Better Homes & Gardens StyleMaker 2017

Everyday when my email alerts me to something new in my inbox, I get a little ping of excitement, but in June, that excitement turned to total exhilaration when I opened up an email from the team at Better Homes & Gardens inviting me to the Better Homes & Gardens StyleMaker event in NYC in September.  If you’ve been following along for awhile, then you probably remember that I attended this event for the first time last year.  You can read about my experience here.

Last year I was super excited, but also super nervous.  This year, knowing what I was getting myself into, I was just incredibly excited!! 🙂  This event is unlike any other and it is such an honor to be invited to attend.  Needless to say, I promptly replied to the invitation and booked my tickets.  I knew it was going to be a bit harder to get away this year with the #1987FixerUpper in mid-remodel and having just moved across the country, but…I was determined not to miss out! 🙂

This year’s Better Homes & Gardens StyleMaker event was held at the brand new and uber cool 1 Hotel Brooklyn.  I had seen this hotel under construction for the last couple of years, and so I was super excited to check it out!  Let’s just say, it did not disappoint! The lobby was stunning!

We arrived at the perfect time…sunset.  The warm weather and twilight views of NYC from our room were absolutely breathtaking.

Waking up in the morning to those same views was a real treat.

Each morning when you came down the elevator you were greeted by this gorgeous farmer’s market table of fresh local fruit.  It was there all day to munch on.  I LOVED it!  What a great idea!

The night before the main event, I had the chance to have dinner with some friends I met at last year’s event, and some new friends.  I have learned that for me the relationships that are formed at this event are the best part about it.  It is a chance to get together with a small group of people who share your passion and spend the day learning together and getting to know one another.  Those friendships are a great take-away from the day.

The morning of the StyleMaker event, we headed to the conference area in the hotel and were wowed again.  Look at these views from the conference rooms…

Whoa!  The morning kicked off with a beautiful breakfast.  The BH&G team pays such attention to every detail.  I just always love wandering around and looking at everything they have done.  The food spreads are always gorgeous.

Breakfast is always a nice chance to mix and mingle before the classes get started.

Our morning sessions were super informative and a wealth of information.  I was taking some serious notes.  I always walk away with things that really stick with me and make me want to become a better blogger.  I always love hearing from the team at BH&G.  The have their fingers on the pulse of everything that is up and coming and it’s great to hear how they do things behind the scenes.

We took a short break for a beautiful lunch.  It was so yummy!!

After lunch we had the chance to hear from the duo behind all those drool-worthy food shots in Better Homes & Gardens.  It was super fun to have a hands on workshop working as teams to style avocado toast.  I was amazed by the items that are in the Chef’s styling tool kit!

I was able to take a class from the people behind Havenly that was very interesting.  It is amazing to see how people predict what the trends are going to be even as far out as 2019 already!

Such a wonderfully fun and inspiring day.  I had to run to the airport to catch a flight, so I missed out on the epic swag bag and the beautiful cocktail party, I mean, look at how cool this bar set up is!

Most of the photos in this post are by David Keith Photography.  I love that they are at these events to photograph the whole day!  I did something very unlike myself and didn’t even bring my big camera this time!  It was so nice to know that I could enjoy myself at the event and STILL get nice pictures. 😉

A huge thank you to the BH&G team for including me once again in this amazing event.  I am honored to be considered a StyleMaker and only hope that I can continue to create content that makes me eligible to be included again next year! 🙂

Have a wonderful day!
Tammy