Top 7 Design Trends to Watch in 2024
It’s my all-time favorite time of the year - the High Point Furniture Market. A full six days of reviewing our vendor’s new collections, discovering the upcoming trends, new styles, and socializing with designer elites - the Fashion Week of furniture. It’s the single time of year I’m actually doing all the glamorous things most people think designers do all day every day.
And I wore out two pairs of shoes just for you! We hit the front line of color trends, newest silhouettes, and discovered stand out moments that had us actually gasping. You’ll want to read through for this one!
The overarching theme this fall was vibrant yet organic, curvy yet structured. Try these looks in small doses or go all out. Don’t miss the shoppable collection below to seamlessly incorporate these looks into your home!
01. Earthy palettes turned up the volume.
Muted tones were prevalent but even more exciting? Vibrant, saturated hues in more foundation pieces including headboards and dining chairs and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Even the most neutral (think Restoration Hardware-esque) vendors were showing collections in both muted and bold greens. Earthy is in but so is color! But the common theme throughout - green is in! I have never seen a color so versatile than the green tones sprinkled into so many vendor corners and showrooms. My theory - it’s the perfect complementary tone to the medium-toned woods that are also having a real moment in our heirloom era.
02. Natural Stone on EVERYTHING.
Layered viola marble coffee tables took the prize at one vendor. At another - marble topped nightstands. But the clear differentiator was the extensive marbling texture in both warm and colorful tones making the end tables a showpiece of the living room. Travertine, rust, jade and other warm-toned stones grounded their surroundings and were beautifully counter balanced by heavily textured upholstery boucles, tweeds, and patinaed leathers. Are you starting to see a 70’s/80’s influence peek through?
03. Stone botanical presence. Some years each showroom’s collection lives by itself, perfectly content to focus solely on the furnishings themselves. This year, woven through the 10,000+ vendors showcasing their furnishings was the consistency of both seasonal and colorful floral accents that breathed impressive life and energy into each and every vignette. Imagine CB2 decided to host a wedding party - multiply that showspace by 10,000. Truly spectacular oxygen-filled visuals at every turn. My translation of this reference is a post-pandemic call to life.
04. 80’s Classics. As promised from earlier and I’ll be honest - this one took me a minute. I’m all in for a 70’s vibe. The 80’s?…. not so sure. Then I found the most beautiful channeled, thin cushion, striped upholstery that won me over as fast as I say yes to grandma’s-hosting-Christmas. These 80’s silhouettes were strong but so were the 80’s perspective palettes. Mint greens and blush tones played a counter role to the vibrant intensity of the look-at-me desert tones. Now the travertines are gaining context!
05. Leather over Velvet. If this comes as a shock, you’re not alone. This was certainly a surprise to us! Us Coloradans know leather, and we know it well. In a rebellious turn from the rustic everything-leather cabins, we found it’s little brother to be more unexpected, cheeky and eager to play. Leather wrapped coffee table legs, fully wrapped leather desks, leather spun lighting, and even faux leather texture on cabinet drawer fronts blanketed some rather modern settings. Our take? Consider real and faux leather your new urban, trend-forward texture guaranteed to play a role in setting new foundational standards.
06. Layered Accent Tables. Every. Single. Vendor. and I mean all (probably 6,783 of them!), had this one trend in common. I’m willing to bet you’ll notice this trend next time you’re shopping at a home retailer. Whether it’s table on table or a pedestal based table crafted branching into a multiple tiered top, it was perhaps the most widely seen trend in High Point this year.
07. Focus on Structure. Scalloped chairs, beveled table edging, contrast welting and stair step upholstery details all showcase the outlines of pure craftsmanship in a nod to the recent heirloom era that was born out of lengthy covid lead times. Contrast welting hasn’t fully won me over yet but paired in the right setting, it sure does create a luxurious atmosphere even I can get on board for. What I am fully digging, however, is the casegood architecture. Scalloping and edge control came in hot in combating the formerly straight-edged, clean lined headboards of recent years. So the next time you find yourself a beveled edged dining table when you’re out antiquing, tag it!
Honorable Mentions - Burl wood goes dark, pleated lamp shades, geometric wallpaper patterns (of the Kelly Wearstler nature), Rothko print/inspiration, arts and crafts style, and the downplay of brass finishes (again, a nod to a silver finish that better complements warmer, medium wood tones).