We started with a Fall themed mantel that was already complete when the gals arrived and then slowly took away piece by piece explaining why particular items were placed where they were, and how we began with our one inspiration wall decor piece.
Moving on, we then focused on a Tuscan style mantel which easily was transformed from gold to red tones using the same main pieces of art, but changing out wall sconces and accessories.
A monochromatic mantel in browns was a great transition, and a far more masculine look that we thought men would also love. We discussed items that could also be placed around the hearth of the fireplace; leather stools or benches, trunks, candleholders were all great options!
The evening ended with a fun and outdoorsy birch bark holiday mantel made up of birch bark trees, snowmen, reindeer and garland.
Our next Designer Sessions will be held on November 12, one in the late morning and one in the evening, and will be focused on holiday decorating.
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Oh, what fun we had at this market - me, my mom Diane and my sister-in-law Karen. We definitely could have spent a couple more days to shop for ourselves! We arrived at market the opening day, Saturday, October 17 to be greeted by Sponge Bob and Dora the Explorer!
Our journey began at IHFC, a 12 story building filled with vendors and manufacturers of all kinds.
Following are the highlights /findings during our first day:
Vintage, a small company that had unique iron and metal clocks, and accessories along with Tuscan pictures wrapped in iron decorative framing. So different and so beautiful!
Just next store to Vintage we quickly discovered another showroom where a beautiful set of 3 Tuscan Pictures w/ a crackle finish caught our eyes. Check the picture out below! They also had numerous accessories; candleholders, trays, metal wall art with candles and small furniture pieces. This is one we definitely want to loop back to on our last day!
We moved onto J. Douglas to take in the gorgeous new Gallery Lamps and Aidan Gray, a cool company that carries French Country style accessories, lamps, wall sconces and more.
Ashton Fine Art - Len, my rep out of Chicago walked us through their showroom and showed us all the new art pieces, several beautiful ones from a local photographer in Whitmore Lake, Terry Lawrence. She travels the worlds and takes unbelievable scenery. Her pieces will be arriving in the store in the next two weeks!
Uttermost - couldn't miss them as they introduced over 500 new items. Definitely one of the best showrooms from our trip. The most unique items; a plush leather wrapped doggie bed and very sophisticated sports figurines in sets of 3 - Football, Soccer and Basketball.
We had the privledge of meeting Mac Cooper, CEO and President of Uttermost. It was such a pleasure meeting him. He definitely was as nice as my rep Michelle described.
We spent a fair amount of time in their large showroom seeing all the new items and placing our order! Check out some pictures of future items that will be arriving in the store soon! My favorite 3 picks - the Divya Writing Table, Hoops Statues, and Distressed Black Cabinet.
Our last stop of the day was to Cyan Design where we stopped and starred at their showroom window; a 36" X 36" purple chandelier was hanging! It's so beautiful! We also found some cools mirrors, lanterns and candleholders that will be arriving next month.
Done for day one! Our feet were sore from all the walking.
Day Two - Sunday, October 18
We started our morning earlier so we could get to market by 8:30am. Exploring the smaller buildings within the High Point campus, we began at buildings C & D, only four floors compared to 12 the previous day. Our morning was spent at the most fabulous showroom. The vendor, out of Missouri has all their furniture made in Indonesia. We've had some of their pieces in the store, however this time they had so many new furniture pieces that we fell in love with from large to small side tables. You can tell by the all the pictures taken! Some of these will begin arriving in the next 30 days to 90 days. They are all brand new and so distinctive, not your typical furniture.
From there we headed to John Richard, whose designers travel the globe to create and interpret distinctive lines of furniture, lighting, wall art, mirrors and accessories. There furniture is created using only the finest materials and is intended to be passed from one generation to the next. All their pieces are hand carved, hand painted or drawn, etc. Some of their art is original artist productions that sell in galleries for as much as $15,000. The owner travels the world seeking out talented artists. These were some of our favorite pieces.
The rest of the afternoon we popped in various furniture showrooms - VanGuard, Harden, Sherril, Massoud, and more to check out design styles, and color trends in upholstered furniture - we saw various styles, but what stood out was straighter lines; crisp and clean looking, but comfortable using many shades of greys, browns and shades of purple. Leathers in brown and tans were also shown extensively, as well as many lower seating chairs.
Well known Designers, such as Michael Weiss and Thom Filicia from “Dress my Nest” were at Vanguard Furniture introducing their new furniture lines.
We ended our Sunday in Market Square going to Eastern Accents to see all the new bedding, pillows, throws and window treatments and partaking their famous Sangria! They had beautiful monogrammed throws and pillows which would make a great holiday gift, as well as fun accent pillows.
Walked over to the suites for an end of day party where we enjoyed taco salads and beverages!
Monday, Oct. 19 - our last day we decided to loop back to some of the places we visited on Saturday to make our final buying decisions and hit the showrooms we missed, and boy did we find a new great one!
Seven Shell, a company out of the UK had the most unusual accent furniture selections It was their first time at market. All of their furniture is produced in Indonesia and they own the factory, very unusual, but very good. It's made of mahogany and they apply different finishes, colors and patterns on the pieces. Each piece also has it's own hardware to fit the style and intended design. We were lucky enough to be there to meet the Designer, Steven Shell. Yes, we ordered several pieces, but the lead time is a little longer. We'll be getting these pieces in February of next year. They will be worth the wait! Check them out below.
Spent a couple more hours taking time to visit Four Hands - they always have the coolest and most colorful accessories, C Company Rugs, again very colorful and fun and Cyan; had to have the purple chandelier and a handful of accessories for our next upcoming mantel date in November.
All in all we had a very successful market buying trip, and will definitely frequent High Point in the future.
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We celebrated in style this past Friday and Saturday with good food, drink and friends, and some really fabulous specials to thank everyone for their patronage, and shopping locally in South Lyon.
It was wonderful to see so many of you come out to just drop by and say congratulations, or for those of you who came in and bought many goodies, including our new Halloween Decor, which is oh so cute!
Pat and I really enjoyed working this weekend and seeing all the familiar faces, and some new ones too!
Not only did we celebrate in style, we also had giveaways and a raffle drawing for gift cards and merchandise. We'd like to say congratulations to our winners! They are:
-- Tracey Marzonie - $50 Gift Card Winner
-- Kathy O'Dell - $25 Gift Card Winner
-- Pat Durston - $10 Gift Card Winner
-- Julie Ostrowski - Photobox Frame Winner
-- Rhonda Mazilauskas - Lolita Wine Glass Winner
-- Cherie Franges - Monogram Purse Holder Winner
We look forward to many more years to come so we may continue to bring you distinctive merchandise and provide you with personalized customer service.
Many thanks!
The Gals at Grande Trunke Home
Sue, Susan, Diane & Pat
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