Wednesday Mailbox

Andrea Schroder is decking the halls for Staples in their first ever holiday window display in New York City. All decorations are available at Staples and will be donated to the Boys and Girls Clubs. Andrea also visited with some Boys and Girls Clubs of America students who came to the Staples store and participated in a craft hour with her, where they learned how to make their own ornament out of office products.

(image courtesy of Business Wire)

Ondine Karady and Eddie Ross stopped by to visit Andrea as well!


Preston Lee chats about TD and what he's looking for in life with The Edge Boston.


Nathan Thomas talks art and lofty inspiration at Loft Style.

Saturday Mailbag

Margaret Russell chat's about what makes a stylish room and her thoughts on Top Design and Teresa Keegan here on Las Vegas Review Journal.


Eddie Ross talks elegant holiday table settings here on the Greenwich Times.

In the Mailbox 12.04.08

Eddie Ross and Andrea Schroder go antiquing in Santa Monica. Image and story courtesy of EddieRoss.com.

Andrea has revamped her website, so check it out here and offers some holiday decorating tips on Making This Home.

BTD Podcast With Preston Lee

Linda Merrill interviews Top Design Season Two finalist Preston Lee. Click here for the podcast.

Preston has launched a new business called Design and Style with business partner Jennifer Dyer. Click here for their new website.

More Monday Mail

From Women's Wear Daily:

OVER AND OUT: Eddie Ross, senior style editor at Martha Stewart Living, recent contestant on Bravo’s “Top Design,” and flea-market-chic blogger, is parting ways with Martha Stewart Omnimedia, WWD has learned. Ross confirmed the move, saying that he wanted to work on his own brand. He plans to expand on his blog at EddieRoss.com (which, in a crossing of the corporate aisle, was featured in last month’s Domino), launch an online store of tabletop antique accessories under $100 and continue offering flea-market tours in various cities. He and his partner are looking for houses in Rhinebeck, N.Y., to “focus and live a good life,” Ross said. He also hinted at a book project and possibly more television.

He said he was leaving of his own volition. “I adore Martha,” he said of his boss, who featured Ross and his blog on her show earlier this fall. “She’s been nothing but so supportive of me.”

Ross became a controversial figure on “Top Design,” where he butted heads with other contestants and with judge Jonathan Adler. (When Ross was eliminated in the ninth week, Adler did not mince words on his official Bravo blog: “Eddie Ross flaunts his overly high self-esteem, but he doesn’t realize how unappealing it is and, ultimately, how self-defeating it is.”) Of his portrayal on the show, Ross said, “It was the magic of an edit. Granted, some things did come out of my mouth.” — Irin Carmon

Monday Mailbox

Our favorite TD judge Margaret Russell shared with us these photos of a recent cocktail party she hosted at Armana/Casa in LA. With her are TD2 finalist Preston Lee, Wisit Prapong and Andrea Schroder. What a fun (and gorgeous) group!

Reader's Choice Poll - Chandi Challenge!

A big congratulations to Fifi Flowers for winning the BTD Swarovski Challenge Reader's Poll! Click here to view the results.

And a big thank you to all who entered our contest and for all of you who voted in our Poll!

Monday Mailbox

Eddie Ross talks about his favorite guilty pleasures and best hometown pizza.

Kerry "Big Daddy" Howard chats about living in Atlanta and his thoughts on the "Real Housewives of Atlanta".

TD Season 2 contestant Serge Van Lian and Project Runway Season Five designer Suede and will be among the celebrity guests at the first annual Lynx Ensemble Theater Benefit Gala. Click here for more information.

BTD Podcast with Ondine Karady

Linda Merrill interviews Season Two Top Design Finalist, Ondine Karady.

Click here for the podcast.

Click here for Ondine's website.

Readers Choice: Swarovski Chandi Challenge Poll

Yesterday, we announced that Margaret Russell had chosen Sheila O'Meara as the winner of our Swarovski Chandi Challenge. We had fourteen excellent entries and now it's your turn to voice your choice. Click here to view all fourteen designs and come back to vote!

poll by twiigs.com

And the Winner is...

A big congratulations to Sheila O'Meara - you are the winner of the Blogging Top Design Swarovski Crystal Palace Chandelier Design Challenge!


Our esteemed judge, Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief of Elle Decor magazine and Top Design judge says of your design:

"I’ve chosen Sheila O’Meara’s formal dining room with the Light Sock chandelier as the winner of the Swarovski Chandelier challenge.

It was terrific to see all of the entries—and I appreciated elements in each of them—but Sheila created the most professional and thoughtful presentation. She chose to not include a proper rendering of the room, but her mood board and detailed written description provided a remarkably realistic portrayal of her space; it was very easy to imagine being inside her dining room.

Though the Light Sock was my least favorite of the light fixtures, Sheila conjured a dreamy space that suited the texture and scale of the piece. Her color palette is a tad somber, but she deftly described the layout of the room (including a fireplace; who doesn’t love a fireplace in a dining room?), her mix of textures, and even how she would set the table."

Click here to view Sheila's winning design.

Sheila has won a signed copy of Margaret's fantastic book So Chic and a bag of sparkly goodness from Swarovski.

A big thank you to Margaret for being our judge and for offering her book as a prize and to Swarovski for offering a crystal surprise as well. And a huge thank you to all fourteen of you who took the time to create beautiful design boards for our consideration. We so appreciate your time, talent and efforts! You made this a very fun contest for all of us!

And stay tuned, we'll be hosting a Readers Choice challenge later on this week.

The Results are in and you were the judge!

In our season 2 finale poll, we asked you who you thought should have won Top Design. It's clear that you disagreed with the judges decision and you felt that Preston Lee should have been named winner. Click here to see the poll results.

From the Mailbox - It's all about the Judges

The lovely ladies over at Material Girls blog have been hosting a very fun design board contest where designers create a board based on a particular television character or personality. Lana from Topsy Turvy created this gorgeous design board for our own Margaret Russell's bedroom.

UPDATE: Lana won third place for this design! Congrats Lana!

Want a chance to go shopping with TD head judge Jonathan Adler? Got $10,000? Read this.

BTD Congratulates the Swarovski Crystal Chandi Challenge Finalists

Click on image for larger view.

The BTD team - Laura K, Tbone, The Scarlett and Linda Merrill have confabbed and we have selected

• Fifi Flowers
• Francoise McAree
• Sheila O'Meara
• Anne Payne
• Annilee B. Ramirez
• Kimberly Saquing

as our finalists in our Swarovski Chandi Challenge. We were originally going to pick five finalists, but couldn't totally agree, so decided to give judge Margaret Russell one additional design to ponder. Margaret is currently viewing the finalists' design boards and we are awaiting her decision!

Meanwhile a big congratulations to the finalists and a hearty THANK YOU to all fourteen of you who took to time to create such beautiful design boards! I can promise, it was not easy for us to cull the list down to six!

Click here to view all the finalists entries.

Click here to view all the entries.

In the Mailbox

Lovely Andrea Schroder was interviewed on Blog Talk radio this week. Click here to listen!

Nathan was not-so-exclusively interviewed on BuddyTv about his win.

Reality Blurred thinks Top Design is the new Top Chef, which is the new Project Runway...

A big thanks to Margaret Russell for her BTD Shoutout!

And, we're almost ready to announce the finalists for the Swarovski Crystal chandi contest! Meanwhile, we'll be doing a "Reader's Choice" poll next week to see if you agree with the BTD team and Ms. Russell herself - so stay tuned!

BTD Podcast with Nathan Thomas

Image courtesy of Nathan's Facebook.

Linda Merrill interviews Season 2 winner Nathan Thomas. Click here for the podcast.

Click here for his website.

TV Guide Interview With Nathan Thomas

TV Guide Interview With Ondine Karady

TV Guide Interview with Eddie Ross

Watch more Top Design videos on AOL Video

Recapalooza!

The TD recapping crew close out Season 2 in style:

Miss Becky is a Season 2 recapping star...

Cliffie calls it the "$100,ooo Sarcophagus"...

Everything Eric loved Obama's room...

Tom and Lorenzo give Nathan some more love...

Karly's line about Kelly Wearstler is hilarious...

The Modermdomestic thinks it may have been more Top Time Management...

Liz says the Season 2 makeover was a success...

Toyouke thought it was going to be Ondine...

Thanks for the laughs recappers! Will there be a Season 3??

BTD Chandelier Challenge! A few more excellent entries!

We're almost done posting submissions for our Swarovski Chandelier challenge! I am so impressed with the quality and creativity of all of the entries! Thank you all for your hard work. These projects are all very time consuming and we really appreciate you sharing your creativity with us all!

Here are a few more entries:

Designer: Jean Marie Keil - click here for more details

Designer Tiffany Kim - click here for more details

Designer Annilee B. Ramirez - click here to view details

Design by Kimberly Saquing - Click here to view details

Designer Ann Payne - click here to view more details

Designed by Lisa Berardinelli - click here for more details.

Designed by Brendan O'Connor - click here to view more details.

The BTD team will select five finalists whose work will be forwarded to our celebrity judge Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief of Elle Decor, who will pick the winner! Comments are welcome. Good luck!

Click here to view all the entries.

BTD Chandelier Challenge! Friday Entries

Here are more entries for our Swarovski Crystal Chandelier Contest. The deadline to submit your entries is today (but, just between you and I, if you send something in over the weekend, that'll be okay too!)

Designer Fifi Flowers - click here to view details


Designer Becky Harris - please click here for details

The BTD team will select five finalists whose work will be forwarded to our celebrity judge Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief of Elle Decor, who will pick the winner! Comments are welcome. Good luck!

Click here to view all the entries.

Your Turn to be the Judge - The Finale

1st row: Ondine Karady
2nd row: Nathan Thomas
3rd row: Preston Lee
Click on images for larger view

poll by twiigs.com

BTD Congratulates Nathan Thomas!

Congratulations to Nathan Thomas - you are the winner of Top Design Season 2! You bested 12 other highly accomplished designers with your truly unique style. You wowed the judges who were clearly enamored with you throughout the season and you were a consistent favorite with the viewers.

This post is only for positive comments about Nathan and his work this season.

Click here to comment on the episode.

BTD Love for Preston Lee

Preston, your quiet demeanor and purposeful attitude made you the dark horse this season. You've produced some incredibly beautiful work and there is no doubt that we will see much more of you in the future. Which will please many, many people.

This post is only for positive comments about Preston and his work.

Click here to comment about the episode.

BTD Love for Ondine Karady

Ondine, you made it to the final three - a big accomplishment. Your colorful and whimsical design style is charming and full of life. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

This post is only for positive comments about Ondine and her work.

Please click here to comment on the episode.

Reactions to the Finale!

We made it! Tell us how you feel about the winner. AND - tell us what you thought of the whole season. Do you think it was successful or is Interior Design too big to cram into this format? And, what happened to Fan Favorite???

The big Finale Party Room!

Welcome Top Design fans to the FINALE Party Room! Who will win Season 2 of Top Design? Will there be a fan favorite?

Join us one last time to watch - and dish - the designers and judges.

If you're new here - welcome! Just click the comments link and come on in! For those who come later, we'll be providing some play-by-play as well as ongoing commentary. So, join in!

TGIW and the Finale!

Join us tonight in the Party Room at 10:00PM! We've made it to the finale along with designers Nathan Thomas, Ondine Karady and Preston Lee. Join us for one last Party Room as we see what our finalists come up with for their last challenge.

While last week our poll showed that voters thought that Nathan was a shoe-in for the win, the picture is a bit murkier this week. So far, you believe that Nathan WILL win but you are split 50/50 between who SHOULD win - Nathan or Preston. Click here to view the results.

Entries are coming in for our BTD chandelier challenge, and you still have time to submit your entry. Deadline is Friday!

The High Schooler has done his homework and offers his final predictions.

Following the Party Room, you will be able to post your reactions and comments, send love to the latered and congrats to the winner.

And, stay tuned for my interview with the Winner and the other finalists!

See you tonight!

TGIW!

You were the judge - Episode 9

Preston Lee, Eddie Ross

Images courtesy of BravoTv. Click image for larger view.

Our polls are closed and you overwhelmingly agreed with the judges that it was Eddie Ross' time to pack up his swatch books and head back to the big Apple. Click here to view the results.

While the judges did not select a winner on episode 9, you have spoken and deemed Preston Lee to have had the Top Design. Click here to view the results.

Thanks for contributing your votes and your thoughts as Season 2 has progressed! We could not do this without your voice and your voting!

One more poll to come!

BTD Chandelier Challenge: Tuesday Entries!

Here are more entries for our Swarovski Crystal Chandelier Contest. Don't forget, the deadline to submit your entry is this Friday, November 7th!

Designer Chris Praley - Click here to view details


Designer Diana Hathaway Timmons - Click here to view details

The BTD team will select five finalists whose work will be forwarded to our celebrity judge Margaret Russell who will pick the winner! Comments are welcome. Good luck!

Click here to view all the entries.

Oh, these previews!

Ondine is freaking out, Preston is calmly going about his business and Nathan is hanging bowls on walls... it's the FINALE!

Previews!

Gee - wonder who the special guests are? Generally, on these shows, they bring back latered contestants to help out. Who do we think it will be? We know Eddie, who of course, he will be helping Preston for added dramz! Who else? Maybe they drug (dragged, drugged then dragged) Andrea back from home?

A lot of history, a little preview..

...and one final bit 'o cheesecake.

BTD Chandelier Challenge! Monday Entries!

We've started to receive some pretty excellent entries for our Swarovski Crystal Chandelier Contest. Starting today, I will be posting the entries on a daily basis. Don't forget, the deadline to submit your entry is this Friday, November 7th!

Designer: Sheila O'Meara - Click to view details

Designer: Wesley Willis - Click here to view details

Designer: Francoise McAree - Click here to view details

The BTD team will select five finalists whose work will be forwarded to our celebrity judge Margaret Russell who will pick the winner! Comments are welcome. Good luck!

Click here to view all the entries.

Who Will Win Top Design Season 2

Preston Lee, Ondine Karady, Nathan Thomas

So, here we are. We started with 13 hopefuls and in nine weeks we're down to the Final Three. A huge congratulations to Preston Lee, Ondine Karday and Nathan Thomas for making it to the finals. With three completely different styles and personalities, I don't think many would argue that they all deserve to be here.

Here is a little recap of their work, select:

• Preston
• Ondine
• Nathan

And, come back and vote in our two polls. Who do you think WILL win? And who do you think SHOULD win?

poll by twiigs.com

poll by twiigs.com

Recapalooza!

The TD recappers lead the way to the finale:

Miss Becky obsesses over Jeff Lewis...

Cliffie is a wee bit cranky...

Toyouke gets it all down...

Nobody does it like TLo...

The Moderndomestic loved Ondine's room...

Karly takes a peek into the Final 4's real homes...

Liz puts out the APB for Kelly Wearstler...
Why did Everything Eric kind of verbally, freakishly inhaled?

• And speaking of Everything Eric, a BIG BTD congrats to EE and E3K for tying the knot this weekend!! Congrats!

Julia at Hooked on Houses is also running a poll. Guess who's winning?

BTD Podcast with Eddie Ross

Linda Merrill talks with Eddie Ross, the exuberant designer from Season 2 of Top Design. Click here for the podcast.

Click here for his website.

Episode 9 - Your Turn to be the Judge

OK Top Design fans and friends - this was our final elimination challenge. What did you think of the judges decision?

Click here to tell us who you think should have been latered?

While they didn't select a winner this week, we know you have opinions. Click here to tell us whose room you thought was the most successful.

BTD Love for Eddie Ross

Eddie - you made it to the final four and along the way you've made a name for yourself. Some names haven't aways been the most positive, but your taste and style is clear. Your new blog became a must-read within the design blogosphere within a matter of weeks and your apartment has appeared in both Domino and The Washington Post. Pretty good!

This post is only for positive comments about Eddie and his work.

Click here to post your comments on the episode.

Reactions to Episode 9

So, what do we think? Do we agree with Margaret - "pretty rooms aren't memorable?" How do you feel about the final three?

Episode 9 - Party Room

Welcome Top Design fans to the Episode Nine Party Room! We're down to the final four. Who's going to make it to the finals? Do we have a dark horse coming up from behind? Only time will tell.

If you're new here - welcome! Just click the comments link and come on in! For those who come later, we'll be providing some play-by-play as well as ongoing commentary. So, join in!