New High Point Discovered Blog Captures the Excitement that High Point, North Carolina Offers

Barbour Spangle Design team launches community focused blog as their way of giving back

This press release is submitted and shown here in its original form, unedited by Furniture Today.

High Point, NC, June 12, 2018 — When professional interior designer Christi Barbour was revamping her company’s blog, she was unsure of how to proceed. After all, beautiful, freshly modern interiors are the firm’s stock-in-trade. Those images and accompanying text had brought them followers and a bit of acclaim, but Barbour was pondering a larger question—“Is there truly something that we as a company can share that’s unique, that has a point of view that no one else has, and that’s true to our core values?” Then she thought about something she always tells her children: One voice makes a difference.

“I decided to take my own advice,” says Barbour, who with Christi Spangle owns Barbour Spangle Design in High Point, North Carolina.

Barbour had quietly started a personal Instagram feed in 2016 to shine a light on the people and businesses transforming High Point — and had been posting to it periodically since. Wholly by word-of-mouth, the page called High Point Discovered garnered a small but loyal following. So, Barbour and her colleagues determined it was time to share all the positive moves and great happenings they saw by concentrating their considerable efforts on the Instagram feed and its associated blog. Since then High Point Discovered has become the go-to source for spotlighting the very best of what High Point, North Carolina has to offer.

Through their work as designers and lifelong residents of the area, Barbour and Spangle have worked to support High Point’s revitalization efforts.

“Why not create a beautifully curated blog to showcase the community on a personal level, to capture the heart and soul of High Point,” Barbour says. “As designers, we see things differently.” Those differences are apparent in the original photography and spirited content, ranging from new and favorite spots to eat to tips for market-goers. Barbour Spangle is uniquely suited to see the City from numerous perspectives since their work encompasses luxury residential, commercial, healthcare, education and showroom design services.

Often, she says, the firm’s phone rings with questions about the furniture market. She also thought about High Point University, and the fact it draws students from other states and countries. What started as a local endeavor suddenly had a national and international platform. But just as important was reaching out to High Point residents, many of whom seemed unaware of the renaissance taking hold in their community. During the first three months of the year, Barbour and her staff created a logo and editorial calendar, and reached out to dozens of businesses, individuals, charities and families to profile. The blog launched in April and may be accessed at highpointdiscovered.com or @highpointdiscovered on Instagram.

“It was a very aggressive turnaround time,” Barbour says.

At first, since the launch took place during spring furniture market time, the articles were market related. Since then, they’ve branched out into community stories. The subscribers’ list, page views and Instagram audience all continue to grow weekly.

“We’re not using this as a platform to market our business,” Barbour says. “This is our collective love letter to the community — our way of giving back.” As such, The High Point Discovered team volunteers its time.

“Anybody I’ve told about it has asked, ‘How can I help?’” Barbour says. “The feedback has been remarkable, so uplifting and inspiring.”

Greg Demko, High Point’s city manager, is a big fan.

“I like the blog because it not only focuses on the amenities and excitement that currently exist in our community, but it encourages our residents about the bright future ahead,” he says. “This is a great example of how we can harvest the positive energy in High Point during this critical time of growth and development.”

Barbour concurs.

“People need to see the great things that are happening in High Point, and we need to tell these stories,” she says.

The blog is divided into six categories:

• A View On — local businesses

• Voices Discovered — the people behind the businesses

• Changemakers — the people leading change in High Point

• High Point is My Happy Place — interesting spots around town

• Local Love — why locals choose to live in High Point

• Market Insider — anything and everything you need to know about furniture market

All of the topics, Barbour says, evolved from questions that industry and personal friends have asked over the years.

Entities cannot pay to be included, nor are ads or sponsorships accepted. It’s the company’s way of maintaining a level playing field for all in the community and staying as objective as possible when what you’re sharing is a gift of goodness to and about a city on the rise.

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About Barbour Spangle Design

Founded by Christi Barbour and Christi Spangle in 2000, Barbour Spangle Design believes in offering broader solutions for clients, a bigger playground for creativity and innovation, and productive collaboration. The firm specializes in luxury residential, showroom, commercial, healthcare and educational design, applying best ideas and solutions from each to any project. From materials to technology to aesthetic trends, they offer clients a universe of design possibilities to create spaces that genuinely work for, excite and inspire their users. Barbour Spangle Design can be found online at barbourspangle.com , and on Facebook, Instagram , Pinterest , Houzz and Twitter .