We recently had the honor of hosting Lisa Newsom, Founder and former Editor-in-Chief of VERANDA, for a book signing of her new book, The Houses of VERANDA.

Lisa Newsom is not only mom to Andrew, Wisteria’s President, she is also a very accomplished business woman. She founded VERANDA magazine in 1987 as a showcase for fine design. Trained in fine art, she possesses an eye for composition and an understanding of color. From the very first issue, VERANDA distinguished itself with beautiful visual presentations as well as substance behind the beauty.

In her first book, The Houses of VERANDA, she takes the reader back into the world’s most beautiful homes. Decorated by prominent designers, the spaces range from classic to modern, romantic to peaceful retreats, and are brought together by an elevated sense of quality and style. These homes from around the country are filled with breathtaking rooms—some of the most spectacular ever featured in the magazine.

Thank you, Lisa, for all that you do and for being a role model to all who know you. Your kindness, generosity, and grace are inspiration beyond the pages you have created.

The magic that happens behind the scenes of a catalog shoot!  Friends are made, ideas are flowing and visions become reality! We thought it would be fun to show you a few sneak peeks from our upcoming May catalog.  We were shooting at our Style Director, Mary Jane Ryburn’s house, and had the best day…Thanks to everyone who was involved!

Arrival dates for India's summer monsoon (Wikimedia Commons)

What does a weather map of India’s monsoons have to do with our little company in the states? Well, the other day I asked Andrew and Hudson to relate some milestones from the ten years since we put out our first catalog. And as we all know, such a stroll down memory lane can sometimes result in your beginning every new recollection with the phrase, “Now it seems pretty funny, looking back on it, but…”

So borrowing the countdown formula from a popular late-night show, I’ll offer here Wisteria’s Top Ten Things We Just Happened To Notice From Our First Decade of Putting Out a Catalog.

10. Having Andy Rooney hold up your catalog on 60 Minutes could be considered good PR.

9. The nuances of making sure a shipping container full of Christmas merchandise arrives on time at the warehouse is a lot like landing a jet on an aircraft carrier.

8. It’s possible to get so carried away with bubble wrap that you actually overlook packing something inside it.

7. Ordering a new product with the specifications, “white upholstery/weathered wood” will create a thing of beauty, but swapping the adjectives can result in something else altogether.

6. Zeros, not only how many but also where they’re placed, are really important.

5. If two different suppliers in Daryapur, India are late with their orders, one claiming monsoons and the other claiming drought, could one of them be fudging a little?

4. If a factory owner impresses you with a picture of a building and it turns out to be a stock photograph, he probably just meant, “My building looks like this one. Sort of.”

3. Archaic cultural symbols carved into every piece from your big order of vintage Asian animal sculptures can bear an uncanny resemblance to the insignia of the Third Reich.

2. In the exhilarating rush of opening your first retail store, twenty thousand square feet may not sound like all that much.

1. The Rusty Paper Clip Rule: A rusty paper clip that, for years on end, has served faithfully to hold together broken plumbing parts will wait until the rush of the Christmas season to break, thus flooding a warehouse crowded with employees, half of whom desperately needed to use that very restroom.

Fall isn’t complete without a Halloween party! And it doesn’t have to be too scary to be fun and festive. In fact, for our September photoshoot we “had” to have a Halloween party just to photograph all our Halloween items. Food, pumpkins, fake spider webs, and spooky ghosts were all brought in to make it feel like the real deal.

To make a Halloween party of your own, we have a few suggestions! Create a candy bar, like the one seen above, using glass jars for the candy and our chalkboards. Cut a pumpkin in half, carve out the insides, and fill it with ice and colorful drinks. Add spider webs and spooky decor to your room. Set out fall food favorites, like candy apples. And fill goodie bags with candy for take-home party favors.

Take a look at some of our party ideas and seasonal inspiration. What’s better than kids, costumes, and candy!