- July 1, 2026
- Debbie Hall
Inspiration is everywhere. You just have to keep your eyes open.
That’s something I’ve believed for as long as I’ve been in this business. Last month, we stayed closer to home with travel ideas from the road.
But this past January, Kevin and I joined my parents, two sisters, and their husbands for a two-week voyage aboard the Viking Mars, with all ten of us sailing from Jamaica through the Caribbean and on to the Panama Canal. It was the trip of a lifetime and I came home full of creative motivation.
Pulling into Ocho Rios, the first thing that struck me was the color. Not the lush greenery (though there was plenty) but the buildings along the waterfront. I filed it away immediately.
Design Details Worth Noticing on Board
Once you go Viking, my sister (who is a cruise planner) says, you won’t want to go with any other cruise line. Having experienced it firsthand, I understand exactly what she means. The ship was beautifully designed throughout—thoughtful and refined without being cold. I couldn’t help but study every room I walked into.
Scale and Proportion in Belize
Standing at the base of those ancient temples, I kept thinking about proportion. The way the steps rise in deliberate increments. The way the structure commands its landscape without overwhelming it.
I think about that same relationship constantly when I’m working out a treatment on a challenging architectural feature.
Color, Pattern, and the Mangroves in Roatan
Mahogany Bay was a feast for the eyes. What captured my designer’s heart were the shade sails stretched overhead on the boardwalk. The triangular panels of red, yellow, and blue cast dappled shadows on the path below to filter light, define space, and add visual rhythm.
Good window treatments do the same thing. I wonder if these were made from Sunbrella fabric, one of my favorites for sunny spaces.
Later that afternoon, my parents and I took a small boat through the mangroves. The root systems rise from the water in dense, intricate layers. The structure and organic forms work together in a way that felt almost designed. It reminded me of what I love most about layered window treatments.
Precision and Scale in Panama
The Panama Canal was the highlight of the trip. The precision required (the tolerances, the coordination, the planning) is staggering. Standing there watching a container ship ease through those locks, I felt a familiar satisfaction. It’s the same feeling I get when a complex installation comes together exactly as planned.
Bringing it Home
I came home with a renewed appreciation for proportion, for the quiet power of a well-made shade, and for the reminder that the best design ideas rarely come from behind a desk.
I also came home with a very specific fabric on my mind. The colors of this trip, the soft pink sunsets, garden greens, the lush warmth of the tropics, showed up almost immediately in Samuel & Sons’ Palm Royale collection.
Their Flamingo Court Embroidered Border stopped me the moment I saw it, with a rhythmic repeat, the same pinks and greens on a fine linen ground. It’s the kind of detail that makes a drapery panel feel genuinely finished.
Applied to a leading edge, it brings exactly the kind of lightness and personality I was seeing throughout the islands. Travel has a way of confirming what you already love.
If your home has been calling for something with a little more color and life, whether you’re in Moorestown, Medford, Princeton, or somewhere in between, I’d love to help you find it. Schedule your complimentary design session and let’s start the conversation.
