Inspiration Direct from High Point

After years of designer FOMO of seeing (seemingly) ALL the other designers I knew posting from the semi-annual High Point Furniture Market, I decided it was time to take the trek myself. Just about 2 weeks ago, I hopped on a plane to High Point, North Carolina to peruse through THOUSANDS of furniture, decor, & lighting vendors in the hopes of coming home inspired and with even more awesome sources to use for client projects. Thankfully it didn’t disappoint! I’m brimming with new products that I’m just looking for the right project for! I spent the next few days after I returned digesting the hundreds and hundreds of pictures I took and I realized that there were elements I was being drawn to over and over and over.

Textural Elements

One thing that I couldn’t ignore was texture … not that I would want to. Texture EVERYWHERE and I was loving it! I just wanted to reach out and touch everything. Textured pillows, fiber art, raised designs in wood. I couldn’t get enough!

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Natural Materials

Natural materials caught my eye more times than I can count. Every space could use a touch of warmth with a gorgeous wood grain, a rattan pendant, or wicker planter. Of course wood grain isn’t anything revolutionary, however I’ve been noticing more attention to detail, directional graining, and really making ‘natural’ the star once again. Details like this are what typically draw me to vintage items.

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Bold Pattern

I’m not talking your parents’/grandparents’ floral sofas from the 70s. Pillows, art, ottomans, or if you’re feeling really bold, accent walls or chairs (which I personally wanted to shove in my carry on and bring home with me!!) can make such a modern statement when used strategically.

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Brass Details

I know this isn’t a new trend and I also know there are some designers that are ready to see brass go out of fashion again, but I’m not one of them. If High Point is any indication, I don’t see it going anywhere fast. Now, I wouldn’t recommend doing brass everywhere in a space, but touches of brass can have such an impact. I often mix 2 or 3 metal finishes in a room. If you nervous about too much brass, it’s play-it-safe best friend is matte black, so you’ll never go wrong pairing those 2 together in a space.

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Do you have a favorite element? I’m invigorated by my trip and I have so many ideas for clients! Thankfully, I have several rooms that I’ll be specifying furniture for shortly and hopefully can utilize some of my exciting new resources and inspiration!

Summer Inspirations

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Warm weather and sunshine invigorates me. It gets me excited for new things and new experiences! Usually spring helps to yank me out of my winter hibernation mode, but with all the rain we’ve had, I feel like I’m just coming out of hibernation now. New England brings such weather highs and lows, but the highs make the lows oh so worth it.

Here are a few things that have been sparking my inspiration lately:

I really am in love with the neighborhood that I’m lucky enough to live in, but they always give me new reasons! The newest is the Tunnel of Love art installation at our train station. Around 900 hand crocheted and knitted flowers by different makers unite in a color explosion! This amazing beauty is going to be up all summer AND I get to walk under it daily from home to the office. How gorgeous is it?!?!

I’m constantly finding amazing gems from Target’s Opal House line. This rattan chair is seriously amazing and would be a cozy addition to any backyard oasis!

Cortney Bishop’s designs have been catching my eye for quite a while, so I shouldn’t be surprised that this home tour on Lonny stoped me in my tracks. Click the image for the full amazing house tour!!

Photographed by Katie Charlotte for Cortney Bishop Design

I am so beyond excited that I have a client who loves this Hygge & West wallpaper as much as I do and is willing to use it in her bathroom!! You have seen me swooning over it on insta-stories and I grow more in love with it each time I look at it! From afar it looks flowery and flowy but up close its all weird and wonderful.

Speaking of that client, there will be exciting things to come! They’re completely rebuilding their 60s raised ranch, and the results will be EPIC!!! Even though the project won’t be completed until 2020, I’ll share a bit of the progress here as we go, so keep an eye out!!

Lastly, with the warmer weather finally, I’m craving all the greenery both inside and outside! Our dry winters are usually pretty harsh on the air plants that I have in my own house and typically 1 or 2 need replacing by spring. Air plants are pretty amazing little plants in my book, because they’re so sculptural and require very little maintenance. I can’t even seem to keep succulents alive, so keeping an air plant alive for a year or more is pretty stellar! I like to go to a local store, Seed to Stem, for my air plants, however most nurseries have them. I’ve even ordered them on Amazon before with success!!

Cheers to summer, warmth, sunshine, and outside adventures!!

Cliff House Before and After

Who doesn’t love a good before and after?? This living room in a charming antique home needed a bit of help living up to it’s potential. The client reached out to me shortly after her family moved in. With the “kid zone” in another space, she really wanted the living room to be one where adults could relax and chat while still family and pet friendly. Click through the images to see both the space before and the final result!

One thing that I really feel like makes such an impact in a living room is the pillows! I’ll let you in on one of my secrets: there’s a ‘formula’ that I often use for pattern mixing with pillows:

Small pattern + Large pattern + organic or loose pattern = Pattern MAGIC!

Here I anchored the sofa with a set of small scale patterns, contrasted them with 2 non-matching larger geometrics in the same color palette, then softened it all with an organic pop of color that ties it all together. The real secret is sometimes it’s just about playing with different pillows and seeing what feels right!

I can never resist a good side-by-side view comparison and I hope you can’t either! The view from the stairs to the fireplace has improved pretty dramatically and includes a custom painting from local artist Julianne of Moss and Blue. Aside from furniture and decor, we added plantation shutters, swapped out the old brass fireplace doors, retiled the hearth, and swapped out the dated lighting. No major construction, but major impact!

It was such a pleasure helping bring this living room to life!!

If you have a space that you aren’t sure what to do with or that you know isn’t living up to it’s potential, please fill out my New Client Questionnaire!