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Valley’s Best Designers Compete in IFDA’s Third-Annual “Tableau”

(SCOTTSDALE, AZ) – It’s a diner’s dream – or could be.  Imagine “eating cake” with Marie Antoinette, using her silken brocade gown as your table and a painted and powdered likeness of the queen of France – complete with iconic pouf hairstyle – as your centerpiece.  This and dozens of other themed fantasy tables are planned for the International Furnishings and Design Association’s (IFDA’s) third-annual Tableau designing, dining and gaming event scheduled for Friday, November 14th at The Scottsdale Plaza Resort, 7200 N. Scottsdale Road.

Tableau ‘09 will feature the Valley’s best interior designers competing for honors with lavish, over-the-top tables that can be viewed and voted on by the general public from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  The designers and guests will then dine at these tables beginning at 5:30 p.m.  Following dinner, attendees will place their bets – Monte Carlo-style – at gaming tables.  Proceeds from the event will benefit the first U.S.-based Ryan House children’s palliative care home scheduled to open in Phoenix in 2010.

“By day, the general public can kick off the holiday season by viewing and voting on some 30 extraordinary tablescapes.  By night, attendees will literally become part of a dining fantasy,” explains Karen Sugarman, chairwoman of the IFDA Arizona chapter’s Tableau event.  “They will dine with interior designers at truly unique and breathtaking tables, then travel – at least for a few hours – to Monte Carlo for casino-style gaming and the chance to win fabulous prizes.”

Tickets for the public viewing are $25 each, while tickets for the evening event are $125 each when purchased on or before October 15 and $150 each after October 15.  The evening ticket price includes table viewing and voting, holiday fashion show, dinner (at which tablescape winners will be announced), “fun money” for the gaming tables (including blackjack, roulette, craps and slots) and raffles for fabulous prizes.  All tickets can be ordered online at www.blacktie-arizona.com.  Additional information on Tableau is available at www.ifdatableau.com.