If it exists…they say, then you can find it at the Atlanta International Home and Gift Show. We just got back home from a power trip there where we explored three buildings of almost twenty stories each in two and half days. Each floor had its own personality or rather each vendor had its own personality…and then some!

You really have to have your wits about you before you set out on this journey. There is no time for small talk and no time to oh and ah over items. In and out, we like to say, snapping pictures as we go, taking notes of what we might like to order to come back the next day and do so. Our meals we grabbed at the free offerings of nibbles that many exhibitors offered and our nights were spent tucked in our beds, computers on our laps, inventory and ordering sheets spread out along with the cumbersome catalogs. At one point we looked at each other and declared how lame we were! Away in Atlanta… to be holed up in our room at night, furiously trying to accomplish all that we could in these precious few days before we would fly back home to take care of all that we missed while away.

We were invigorated and enthused to order for the Spring and Summer Sales for 2014 with some of the beautiful merchandise that we saw. We like to supplement the antiques, refurbished items and one of a kind pieces that are our mainstay with some new designs that fit into our repertoire.

We also like to see the trends…just so we know what we are bucking!

Only joking…kind of… sort of. Some we have already been doing ourselves and we did not even know that we were trending.

(notice the fleur de lis at the top of the centerpiece from our Christmas sale)

We saw them everywhere!

In wood…

for the garden…

long stretched out varieties that were covered in bright flocking…

and metal ones.

Paper items and

books and journals were also seen in almost every designers showroom.

High backed sofas were hot…

and so were arms and legs…

which we think not!

Animal heads seemed to be all the rage…

but the only places we could think of to put these ones…

was back in their cage!

These little guys were cute, but we did not succumb.

What to do with a little guy wrapped in a leaf???  made our brains dumb.

Pardon my rhyming, but we often resorted to tactics such as these, so as not to break out in laughter when speaking with a rep while gazing upon such objects.

Ah yes…Mr. Owl’s place still has not been usurped. He stands tall and proud amidst all the mirth.

We know that there must be new designs and concepts every year to keep things exciting and interesting. It is that way in fashion as well but I have never been into what’s hot just because it is new and outlandish. It seems like they are trying just a little bit too hard. 

We experienced this first hand at the W Hotel we were staying at. I have never been a huge fan of that spin off from the 

Westin. I know… it is the cooler hip version of it’s sister hotel but again it eeks of trying a little bit too hard to be edgy and trendy. Turquoise doors with red trim should have warned us of the interior. Flowered upholstered chairs, with deer HEAD pillows of which the back of a nude woman hung above clustered with two other paintings that had no similarities what so ever. Add to that a bathroom where the sink was next to the bed and the sliding door into the bath room was clothed not in wood or metal but a sheer rice paper material. Call me an old stodgy lady but give me the Westin or the Hampton Inn for that matter (love that chain!) This experience did prove that there is something for everybody!

Really cool table base

There was tons of inspiration to be had and you just might see some of that inspiration in some of the items that we are working on for the Spring and Summer Sales. This is our time of year to dream up those concoctions and ideas and bring them to fruition so check back to see the list of upcoming events and dates that will be posted by the end of the week. 

You might not want to miss some of them!