My Color Finds at High Point 2011

Grab a drink and have a seat. It's going to be a long post about my color finds at High Point this year. Most were great, some were very predictable, expected and some were a bit trendy. 

Here's a few that caught my eye for one reason or another. 

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Before I left for High Point, I did a quick facebook post on what the color finds may be this year. You can see the colors in this graphic (click on the link to read more) that I personally would have loved to see in one form or another but did I? Come take a read and I'll show you what I found.

This was my first find as my color eye was scouring the showrooms. These gorgeous pillows were a Dwell Studio find - and I want them! 

What's so great about these pillows? To start, the colors are perfect. You basically have a “blue” and “orange” but with a innovative flair, not the typical blue/orange that flooded the market. The quality of this pillow was top notch and of course I love anything with birds on it - mostly. 

As we get into a more contemporary flair, here you see the start of the typical contemps but brown is added instead of bright, bold hues we would normally see associated with a contemporary theme. Love the sharp edges and geometric lines as this style should have.

Well, here you have the very orange and blue color scheme. I knew orange would be the feature and I posted about this a very long time ago, but I would have loved to have seen orange paired with green instead of blue. Read the post.

Since blue, and it's so many hues of blue, has been so very popular, it's only natural that  “orange” would be it's sidekick. However, I know we're in the design industry and these colors may be an old hat to some of us but does it have to be so obvious? I would rather see the blue/orange combo that was shown in the bird pillows - it's just not so typical. I guess it's good to have all ranges of blue orange for variety.

Global Views

The very expected orange but I do love it in the spicy range - again - this was one of my pics for a favorite hue to have a while back. I'm glad to see it available but really want to see it paired with other  colors other than just blue.  The spicier the better, but stay away from your blue friend!

Here's where lighting comes into play from the Go Home showroom. These re-inspired designs really don't have that much color - earth tones at most - but look how the right lighting and design can transform a showroom. The mood and effects from the shade cutouts are unique. Materials are natural or simple with a lot of texture for light to play off of. Go Home was one (and there were just a few) of my favorite showrooms.

The visuals and how light bounces off 

objects in the Go Home showroom were impressive.

Very classy, very rich, very appealing.

Throw one more color in this scheme, perhaps the rug color to brighten it up a bit.

… fun … playful … great colors!

Transforming something ordinary into something playful. I'm not a big fan of describing decor as “fun” but this really is! I think it's clever and can be painted any color to suit any decor. Don't drink? It would make a great house for the kids to play with or even some kind knick knack display. Let your imagination run free!

As I mentioned early about the ordinary display of blue and orange, there are other color duos that you usually see together as well. For example, brown. Brown is most commonly seen with blue or green - so very dated and I cringe every time I see it in the store still! 

Anyway, brown is just a good staple color but it gets even better when combined with unusual colors such as this very rich venetian gold. If anyone has been following my Chocolate Lovers' Series you'll know that I'm pairing up brown with some “not so typical” colors. So instead of brown/blue and brown/green you'll see brown/gold, salmon, mint or white.

From my Chocolate Lovers' Series

These are like colors you can eat! I see butterscotch, chocolate and milkshakes. When I see color that reminds me of something that good -  I'd say that was a nailed color scheme, at least for me.

The bedding color is great but I really love the wall color. I wonder what it is? I thinks it's very fresh and sexy.  Now THAT's good color.

Do kids like any other colors besides these? It's like boys like blue and girls like pink. Although beautiful, these colors are soooooooo very typical of what the kids are choosing for color. I know because I have been mixing and working with them since I worked mixing colors for Lowes and other companies back, back in the day. 

I can close my eyes, walk into a kids' room and bet that you'll see bright pink, green or purple in the room somewhere. Come look at some of my color suggestion at HOUZZ and see some other color options - and they can be mixed and matched. I was greatly disappointed when I saw this color combo in a Market that should be cutting edge. This was a little too Kmart for me.

There were a few showrooms of rustic decor which is what I love. It's just so cozy and comfortable and I just love the earthy color palettes. 

I only got to visit two showrooms before I had to run along, one was Pure Country Rustic DecorAntler Worx Inc. Someday I'll have my cabin in the North Carolina mountains but for now, I can enjoy them here.

Although cabin colors can really be a bit too earthy, I like to keep the palette warm. However, one component about cabin decor is that there is a lot of wood to consider. Dark wood? Warm? Yellow? So before you decide on a color palette for this decor, keep in the wood stain as a dominant color force for your palette. Having said that, these colors would be just fine but I think I'd throw in one dark accent color such as a dark green for just a little pizazz.

Here we see the blue again but the color that I'm spotting is that fabulous green. I would really have loved to see that and a spicy orange be the main focus instead of the blue. Maybe next year - if we ever tire of blue! Love the center color - so different. I even like the way it looks next to the green.

Soft and romantic - love this.

Really? This furniture is not to practical but I really love that rug! Look at the colors then look at the first graphic in this blog. Those are the EXACT colors I was hoping to find at High Point and unfortunately, found it under some very bizarre furniture - but I found it!

I feel like I'm on the Dancing With the Stars panel. This showroom is ok, pretty but way too safe in both color and design. It's a Home Goods look to me - which is nice - but this is High Point, with a stampede of the best of the best Designers and Buyers. 

When I saw this color in the showroom, I got so excited! Look at that pillow! Great design and fantastic color. As a matter of fact, a women was resting on the sofa and I practically threw her off so I could photograph it - sorry Miss whoever you are but I was on a color mission.

I expected to see purple, then again, I've been looking at purple since 2007.

So, as this quest for color comes to an end, what do you think? Did you see any of these color combos and which ones did you like? Hate? Surprised to see? 

To summarize my color finds, blue and orange were the hues most spotted. Not thrilled about it but expected to see it. Pretty couple but I don't think they'll have a long shelf life. We really need to get the greens in here and mellow that orange out for any color trend to stick.

The color that got me all goose pimply what this Alchemy. Get it more green, more gold or more orange and it's still good! This color will like greens, browns and deep reds which brings me to the color trio at the top of this blog.

I hope you enjoyed my color picks. Some were rough but in Interior Design, there is no “gray” for me. There's black and white, good and bad and the colors that fall in that “gray” area should not be in the caliber of High Point choices.

When I go to High Point I expect to be “wowed” with color and design and for the most part, I was. The textiles were 'out of my skin' amazing this season. I saw innovative displays and sometimes when it comes to product, sometimes less is more. 

Thanks for reading this short novel and PLEASE leave a comment so I know if others shared the same thoughts. Positive or negative, let me know what you saw.

So, who wants to meet me at High Point next Spring for my next color crusade?