Gretchen Aubuchon: Brimfield Tweet-up—Its a Wrap!

Photos by Jessica Delaney

The Brimfield Tweet-up is a wrap and we could not be happier about how this event turned out! We spent two wonderful days, September 8 and 9, at the Brimfield Antique Show last week with just a few of our favorite people… “a few†meaning 108 of our favorite people!

Rain, what rain? Yes there was rain and lots of it but that didn’t stop our attendees from coming out to visit with friends and do some antique shopping! Cynthia Bogart of The Daily Basics and I loved hosting all of our colleagues in the decor industry–rain or no rain. It was and always is such a treat to meet people with whom you speak to everyday on Twitter in REAL LIFE. And that is exactly what we did at Brimfield: talking and shopping with friends from social media in real life.

We had a wonderful group of people and a fabulous group of sponsors at our Brimfield tents. Which in my mind just really made the two days shine! Our two lead sponsors, Benjamin Moore and Company C, really made this Tweet-up a success. Our VIP tent had a bar made out of Benjamin Moore paint cans and a Company C lounge with comfortable colorful furniture. Attendees could get a Benjamin Moore signature colorful cocktail and then sit down at the Company C lounge. In the general public tent, attendees could use Benjamin Moore paint to paint on canvas or watch guest color paint expert, Lucianna Samu, give worn antiques new life with new paint. They could also look through an assortment of fabulous rugs and fabrics from Company C or watch me (yes, me) recover antique chairs with colorful Company C fabrics.

To top all of this off, Benjamin Moore made a major announcement at Brimfield: the launch of their new color line, Color Stories. The fabulous color line, available this fall, will have more than 200 new colors. We had a sneak peak and other Brimfield attendees and I will be the first to tell you that you are going to want to repaint every room in your homes with these new colors. They are fantastic! Actually, no words do this new line justice–you’ll just have to see them this fall. Color Stories by Benjamin Moore… get ready!

We also had sponsor Aubuchon Hardware at our general public tent. They set up a real hardware store inside the tent so that attendees could use tools to fix and repair their antiques. They also provided us with so much more on the set-up and clean-up end of this event. We couldn’t have done it without them!

Pandora de Balthazár was a sponsor at both the general public tent and the VIP tent, showcasing her unbelievable linens on beds in both tents. I can say this now: I was tempted to fall asleep in one of them on several occasions! And Pandora also had a Facebook “trash to treasure†contest where attendees that got the most Facebook “likes†on their antique find could win a $1,500 shopping spree at Pandora! (Karin Lidbeck Brent blogged about the beauty of Pandora’s linens in yesterday’s post.)

GE Monogram provided our VIPs with two beverage-center refrigerators that chilled the wine, water and prosecco that was served to our guests. And they also had a raffle going at the event for an $8,000 GE Monogram grill! Yes, one of our attendees won it, too!

We also had the absolute pleasure of having Traditional Home and Better Homes and Gardens–and of course New England Home–as our media partners for this event. It was fabulous to have them there with us; attendees all received the latest copies of their magazines and even got to take part in an antique finds contest! Traditional Home picked three of our attendees to win a $200 shopping spree where they would go out and find antiques and then have them shot by the magazine. It was a fun addition to our event and our attendees loved it–especially our winners! And Better Homes and Gardens had a treat for us, too, with a sneak peak of the tenth edition of The New Decorating Book. And it is GORGEOUS!

And last but not least we had a couple of celebrity friends at Brimfield who produced wonderful things for the event! Kelley L. Moore, frequent guest on The Nate Berkus Show and a lifestyle entertainer, did the most unbelievable antiques-inspired centerpieces for our Thursday night dinner at The Publick House in Sturbridge. And she also was the person behind the idea of the Benjamin Moore bar and the Company C lounge. Kelley really brought creativity to our tents–they were bright and unique because of her vision!

Brian Kelsey of Martha Stewart Radio was also one of our Brimfield celebrity friends! Brian was a huge help in getting the tent set up and also did a fabulous instructional video for us, showcasing how to transform antiques with items from the hardware store. This fun informative video is coming soon!

So that was our Brimfield Tweet-up! We thank all of our sponsors, media partners, celebrity guests and our attendees! You are all the reason that Brimfield was such a success. And “success†in my mind means smiling faces and more than 8 million impressions on Twitter in four days! Yep, that is Brimfield success to me! Thanks to all!

–Gretchen Aubuchon
An interior decorator and former marketing/PR director, Gretchen Aubuchon focuses on bringing home decor inspiration to her readers in a unique fashion. Gretchen takes inspiration from home decor and pairs that inspiration to its match in fashion. Fashion and decor together inspire readers to dress their home as they would dress themselves.

About The Daily Basics
Cynthia Bogart, veteran editor of Better Homes & Gardens, began The Daily Basics a year ago with the intent of taking lifestyle traditions and merging them into the growing world of online and social media. The blog features one magazine-like article each day for the busy person on the go who still wants to get their magazine “fix.†The Brimfield Tweet-up is one example of where The Daily Basics is going, merging old with new. They will be launching a new format, taking it from a “blogazine†to a Web site, in November.