We're Moving and Growing!

If ya'll follow our insta page then you already know this news, but for those of you that don't,  we're moving our shop location 2 doors down into a space that is 3 times larger!

This larger space became available last fall and I eagerly toured the multiple rooms with big eyes and visions of what this could become for Vivid Hue Home.  However, I have also been trying to grow the business in a fiscally responsible manner and I decided to wait things out until after the holidays to make my decision.  I took an "if it's meant to be" approach.  And, in February, when the space was still available, I worked some numbers.  Brainstormed the possibilities.  And then, I jumped on it.

It's mine!

In the last month, life at Vivid Hue Home has been quite the world wind.  We kept our existing shop open while preparing renovations in the new space.  Every single day, contractors were entering the new space like a revolving door to perform one project or another.  Our raw space....lots of work to be done!

raw space

The electrician hung new pendant lights.  The painter saturated the walls with our Vivid Hue color choices and even added some palm to our walls.

finlay room becomes blue

My parents were a huge help and drove up from Northern Virginia for a week to help hang shelves and prep the space!

our new cash counter!

We power washed the front of the building and even painted, of course! 

Before

New Door (before the final paint coats)

Navy Trim

Bad photo but gives you an idea of the direction we are taking for the front of the store...and just think, there's even MORE that we have planned for the front. 

Our entire team has been painting props, drilling screws into holes, steam cleaning products and more!  Here, Annie paints our props in Benjamin Moore's Hale Navy to match our window trims.

This gives you a sneak peak into the color inspiration for one of our rooms....but that's all you'll get out of me for now.

During week 3 of this process, we decided that we could no longer juggle keeping the old space open while also trying to prepare the new space.  Slowly, our pendant lights, our custom drapery and our faux wall were all getting removed from the shop and it was looking quite pitiful.  We closed the shop temporarily so we can move full steam ahead in getting the new space ready for the April 1st reopening!

The above is a photo of our first Vivid Hue Home shop when the faux wall paper wall was installed....and below, is what the space looks like now that the faux wall has been removed and the original knotty pine walls have been exposed again.  This is how the space appeared when I first rented it 2 years ago and it's bittersweet to see it return to this state.

But, it's also extremely exciting that in one week, we will be sharing our new and improved (and bigger) space with EVERYONE.  Here is a sneak peek of what's to come in our new location, 769 Farmington Ave, Farmington CT  06032.

New Space, Finley Room

Please check back and hop over to our instagram to see our progress.  

We look forward to opening to the public on Saturday April 1st, 2017.  

Cheers!

Heather 

Happy One Year Vivid Hue, Our Celebration Recap

This summer we celebrated our one year Vivid Hue Home anniversary.  We invited our best clients to join us for an evening of  hors d'oeuvres, shopping and wine.  It was our way to show thanks for all of the support everyone has given us since opening our brick and mortar doors just a little over a year ago.

This was a big milestone for us and Acorn Talk Photography was on hand to capture the essence of the evening.  While we are professionals, we also know how to be silly and celebratory when the occasion beckons.   (Oh who am I kidding, we are always silly).   I love the photo on the left where Annie seems to be communicating to me with her eyes saying "Why in the world am I standing up here posing with a Mardi Gras feathered mask?"

Lindsey, Heather and Annie on the front porch at Vivid Hue Home

The kids were in attendance for the first portion of the evening before I had a sitter whisk them away.

Anyone that follows my instagram knows that my kids are always dressed in athletic gear.  Jack has a strict self-induced "NO COLLARED SHIRT" policy.  Smidge is only rarely caught in a dress.   Needless to say, this photo is one for the photo album because it captures the quick second where they were getting along and complying with the photo session.  (Not pictured:  balloons popping and Jack pulling out his tattered hockey USA tee shirt).

Smidge (Vivi), Heather and Jack

They even made it for awhile longer so that we could snap a rare family photo together.  

Jack, Heather, EG and Smidge

It's amazing how many of my friends have super fab talents.  A friend from high school, Jill Fahey, owns Sugar, LLC and designs custom cakes and sugar cookies that are beyond breath-taking.  I had her create these cookies from the Vivid Hue Home logo for the celebration.  (Yes, she hand painted every bit of the detail from our logo...stunning!)

Vivid Hue Home sugar cookies custom made by Sugar, LLC

And Lindsey used to operate her own pastry catering business in her previous life.  She made these fabulous petite cupcakes with pastel buttercream frosting.  Yummy!

All guests appeared to have a great time, which is exactly what we hoped for.  

Annie with her husband, Bill.  Bruce Charette (love him), and Lindsey and her daughter, Phoebe 

Emily Sapione, Codarus

Heather with Jodie Liddy

The food was catered by the Bees Knees Catering.  

Georgia Zikas

Christine Feinberg with our fabulous summer associate, Alli Burns

Amy Wildhack, EG, Sue McMillan

Jodie Liddy, Heather and Sally Lerman

Lisa Goldstein and Ali Galin

Lisa Goldstein

We have had an incredible kick start for Vivid Hue Home during our first year in business.  We have plenty of plans to grow Vivid Hue over the next year and more.  We are truly grateful and thankful for the wonderful support we've received by our local community and beyond (yes, fellow friends on Instagram, Facebook and the website....you, too, have attributed to our steady growth).  Thank you!

Cheers, 

Heather 

DesignHER Gives Vivid Hue a 'Nod'

When I was in middle school, there was a talented and artistic "upperclassman" (eight grader) whom I admired from afar.  Everything she touched with her paint brush turned into a beautiful masterpiece.  Her work had meaning and substance.  I silently kept notes on how she operated and I observed how she performed her craft.   She seemed out of my league and I was pretty sure I was non-existent in her world.  Mid-year, our school held an art show.  I looked for opportunities to be involved with anything having to do with art and so I volunteered to help hang the wall gallery, including some of her work.  During the show,  she approached me and inquired if I'd had involvement in setting up the display.  I nervously nodded yes.  "I love how you set up the gallery," she said.

In my mind, it was the equivalent of winning an academy award.  Ok, maybe that's overly dramatic.  But my point is, I was so thrilled to have that praise from someone I admired so much that I was filled with dancing butterflies inside my tummy.   Really, I was thinking, "Wow, that's pretty neat."

Yesterday I had a similar moment of "wow, that's pretty neat" when I learned that Julianne Taylor (Creative Director + Founder of Taylor Burke Home) gave lil' ole Vivid Hue Home a mention in her DesignHer book that she released earlier this year.

Photo Courtesy of DesignHER and Taylor Burke Home

Julianne is a sweet Southern gal from South Carolina who spent almost a decade living abroad and further enriching her interior design knowledge.  This experience inspired her to establish Taylor Burke Home,  a modern and luxury furniture brand company.  During my years as "just a home decor blogger," I kept tabs on the Taylor Burke brand through social media.  When I opened the Vivid Hue Home retail shop, I knew immediately I wanted to bring Taylor Burke Home to my area of Connecticut.

Photo Courtesy of DesignHER and Taylor Burke Home

We launched the shop in 2015 with Taylor Burke Home's Dallas Sofa along with their fabulous Beaufort Bamboo Chair upholstered in Cotton + Quill's Midnight Koi custom fabric).

Photo Courtesy of Vivid Hue Home

Earlier this year, Julianne released a truly inspiring design book called DesignHER which highlights 35 female entrepreneurs that are shaping today's home decor industry.  Each have launched their own businesses and pursued their true passions in design and are making quite a statement in the design arena.  The book celebrates many of the designers that we offer in our shop and have become friends with including Roxy's Society Social  and Mary Catherine's Cotton + Quill. and Meg's Meg Braff Designs.  

As a side story, ya'll know that I have long been a fan of Meg Braff and her incredible wallpaper designs.  I have used her Up In a Tree in my mudroom,  her Roxy in Navy in my daughter's room and her Vintage Trellis in the Vivid Hue Home shop.

So where do I fit in?  Well I don't want to steal the spotlight from these talented ladies, but I do want to share my butterflies-in-my-tummy- that's so cool moment.

Yesterday one of my fabulous clients (S.C) brought to my attention that our shop gets a mention in Julianne Taylor's DesignHER book under Meg Braff's feature!

Photo Courtesy of Sheila Casey

"I can recall seeing Meg Braff published in every magazine under the sun for as long as I can remember.  Then the gorgeous green trellis wallpaper installed in the Farmington, Connecticut retail store, Vivid Hue Home, alerted me to the extent of her talents.  A beautiful photo of our Kings Grant Chairs in ebony with zebra print cowhide placed in front of Braff's wallpaper was Instagrammed across the universe.  It has me gasping."  

-  Julianne Taylor, Taylor Burke Home

Here is the photo that Julianne was referencing: 

Photo Courtesy of Vivid Hue Home

There is a funny backstory about the Meg Braff install in the shop.  Our cottage is an historical building and the land lord made it expressly clear that I needed to maintain the integrity of the shop in the same state as how I inherited it.  The trouble was, the walls were a non-historical knotty pine and there was no easy way I could envision selling my colorful products within their confines.  I had to get creative with hanging the paper.  Here's the rest of the story about the evolution of the Meg Braff wallpaper here. 

Here are more shots of Meg Braff's wallpaper in the Vivid Hue Home shop.  

Thank you, Julianne, for your sweet nod to Vivid Hue Home in your book.  Though I know the props really go towards Meg Braff for her brilliant designs, I am thrilled to have the mention.  In my mind, "it's pretty neat."  So thank you.

And for those of you that would like to delve into the DesignHER book in more detail, of course I am carrying it in my shop.  You can also purchase on Amazon or directly from Taylor Burke Home.  

xoxoxo

Heather

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