'debi the decorating diva'

Hi! I'm Debi Ward Kennedy. Welcome to my design blog.
I've been called 'Decorating Diva Deb' and 'Debi the Decorating Diva'
because it's what I AM as well as what I DO! 

Professionally, I design retail stores, product displays, and event visuals. I've styled product and location photo shoots, and decorated businesses and executive homes for the holidays. I write articles about these subjects, and speak about them at trade shows and conventions.

I've been doing this work since I was 13 years old, thanks to my Mom and the Howard Johnson's Hotel gift shop she managed, across the street from Disneyland. She let me do the window displays!

The stories I could tell about my formative years (like being the head merchandiser for a chain of men's clothing stores when I was just a senior in high school!) would have you open-mouthed and shaking your head in wonder. Wonder how I am allowed to roam freely, most likely. I am at heart a creative kid, an obsessed DIY decorator, and a visual designer. I have a lifelong love of Disney that causes my attraction to cartoon-like characters and silliness, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Disneyland trivia. In 2014, my lifelong dream came true when I was hired by the Walt Disney Company to work for them at the Disneyland Resort - creating displays and re-imagining stores!

I am that friend you call when you need to choose a paint color and are tired of standing in the paint aisle at Lowes Hardware with glazed eyes and a look of hopelessness on your face. I have been known to help choose paint colors over the phone, via instant messaged photos taken with the friend/client's phone... and am usually correct.

I am the kind of shopper who will actually take products from the lowest shelf because I refuse to mess up the display, and I admit to even straightening up displays in stores that I do not design nor work for...

It's a bit like 'Random Acts of Kindness' - only it's 'Random Acts of Display'!

Never leave me alone in a room with a brush and a can of paint. Never.
No, I won't just paint the wall green. I'll paint a mural with flowers everywhere and green leaves. (Did THAT job for over a decade, too!)

Let's be honest... never leave me alone in a room, period.
When you return, the furniture will be re-arranged to maximize space, the accessories will have been culled, and the window treatments will have been altered. I tend to incite wild shopping sprees (at thrift stores, mind you) and painting frenzies. Husbands have banned me from houses because of this. (Why do men hate color on walls? WHAT IS THE DEAL, guys?)

In any case, I love helping people make their spaces - work, home, business locations, booths, event locales - look stylish AND function with ease. I love talking and writing about that, too.

Need advice? Shoot me an email! 

Creatively,
~ Deb