xp_logs | Felicia and Hope: a tour of the new suite (backdated)

Hope gets a tour of Felicia's new suite.

"Woow... That looks even more interesting in person!" Hope craned her head, surveying the chandelier from several angles. "I have to admit that I would not have thought about this and just gone with something more traditional." Returning to gaze at Felicia, she asked: "How long have you been working with interior design?"

Felicia watched the young woman with a pleased smiled, leaning slightly against the fireplace mantle. "Thank you. It was my mother's hobby when I was growing up, honestly. She's a very... particular type of woman, things always have to be just so. Apparently some of that rubbed off on me, so I guess I'm lucky I don't move very often."

"My website started out mostly fashion, but lifestyle brands seem to be all the rage right now, so I try to do a home project every month or two," she continued. "I admit, I didn't pay full price on that chandelier, so it has some perks on top of the sponsorships."

"Every month or two? So you have to be thinking what you want to next already." Hope moved from the chandelier to fire place, first running her hand over the smooth marble, but then kneeled down to examine the candles in the fire place. "Something in this room or will be redecorating the entire mansion?" She joked a little. "And how many followers do you have?"

Rising again, her hand was about pull out her cellphone, but she glanced over her shoulder and asked: "Would you mind if I took a photo or two of the fireplace for my file where I keep things for my own inspiration?"

"My Instagram is my main source of hits, it has about ten-thousand dedicated followers, and it usually leads to more in depth blogging posts. I'm probably just going to do a bit on styling bookshelves when you actually own books," she replied wryly, but it shifted into something proud at Hope's next question. "By all means, go ahead. How did you get into interior styling?"

Hope quickly snapped a few pictures, before stowing her phone away again and turning to Felicia. "It's not something I am really into per se. My mother believed that every well-raised woman should know the basics of it though so she taught me some. Personally I am more interested in organizing larger and smaller events and hostessing and what I further learned is mostly in that context. Hence the table scaping for example."

Felicia gave a considering, somewhat impressed nod. "Is that what you plan on continuing school for when you graduate? Apparently everyone needs degrees these days, it's kind of ridiculous," she said, punctuating her points with taps of her fingernails on the marble. "Go to school so you can land an internship that doesn't pay for the degree you need to get the internship so you can have enough experience to actually work in your field."

"It's definitely a serious option for the future, though I am not entirely sure yet." Hope explained. "I am currently working as a PA with Julian Keller and we are including some event planning with it. Hopefully during my gap year I will get enough of an idea if I want to do it for a living. Plus actual experiences and the beginning of a network."

"Well. Maybe not this summer, but the next, my mother is always looking for competent interns for the party season." Felicia gave a short laugh, one corner of her mouth curled up. "Sorry. Charities and events season. I could probably be convinced to put in a good word."

"Thank you, that is very kind of you." Hope gave her a warm smile. "That sounds like a great opportunity! May I ask what her name is? I wonder if I might have met somewhere during the meetings for the charity events with Mr. Keller."

Felicia dipped her head slightly in acknowledgement. "Lydia Hardy. She started in Europe, but she's been in the U.S. the last thirty years or so. Specializes in charity and art auctions and does most of the Worthington charity galas these days," she replied. "She's a pain the ass to work for, but you'd learn a lot."

"I have heard of her. I think they mentioned her as a tough woman to work for, but that she gets the job done and has a very cool head if something does go wrong." Hope moved to examine the bed, before looking back and inquiring a little curiously: "Event planning is not something that really drew you, I am guessing?"

"More like survival skills," Felicia replied dryly, leaning a little into the fireplace before pushing off into the room. "Mother's very talented, but. It's generally best we never have to work together. Ever. Creativity runs in the family, but brunch is pretty much our limit and we keep it that way."

"It's easy for two strong personalities to clash, so to speak." Hope agreed as she ran her fingers over one of the metallic bed sties. "Especially when they are ones mother." She shook her head ruefully.

"Sounds like you know from experience, yourself," Felicia said, quirking a corner of her mouth up in a half smile. "They're your mother, you're supposed to love them if for no other reason than they pushed you out but damn if it isn't a close thing sometimes. Were you more of a daddy's girl?"

"Not really..." Hope remarked thoughtfully. "He works in finances and often made very long days. Plus, he is a fairly traditional father... that is the best way to describe it, I think. But I do get along easier with him nowadays then with my mother."

Felicia made a vague noise, but nodded slightly; understanding without assuming. "Well. Do you have interest in seeing the closet slash office? I mean, I think it's pretty great, but it's a pretty basic built in closet, with a little nook for a desk."

"I'd like too. I will probably be moving in a month or two, so I wouldn't hurt to get some inspiration." A grin quickly flitted over her face.

"Well, I'm not sure if you've been in any of the suites in this wing, but basically I took out the doors that led into each individual bedroom, and the wall closets that were against the middle wall. Then put in frosted glass French doors across the space. You go right for the bedroom, and left for the closet office," Felicia said, moving to the other side of the room, divided by a wall but without a full door. It was mostly white with black accents, where the bedroom was mostly black with white. "Where are you planning on moving?"

"Somewhere during the summer, but that is all I know. I might just end up with suite mate though, so that would give a little less space." Though an small office for herself sounded like a very nice thing, especially if she was going to work for Julian more and she didn't have her driving license yet. "I like the idea about both having a small office to yourself as having a good closet to work from..."

Humming in agreement, Felicia hit a couple of light switches; there was a window in the desk area, but the inset lighting added to the brightness in the room. "Well, when your closet is well managed and organized, it can second as decor. For example, a pair of Jimmy Choo Erica boots from their first appearance? Practically a painting, a vase, and I'm not even all that fond of Choo, usually," she said, straightening the aforementioned pair of shoes on their shelf, next to several other pairs of ankle boots. "It's just a different kind of inspiration decor."

"That is one way of using shoes." Hope looked intrigued, surveying the closet. "I like that, though I don't know if I would even use it myself. Don't you miss a sense of daylight here though? I know some comes through the window, but combining and selecting clothes has always worked better for me when I work in normal daylight."

"Hence daylight bulbs in all the fixtures. Not sure what the lumen number is, but they give the exact spectrum of the sun, even when dressing at night." Felicia smiled, brushing her fingers along a line of dresses. "Which I may do a lot of. And since the walls are white, no colour influence there either."

"Daylight bulbs should do nicely indeed." Hope moved a little closer to investigate some other elements in the small room. "So what are your favorite tricks to keep everything organized? I have been looking at one of those cabinets where you can hang everything, at least for my 'normal' jewelry. Haven't had much luck finding one in a simple classic design though..."

Felicia beamed, suddenly very pleased, and walked over to a large, deep mirror, framed and hung on one of the walls. She slipped her fingers under the lip of the frame and pulled, revealing the deep set was in fact to buffer the storage inside. On the back surface of the mirror was a fine netting that she'd hooked several pairs of earrings into, while in the deep box against the wall were dozens of hooks, holding necklaces and bracelets. "Another Pinterest DIY. I've never found jewelry armoires to be to my taste either, so this worked perfectly," she said, pulling out a ring from a long box, filled with plush velvet slots for various rings to slide into, that had been attached to the earring side.

"Nice!" Hope pulled out her phone again and held it up. "May I? And I actually have seen a few nice antique ones, but they are more for keeping your fine jewelry so to speak. I need something where I can put my other things..."

Felicia replaced the ring and stepped back, nodding. "Go ahead. I think the best tutorial I found for it was on Craftivity. I have a couple of boxes for the more, um," Felicia said, pausing to search for the word. "For things like pearls. Delicate. I'm sure they'd be fine, but sentimental value, you know how it is."

"Yes, I do. I do have some pieces I will be keeping in their boxes, safely stashed away, but if I want to try something out, it would be nice to have my other jewelry at least laid out in way I can see it in one glance and not have to dig for them." Hope replied as she tucked away her phone again. "Though mine would need to be more set up for necklaces and earrings..." She considered thoughtfully.

"Necklaces are easy, more hooks. Can see them, no tangling," Felicia replied, closing the case. "Earrings though, are more of a pain, especially if you prefer the kind with posts. But it's a start? And it doesn't involve knocking down any walls. I'm still checking for letters from the management that may never come."

"I am going to have to look around some online and then see what I can come up with." Hope nodded, her eyes narrowing a little as she considered the earring question. "Thanks for showing me everything."

Felicia gave the young woman a smile. It flickered a moment, as if she'd suddenly remembered something, before brightening again if a little sharper. "I'm always okay with getting to show off."