I’ve been so excited to share all of the pictures from Jon and I’s visit to Color Factory Houston for Valentine’s Day. I have been seeing the adds scroll across my Instagram for some time now, and knew I wanted to go.

1. What is Color Factory?

I was wondering the same thing. It’s basically like an interactive museum. Color factory started in San Francisco and moved to NYC a year later. They just opened this Houston location in October of 2019. All of the colors you see at the Houston location are unique to Houston. I just loved that they took swatches of colors from landmarks across the city to make a pallet that feels like Houston. The exhibit has a wall that creatively showcases where each color comes from.

 

 

The color starts as soon as you walk through the doors. The first installation you see is an impressive yarn creation by a former graffiti artist, Hot Tea. If you arrive early enough to hang out in the lobby you are treated to some MyMoMochi Ice Cream. (Which was one of the weirdest of ice creams I’ve ever eaten, and I’ve consumed camel milk milkshakes!)

Unexpected Takeaways:

One detail that made this experience more fun, were the little treats sprinkled throughout the tour. All of my vegan friends will appreciate this: most, if not all, of the treats offered were vegan or gluten free. Next up, macarons. I always love a good macaron and these were brought to you by local favorite, Tout Suite. Later on they offered us an adorable mini, black on black, vegan ice cream cone from Aqua. As you exit the exhibit you can select from four or five takeaways. (They let me take two since I’m incredibly indecisive.)

 

 

My favorite piece of the day was Unwoven Light by the artist Soo Sunny Park. Who knew a chainlink fence could be so beautiful? The artist uses light as a medium and this room captured the reflections beautifully. (Not to mention it made for some awesome photographs.) This experience is totally self paced so you can take it at your own speed and spend as much time as you like in each room. The employees do a great job of explaining each piece of art and how each room works.

Tip: hang back to be the last in the hallway in order to get some photos without a crowd of people in the background.

Pink has always been my color so this staircase made me feel right at home. This sign by Alicia Eggert is one of those pieces that has me secretly wishing I had a place in my house for it. My signature is blush pink, but I have a very real neon pink side in one corner of my heart!

 

 

2. Would this make a good date?

My answer is YES! (But it would also make a great girls day or family outing.) Since this was a Valentine’s Day date for us, I was really happy we got to experience this next room. We took a seat across from each other and put on the headphones. We were then guided though filling out the card in front of us. The cards were all about representing the person sitting on the other side of the window. It was sweet to see how Jon represented me. (Unfortunately the card you’re seeing in the picture was the one I did for him. It definitely wasn’t as good.) I don’t want to give too much away so you’ll just have to experience that part for yourself.

 

3. What if I’m not good at taking photos?

That’s ok! You don’t even need a fancy camera.. err phone. They have placed several photo stations throughout the rooms that allow you to take as many photos as you need to get the perfect shot! These booths are placed perfectly so that no one will be in the background. These are high quality photo booth cameras (mirrorless Canon EOS RP) by Hypno. Several major brands use them for events. The photos were emailed to us almost as soon as we left. It did get sent to our spam folders so you may want to check that out if you don’t see the email come through. We went on a Sunday afternoon and it really wasn’t too crowded. There were only a few times we had to be a little patient for people to move out of the way.

 

 

4. What should I wear?

I just wanted to be comfortable. It is interactive and that could mean getting on the floor making confetti snow angels or wadding through a waist deep ball pit. I chose to go with jeans and a black t-shirt. There was so much going on around me I didn’t want my outfit to compete with the colors. There are no shoes allowed in the ball pit so make sure you’re wearing socks. I did feel a little bit nervous going into it, but I learned that the entire ball pit along with each ball is cleaned weekly. How cool is that? Sounds like a lot of work. I still felt like I needed a shower after. Luckily, the NASA-branded ball pit is close to the end!

 

5. What are the downsides?

If you’ve done your research you’ve probably seen the room where the walls are life size coloring pages. I really liked the concept of this room, but I think it needed to be refreshed a bit. The marker we had didn’t seem to work too well. It could have just been our marker, but it has been open since October and I don’t really know how often it’s been redone. I don’t really have many negative things to say. Tickets weren’t bad at $35.00 per person, but we were paying for two and that hit a bit differently. There is no parking on site, but we were directed to a parking garage right across the street. Keep that in mind and plan accordingly, it really is a short walk though.

There were several other rooms I didn’t include in this post, but you if you’re following me on social media you may have seen them. When you come out of the last exhibit you walk through the gift shop. It’s small, but definitely has some fun goodies I would have liked to purchase.

If you decide to visit Color Factory I’d love to hear your thoughts and see your pictures! Leave me a comment if you have any other questions!

My Challenge to You:

My dearest dear, focus on bonding with your friends, spouse, or kids as you visit this pop-up. It can be extremely easy to get lost in getting “instagram-worthy” photos. I promise you, the experience will do more for you in real life than a great virtual image. CONNECT!

Lauren

 

If you’re interested in a more extensive and behind the scenes review, The Verge has an excellent and thorough write up!