HIVE abuzz with surprises — including fresh flowers and a to-the-trade showroom

Sectional sofas are certainly retaining their comfortable position as a staple of today’s decorating world.

If you look at the design preferences of the minimalist set, it’s not unusual to see a sectional sofa placed in the middle of a room — a good fit with additional seating provided by the right-angle left or right wing.

A sectional can be custom designed in just about any length and with any size wing. Today’s better manufacturers of sectionals and sofas want to create versatile seating to fit a variety of needs.

And there are so many different sofa and sectional designs to choose from. I have long been fond of the upholstered seating pieces made by Kindel of Grand Rapids, Michigan, but also Lee Industries, Baker Furniture, Mastercraft Fine Furniture and Hickory Chair.

As a professional decorator, I have browsed many to-the-design-trade-only showrooms to see the latest seating styles available to interior designers and their clients. In South Florida, that often has taken me to the Design Center of the Americas, better known as DCOTA, in Dania.

But I’ve recently encountered a new to-the-trade showroom that has opened at 424 S. Dixie Highway. in West Palm Beach. HIVE Trade Showroom is part of several HIVE establishments — including the main retail store at 424 Palm St. — founded by McCann Design Group interior designer Sara McCann, a Palm Beacher whose husband is island real estate agent Jim McCann.

At the HIVE Trade Showroom, the majority of the building is devoted to products by Hickory Chair, licensed as Hickory Chair Palm Beach. The rest of the building is devoted to wallpapers and fabrics.

But back to sectional sofas. Whether decorators are shopping the HIVE Trade Showroom or retail customers are visiting the main shop on Palm Street, they will find a variety of sectional designs. McCann and her team obviously understand that sectional sofas are having a moment.

And speaking about the versatility of HIVE, I must compliment the team there. My longtime friend and Palm Beacher-about-town Susie Phipps Cochran arrived at my office recently with a large bouquet of freshly cut and well-arranged garden flowers — from HIVE. I had no idea HIVE was in the flower-arranging business. The bouquet was simply beautiful. The floral studio is run by chief designer Susan Lewis, and what a nice job she and her team do.  

We are lucky that Palm Beach is filled with such super florists for gifts, home arrangements, parties or “just because” occasions.

And how lucky for HIVE customers that a floral design team based in a home-furnishings store would likely have a keen understanding of what flowers and style of arrangements would fit a residential space. Perhaps you could order the perfect arrangement for that long table behind your new sectional sofa.

I am waiting, meanwhile, for the breakfast bakery to open at HIVE by the beginning of the year, so I can stop there on my way to the office for a café au lait.

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Palm Beacher Carleton Varney is president of Dorothy Draper & Co., an international design firm with offices in New York, West Palm Beach, London and White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. His new book is titled "Romance and Rhododendrons: My Love Affair with America's Resort — The Greenbrier." Visit CarletonVarney.com or email him at cvarney@dorothydraper.com.