Everything Nautical
The right now retail trend in home accessories is everything nautical. I am seeing tons of retail dollars going toward sail cloth inspired bedding, clean bright colored paint and shiny nautical inspired lighting.
Some are a literal translation with everything from artwork to window treatments involving sails and flags, such as the huge full color spread in this month’s Elle Décor. Other interior publications have evolved the trend to include mid-century inspired pieces and found objects with driftwood sculptures, canvas slip-covered furniture and wood louvered shudders, like in this month’s issue of Veranda. No matter how you interpret the trend, it is a spot-on, can’t miss classic direction to go for yourself, your business or your client. The clean lines and minimal color stories are pleasing to virtually every eye.
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Atlanta Market Recap
Last week marked the end of the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market. The Atlanta show attracts gift buyers far and wide but has also become a hub for designers and home accessory buyers. The metropolitan Atlanta area, like much of the sunbelt, has experienced explosive growth in the past decade and announced itself as a major media market. AmericasMart has never been more appealing to buyers with it’s great Southern location and more hotels within walking distance to the market center than anywhere else.
Atlanta had a vibrant focus on wall color, keeping it to a one or two color story and pairing it with accessories with traditional lines in neutral patterns and texture. The color story was strengthened with a layer of accent textiles, like pillows and throws in tonal or complimentary looks. Artwork took a backseat to structured wall décor incorporating mirrors and other reflective surfaces.
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Dallas Market – Musings from a Shopping Maven and Former Interior Designer and Home Accessories Buyer
It was Sunday 7:30 a.m. at the World Trade Center in Dallas. When they say everything is bigger in Texas, they aren’t kidding. Fourteen floors, comprising over 2,000 customized showrooms, displaying over 25,000 individual lines of merchandise are just waking up, getting ready for another blissfully sunny day at the Dallas Total Home & Gift Market. Before all of the buyers made it to the trade center, I was able to make my rounds window-shopping. The market gives an overall feeling of a destination vibe in Paris and I’m not talking about Paris, TX. Nope, the other Paris. Everything was covered as far as color trends – vignettes dripping with violets, golds, blues and reds to displays of pale, muted neutrals. The French kiss on any interior can suit virtually every person’s discriminate taste – be it rich, bold jewel tones and the bohemian beauty of boudoir-influenced home fashions, or the pastel serenity of a traditional French country nook nearly absent of color.
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