Through the Designer’s Lens: Highlights from Recent Design Events

Through the Designer’s Lens: Highlights from Recent Design Events

June 17, 2025 Sara Hillery

As we begin to usher in the Summer season, we wanted to take time to reflect on some of the events and fundraisers we were fortunate to take part in this spring.

First up was a Virginia Garden Week luncheon. Our friend and PR expert Austin Mill assembled a “Romp Around the Old Dominion” tour of houses, bringing together architects and designers. Following a tour of the historic abode, which was shipped over from England and reassembled in Richmond, we hosted a delicious and scenic get together on the terrace overlooking the gardens. With a spring palette of citrusy yellows and oranges and pinks and beautiful blooms, our tablescapes also included a floral Christopher Farr Cloth Richmond print that had been pulled from the archives and was originally used for the royal family’s home.

Next, we were thrilled to participate in the annual Little Hands fundraiser, held at Tredegar Iron Works. With a children’s storybook theme as inspiration, we selected perennial favorite “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein, a fitting choice since Little Hands shines a light on the importance of giving. The book also provides a natural match for Sara’s love of nature, which was abundantly on display: a batik green printed tablecloth, bamboo cutlery, woven baskets of apples in each guest’s seat, and Mottahedeh Apple Lace dinnerware featuring butterflies all added to the sensation of bringing the outdoors inside. At the table’s center, was an apple tree in a white planter, loaned by Capital Garden Products. China loaned by Fraiche.

And just a few weeks ago, we participated in a Design Leadership Network panel celebrating the Network’s impressive and wide-traveling first book, The Living Room.

Moderated by DLN Director of Editorial and Community Engagement Hadley Keller, the panel covered the evolution of living room design, touching on the influence of Nancy Lancaster as well as Richmond’s own Wilton House among other trends throughout time.

After the panel, which featured Sara, architect Dan Ensminger, and Bond Millen Gallery Director Ashley Millen, participants enjoyed a guided tour of Maymont’s Japanese and Italian gardens.

More behind the scenes

What design trends and ideas are shaping luxury interiors today? Sara Hillery Interior Design shares insights and inspiration from Virginia Garden Week, Design Leadership Network events, showhouses, fundraising galas, and leading industry gatherings.

Little Hands Virginia Tablescapes Showcase

February 29, 2024 Sara Hillery

The Inaugural Spring Tablescapes Showcase benefitting Little Hands Virginia. Photography by Gordon Gregory

I was honored and excited to participate in the inaugural Spring Tablescapes Showcase benefitting Little Hands Virginia, a nonprofit that ensures children in Central Virginia have essentials from birth to improve their outcomes in life.

“Tropical Punch” by Sara Hillery Interior Design. Photography by Gordon Gregory

For this festive showcase, I created a playful yet elegant tablescape that drew on some of my favorite travel memories, my love of balancing classic forms with bold colors, and my desire to bring some energetic whimsy to a fundraising event for a noble nonprofit and mission.

Hints of travel inspo are found throughout this colorful and cheery design. For example, I wanted orchids to be a focus of the centerpiece after falling in love with them in Thailand. Hot pink origami napkins are a nod to the time I spent in Japan, and I paired bamboo plates with small-print batik-inspired placemats (and also threaded the bamboo theme by using white bamboo-backed chairs).

Sara Hillery Interior Design’s “Tropical Punch” tablescape.

I can never resist combining old and new so I incorporated vintage champagne flutes along with modern handmade tumblers on the table. In addition to the floral table skirt, the table setting pops with punches of pink and orange (hence the tablescape’s name “Tropical Punch”) as well as more neutral details such as ivory French silverware from my own collection.

Sara Hillery with her tablescape, “Tropical Punch.” Photography by Gordon Gregory

I loved being a part of this wonderful event and am looking forward to the 2nd Annual Spring Tablescapes Showcase.

Little Hands Virginia, “What a Wonderful World” 2024 Spring Tablescapes Showcase

Save the dates – An Evening at Tablescapes will take place on May 2nd and the Tablescapes Luncheon will be May 3rd. Tickets available now on the Little Hands Virginia website. See you there!

High-end event and tablescape design by Richmond interior designer Sara Hillery Interior Design, featuring travel-inspired color palettes, luxury entertaining decor, and curated place settings for charity and seasonal events.

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Spring Gala

May 5, 2022 Sara Hillery

SHID was honored to create a tablescape for the Lenox Hill spring gala, held on April 28th. The work and legacy of Lenox Hill, a 128-year-old settlement house on the East Side of Manhattan that provides human services including an early childhood center, centers and care programs for the elderly, shelters and prevention programs for persons experiencing homelessness, and more, is beyond inspiring, and I was thrilled to support (and celebrate) them.

Using the gala’s theme “A Garden of Earthly Delights” as a springboard, I incorporated my favorite earthly delights from some of the places I have traveled and lived. With a focus on flowers and fruit trees, I set out to marry my traditional taste and penchant for punchy playfulness in “And the Zest Was History”, a sumptuous visual array full of whimsy and vibrant natural elements.

Many of the tablescape components are a nod to the East and Gulf coasts, highlighting the impact that Virginia, Louisiana, and Texas have made on me and my design sensibilities. The chair fabric from Palm Orleans, for example, features a lively print of oysters and citrus. Oysters are found in abundance along Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay, just south of New Orleans, and in Houston’s Galveston Bay, making them a highly personal and much beloved earthly delight!

I loved living among satsuma trees in Houston, but, since moving back to Virginia, have had to settle for a different breed of oranges. Their color, scent, taste, and the cheerfulness that they exude inspired me to choose these fruits as the table’s centerpiece as well. Pink peonies (which echo my garden in Virginia) as well as flowers found farther afield, like the orange pincushion protea flower, honor both a love of home and worldly travel adventures.

Naturally, we incorporated our signature SHID blue and white palette when choosing the table skirt, candles, napkin detailing, and even the ribbon for our favors (spoiler: they were delicious chocolate bars from local favorite Miss Maude’s). The table skirt has Virginia references hidden in plain sight: it features creatures that are prominent in the local landscape and the tableware selections include a tobacco leaf plate and dogwood napkin ring. As a nod to Jeffersonian and classical architecture, I even included a Chippendale planter on our table.

And, because every detail is worth attending to (and because I unabashedly love color and texture), I finished the table with pink champagne glasses, pink dogwood blossom napkin rings, clear glasses dotted with vibrant green, tobacco leaf salad plates, bamboo inspired flatware, and round rattan placemats.

Special thanks to our patrons: Zafferano America, Quadrille, Pomegranate Inc, Palm Orleans, Miss Maudes Bar of Chocolates, Hines and Company, and Capital Garden Products. Your beautiful products helped us create a lush and colorful table worthy of a place in a garden of earthly delights!