Furniture Market Trends Spring 2014

Rustic Luxury, Mid-Century, Hip Homestead, Global looks Shine

As the opening day of the April 2014 International Furniture Market in High Point, N.C. draws near, we’ll continue to see traditional styles remixed and redefined. Spins on traditional include rustic luxury, Mid-Century Modern and global inspirations.

Perhaps no look has more traction than rustic luxury with all of its intonations. At Hooker Furniture, our “marque” collection this market is Chatelet, a groundbreaking 60-piece group that redefines rustic luxury with inspiration from European farm style antiques and romantic vintage elements. With its fretwork overlay motif on several pieces and rustic yet soft and feminine finishes on character-filled pecky pecan veneers with knots and color variations in the wood, Chatelet even takes on the popular “Boho” flavor. Short for Bohemian, chic Boho looks in fashion and furniture have an artistic, free-spirited, eclectic feel that is sophisticated in an unpretentious and unexpected way.

A related and equally charming version of the rustic luxury movement in traditional style is English Cottage. Take a nostalgic stroll through flowering gardens or an intimate village by a lake or seashore with romantic and tinted tones, prints and linens.

The new Sunset Point cottage collection by Hooker Furniture takes a high-drama, eclectic approach to cottage styling. Three designer finishes, sweeping scale and soft organic cathedral white oak veneers make this 35-piece collection both stunning and inviting with the feel of a luxurious resort.

Three designer finishes in Sunset Point include Hatteras White, Sea Oat and St. Thomas Blue, the pale robin’s egg blue chipped crackle finish with rub-through shown in the vintage-styled table above.

The soft and romantic colors of cottage are also seen in this new Bombe chest from Hooker.

In addition to such light and airy versions of cottage, some English Cottage looks have a more collected look with dark woods, tartan plaid and a more masculine appeal, such as on the new Metro chair from Sam Moore.

Another direction for the New Traditional style is what you might call “Hip Homestead, a.k.a. Modern Mountain.”

Today’s happy homestead is filled with modern rustic elements that blend with a mountain retreat or your funky loft condo to create a warm and inviting space that welcomes you.

Illustrating the Hip Homestead trend is Hooker Furniture’s Willow Bend dining and home office collection. This group also expresses the growing farm-to-table movement, which advocates eating fresh and local food, supporting local economies and limiting the carbon footprint of each meal. Willow Bend is crafted in European Old World-like swirl oak with farmhouse style overtones, yet intentionally appeals to urban and suburban consumers who are hip with eco-friendly living. A focal piece is a nostalgic 68-inch long bench with chunky X-motif legs to recall a favorite seating style of generations who lived in a simpler agrarian society.

Hip Homestead’s style cousin, Collected Casa, is also traditional with a modern twist, but the rustic flavor is replaced by a global influence and an affinity for time worn treasures and eclecticism.

Rounding out the new twists on traditional is a heavy influence of Mid-Century Modern (a.k.a. ‘Mad Men’ style).

These two club chairs from upscale leather specialist Bradington-Young are perfect examples of the retro and Mid-Century twist on the best of today’s traditional styles.