It’s that time of year, Gentle Readers! The fall edition of High Point Furniture Market, a 5-day extravaganza during during which 75,000 interior designers from around the world visit 2,000 exhibitors in a small town in North Carolina. It’s nuts.
High Point makes it easy to spot interior design trends for the coming year. Here’s what’s around the corner.
Lighter shades of wood. I noted several manufacturers have re-released existing pieces in lighter shades.
This console table (big enough to be a desk!) is from Port Eliot, which I love. The tortoiseshell was the original, then came the blue, and the light stain is new this year.
Why the light wood, I wonder? Is there a renewed obsession with California or the Southwest? Or Scandinavia?
Century Furniture (longest-standing favorite!) has a new collaboration with Tara Shaw, a New Orleans-based designer. All of her furniture — her whole look, actually — is light. It’s quite beautiful.
Next trend: Plaid! On furniture. Just one piece in a room, perhaps. *I* am delighted, of course, since I have a plaid-ish chair coming for my living room. (Windowpane, really, but let’s not quibble.)
Waterfall skirts on chairs. This may seem too niche to be a trend, but we saw it a lot. I love the look, especially on dining chairs. Dining rooms can get awfully leggy, and skirted chairs make the whole scene less frenetic.
This next one kills me: it’s SUEDE! And check out the slouchy pleat on the back! I love it. And the suede is sooooo soft.
“Cinnamon Slate.” On the color front, muted tones were everywhere. I don’t usually pay much attention to Benjamin Moore’s Color of the Year, but its 2025 winner, Cinnamon Slate, was everywhere.
There also was a lot of “cinnamon” without the “slate.” Blech.
Luckily for me, both colors looks good with green, which is still very popular, especially in furniture.
Maybe the muted colors had something to do with the muted tone of Market this year?
There were fewer people, for sure, and the vibe was…subdued. I didn’t feel like there were a zillion new items, for one thing (there sure weren’t a zillion parties, which there usually are), and I overheard several designers say that they felt that business is on hold until after the election. (Thank you, clients, for forging ahead with your projects! I can handle only so much uncertainty.)
That said, I always learn stuff at High Point, and I’ll be telling you more in my next post ;)
Is your home ready for a new look? Are you? Annie Elliott Design is now considering projects for January! If redecorating joyfully is on your to-do list for 2025, we look forward to speaking with you.