Tuesday, November 4, 2008

New Holiday Merchandise

Many of you have asked when we would be putting out our new holiday merchandise and I want to let you know that it will be out soon. We held off because we are so excited to be featured in Southern Lady Magazine. One of our fabulous customers (who is also an outstanding Interior Designer) introduced the Editor of the publication to us. They are already working on their Fall 2009 issue featuring Blue Ridge. Guess what? They will also be featuring Gatewood Hall Gracious Home. Their only request was that they wanted "fall photos" and we were happy to oblige. The photo shoot was today and Shawn said that it went really well. Kelli and Rebecca arrived early to "fluff" and prepare vignettes. The photographer was wonderful and very complimentary of our store. Needless to say we are thrilled!! Thank you Anita for the introduction! We will keep all of you posted as publication date draws near. Oh, and we will get busy putting out our new holiday finds!!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Here Is The Story...

If it is anything that I think is silly it is a blog without current entries...Well here is my story or explanation...I started the GH blog, got it up and running. I made a real effort to make certain that we didn't really promote it until I felt that I had some good, meaty stuff to post. Well as many of our regulars & friends know I got sick. I was ill for awhile before I ended up in the emergency room. Long story made short I ended up requiring surgery, was out of the hospital for a couple of days and then required a second emergency surgery...got a nasty infection which required even more time in the hospital and now I am finally out and feel certain that I am on the up swing. All the while I felt guilty that I hadn't worked on the blog but, ultimately thought that nobody really knew about it. WRONG! I have had several people say that they have checked out the blog and they asked when I was going to update it. Even my Surgeon and some of my wonderful Nurses and Nurse Techs in the hospital said that they had gone looking for our website and found the blog. Gosh, am I ever embarrassed. I promise to do better. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to my partner Shawn, Kelli, Rebecca and Sharon who had to work extra hard at GH in my absence. To all of you who sent so many well-wishes, uplifting cards, flowers and balloons thank you so very much you have no idea how much it meant to me. Finally, to my surgeon Dr. Jordan (who has already visited our store and fussed at me for not having our website up), and all of my Nurses and Nurse Techs at Wellstar Kennestone 5th floor I offer my most sincere thanks and appreciation for the OUTSTANDING care that you gave me. You are very special folks and I thank God for compassionate people like you who work so hard to provide the best care for people in need. Please come to Blue Ridge and stop in and see us!
It may be a little longer before I am back in the store but just know that I am always there in spirit (just ask Shawn and Kelli), and I am looking forward to the time when I am back in there on the weekends seeing everyone. Please check back for more entries in the near future...heck we may even get our website up too. :)

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Recent Lake House Project

Many of you have heard about the lake house that we recently furnished for Draper Realty. This is a great house at Tilly Bend on Lake Blue Ridge. The setting is wonderful! There is National Forest beside and across from the house so the views are unbelievable. The seller and agent knew that a furnished and staged house would show better and sell more quickly in a competitive market (Smart people! Even smarter because they came to us!!) This project has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a sleeping loft, gathering / game-room area on the terrace level and it is being sold fully furnished!! The owner paid us to do it all...and we did! He wanted it turn key and his only request...no typical bear, moose or deer theme. We used Pine Cone Hill & Peacock Alley bedding, great linens, towels, dishes, even a stainless barbecue grill- really everything you need! Just bring your toothbrush to closing and you are set to stay in your new retreat that night. Many of you have asked to see photos so I included a couple but, the owner recently hired a local professional photographer, Tom Harper to shoot the property. If you need professional photography give Tom a call! Enjoy!!

Old Tilly Rd Lake Cabin - Tom Harper Photography, Inc http://tomharper.smugmug.com/Architecture/Old-Tilly-Rd-Lake-Cabin/12323087_8zRye#879938805_77xCn

The sleeping loft features Saranac Stripe by Pine Cone Hill and rug by Dash & Albert.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Getting Started

Well here we go, ready to get started on our new Gatewood Hall Gracious Home Journal. While we have made progress on our website we decided that we need to go ahead and create an immediate method to reach our customers and prospective customers. We envision this location to be a place to chat about new arrivals, design trends and events at our store. We welcome those who have never been to our store and while we do not intend to use this journal as an e-commerce site most all of the items that you will see in the photos are typically available for sale at our store. Currently it is really tough for us to ship large items, or art work however our wonderful soaps, candles, bedding and some accessories are easy to ship and we are happy to send them. Give us a call at 706-946-6246 to check availability...or better yet come in and see us!
If you have never been into our store let me tell you a little about us. Gatewood Hall Gracious Home (or GH as many of our regular customers refer to us) opened about two years ago. The owners are myself, Corky Gatewood and Shawn Hall (Gatewood-Hall...get it? Our last names!) While we had been working together doing interior design projects for several years we bought a second home in the beautiful north Georgia mountains and fell in love with quaint downtown Blue Ridge. We both have a passion for good design and good living and thought a retail store would be a lot of fun. We felt with all of the growth in the area, Blue Ridge would be ready for the store that we'd been creating in our minds for the last several years. I am currently working a corporate job that I continue to love in Atlanta, but you will usually find me in the store weekends, holidays or when I'm on vacation... while Shawn, Kelli and Sharon hold down the fort in Blue Ridge the rest of the time. While both Shawn and I love the "people" aspect of the store I love the details, decorating, shopping, merchandising and marketing part of the business while Shawn loves the creating, designing, architecture, and construction aspects of the business (he can do just about anything) together we make a great team.
We condsider GH to be a lifestyle store. We love wonderful and unique finds for the home, clever gifts, beautiful linens, gourmet goodies, great art, books- both old and new, luxurious soaps, bath products and candles. We also offer wonderful Italian pewter and ceramic dishware from Match, Arte Italica and Vagabond House. Other dishes include Juliska, Mariposa, Spode and Potluck Studio. We are a stocking dealer for Lee Industries which is wonderful American, bench made furniture from North Carolina. Our services include gift registry, full-service interior design, real estate staging, custom window draperies and blinds.
Shawn and I feel so lucky to have had such positive feedback while meeting so many wonderful people over the last two years. We are really fortunate to be able to do something that we love and are passionate about. Please come in and see us! If you can't make it to Blue Ridge check in with us here, we'll keep you posted on what is happening in our little corner of the world.
Remember- "Live Well And Treat Yourself To A Gracious Home!"