall just needs to be figured out. It’s bothering me now that the TV is all setup and I actually pay attention to that side of the room.

So what do ya think? Acrylic postcard shelves or no acrylic postcard shelves? You got any other ideas lurking around? If so, let me know. I’d love to hear them! In the meantime, I’ll scope out some gallery walls for inspiration and get option #2 ideas up in this place.

Cheers,

g

Last December, I headed to over to Motorco in Durham to check out the annual Rock Shop Market. There was such a good turn out for all the local(ish) Etsy folks and purveyors of handmade goods, as well as the food trucks!

Rock Shop Market is a paradise and a welcomed escape from the holiday mall syndrome

Especially for those of us who are gift challenged around the holidays. I had a great time and met a ton of creative folks. Big thanks to Michelle Smith for organizing the event! And also for making my awesome new North Carolina postcards! The Rock Shop Market is a fabulous place to find the perfect well-designed gifts for everyone on your list, as well as one of a kind holiday cards (which is what I primarily focused on).

And now for the vendors and the merchandise: Here’s a photo round up of the day.

Look at the spread from Betsy Browne Pottery. Loved these pottery travel mugs with silicone lids. Sorry for the blurry phone picture! Would have taken care of two people on my list but alas missed out this time around.

The Heart and Craft couple from Greensboro, N.C. were seriously adorable. I ended up getting several packs of the Happy Holidays banner notecards in gold. Can’t wait to use them next year! And I also snagged the one navy/gray bird print they brought that day. More on where that ended up later…
Product Images via Heart and Craft

Here are the folks from CityFabric.net. They make t-shirts, totes and prints with the graphic representation of cities through building placement. I love their stuff. My hang up though is choosing which city.
Product Images via CityFabric.net

The couple from Hello Tenfold were awesome. Too many great stationary designs to choose from! I ended up going with these retro-cool Seasons Greetings notecards. If you check out their site, they also have a ton of wedding stationary items.
Product Images via Hellow Tenfold

Both these ladies had great stuff too! Near Modern Disaster has some great prints and note cards, and Haden Designs makes these chalkboard necklaces that can be constantly customized.

And I leave you with Squack Doodle‘s Mr. T and Bob Ross mugs enlightening you with “happy trees.”

Hope to see you there next year! Well on second thought, maybe not because then you’ll scoop up all the cool gift ideas before I drag myself out of bed on a Saturday.

Cheers,

g

I’ve got big plans this year

For the most part, it includes figuring out how to be even more frugal and fun as I embark on a self-imposed year of saving. Last year was the year of many trips. In 2011, I went to Austin, Texas; Chicago (twice); Albany, New York; Vermont; Florida; and Georgia. Which is a lot in my book. I definitely had a lot of memorable experiences and gained new friends along the way. But as the year came to a close, I realized that I hadn’t exactly saved as much as I had wanted to. Between moving expenses, setting up my new home and my jet-setter/road-tripper lifestyle, I needed to slow down a bit and refocus my energies on the future.

And so “The Year of Saving” was born out of a feeling of necessity to make up for what I spent in 2011. So what is this daunting “Year of Saving”? It’s a rigid plan to save, save and more save. Yes, I’ve set ridiculous, but do-able savings amount to contribute each month. It will most likely be painful at times, and I’ll have to make some tough decisions. In addition to saving a certain set amount, my goals are to do more with a little less and make do with what I already have.

And so 2012: The Year of Saving” begins

Even though there were some last minute, non-holiday related expenses during the last couple days of 2011, I was able to start off the year free from credit card debt. Let’s see how it goes. Please cross your fingers for me!! And get ready for some creative projects and some thrifty finds!

Do you have any specific goals to accomplish this year? If so, tell me what are your plans?

Cheers,
g

Image Credit: Alan Cleaver

Documenting my Movember Moustache circa 2011

Yes I’m a girl. And yes, I grow a moustache during the month of November. Well it’s more of an insta-stache, but it’s all mine and it’s all to support Movember.

This year, Movember flew by quickly. As a devoted Mo’ Sista, I shared my facial hair growth with the world. Although taking a picture a day was challenging, I was graciously awarded Miss Movember 2012 for Team RDU. Thank you to everyone that supported the Movember this year!!! Together we make a difference to eliminate prostate cancer.

Cheers,

Miss Movember

]]> http://www.gwynnemurphy.com/2012/01/15/movember-moustache-photos-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.gwynnemurphy.com/2012/01/15/movember-moustache-photos-2011/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GwynneMurphy/~3/GqXBcB8ddOY/ http://www.gwynnemurphy.com/2011/12/25/happy-holidays-2011/#comments Sun, 25 Dec 2011 10:00:11 +0000 Gwynne Murphy http://www.gwynnemurphy.com/?p=1166

Happy holidays!!!

Have a nice, safe, relaxing, groovy, not-too-snappy and overall fantastic holiday season! Please remember to take some time to reflect on the beauty of the season.

I promise Pinterest is awesome

Hey y’all! I’ve been slightly obsessed with Pinterest. And not so obsessed with this blog. Sorry! I’m trying to play catch up at the end of the year. But I’d love for you to follow me on Pinterest.

What is Pinterest?

It’s pretty much an online cork board where you can bookmark things visually. It’s a great place to find ideas for home decor, crafts and DIY. My inspiration meccca, this site has been as much as a time suck as when the Facebook first hit the interwebs. But hey it makes me feel creative and I’ve found and shared tons of great ideas and even made a few things (to be added on this here website).

Please follow Me on Pinterest when you get a chance

My pins are totally worth it. Thanks!

Earlier in the fall, I was inspired to make drapery beautiful

Former Phonebooth intern and occasional lunch buddy Clair, was so excited to show us her fully decorated college apartment. As she flipped through the pictures on her fancy iPhone showing varied angles of her first off-campus apartment, I wondered in amazement. She had done fabulous things during the short month she had lived there, while my new place looked like I just moved in after (what was at that point) a nearly a six month stint. I still consider it a work in progress to this day, but I digress…Clair showed each new picture with the novel pride of showing off your first new digs. And then her simple but coordinating drapes caught my eye. They were faux Roman shades, Clair shared. And she made them herself! So humble, she described hos she did a tad bit of sewing to create fabric strips and then tied the strips to cause a nice gather.

Pull the room together with an Easy Roman Shade

Hello! Light bulb! I could make a faux Roman shade – even if I didn’t have a sewing machine. My bedroom was window was so blah. It needed some life, some pizzaz. It needed a roman shade. I figured that I could substitue some wide ribbon for the fabric strips and pin it in place to my existing sheer panel.

So for under $5, I made a easy faux Roman shade. After some rough measurements, I was off to the craft store for some ribbon. It only took about 15 minutes to assemble. And, did I mention it was no-sew? Because it was ridiculously easy with absolutely no sewing required. It really pulls the room together for boudoir look.

Here’s how made a quick and easy Roman shade for under $5:

1. Start by hanging a sheer panel on a drapery rod.
2. Calculate the amount of ribbon you will need for each strip by measuring the distance from the top of the curtain rod to the bottom windowsill. Double this amount and add 2-3 feet to allow for tying the bow. This will be the length of one strip. You will need two strips, so make sure get enough.
3. Select your ribbon color and type at the craft store. I decided not to go with the more casual grosgrain ribbon and instead opted for a nice mocha satin.
4. Keep in mind the total amount of ribbon you need, as well as the length of each individual strip. Ribbon rolls come in different lengths so it may make sense to get two smaller rolls than one larger roll.
5. Gather your supplies, and cut the ribbon into your two strips and find the center point.
6. Using a safety pin (I used the ones from my dry cleaning.) pin the mid point of the ribbon to the back of the top hem of the panel. Drop the ribbon strips down each side of the sheer panel. 
7. Then, gather the panel up to the desired height and tie a simple knot.
8. Repeat this process for the second strip, making sure your gathered heights are even. Tie a bow in each strip and do a nice  V-cut on the ends of the ribbon.
9. Finish by styling  the center gather for an affordably chic look.

Voila! Effortless style.

Author’s Note: While I don’t usually bring work/industry type stuff to this space, after everything has been said and done, there are a few things that Brookstone did right and a few things that they could improve upon. I truly appreciate the personal response from Brookstone CEO Ron Boire and feel that they went out of their way to try to make it “right.” Please read my response to Brookstone for a mini communications case study to learn about their areas for improvement.

— Brookstone Customer Service: A Not-So-Very-Structured Customer Service Study —

A little while ago, I wrote about Brookstone and  brought my post to their attention via Twitter (see below). This gave me the opportunity to speak with their CEO Ron Boire and, for purposes of full disclosure, the company ended up sending me the amount that I mentioned in my previous blog post.

The company’s CEO reached out to me first and the story goes on from there. I understand their CEO is busy and I appreciate him taking the time to speak with me.

Overall, Brookstone did well. They did not ignore me. In fact, the CEO reached out to me to take the conversation offline. (Totally unexpected reply!) Brookstone promptly tried to resolve the issue by sending me a check. However, the organization definitely has room for improvement and some opportunities to do better in the future. I feel that their process has some weak points that could easily be improved. Let’s review these weaknesses and opportunities. Shall we?

1. Brookstone should not have put their CEO on Twitter (especially with a branded handle) without some serious social media guidance and crisis management counseling. Ron Boire was new to Twitter and I took advantage that he was easy to find in a search for Brookstone. If you are easy to find, please assume that you will be approached regarding your company/clients on Twitter. So companies of the world follow this advice: Don’t put your CEO on Twitter without crisis management training. Customers often use brands on Twitter to take out their aggravation. (See McDonalds). Any CEO or other professional that is on Twitter as a representative of the company (even if your Twitter name is not branded) should have some sort of social media and crisis management training for when things aren’t all about love and affection for your company, your brand or your product(s).

2. We all know that Twitter is pretty much an instantaneous universe. A tweet goes out into the network is viewed, used, read and within 5 minutes it’s usually gone. (Well, actually they are all archived by the Library of Congress, but that’s another post.) I admit, as a consumer, I understand waiting a few hours for a response from a brand or multi-national company. But let’s put this in perspective – by the time it took Brookstone to respond (1 day) or in another brand instance the Chicago Bears ProShop (several days), I’ve long left that tweet in my social media dust. Next time, I recommend that the brand Twitter account should respond before the CEO. Take social media ownership of your brand. Come on, why would I email you when I have the phone number of the CEO? Which brings me to point number 3…

3. Take another look at Boire’s Tweet. He put the phone number to his office out there. That’s right. Awesome job taking the conversation offline, but now your office line is officially out there for the world wide webs to see and to be archived in the Library of Congress. Anyone with a bit of tech savviness could potentially harass his admins. (Please note that I do not condone this behavior.) Although, I do appreciate the personal response and his obvious communication with the customer service team. Boire seems like a nice guy and a very in touch CEO.

4. Another opportunity for improvement would be for Brookstone to improve their customer service templates. This whole blog ordeal could have potentially been avoided had it been communicated where the $17 amount came from. Using a line or two of text on their generic customer service template response letter to explain that the gift card amount is equal to the last stock price of the item would have gone a long way in my book. (Truthfully, I don’t remember being asked for my receipt during my call to customer service by the way. But check the call recording to be sure.)

5. Finally, setting customer expectations is a big part of any customer service team. Where I work, our internal team does a great job of establishing the process of what will happen so customers are not left livid and fuming. When the rep entered my return into the system, why wasn’t she able to see that the item was no longer available? The customer service team could also implement an SOP (standard operating proceedure) that stresses the importance of a receipt, or otherwise make it clear that some people will not get a replacement (which is all I sought in the first place) in the event that their product is no longer carried (which is what happened).

Readers and Brookstone representatives, please don’t take this personally. Most companies, including Brookstone, have opportunities to grow and improve. I hope this follow-up post provided Brookstone’s customer service team with some valuable insight into the customer perspective. I felt that this quick dive into my customer experience could be beneficial for since I also wear product marketing/communications professional cap. Please feel free to share any customer support experiences in the comments.

Cheers,

g

I’m a trivia geek at heart, so it’s no wonder that I love stats and figures. And AdAge’s Stat is right up my alley. Check out this recent infographic created by MBA Online that visualizes media usage by who uses what and during what time of day. I found the generational differences quite interesting.

If you just can’t get enough, for further reading be sure to check out Pew Research’s work on how media consumption has changed since 2000. Alright, now go geek out already!

I have been an admirer of Brookstone’s NAP products for a long time and was very excited about my spa set when I purchased it at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, by the time I got around to really needing it for migraine headache relief, the some of the gel inserts had crystalized and hardened. Sucks but potentially workable hopefully, right? Nope. The clever crystal formations were totally poking me in the face.

Luckily, Brookstone seemed to have awesome customer service. I was able to reach them by phone, explain the situation and get a solution. The representative said that they would send a replacement once I sent mine back to Mexico, Missouri. Thoroughly pleased with the seemingly good customer service experience and the excited with the possibility of actually to actually use the product, I packaged it up and sent it out right away. Then 7-10 business days later, as I anxiously open my mailbox hoping to see my replacement set…I only found a lowly envelope from Brookstone with my name spelled incorrectly. It was a nice formal condolence letter letting me know that, as it turns out, my product was no longer available from the company so they were sending me a gift card for $16. Really? $16. Really!? Come on, that wasn’t even half of the purchase price, as you can see from the Kaboodle listing of the NAP Hot & Cold Spa Set. and I paid to ship my product back to customer service. This just doesn’t add up in my head. For $16 I can’t purchase one gel eyemask on their website. And that was one of three pieces!

I understand products being discontinued, but the $16 is a slap in the face. When I took the time to call customer service toll-free number at 800-846-3000 and took the proper steps to put my return put into the system, the customer service rep could have taken the few seconds to inform me that they no longer carried the Nap Hot & Cold Spa Set. That tid bit of information would have worked wonders on my feelings towards Brookstone. On my end there was no simple, “Boo, they don’t carry it any more that’s a bummer,” and Brookstone failed to take ownership of their brand experience and neglected to train their associates to be knowledgeable about their product line. I turned to Brookstone customer service for help returning a defective item, I was sorely disappointed. So we are left with bland case of unsatisfactory customer service and and unsatisfied customer.

Dear Brookstone, here’s the bottom line: offering a gift card for less than the retail value of the returned item with the assumption that the customer will spend even more money into buying nonsense from your company is just poor judgement and is not acceptable solution for this scenario.

Has anyone else encountered backhanded bad customer service lately? Please tell me about it in the comments. Maybe by exposing these anecdotes will help companies work harder on development and implementation of their operational support. I also would like to invite Brookstone to address this practice. I’m intrigued. What’s the magic equation that got me the $16?