I've had my eye on Color Factory since its debut in San Francisco. When I found out it was coming to Houston, I marked our calendar immediately.
Little did I know, Josh had a plan of his own. For my birthday, he emailed our friend Jim Burns, who offered to get us on the VIP courtesy of his daughter who is on the team of developers for this new location.
Last Saturday, we hopped in the car and drove to Houston--giddy with excitement. (Well, at least I was!) It was every bit as creative and beautiful as I'd imagined.
The team thought of everything! Guests are greeted with brightly colored, complementary mochi as they await their assigned tour time.
In the first room, we picked up a plastic token and linked it to our email address. As we swiped it at photo stations along the way, it collected our pictures and sent us a full album as we exited. (This first room also included our choice of colorful macarons... I had no idea the Factory was filled with so many sweets!)
This room was one of my favorites. To display the importance of connection and collaboration in art, this massive display lights up when two people stand between two pillars and simultaneously touch the handprints while holding hands.
The confetti room was pretty dang fun, too. Bright and cheery, two photo spots, AND a small bag of flavored popcorn (colored to match the confetti). Wasn't my favorite tasting snack, but it was cute nonetheless.
Next up: a LiteBrite room! Growing up, I wasn't allowed to have a LiteBrite, ('wasn't allowed' might be a bit strong--but we never had one because my mom said the small pieces would ruin the vacuum) so this room made me smile. (My mom sent me a LiteBrite for my birthday this year, so she's doing her best to make it up to me.)
My sweet husband's heart was so happy to leave our initials on the wall of the giant blue coloring room.
No room brought him more joy than the ball pit. As soon as the employee said, "We partnered with NASA to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing" I knew all other rooms had dropped in importance in Josh's heart.
If that weren't enough, we were given ice cream on the way out! Coconut Ash ice cream from Hawaii.
Lining the wall to the restroom are superlative banners. I took a photo in front of Most Hydrated (since I never leave home without a massive glass jar filled with water) but the woman who took my photo cut off the words--I'm pretty sure she thought I was just asking her to take a picture of my face...)
The front wall between the entrance and the gift shop, where the tour ends, is lined with colorful round doors. Inside each is a photo of where that color is found in the city of Houston. The blue to the right of Josh's is NASA blue... so, obviously, it was his favorite.
Color Factory absolutely lived up to all my expectations! We've already chatted about our experience: our favorite rooms and snacks multiple times. I don't know that we'll ever be able to look at these pictures and not smile. I'm so grateful to Jim (and his daughter, of course) and to my husband for making this visit a reality!
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