My Mother's Day Out

This year, as a mother myself, I'm taking some time out for luxury treats and special events that enrich my life.

Of course there's the fabulous facial and healing hot stone massage but I also want to learn more and see more. I find it fascinating and invigorating to experience new events, as long as it's not jumping off anything with a bungee rope tied around my legs - I'm too scared for extreme sports!

New events always make me more creative which is great for my work - they take me out of my box, widen my scope and broaden my horizons!

With this in mind, I contemplated how I could bring you a special treat for Mother's Day. What would make your day special, bring you fun and a new experience?

Just for you we've put together not one but two special Mother's Day offers:

MY MOTHER'S DAY and MY MOTHER'S DAY OUT.

With our individual attention, these special offers are designed to pamper you. They're designed to give you that thrill and excitement under our expert guidance.

It's your time!

MY MOTHER'S DAY OUT

We're often told by our clients that they wish we were sat on their shoulder or tucked away in their pocket for when they go shopping. They want our individual and expert advice there and then to make those snap decisions.

We've thought one step better for you because, although Gwendoline is only 5'1", she won't fit into your pocket no matter how many yoga positions she can get her legs into!

So why doesn't she take you shopping!

Your individual shopping spree with our creative expert will guide you on what to buy and where to buy it.

It's your time!

Of course, as a mother our time is precious, so we show you how to maximise any shopping trips and give you confidence in putting items together quickly and efficiently. Great skills for anyone who hates shopping or is time poor.

Gwendoline will take the time to teach you how to look for those special items to finish off any room, or maybe there's something you're already on the hunt for?

We can help you make those special purchases now or just give you the advice and skills for the future. Either way, it's going to be fun!

Contact us today to book your pamper shopping experience:

Tel: 07841 519802

E-Mail;: gwendoline@ga-interiors.co.uk

'My Mother's Day Out' sessions are £99, for a maximum of 2 hours and must be taken before Easter (04Apr2010).

My Mother's Day

This year, as a mother myself, I'm taking some time out for those luxury treats and special events that enrich my life.

Of course there's the fabulous facial and healing hot stone massage but I also want to learn more and see more. I find it fascinating and invigorating to experience new events, as long as it's not jumping off anything with a bungee rope tied around my legs - I'm too scared for extreme sports!

New events always make me more creative which is great for my work - they take me out of my box, widen my scope and broaden my horizons!

With this in mind, I contemplated how I could bring you a special treat for Mother's Day. What would make your day special, bring you fun and a new experience!

Just for you we've put together not one but two special Mother's Day offers:
My Mother's Day and My Mother's Day Out.

With our individual attention, these special offers are designed to pamper you. They're designed to give you that thrill and excitement under our expert guidance.

It's your time!

MY MOTHER'S DAY

How many times have you walked into a room to be filled with misery - the decor is dated, the layout's all wring or you just can't see past the clutter?

Maybe you long for 'your own space' in your bustling home. Your own space to display your precious things and unwind after a long and taxing day.

As busy mums we give our energy and our time to our family, often putting ourselves last or just making do!

This year though, we're making time for you!

Our creative director Gwendoline will pop into your home and wave her magic to make your space and your home more appealing for you.

She'll offer you lots of guidance and practical advice to sort out those annoying and nagging worries about your home. She can create you a haven to unwind and relax or sort out that miserable room once and for all.

When we live in our homes we can become sanitised to what's around us. We live in the same way day in and day out.

This year we want to help you fall in love with your home again. We'll give it a new lease of life which in turn will invigorate you and your family.

No more miserable rooms and no more making do. Make time for yourself by contacting us today to book your pamper session with Gwendoline.

Tel: 07841 519802

E-Mail: gwendoline@ga-interiors.co.uk

'My Mothers Day' sessions are £99, for a maximum of 2 hours and must be taken before Easter (0Apr2010).

Radio Verulam - Maximise Any Room

The last Tuesday of every month is our creative director Gwendoline's slot with Danny Smith of Radio Verulam (92.6FM www.radioverulam.com).

It's an informal session where Gwendoline will share with you design top tips for the hot topic of the month.

For February she'll be talking about awkward rooms - from the dining room to the bedroom, from the cellar to the loft - she'll share with you her industry knowledge and vast experience into what makes a room awkward and how to remedy the problems.

So, crank up your ears to Radio Verulam.

Don't worry if we're not in your geography because you can always listen online at www.radioverulam.com.

Enjoy,
Gwendoline
Creative Director
GA Interiors

Tel: +44 (0) 7841 519802
E-Mail: gwendoline@ga-interiors.co.uk

Workshop...Social Networking Made Easy

As highlighted in today's blog, 'If I Show You, Will You Look', social networking has many positive aspects to help strengthen your company, your brand and your public profile.

But how does it fit into your daily life? How does it link to other aspects of your business?

I love to use the analogy of a horse race where you are the Horse and your customer is the Golden Cup, the First Prize.

Of course the horse has the ability to take part in the race and reach the winning post on its own but it's more likely to achieve first place, the golden cup and first prize, with a jockey and a trainer.

The jockey ensures that the horse is focused throughout the race and the trainer prepares the horse for the race, ensuring it's muscles are toned and flexed with sufficient nutrients for optimum fitness.

Social networking is the jockey. It helps you in your marketplace (the race) to position yourself against your competitors (the other horses).

Social networking works alongside other marketing tools (the trainer), such as your website, blogs, newsletters and personal face-to-face interactions, to make a strong connection with your customers.

Like any new technology it always take a while to work out best practices.

With over 20 years business expertise, our creative director Gwendoline is now bringing you our top tips on how to make it easy.

• We'll share with you our industry insights and how to take the slog out of social networking.
• We'll show you how to make it structured with clear objectives and goals.
• We'll teach you how to keep it simple but effective, maximizing those precious hours of your day.

Here's what one of our previous students had to say,

" A big thank you for all your valuable advice and help.

You made it fun and interesting."

We create all of our workshops individually for you.

As well as teaching you industry theory and best practices, we make our workshops practical and create a relaxed environment so that you go home with useful skills that can be applied straight away.

Contact us today to reserve your place on our limited workshops.

DATE: Tuesday 2nd March 2010

TIME: 10:00 - 12:00 am

PLACE: Saint Albans, Hertfordshire

PRICE: £35

TELEPHONE: 07841 519802

E-Mail: gwendoline@ga-interiors.co.uk

If I Show You, WIll You Look?

If I show you, will you look, will you take note, will you listen?

Of course you will, but only when you're ready. When the time is appropriate for you, you'll remember what I said and then be ready to take action.

That's what's so great about social networking, this global connectivity. I provide you with information and then you can use it when You want to, when You have a need and You have a purpose.

So, take a seat, have a read, make notes and use this information then You are ready.

***

I was reading articles on social networking this week (http://www.economist.com/) and it just blows your mind looking at the statistics and thinking of the global reach from the Internet today.

Even if you're not a fan of Facebook it is impressive to note that it has over 350 million users who post 55 million updates a day and share more than 3.5 billion pieces of information with each other every week. A staggering connection of knowledge and information!

Are you one of the 350 million? I am!

So, why is everyone jumping on the band wagon?

Just look at Facebook that took almost 5 years to reach its first 150 million users, but then only took 8 months to double that number! And LinkedIn has over 58 million members with its last million members joining within 11 days!

What's the rush? Why has there been this explosion in social networking over the last year?

Sure social networking started out as a medium for the youth to chat with their friends, share photos of their holidays and have their most embarrassing videos put on the Internet for total embarrassment.

Nowadays though, social networking users have an average age of 40. Should these people know better or are they onto something that you're not aware of? Are these 'Twitfaced' (Twitter and Facebook) people using social networking for purely personal purposes or have they brought it into the corporate arena?

How are we using social networking today compared to a year ago?

THE URL STRATEGY

URL usually stands for Uniform Resource Locator and is the unique address of any file that is accessible via the Internet. End of tecky talk because in the world of the Internet today URL has another meaning: Ubiquity first, Revenue later.

Over the past few years companies have focused on building lists of users rather than worrying about profits. Of course they've built huge followings but it's raised a question over their ability to make money from the audiences they've accumulated.

As with any good marketing strategy, the importance is not just focused on having a list but having a qualified list of potential clients and a list of people that can recommend you, your services and your brand.

People using social networking are more likely to engage with brands than sceptics think. It's a powerful viral marketing effect because friends spread the word about things they have discovered. Such recommendations are hugely important in purchase decisions.

It's street credibility without the street!

Instead of social networking I love to refer to it as social marketing! It's an informal way of letting people know what you do and an opportunity to showcase your work in the form of text, visual aids and audio.

O2 found that 17% of British small businesses were using Twitter to attract new customers and some believe they have saved around £5,000 ($8,000) a year from other forms of marketing by doing so.

The sceptics say that social marketing is an Internet bubble in the making but others say that it's the world's biggest, fastest and most dynamic focus groups.

Social marketing is a superb tool for mass communication, a way of connecting and sharing whether on a personal of a business level. Connections made possible by social networks are helping to create new businesses as well as promote and strengthen existing ones.

As with any new technology there are always pitfalls and words of warning.

As social networking and blogs weave their way into the workplace, offering huge opportunities for businesses, they also leave lines open for abuse and mistrust.

It's estimated that personal use of social networks during the working day have cost British economy almost £1.4 million a year in lost productivity.

An American firm, Nucleus Research, concluded that if companies banned employees from using Facebook while at work, their productivity would improve by 1.5%

But this is nothing new. Before computers even came along people were taking time out from work with cigarette breaks and coffee stops! When computers were introduced life became more varied with PC games for a quick brain refresh. There will always be people that abuse the system and there will always be a need to restrict access to some form of technology during the working day. It's just standard business practices to maximise your workforce.

Another concern for companies is the leaking of sensitive information through social networking, but again, this should be considered within standard business practices.

Social networking is a marketing tool and as such should be within your business plan and should have structure and form, ie: you should be clear what you want to say and how you want to say it. From a corporate perspective it's more appropriate for select individuals to blog, tweet and post about the company. The individuals send out a common message in a similar language that showcases the company and the brand, eg: a law firm might have a very formal structure with legal wording whereas a builder could be more informal with everyday wording.

For any company, standard business practices would currently include contractual elements for non-disclosure of sensitive information; therefore, the passing of information through social networking should be incorporated into this. Social networking is no different to chatting to a friend down the pub and giving away company secrets. Company policy needs to be in place to protect those secrets, innovations and sensitive tit bits.

So, how are people using social networking to build their business?

We've already said that it's a marketing tool building street credibility and strengthening your brand, eg: Barack Obama victory campaign.

We've already highlighted that it's an excellent channel for news, eg: latest natural or freak accident.

What we haven't touched upon is how simple and cost effective it is to implement. How quickly you can get your message out to hundreds and thousands of people with as little as 140 characters - even in a postal strike or the deepest of snow!

eMarketer estimate that over 600 million people will use their phones to tap into social networking by 2013, a more than four-fold increase on last year's 140 million. Facebook already has 65million mobile users.

Are you one of the 65 million? I am!

A Citibank survey (Oct09) of 500 small businesses in America found most of the companies had not used online networks because they thought they would be a waste of time.

Believe me - I have no time to waste!

Just because I'm having fun whilst I build my corporate identity doesn't make it any less effective.

Just because the information is flowing to me instead of me having to hunt for it doesn't make it any less relevant.

Just because I'm interacting with people through a computer doesn't make me any less sociable.

Through social networking I'm building my brand, I'm building my corporate identity and I'm building my public profile in a very real and interactive environment. It's leading to business and a whole lot of fun.

Why not join me on a social network site today? See your yourself, take a look, and make your own notes:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/gainteriors
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ga_interiors
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/gainteriors

Of course if you'd like a little guidance then just give us a call or sign up today to our business workshop "Social Networking Made Easy" by contacting our creative designer, Gwendoline.

Tel: 07841 519802
E-Mail: gwendoline@ga-interiors.co.uk

New Design Clinic For March... Maximise Any Room

NEW DESIGN CLINIC FOR MARCH 2010

- MAXIMISE ANY ROOM -

As we mentioned in our blog article 'How To Maximise Any Room', there are many reasons why a room is labelled awkward.

It could be the six of the room or its poor proportions. It could be the layout of the room or a lack of storage. It could even be caused by the quantity of items required in the room itself.

All of these problems cause an unsettling in our homes because all the time we're having to compromise.

For 2010, we don't want you to compromise.

We've created for you, your family and friends, a relaxed and informal design clinic where we'll share with you our top tips to resolve these awkward problems.

Here's what one of our clients had to say about our top tips:

"Thank you for your numerous ideas for my daughter's room. We have implemented them and simply can't believe that a box room now feels like a spacious bedroom with very little expense. Great advice."

In a relaxed and informal, fun and friendly environment, our aim is to teach you elements of design theory alongside practical skills. This means that we give you the potential to go home with the skills to resolve your awkward and maximise any room.

Here's what one of our previous students had to say:

"A big thank you for all your valuable advice and help. You made it fun and interesting."

All of our design clinics are exclusive to GA Interiors with a limited number of places available so it is advisable to make an early booking.

Contact us today to secure your place on at this unique event:

Date: Tuesday 2nd March
Time: 7:30 - 9:30 pm
Place: Saint Albans, Hertfordshire, UK
Price: £35

Tel: 07841 519802

E-Mail: gwendoline:ga-interiors.co.uk

How To Maximise Any Room

Working with many clients in a variety of properties, we often find a key problem for them is awkward rooms.

There are several reasons why a room might be awkward:

1) SIZE

A room may be too large or too small for the desired purpose. Of course, unless you're going to add walls to a larger space or add an extension to a smaller space then we have to work with the room as it is.

Often our solution to this problem is to define the space more accurately so that every centimetre in the room is optimised. We zone, or section, the room into different areas so that each zone has a clear purpose and function.

Zoning a space gives clear divisions and sets boundaries between one part of the room and the next. Larger rooms will feel cosier and smaller rooms will feel more spacious.

2) PROPORTION

Often the proportions of a room create problems for our clients, eg:
- an 'L' shaped room
- a very long room
- a room with a low ceiling
- a room with a high ceiling
- an attic room
- a room with lots of doors and windows.

As with the solution for room size, we can adjust some awkwardness in the room with clearer space definition.

Other techniques we use to remedy this problem involve a clever use of colour and defined furniture layout.

Our techniques trick the eye at a subconscious level to see the room in a different way, eg: painting a low ceiling a lighter colour than the walls will add height to the room and painting a high ceiling in a darker colour than the walls will bring the ceiling down and make the room feel cosier.

Sometimes we have to use a combination of industry techniques depending on how dis-proportionate the room is.

3) LAYOUT

One of the most common problems we encounter is under-utilised space due to poor layout of furniture.

As we mature our needs change and quite often our homes remain the same, ie: we have the same things in the same place because that's what we're used to.

For many of our clients, we work with them to understand their current needs for their home. What do they like about their homes and what's not working? We can then assess each room individually to make sure it has a clear defined purpose.

For example: one of our clients has created a huge extension with a fabulous room that they termed as the 'junk room'. We're now making it into a games room for the whole family to enjoy.

Another important problem with layout is use of space, ie: how you use every room in your home.

For example: one of our clients had an extension and kept the children's playroom int eh same old room. Great whilst they're living in the property but, now that they're selling their home this is the first room that buyers see. No matter how tidy the playroom is, it's never going to create that great first impression that hooks the buyer into the sale.

It would be more impactive for the clients to swap the playroom with the dining room. This would create minimal disruption and maximum impact giving them a greater opportunity to achieve that all important sale.

4) STORAGE

Many small 'box' rooms are given over to children or used as an office. Both have loads of items with oodles of toys for the children and bundles of box files for the office.

The key solution to this problem is great storage. Storage in terms of the types of furniture used and also the accessories that compliment the furniture.

For example: an office might require a great shelving system that holds box files whereas a baby's room might require shelving with adjustable shelves as their items will change as the child matures.

5) TOO MANY ITEMS TO FIT INTO THE ROOM

This problem usually occurs when dealing with a children's room as the amount of books, toys and accessories they have can be quite staggering - particularly when it's your first child and you're used to having the house to yourself!

As with any good design the solution is to zone, or section, the room into its functional areas, such as sleeping (bed), playing (table and chairs) and living (wardrobes).

The next consideration is great storage that's adjustable and flexible as the child matures, eg: the Flexa system (http://www.totstoteensfurniture.co.uk/)

The third consideration is to regularly go through the things and remove anything that's broken or no longer used. This should be carried out with the children - I know this is a horrendous thought for some of you and it is time consuming - but children need to learn life skills and tidy up after themselves.

With all these top tips you can now tackle those awkward rooms in your home.

Of course if you get a little stuck then we're always here to help.

If you'd like some practical skills to help you on your way then why not join me for our exclusive, fun and friendly design clinic: Maximise Any Room:

Date: Tuesday 2nd March
Time: 7:30 - 9:30 pm
Place: St Albans, Hertfordshire
Price: £35

You could even bring your friends with you for moral support. Contact us today to ensure your place at this exciting and unique event.

Best of Luck,
Gwendoline.
Creative Director,
GA Interiors.

Tel: 07841 519802
E-Mail: gwendoline@ga-interiors.co.uk
Website: http://www.ga-interiors.co.uk/