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ART + DECORATION NEW DESIGN DOORS MECOX'S BIG MOVE AND PALOMA & CO OPENS BY ANNE LEE PHILLIPS. PHOTOGRAPHY ANA HOP. T en years after Southampton home design m a i n s t a y Mecox debuted its Houston store, founder Mac Hoak and husband/ Mecox VP Fred Perkins have moved locations to a stunning new space in Rice Village. The airy 5,300-square-foot store stocks the full complement of beloved Southampton-inspired furniture, accessories, and luscious upholstery. You'll find their brilliantly arrayed antiques, found objects, Amanda Lindroth's collection of rattan wares and Mecox Collection private label, as well. Hoak opened the first Mecox (then called Mecox Gardens) in 1996 in Southampton, where it quickly became a haunt for designers with homes in the Hamptons. With eight stores across the country, Hoak and Perkins now call Houston home, having settled into a museum-area 1931 manor house designed by architect J.T. Rather, a John Staub protégé. Excellence doesn't fall far. Mecox, 2504 Amherst St., mecox.com. MECOX H ouston interiors blogger turned designer Paloma Contreras has had a big year. She was named to the Elle Decor A-List, released her debut book with a national tour, and is now opening a darling shop, Paloma & Co, with partner Devon Liedtke. Contreras had outgrown her home office and found new office space in a charming restored 1930s bungalow in Upper Kirby. Then Contreras and former design associate Liedtke, who has a degree from London's Inchbald School of Design, realized the 1,200-square-foot bungalow was the perfect space for a storefront. "Our goal for Paloma & Co is to create a highly curated experience for designers and design enthusiasts with an offering of European antiques, unusual found objects, original art by emerging Southern artists, custom furnishings from Bunny Williams Home and Highland House, as well as decorative accessories and tabletop pieces," Contreras explains. Original art by Birmingham's Jane Timberlake Cooper and William McLure and New Orleans' Alexis Walter hangs on the white walls of the sunny bungalow, alongside finds from Contreras' and Liedtke's travels. Textiles from Uzbekistan, rattan-and-iron chairs from San Miguel and 1920s cabinets from Paris, mix with hand-thrown pottery from Mexico, delicate glassware from Murano, and a color wheel that originally hung in an Hermès shop. Pick up myrtle topiaries and candles by Australia's SOH Melbourne as hostess gifts, or even better, for yourself. Paloma & Co., 2705 Bammel Lane, palomacontreras.com. PALOMA & CO BUNGALOW BOUND Fred Perkins Paloma Contreras Devon Liedtke The new Mecox Paloma and Co 54