Ah, the City of Lights. I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Paris for the trade show Maison&Objet, plus a few pastries, pâtes champignons and a trip to the Louvre. I have so many pictures and trendspottings to share that we've made the editorial decision to run slide shows over the next few days on a variety of topics. But in keeping with my original mission, let's begin with color…

I noticed immediately that the palette of what I saw as a whole was livable (no hot pink or acid green) and warm in every single hue, and I love it. Last year's cool mauve was this year's warm plum; last year's sage or wasabi was this year's moss or soft chartreuse. Erstwhile Empire blue is now robin's egg, even running to sensual turquoise. I also saw orange of an almost ethnic stripe that went from dark rust to burnt pumpkin — never fast-food ca. 1971 — and for once I didn't mind it. Today's pictures are mostly of things (look later for a post on color in interior design) and we'll probably have plenty of overlap.

I'd like to thank Eileen McComb of Benjamin Moore, Linda O'Keefe of Metropolitan Home and design guru Carol Helms for a lively and insightful discussion on the state of things.