Tag Archives: Alexa Hampton

Need Holiday Gift Ideas? 7 Of Our Favorite Interior Design Books

Designers gather inspiration from many different places, one being innovative interior design books written by iconic interior designers of the day. In no particular order we have listed some of our faves. For anyone who loves interiors, these can be awesome gift ideas for the holidays.

Alexa Hampton The Language of Interior Design

Alexa Hampton – The Language of Interior Design

Alexa is without a doubt one of America’s most influential interior designers. Judy has an autographed copy sitting on her bookshelf in her office.

Thomas O'Brien American Modern

Thomas O’Brien – American Modern

Thomas is often referred to as a taste-maker bringing ranges of style into homes across the country. The Thomas O’Brien brand can be found in Target stores, Visual Comfort and Hickory Chair to name a few.

Suzanne-Kasler-Inspired-Interiors

Suzanne Kasler – Inspired Interiors

If you’ve stopped by the office recently, you might have seen this book in our front sitting room; our Hickory Chair rep, Kristin, gave this autographed book, as a gift to the entire firm. Kristin, thank you! You are so sweet.

Suzanne’s interior design is timeless!

Home By Kelly Hoppen

Kelly Hoppen – Home

Kelly is a world-renowned British designer with huge amounts of chic style.

celerie-kemble-to-your-taste

Celerie Kemble – To Your Taste

This is one of Lauren’s favorite.

“New York “it girl” interior designer Celerie Kemble and writing partner Karen Kelly give readers a snappy, in-depth guide to cultivating personal style at home.” – Veranda


Domino The Book of Decorating

Domino – The Book of Decorating

Every DIYer’s inspiration and guide. A copy of this book can always be found on Brittany’s desk.

Glamour-Making-It-Modern

Metropolitan Home – Making It Modern

Every page exudes glamour, a must for the inspiring interior designer.

What are some of your favorite interior design books to look through and draw inspiration from?

Our Top 7 Trends from Furniture Market

We had a fabulous trip to High Point last week for Furniture Market, and we’re excited to share our favorite trends!  Below, our team gathers for a picture inside the Hickory Chair showroom.

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010 (5)

 Judy catches up with one of her close friends, Diane Gote from New Jersey, while (above) Hilaire poses for a picture with our dear friends, Nancy Gales and Nancy Bolen.

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market 2010 (2)

Our first stop on our High Point visit was Verellen, an eco-friendly company with a European flare. The light fixtures quickly grabbed our attention and the upholstery fabricated in shades of creams, charcoals, and browns.  This is where we noted our first trend for Fall 2010:

Trend #1. Organic Industrial

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010

Lauren and Judy enjoy the comfort of new pieces (above), while colorful cords accent the streamlined floor lamp below. What a unique idea!

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010 (3)

Trend # 2: Unique Furniture Shapes

As the morning continued, we headed to Modern History and Somerset Bay where we saw similar neutrals with a splash of color.  We love the cream cabinet with a jelly bean green splash on the interior! 

 Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010 (4)

Trend # 3: Applied Details

Fashion and interior design always influence each other, and I believe that’s what we’re seeing here.  Stop in J Crew or Banana Republic, and you will find appliques and embroidered details on their outfits.  We spotted similar concepts on drapery panels and even lamp shades!

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010 (6)

Trend # 4: Mature Graphics

Graphic patterns have been apart of a fabric trend we’ve seen over the last few years.  But this market, they found their way on a different color palette that seemed more thoughtful and mature.

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010 (7)

Trend # 5: Cream Finishes

Along with the organic neutrals, we saw warm and bright cream finishes that soften the pieces they are applied to.  We loved Suzanne Kesler new collection for Hickory Chair with it’s French inspirations. 

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010 (8)

Every time we tour the Hickory Chair Showroom, we run into some of the industry’s renown interior designers, Suzanne Kesler (left) and Alexa Hampton, who was promoting her most recent book The Language of Interior Design (right).

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010 (9)

Trend # 6: Linen, Linen Everywhere 

In nearly every showroom, linen was featured on furniture and pillows.  Five to ten years ago, chenilles were much more popular as upholstery fabrics, but the clean and fresh look of linen has now taken its place.

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010 (10)

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010 (11)

Above, Brittany and Judy in the Century Furniture Showroom at the end of the day.

Trend # 7: All Shades of Grays

As far as neutrals go, the taupe tans of the 90’s have been replaced with their fresh warm gray relatives. 

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market 2010 (12)

Gray can be pared with rustic finishes and textures or with high gloss metals for either an industrial or polished look.

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010 (15)

Natural Curiosities always has wonderful art and accessories to complete rooms.  We were particularly struck by the moody horse pieces below.

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010 (13)

Regina Andrew and Barbara Cosgrove shared their unique lamp and accessories.  We love the varied of shapes in the mirrored frames above! 

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010 (14)

We ended our day in the Centuryshowroom.  Above, Hilaire tests a leather chair.  Judy loved the unique lines of the McCrae casegoods in the Lee Industries showroom.  Also in Lee, we loved the punches of color, including purple!

Design Lines High Point Furniture Market Fall 2010 (16)

 

2010 Spring High Point Market Trends & Favorites Part 2 of 2

And the crew returns for part 2 of High Point Furniture Market Trends and Favorites. Within part 2 you will find our remaining trends and also a few pictures of some iconic people: Thomas O’Brien and Mariette Hines Gomez. Lets begin!

 

Trend #4 – Neutrals and browns will never go away.

Below are shots in the Lee Industries Showroom of

some classic pieces that scream versatility and style.  

Lee High Point 2010

 

Market wouldn’t be the same without testing the comfort-ability of recliners and sofas. Ashley is lounging in one of the relaxers from Lee Industries.

Design Lines at Lee

 

The bed has a classic and romantic feel while the sofa and coffee table display invites a family for a cup of ice tea on a Sunday afternoon.

Shots below are from the Hickory Chair  Showroom.

Design Lines at Hickory Chair 2010 Highpoint

A pillow line we saw in Inner Hall called Ankasa. Ideal for bedrooms, sun-rooms and/or family rooms.

Wall of Pillows-Ankasa

 

We also had a chance to check out some lamp companies:

Jamey Young (left) and Barabra Cosgrove (right).

Jamey Young Lamps

 

Trend # 5 Purple is still around! All the way from grape juice to wine colored tones.

Shots below are from Hickory Chair Showroom.

Design Lines Purple Trends 

Below: Judy admires the nail head detailing on an upholstered cabinet in the Hickory Chair Showroom.  Need a dining chair, take this cream one below, one of Hickory Chair’s most popular choices (right).

Design Lines at Hickory Chair 2010 Highpoint 2

Often times when the team goes to High Point, it isn’t unusual to run into  interior design icons. Hickory Chair had Thomas O’Brien on hand as he signed copies of his first book, called “American Modern.”You might have seen Thomas’s name on collections in Target, a lighting collection with Visual Comfort and  his interior design studio called Areo in SoHo which he opened in 1992. Here is an article on him in the New York Times.

 Thomas OBrien at Hickory Chair 2010 High Point

The team also stopped to take a photo with Mariette Himes Gomez. Mariette has a design studio  in New York City and also a designer collection with Soicher Marin.  Mariette and Thomas both design furniture for Hickory Chair. Along with Alexa Hampton and Suzanne Kasler who were also in the showroom showing off their collections with Hickory Chair.

It was nice to see you again, Mariette! Thanks for taking a picture with us.

Design Lines with Mariette Himes Gomez in Hickory Chair Showroom 2010

 

Trend 6# Floral sofas are a breath of fresh air.

Below: is a shot from the Lee Showroom of a banquet with a Duralee print.

Floral Sofa at Lee High Point 2010

 Design Lines Trends florals

Left Above: Lee Industries and Right Above: Hickory Chair.

 

Trend # 7  Trellis is popular.

What is a trellis ?  A lattice like pattern inspired by a lot of cultures, they can sometimes be graphic and organic. Below the bed in fabricated in a trellis fabric giving the room life.

This is taken from the Century Showroom and also seen on Apartment Therapy’s review of High Point Furniture Market. 

Market 10 - Century Showroom Pic

 Design Lines Trellis Trends

Above are shots from Hickory Chair Showroom.

 

Trend # 8 Animal Inspiration

Animal influences were in every showroom that we visited. Here are some of the things we saw.

Shots Below are from Hickory Chair Showroom.

 Design Lines Animal Inspiration

 

And last but not least, we had to share one of the coolest discoveries that Marty from Lee Industries showed us. Lee did an experiment putting one of their chairs they manufacture into a lake for two weeks. The actual chair is below on the left and you should definitely click on the YouTube video to see for yourself. We were amazed at how clean the chair looked after being in the lake. It was amazing!

Lee Chair In Lake 2010 High Point

Hickory Chair University

Judy, Molly, Stephanie, Ashley, Lauren and I are off to Hickory, North Carolina this afternoon for a short excursion to tour the upholstery & case good factory of furniture manufacturer Hickory Chair . All of their products are beautiful, with collections from designers Alexa Hampton, Thomas O’Brien, & Suzanne Kasler.

We’ll be back on Wednesday evening to write about our experience (with pictures, too). Until then, feel free to salivate over these gorgeous images from their look book.

Award Winning Interior Design | Raleigh, NC