The Thursday Club is located at 1224 Santa Barbara Street
]]>In the realm of interior styling, high-end decor reigns supreme. We see many high-end homes on platforms like Architectural Digest and lighting up our television screens each night.
For many of us, this is the look we want to achieve. Bright, classic, clean, and stately. But it becomes difficult when many of the items we have for display do not match a cohesive, high-end aesthetic. In this post, we will highlight some of our favorite high-end home decor tips for your style.
One trick many designers use that many of us don’t necessarily think about is adding carefully placed ambient lighting. Creating pockets of light so your overhead lights can take a back seat to a burning candle or a beautiful chandelier is a great way to create an entirely different mood and bring a statement piece to your home.
Plus, it is a way to make a space look bigger than it is, as brighter rooms create the illusion of space. Even if you already have a sprawling open space, lighting can help establish it in a different tone than it would have with the lighting from your home’s build.
We love to add gorgeous tealight holders to places in our home like mantles, coffee tables, and nightstands. For a classic look, sandstone is timeless and blends in well with any design style. These beautiful tealight holders add an opportunity for both light as well as a textural element where there might otherwise be a flat design.
Long taper candles exist at the intersection of classic pieces and trendy ones; while they always work in any room, fun tapers are in right now. You can opt for a beautiful taper holder with a natural curved shape and two tones for a more bold design. This Blue Striped Formal Taper is perfect for a dressed dining table or side table near your coziest chair.
Table lamp are the perfect touch for more ambient lighting in your living room or bedroom. The Rialta Table Lamp (in-store exclusive) has a ceramic base finished in an aqua & teal crackle glaze with touches of rust-brown, polished nickel & crystal accents, which adds an element of depth and texture to your room’s design.
We talk about this a lot on our blog and even in this post already. In real estate, it’s all about location location location, whereas design is all about texture, texture, texture. Texture is a way to make even a monochromatic design feel lived in and luscious. Natural textures like wood, leather, wool, and stone are our favorites for the lux touch. Ensure your textures don’t clash; for example, having a bunch of wood elements in different stains and textures might look cluttered, but having a stone element on a wood table near a linen-upholstered chair with a wool blanket draped over it will look fantastic and put-together.
With four sizes, our Kata Knit Bowls are a beautiful way to display your Farmer’s Market fruits and vegetables in your kitchen or capture any knick-knacks as you enter the front door. The jute design adds a natural element, while the breathability makes it a great place to hold fresh produce.
As we consider layering, it is important to think of this in every part of the home. Your coffee table might go from “Nice” to “Wow!” with the simple addition of some beautiful coasters, and since coasters are such a small piece, you can really go big with them. We love these beautiful Burl Wood Coasters for any home style.
Sometimes we forget to add layers to our couches and chairs. One way to make them look beautiful and inviting is to lay down gorgeous blankets, which add a level of depth and character to a space.
Among our favorites is the Ochre Woven Throw—this lightweight throw features a cotton-blend knit for softness and has some delicate fringes to add a touch of interest. It’s great on the eye, adds a nice pop of color to a room, and it’s perfect to snuggle up under in the cooler months.
For something with a little more interest, you could opt for this mustard and tan woven throw. A design like this lets you switch up your style from day to day, reversing the blanket to reveal different tones based on the mood you would like to create.
Interior design is about more than making your home look nice—it’s about cultivating a space that makes you feel good to be in it. It’s about turning aesthetic dreams into reality. Interior design is so fun because it allows us to look beyond who we are and step into the home of the person we want to be.
Surely there are limits to what we can do in our home—maybe we don’t have space for a dream closet, and perhaps we can’t afford that cloud couch right now—but that doesn’t mean we can’t create a home that is so beautiful it makes us want to stay in on the weekends.
Some homes work the best with smaller, cozy spaces (hello, cottagecore), while others might benefit from spaces that appear bigger. If you’re going for the latter in your home, we have some design tips and tricks to make a room you’re designing appear bigger.
Light colors make a room look bigger and brighter because light walls are more reflective, whereas dark colors absorb light. This effect makes your walls feel farther away, creating the illusion of distance. Plus, if your walls are a similar color to your ceiling (eggshell walls and a white ceiling, for example), the line of the eye isn’t cut off by an abrupt change in color. Smooth transition = more space.
This one is all about smoke and mirrors, literally. We can use mirrors to become space-growing magicians in the blink of an eye!
When the human eye sees a big mirror in a room, the brain is tricked into thinking that there’s more space in the room than there really is. We see that there’s a mirror, of course, but we can’t control the fact that we perceive more depth in the room when we look at it. Additionally, mirrors bounce more light around the room, thus making the room appear even bigger.
When it comes to interior design, furniture is your bread and butter. We have a few rules and suggestions when it comes to picking the right pieces for the room you’re designing.
First things first, figure out how you want the space to look bigger. If the room is large but you want it to look taller, choose furniture that is lower to the ground. If the opposite is the case and you want the room to look like it has more square footage, opt for furniture with legs so more of the floor is visible.
Next is color and texture. Light and neutral colors will look bigger and if you’re trying to create an optical illusion. Clear, mirrored, and transparent (like wicker, which you can see through) materials will create some space for the eye.
Last is furniture size: we recommend choosing a few large pieces rather than a bunch of smaller ones so the space doesn’t look cluttered. Don’t be afraid of accent pieces (unless you’re going for that Kim Kardashian home museum look), but try to keep it simple with plenty of space to easily move through the room. Opt for pieces that don’t take up floor space; instead of a side table with a lamp on it, opt for a sconce or hanging lamp.
This brings us back to our first point about light colors—once you have light-colored walls for light to bounce off of, you need to let the natural light in. If you have windows, consider white transparent (or no) window coverings. That way, when the sun hits them, they’ll help emit tons of light into the room.
We can use lines to create more illusion of space.
When it comes to low ceiling design tricks, we recommend using vertical lines on the walls to draw the eyes up. One way to do this is by hanging your curtains just below the ceiling; you can create the same effect with a floor to ceiling bookcase or gallery wall as well.
If you’d like the square footage to look bigger, using lines on the floor—whether by emphasizing the lines of hardwood floors, getting a rug with a lined pattern running in the shorter direction of the room—is going to help create space.
Knowing how to use color in interior design can turn a house into a home. It gives you more control of your surroundings and how you feel within them. Understanding the color wheel and interior design color schemes are just a step of the process that you need to know, and we’re here to help!
Interior design is like fine art: let your space be your canvas. Whether you’re working with pieces and colors already present in your home, or starting completely fresh, the first thing to consider is your vision. What style is the rest of your home? Do you want this room to cohesively blend with other rooms or will this room be uniquely its own? Creating a mood board of designs and images that inspire you is a great first step.
Next is composition. Imagine the room completely empty. What lines and shapes define your room? Are they hard straight edges? Rounded archways? High ceilings? An A-frame? Are there stairs? Do you plan on creating small moments around a room or one united picture?
The third thing to consider (which is arguably just as important) is color. Color sets the vibe of your space.
There’s a reason why spas, hotels, restaurants, and retailers put so much stock into choosing the colors of a room. Consider the stark modernism of an apple store: minimal and futuristic silver tones paired with white and wood accents. Compare that to the bright red floors and walls of Buckingham Palace’s throne room, or the gentle neutrals of a rehabilitation center walls, it quickly becomes apparent that designers utilize color with extreme intention and thought. Color is a vehicle which imbues specific aesthetic and emotion throughout an interior.
This article is going to provide you with a few tips to help you use color to create the home decor style of your dreams!
In order to dive into interior design color combinations, we must first dip our toes into the basics of color theory.
Color theory explores how the human eye experiences color. The color wheel is a visual tool to describe color theory—you probably recognize it from your early childhood days when you learned about color. It’s the circular rainbow display that looks like a pie, each color is a different slice. The color wheel demonstrates how colors relate to one another.
The colors of the wheel (in order) are red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue, blue-purple, purple, and red-purple.
Red, yellow, and blue are referred to as primary colors. They’re primary because you can’t mix other colors to make them. Orange, green, and purple are secondary colors. When you combine two primary colors, they make secondary colors. Red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and red and blue make purple. When we combine a primary and secondary color, we get tertiary colors. These include red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-purple, and red-purple.
Complementary colors sit opposite of eachother on the color wheel. Complementary colors have the strongest contrast—blue and orange, for example—while analogous colors, the ones that sit next to each other on the wheel, have little contrast.
Neutral colors play a huge role in interior design and decoration. Neutral colors effectively mean lacking color. They technically include whites, blacks, greys, taupes and tans, but neutral colors can exist as undertones of any color. A cool grey with blue undertones, for example, or a warm tan with red undertones, are both considered neutrals.
Tone, tint, and shade explain color variation related to lightness, darkness, and vibrancy. Tone describes the amount of grey in a color, tint describes the amount of white in a color, and shade describes the amount of black in a color.
There is a long list of rules that determine harmony in the interior design color wheel (split-complementary, tetrads, and more), so we won’t dig into all of it, but the basic idea is that color theory can be a tool used to create harmony in beautiful interiors. Familiarizing yourself with colors and how they work is vital to interior design.
Different colors connote different moods. You can use your knowledge of color to influence the vibe of your space, whether it’s dark and sultry, bright and airy, something in between, or something entirely different. Again, this is where a mood board comes in handy!
If you’re looking for a space that feels light and airy, opting for neutrals and colors with a light tint will help establish that feel. A light color scheme expands spaces and makes them feel bigger than they are. Even in a darker room, a floor-to-ceiling cream-colored curtain will make a room look taller.
Reds, oranges, browns, and yellows are often used to drive home a cozy and warm aesthetic. On the other hand, blues, greens, and other cool colors create a mellow and relaxing vibe. Using the psychology of nature is helpful here. It makes sense that warm colors like reds and oranges create warmth in a room, just as a roaring red-orange fire and the bright yellow of a sunny day feel warm, while on the other hand, the blue of an alpine lake, or refreshing greens of a grassy expanse feel cool. You can keep things calm with neutral colors or go big and bold with complementary colors. These are just a few examples, but the space is yours—it’s up to you to decide the vibe that makes you feel good in your home!
When it comes to colors, it’s important to think about relationships between them.
We mentioned earlier in the article that colors on the opposite sides of the spectrum are complementary. These colors have a lot of energy next to each other; they sort of vibrate. So if you’re going bold with your color scheme, pairing these colors is going to make your space vibrate too.
Analogous colors, the ones that sit near one another on the color wheel, create more harmony (it’s easier for the eyes to see these colors side-by-side). Opting for a monochromatic palette by incorporating different tints and shades of a single color creates a very smooth and soothing palette. Whether you want your colors to excite or soothe, it’s important to have these relationships in mind.
Another piece of the color puzzle is considering how colors relate to each other in different rooms. For example, if most of your home utilizes a neutral palette, having a bathroom in a super bright color has a jarring effect, which may bring an element of fun and excitement to the home. Even wallpapering the inside of a coat closet can bring a fun pop of something special to a space!
Classic design rules suggest choosing a dominant neutral color and spicing it up with accent colors of your dominant neutral’s secondary colors—the basic formula for designing a space. For example, adding black and grey pillows to a living room with a dominant cream color base establishes harmony. Build on top of this by incorporating a sculpture or painting that follows the same color scheme, and then add pops of orange in various shades follows the same template.
Rules are made to be broken, though, so take our advice with a grain of salt and follow your gut.
If you love bright colors, paint your walls orange, buy a green couch, and accent it with pink and silver pillows. If you wish Halloween lasted all year in your small space, paint your walls deep grey, get a black velvet couch, and accent with emerald pillows.
Every so often we find ourselves sitting at home, disgruntled by our surroundings. Maybe a couch is a decade too old, a pillow is fraying where it shouldn’t be, or a wall decoration is years past its prime. Perhaps the whole house just feels off.
That’s a big problem: why spend the majority of your time in a space that doesn’t make you feel your best?
This feeling is an indicator that it's time to update your home’s style. But before you throw everything up on Craigslist or spend three hours rearranging furniture, sit down and set your intention on the right path. Asking yourself the following questions and coming up with a brain map can help you create clear, cohesive, and concise plans for beautiful and happy results.
While there are obvious downfalls to certain aspects of any home, there's got to be a few things that you love about your home—start there!
Do you have a big window with a gorgeous view? A reading nook?
What do you like about these spaces? Is it the color? The material? The shape? The lighting?
We recommend updating your favorite areas first. Make them the absolute best version of themselves they can be. Ask yourself what it needs to be perfect. Once you’ve cultivated that perfect space, you can take the energy you created there and bring it into the rest of your home.
For example, if your reading nook is your favorite space, consider enhancing it with soothing neutrals, soft upholstery, an abstract art piece with your favorite colors, and a gold reading lamp. You can then take similar colors and gold accents to your living room and beyond.
Another starting point could be a favorite piece of furniture. Do you have an heirloom you love? Perhaps that should set the tone of your home. If your great grandfather’s mahogany dining table is the highlight of your home, creating an earthy, farmhouse atmosphere with pieces like linen tea towels and woven baskets around it could be a great place to begin.
Colors have a huge effect on our mood. The psychology behind colors and the emotions they evoke runs deep and can influence our psyche and well-being. That’s why spas, for example, are full of earthy, relaxing colors and natural materials with pieces like these candle holders or this seagrass placemat.
This doesn’t just apply to large buildings like hospitals or department stores. Any room can evoke specific feelings and energies.
Choosing colors can be daunting because there are infinite options to choose from and the choices you make are vital in influencing the tone of your home, but you don’t have to go crazy with color. You can start with smaller pieces like a turkish towel or a fun doormat to bring some color into the home without dedicating your entire aesthetic to that color.
If you don’t know where to begin, one place we recommend is your closet! Take a look through your wardrobe and see what colors pop up the most. No need to shy away from bold colors either—if orange is your favorite color, why not bring it into your home? Your home is your space, so why not make it a reflection of your preferences and personality?
The great thing about colors is how dynamic they are. If we stick to the orange example, a burnt orange accent can give off desert chic energy, a bright orange painting can bring a pop of color to any room, and neutrals with orange undertones can bring warmth.
Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, so don’t be afraid to look for inspiration where you can.
Pinterest is obviously a great start, it was literally invented to inspire. Browse through interior design magazines, YouTube channels (architectural digest is fantastic), and Instagram accounts until something catches your eye. Pull a few things together and look for patterns and details that are present throughout your picks. These details can be applied to your space and will have a similar effect.
We recommend looking at trends that catch your eye, but make sure that you incorporate trends on an accent basis instead of basing your entire home on them. For example, when Millennial Pink was all the rage, having a few pink accent pillows were easier to replace than an entire pink wall. If you’re super drawn to a trendy color, though, don’t be afraid to use it. After all, a wall can be repainted.
Sometimes it’s easier to point out what we don’t like about a space than what we do.
Maybe it starts with a few wonky chairs around your dining room table. Perhaps the upholstery is ripped and the legs are wobbly. Then you notice that they don’t really match the table either. At this point, you decide to get new chairs and you settle on. That could be a sign that you should start with the dining room: reinvigorating it can set the tone for the rest of the home.
Pinpoint the items in your home that you don’t like so you can hunt for alternatives.
Last but certainly not least (this factor plays a huge role in your home): functionality.
What is your space used for? Are you creating space for a small family or community gatherings? Do you love hosting big parties? Are you hoping to utilize the space for relaxation? For working from home?
Having a space that caters to your needs is both functional and practical, it’s possible that maybe the only thing wrong with your space is that it’s currently not serving what you want it to. Once you’ve updated a space to your needs, it becomes easier to do so for the rest of the home.
Considering these questions is important to developing your home style because they help you understand yourself and your preferences a little better. Walking into a redesign project like this can be daunting without a little direction, and we’re happy to nudge you towards your best path.
Summertime is nothing without neighborhood dinner parties on the patio, family get-togethers by the pool, wine nights with the girls, and weekend trips to the mountains. With the sun spilling its golden rays late into the evening, followed by nights of music and laughter, there’s always something worth celebrating!
There’s a lot to be grateful for right now. The days of sheltering-in-place are behind us, and just as traffic on the 5 has returned, so have parties and gatherings with friends. Showing gratitude, rather than simply feeling it inside, is so important—especially showing gratitude towards those opening their homes to host a get-together.
The phrase “actions speak louder than words” applies to gratitude and appreciation towards others. Bringing a host gift to your next dinner party is not only customary, but it is also a great way to show your appreciation and gratitude (in addition to a verbal thank you).
So, what is a host gift, and why are they important? Read on to find out more.
A host gift is a small offering that one brings to a dinner party or small event that they’ve been invited to. Bringing a host gift is a traditional and customary practice that serves an important role in modern-day living.
Host gifts are classic and timeless, but to some, they may seem outdated and old-fashioned. There are simple and playful ways to shake off the dust from the traditional idea of host gifts to add some spice and give a contemporary flair.
To make it plain and simple: yes, host gifts are important. However, it is a bit more complex than yes or no.
Host gifts can (and should) be special and meaningful. However, if done thoughtlessly, the gift could potentially come off as insincere and disingenuous. How does one decipher the right path to the perfect host gifts?
Winter holiday party? You can’t go wrong with holiday liqueurs, a tin of cookies, or a cinnamon scented candle. Summer barbeque? Bring a new patio game, a serving platter, or a bottle of wine that could pair well with the meal. Consider why your host is having people over, and try to associate the gift you bring with that reason.
Easier said than done because, of course, you’ll want the item that matches your taste. But remember that this gift is for them, not you. Your host might have a different color palette or aesthetic than you, and that’s ok! Writing down your host’s style, personality, and interests before shopping will help you keep your attention on them. And next time you host, you’ll appreciate it when they take your style and interests into consideration.
If you plan to bring alcohol, be sure that your party host drinks. The same is true with vegetarianism, food allergies, and other lifestyle choices that your host adheres to. Considering your host’s lifestyle shows that you care about their values and preferences.
Boutique shops and local artisans often have beautiful, one-of-a-kind, and hand-made goods. Your host will feel extra special knowing that their gift was made with love and care by someone local. A bonus? Your gift will be the gift that keeps on giving because small businesses are known for giving back to their communities.
Local to San Diego? Artist Suzie Zol creates versatile abstract paintings and sculptures that look great in many different living spaces. You can find out more about Susie on her website or see her work in person at Bench at the Cottage, a local San Diego gift store.
A gift card can be a great way to say thank you, but once again, it’s important to consider your host’s interests and values. A gift card to a restaurant, spa, or boutique shop nearby, maybe one that you’ve been to together before, can be a thoughtful way to personalize your gift and show your appreciation. However, a gift card that you bought last-minute rushing through the grocery store to a place with bad reviews or serves food they don’t eat is an example of a host gift that could come off as insincere.
The gift that collects dust in the corner of your closet should not find a new home in the corner of your host's closet. If you’ve received a gift that you think might make a better gift for someone else, even if you think it will be appreciated and put to good use, it’s usually not worth regifting. Why? Because you run the risk of being discovered by whoever originally gifted the item, which could hurt their feelings. Even though you may have the best intentions, the receiver could also find out that the item was regifted. Ultimately, the host could think of your regifting as lazy, impersonal, and effortless and it might have a negative impact on your relationship with the host—which is the opposite of the point of gift-giving. Authenticity goes a long way, and regifting is something that should be avoided.
If you’re still stumped on what to give your host, we recommend calling a mutual friend and asking for advice. What it ultimately comes down to is understanding who your host is and knowing what they’d like. If you’re not very close yet, there is no shame in asking for a second opinion. You’ll have an easier time zeroing in on something tailored to their liking and will feel good knowing that your gift means a lot to them.
It’s also important to know how and when to give your gift, and this varies depending on what it is. Understand that your host may not open the gift immediately upon your arrival. They’re juggling all the duties required for hosting, and they may want a moment of peace and presence to appreciate opening your gift.
Additionally, they may not want to share your gift with the people they’re having over, even if you intended to have it enjoyed by all. Once you give your gift, it is not yours anymore, and that is ok. The only thing you can control is yourself, so meeting your host at whatever energy or headspace they’re at is the best thing you can do. Letting go of expectations is key.
Because the tradition of host gifting has been around for a long time, there are classic and traditional gifts to bring to dinner parties.
There’s nothing like coffee table decor to dress up a space and make it feel stylish and homey. Not everyone takes advantage of coffee table decor, though, because decorative pieces are often considered superfluous items that one doesn’t think about buying for oneself. Que the perfect host gift!
Necklaces, earrings, rings, and bracelets are thoughtful host gifts. Since nice jewelry lasts a long time, people often wear the same statement pieces or every-day-hoops for years and don’t refresh their collection. From chains to chokers to gemstones, you can easily find something for anyone’s style.
Our Larimar Hook Earrings pair beautifully with our Larimar Bar Necklace and brighten up any summertime look! What's even better about these pieces is that even with a splash of blue, they have a neutral design that would work with multiple styles. If you’re not completely sure about finding something that works with your host's style, you can’t go wrong with these.
For a slightly bolder take on jewelry, consider the Single Gemstone Necklace. Available in two colors, pearl and labradorite, these beautiful necklaces are the perfect accessories for completing a head-turning look that is sure to receive compliments.
Similar to jewelry and home decor, flowers are versatile and decorative! Everyone loves them, and there is a flower for every occasion. A bouquet makes a beautiful centerpiece at the table and will add a pop of color to any event.
The kids are out of school, temperatures are rising, the sun is setting late, and summertime is officially in full swing. This also means that summer parties are back!
From birthday pool parties to Friday night dinner parties to evening bonfires in the backyard, it’s important to come prepared. Do you know what you’ll be bringing to your next summer get-together as a host gift?
Gifts for party hosts are thoughtful ways to show your appreciation and foster strong relationships with those in your community. They don’t have to be extravagant or expensive, but they should be tailored to your host’s lifestyle and interests.
Looking for host and hostess gift ideas? We’ve put together some of our favorite in-shop items that make excellent gifts for party hosts.
The neutral clay exterior of these candles are both heavy-duty and versatile—the perfect candle for any season! With a burn time of 75 hours, they’re long-lasting, too! Subtle enough to style in any home, these candles make for the perfect decorating accents. The lemongrass, geranium, and rosemary scent is available in a natural marble vessel, while the grapefruit juniper comes in a textured white version. The styles and scents pair well together, and your host will love having such staple pieces in their home.
What makes the Delmare Candle stand out is its intoxicatingly incredible fragrance combinations. With 32 hour burn times, the three scents, sunset beach, beach house, and gardenia, your guest will be reminded of your love and friendship throughout the year as the candles burn.
Hand-poured by a local 13-year-old entrepreneur, these soy wax candles come in four scents: ocean breeze, lavender, summer nights, and sparkle. You can't go wrong with giving candles as a host gift. Available in all different scents, colors, shapes, and sizes, candles are warm and inviting and often overlooked by people shopping. Your host will appreciate this small act that promotes relaxation and calmness.
While fireplace match cloches aren’t exactly candles, they are similarly fun, fiery, and special. To a host with a vintage style and a fabulous fireplace, these matches are the perfect gift! Unique and classy, each vessel is hand-blown and fitted with a cork stopper in the bottom. Once your host uses all 120 matches, they can reuse the class as a stylish display in a bathroom, on a mantle, or a bookshelf.
A summertime essential, Turkish towels are stylish and great for sunny days by the pool. Multifunctional, Turkish towels can be worn like a sarong, used as a towel to dry off, or thrown down as a picnic blanket. The more you wash it, the softer, fluffier, and more absorbent it becomes!
We carry many different Turkish towels in our shop. Turkish towels are functional and stylish gifts for any host, from tie-dye to striped to trendy mint green. Additionally, the different styles match many different types of people, so they’re easy to personalize and make special.
The earthy tones within our chenille striped throw blanket add a fun and stylish pop of color to any room. Warm, fuzzy, and extremely soft, this is the perfect gift for someone with an outdoor fire pit or a cozy movie room. After a fun but tiring night of hosting friends over, this throw will invite a much-needed moment of relaxation, allowing your host to unwind and appreciate the thought that went into this gift.
These fruit bowls are unique and adorable. Get one in each color and throw blueberries, raspberries, and grapes in them for a colorful and edible gift to enjoy after dinner with dessert. Your host will love how stylish and useful these bowls are when serving fruit on a grazing board, and they’re made of strong ceramic that will retain their integrity for years to come.
A staple in Mexico, Cantaritos are the refreshing summer cocktails you didn’t know you needed. Perfect for warm nights, this Paloma-like, tequila-based cocktail typically arrives in a clay cup, which helps keep the drink cold. Our Cantaritos Kit includes two red clay cups, a citrus hand juicer, paper straws, and chili salt.
With gift-giving, every situation is different. Picking the perfect gift depends on many factors, including the receiver’s personality, lifestyle, values, hobbies, humor, habits, and fashion sense.
The right gift lies in understanding these factors and making a thoughtful effort to please your host’s interests. If you have the right intentions and understand your relationship with the host, you leave little room for error.
The beauty of modern interior design is that there are so many directions you can take it: you can go trendy and bold, classic and elegant, combine elements of both, or go completely off the beaten path.
Your choice of color, pattern, and texture really comes down to who you (and the people you live with) are and the purpose of various rooms in your home. Some rooms are for entertaining and excitement, while others are for relaxation and getting zenned out.
If the latter is your aesthetic and you’re looking to create a low-key environment, we’re here with some neutral living room ideas to get you inspired.
Pieces like these gorgeous hand-painted terra cotta vases have neutrals that lean into colors without quite leaving the neutral spectrum. If you broke a piece of the bottom of the shorter vase, you would probably see a light grey color, but next to the darker grey of the clay and the black detailing, it looks blue!
The human eye is a complex thing—use that to your advantage when working with near-neutrals and subtle hues.
Because metallics fall into a different category than the color wheel, they’re super dynamic and fun to play with.
You can incorporate them into a room with deep, royal colors or a monochrome one. It can be used to make a grand or subtle statement, and these baskets err on the subtle side. The white exterior melts into the neutrals in the rest of the room and the gold pops out as a surprise upon closer inspection.
While some homes opt for the museum look (re: Kim Kardashian’s gorgeous house), that can feel a little sparse, almost clinical, for lots of us.
To combat that sense of walking on eggshells in a pristine space, we can use texture. Use it to bring a warm, organic element inside. This Vovo cushion brings the perfect blend of fluff, corners, pattern, and frill to a room.
When it comes to neutral decor, plants don’t count. If there’s a pothos plant in your neutral room, you wouldn’t necessarily consider green to be part of your color palette, right? Right.
Using a beautiful bowl made of a natural mineral and adding fruits or foliage allows you to maintain neutral decor while adding a splash of bright citrus fruits or a blooming bunch of hydrangeas for some oomf.
Designing with neutral home decor is all about manipulating the eyes and subtly drawing them around the room.
Natural materials like marble have subtle movement to support this. Little spots and cracks and lines and changes in tone create a sense of ease on the eye. Our brains tend to associate natural materials with calmness—think of it this way, when you imagine a cozy cottage in your mind’s eye, is it made of wood and stone or metal and concrete?
Take advantage of natural materials when designing with neutral colors.
When you’re looking for neutral living room colors, don’t forget that black is neutral!
Incorporate black into your space through elements like this gorgeous, statement-making scalloped woven basket. And if you’re not up to the task of adding more decor to fill the basket, this piece is striking enough to put on a gallery wall or credenza.
When we talk about “form,” we’re referring to elements that take on the energy of sculpture just as much as they do interior design.
Pillows like these incredible knotted ones are soft enough to lean on comfortably but interesting enough to elevate your space from Apartment Therapy vibes to Architectural Digest royalty.
Books are a universal accent: they look good in every room of the house. Line your bedside table with novels, fill your kitchen with cookbooks, and leave the big art books for the communal spaces like the living and dining rooms.
This book doesn’t just serve as neutral decor, but it’s also a guidebook on setting a nature-inspired table full of more neutral palettes! What more could you possibly need?
Whether you’re new to neutrals or your home is already a calming, monochromatic paradise, we hope that these tips and pieces provide a bit of inspiration as you cultivate your space. For more info on decor, styling, and the importance of our surroundings, visit us at Bench today!
]]>Balanced interiors layouts and neutral palettes are in. Many designers posit that they're here to stay—after all, they’re easy to style and they’re a staple in Scandinavian countries, who always tend to be at the forefront of interior design.
Maybe you’re reading this because you just got a new place and are chomping at the bit to get decorating or maybe you feel “blah” about your current space and you don’t know where to start fixing it. What we’ve come up with for you is a gorgeous neutral living room color palette to help you get started.
So when it comes to color, we love the 60-30-10 rule: this classic interior design tenet simply states that you should have 3 main colors in a palette where you use the dominant color in 60% of the room you’re working on (usually for big spaces like wall color, rugs, and couches), a secondary color in 30% of the room (curtains, armchairs, accent walls, and art, for example), and a tertiary color for the remaining 10% (accent pieces, mostly).
You’re probably wondering: wait, this describes 3 colors but there are 5 in the palette, so what’s going on here?
Well, we’ve taken the 60-30-10 rule and expanded it just a little to make room for natural materials and bold accents. Our 60-30-10 colors are in the middle of the palette (taupe, warm brown, and a deep gray-black), but white/ off-white is always welcome in a neutral space and a hint of metallics can make your living room a little more dynamic.
There’s one very important thing we need to mention before we move on to pieces that can make a space with these colors: this color palette is neutral because we want you to be able to run with it.
We love taking the guesswork out of your palette choice, but this one has lots of room to play with. If you’re looking for something more modern, swap out the dark brown and gold for a deep greige (gray-beige) and silver. If you’re inspired by the sea, opt for a teal color instead of the gray-black. If your vibe is on the earthy side, pull the metallics and add a terra cotta or eucalyptus color instead.
Don’t forget that, at the end of the day, this is your space that you live in. Cultivate the environment that makes you feel the most at-home.
The root inspiration piece for this palette is this scalloped basket.
It’s made of seagrass: an all-natural, highly-textured, perfectly-neutral-but-still-bold material. Keep in mind that texture is so important with neutral spaces because it maintains the subdued feel while giving the eyes a little more to play with.
This basket would be a fantastic focal point on a wall or it can sit on a table as a centerpiece. Its warm natural fibers and bold black pattern is the perfect embodiment of a modern neutral space.
This reactive glaze vase in dark grey and natural clay have a similar effect as the scalloped basket and serve as a perfect complement to it.
It opens up space for some delicate foliage and sits beautifully on a coffee or side, table, bookshelf, or credenza. If you are going for that earthier tone, a terra cotta color is waiting for you!
This double-sided throw is perfect for any living room that’s ready to embrace a little boho.
It’s cozy, soft, and has a gorgeous pattern with some fun frills. It’s somehow muted and bold at the same time and has the same energy of a natural fiber like the seagrass basket. Toss it over a couch corner or reading chair (your future self will thank you for it when you’re in the middle of a book and find yourself a little cold) and watch your living room get more welcoming before your very eyes!
Finally for that extra sparkle and shine (literally): gold!
This brass bijou hook is a tasteful, subtly approach to metallics. It’s not an in-your-face gold, which is perfect if you’ve decided to stick to a warm neutral palette. Use this to hang a potted plant or a macrame wall hanging.
We hope you love our living room color palette ideas and find a way to sneak them into your space. For more tips, tricks, and tactful pieces, visit us today!
]]>Interior design is a visual extension of your lifestyle and personal values, but matching your personality with a design style that perfectly meets your needs can be challenging.
Understanding different interior design styles takes you one step closer to finding which is right for you. We’ve put together a list of some of the most common interior design styles to help get you started:
All modern-style interior design comes from the 1900s. This style has subdivisions as well. Mid-century Modern, for instance, describes the American design movement between 1945 and 1969. Mid-century Modern interiors give off a retro vibe and utilize lots of warm-toned wood furniture and rich earthy red and orange shades in addition to rounded edges and defined lines.
All modern design styles aim for simplicity and functionality. Clean lines and a neutral color palette give the modern home a sleek and understated look. Pairing light, neutral colors and tones with square shapes and defined, straight lines helps fulfill the clutter-free, form-follows-function mission of modern design.
Contemporary and modern designs are very similar. Clean, understated, and function-driven, the difference falls mostly under each category’s age and history. Contemporary is strictly “current,” whereas modern refers to an interior design era from the mid-1900s. Although both color palettes are neutral and calm, contemporary design usually sticks closer to black, white, and grey shades. In contrast, the modern style incorporates some earthy red, blue, green, and orange colors.
The phrase “less is more” is at the heart of minimalist design. Extremely refined and simple, minimalism utilizes a neutral, simple color palette and the sparse decoration that exists serves a purpose. You won't find any clutter or decorative elements—excess is the antithesis of minimalist spaces. Some critics claim that minimalist spaces are cold and stark. However, fabric and color choices can easily foster warmth in your room.
Industrial design came about when factories, workshops, and warehouses from the industrial revolution were reinvented into lofts and apartment spaces. High ceilings, big windows and skylights, exposed brick, large wood beams, leather, and metal pipes give industrial design an urban, masculine, and mechanical feel.
You don’t have to live in a former factory to adopt this design style, though. Finding antique and vintage industrial furniture, buying decor that utilizes various industrial materials, removing the drywall to expose some brickwork or wooden beams, and creating an open layout are a few easy ways to create industrial design’s casual-cool vibe in any space.
Reigning from classic European design, traditional interior design embodies warm, dark, and finished wood tones as well as elegant, ornate fabrics and details. Think claw-footed tubs, framed wall decorations, and curvy, elongated furniture.
Traditional design is classic, predictable, and timeless. When done thoughtfully, it can transform a room back in time, making you feel like European royalty!
Traditional design utilizes lots of accessorizing and layering. Order and consistency are key. Centering your space around one main focal point, such as a fireplace, is a common and helpful way to pull everything together.
The original Bohemians reigned in 19th century Paris. These social outsiders included artists, writers, travelers, and other people who valued creativity over affluence; that’s why the beauty of bohemian design lies within its eccentric and idiosyncratic form.
Drawing from global inspirations, the bohemian style cannot be placed in a box. Its lack of structure gives off a carefree, exotic, and playful energy. Common characteristics of a bohemian environment is a neutral color palette with splashes of vibrant color, lots of layering of natural and organic elements, and a decorative aesthetic that often mixes various styles and patterns. Toss together a couple of throw pillows and trendy floor pillows on a Turkish rug, add in hand-made original artwork, place your favorite exotic plants and big boheme candle on your French coffee table, and your space will begin to come together.
Looking to transform your space back into the roaring 20’s? Art deco is the interior design path for you. Luxurious, high-end, and over-the-top, art deco’s dramatic and exuberant aesthetic will make you feel like you're living in “The Great Gatsby.”
Incorporating bold colors, geometric patterns, and statement-making art deco accents like vases, sculptures, and candles help create the opulent, polished, glamorous space you’ve always dreamed of.
Inspired by sandy dunes and ocean air, coastal interior design’s light, bright, and airy aesthetic derives from the sea. White is the base from which cool, neutral shades of blue and green build upon and driftwood-inspired wooden features are common decorative and functional elements.
Coastal design elicits a relaxed and casual “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere” vibe, and earthy feature pieces complete your oceanic getaway. Fabrics such as cotton and linen make coastal interiors extra comfortable, soft, and cool. Like all interior styles, there are modern and chic ways of pulling off a style, and not-so-great ways. Steer clear from overdoing it on nautical themed goods, as too much can come off as tacky.
Balancing simple traditional style with modern sensibilities, country farmhouse design is practical, comfortable, and nature-minded. Creating warmth through its heavy use of wooden furniture and furnishings, farmhouse living is durable, warm, and cozy.
Evolving with every new season, the country farmhouse intermixes new and old. Pairing a vintage chair with a newer tabletop, or matching repurposed wood with a more up-to-date stainless steel sink, for instance, works to the farmhouse charm and aesthetic. Found objects from vintage and antique stores are a great place to begin your country farmhouse journey.
For more on how to figure out your interior design style, we recommend finding inspiration on Pinterest or by flipping through interior design magazines. Reflect on your lifestyle and gain a strong understanding of what each room in your home’s purpose is. Thoughtful planning is the first step to cultivating your personal style.
If you’re based in San Diego, stop into our locally-owned shop in Kensington. You can also contact us online. We use creative intuition and trusted design techniques to achieve well-designed spaces for every home. ]]>In the game of decorating your space, the living room is often first up to bat.
This is a natural progression, as it’s the second center of the home (right next to the kitchen, of course)—it’s often the first room people see when they settle in for any type of social visit. It’s the gathering place for household members to relax and bond with one another.
The living room can be challenging to decorate because, in a way, it belongs to everyone. The kitchen is often handled by one or two people who love to cook and know every nook, cranny, burner, and obscure tool in the room, but all generally use the living room.
Here are six living room design ideas to get you started.
At the core of interior design–or any type of design, for that matter—is the need for people to tell stories. This idea is written into our DNA. We have gone as far as we have as a society because we’re able to look into the past, appreciate the days that came and went before we were born, and drive toward a future based on the ideas that our ancestors passed along to us.
Like politics, philosophy, and art, design is another method of self-expression and storytelling.
When you’re decorating a living room, many stories can come together at once. If you have an old home, paying attention to its classic details is a way to tell its story. If you’re a traveler, displaying goodies you’ve picked up along the way tells your story of jet-setting. If your child is interested in painting or crafts, displaying them tells guests the story of you as a parent and them as a child. If you design a room without personal touches altogether, you can run the risk of telling a story that isn’t true.
Whatever stories you want to tell, keep them in mind while planning your living room design.
This leads us to our next point—
To start, you’re going to need some inspiration. This is the research phase. This is arguably the most fun part because it’s all about letting your imagination run wherever it wants to.
Hop online and start digging into your favorite resources—be it Architectural Digest’s YouTube channel, a small blog, or Pinterest. Create inspiration boards until you find the color palette and overall vibe that speaks to you. If you’re leading the design charge but live with others, consider their input as well.
Eventually, you’ll have to narrow down the style, color palette (no more than five colors consisting of few tones of the same color mixed with neutrals), and pieces you’ll incorporate into the space.
Texture defines the surface of the materials you’re working with, and they’re an incredible way to add depth and dimension to any space. A room with limited textures can certainly be sleek, but there is a fine line between sleek and boring.
When we talk about combining textures, we don’t mean covering the whole room in bold prints. Instead, pair a linen weave sofa with leather accent chairs, a wooden media console, woven rug, and a glass coffee table, for example.
You can use smooth metal accents to add a bit of bold and modern flair, or you can stick to earthy pieces with natural materials and raw textures to soften the room. And don’t forget the walls. A mildly-textured wallpaper or a beautiful limewash paint can go a long way.
Creating layers with your curtains, pillows, blankets, and plants is another great opportunity to draw the eye and play with various textures and materials.
Light sets the mood.
Think about the last time you went into a doctor’s office. How was it lit? How did the world look while you were there? How did you feel?
Now consider the last time you were in a high-end restaurant or hotel. We’d wager the light wasn’t harsh. Maybe it was even a little mysterious or elegant.
Light tells the eye where to go, so use it to your living room’s advantage. Large, sun-facing windows naturally do the heavy lifting for you. However, there’s no need to fear if you aren’t as blessed with natural light. Manipulate artificial lighting to shift the room’s energy, and best convey your story.
Architectural lighting (lighting that’s built, or looks like it’s built, into the walls) like sconces and soft backlights create a simple, minimal, well-lit space. Fun light fixtures add pizazz and energy, while fire (candles and fireplaces), bulbs with warmer glow (as opposed to more-blue lights), and dimmer switches foster a cozy and laid-back atmosphere.
When choosing your furniture, keep our sentiment about texture in mind: you want a variety (even if it’s small) of types of pieces.
Understanding proportion and scale is extremely important here. You need furniture that fits both the space and the other pieces of furniture in the room. Some simple rules of furniture include:
It’s also important to diversify your furniture. Shopping from a single catalog will make your home look like a store display. Remember, you’re telling a story. Selecting different pieces rather than a set of furniture creates complexity and better reflects your personality. Consider incorporating pieces that have been in your family for years, new pieces, antiques, and even custom-made items.
Last but not least are accent pieces. These can consist of art, interesting objects, and even furniture itself.
For example, placing two accent pieces made of crystal on opposite sides of the room (maybe it’s a raw amethyst cluster on a shelf and a set of rose quartz coasters on the table) will create consistency and harmony.
Transform your big blank wall space into a stunning art gallery and let the entire wall become your accent piece. Alternatively, apply an art deco emerald green wallpaper and take your guests back in time to the roaring twenties!
Sometimes it’s the lack of accents that makes a statement. Maybe your style is hyper-modern, clean-cut, and minimalist, and that’s okay too.
Whatever your style may be, creating a beautiful space is an exciting adventure. If it sounds a little intimidating, we have a team of professionals to help you turn your house into a home. At the end of the day, your stories matter, and you deserve a beautiful space with which to tell them. ]]>You like the straightforward, no mess bookcase. Kinda like the ones that line the news reporters' background as you tune in for your national news recap. You just don't have that extra oomph from the beautiful paperweight or gorgeous pot they do and need to know where to find it. Here are our favorite Type-A items.
For our most sophisticated globe trotter friends, this glass globe paperweight blends perfectly with any decor and is functional to use when you need to hold down a paper on your desk. Set it at either end of your book collection to bring in some depth to your shelf without building any visual clutter.
This pot is the perfect way to bring color into your room without having it stick out like a sore thumb from your bookcase. With muted tones and a modern design, either leave this pot empty, use it for your favorite pen collection, or add a beautiful indoor plant, like a ZZ plant, to make this really pop.
Bring your vacation destination dreams right into your home office with our framed print of the Island of Capri. This minimalist print with monochromatic blue illustrations fits any design style while also bringing personality into your space.
Nothing screams Type-A more than gorgeous marble bookends. Keep your books perfectly up-right and in order with style. Marble is a timeless stone that looks good in the most sophisticated homes and the most modern asthetics. We love this elegant design as one of the classiest bookshelf decor items.
If you are the type that says n-o to clutter but loves to display essential items, this list is perfect for you. Our team loves these minimal pieces because they fit perfectly onto any shelf design or even standing on their own!
Plates aren't just for the dining area anymore, especially when they are hand-painted. This Terra Cotta plate looks gorgeous on a plate stand and compliments a colorful array of books perfectly with its muted tones.
Here at Bench Home, we love a good candle. A candle holder like our Palmier collection is the perfect way to hide away unsightly logos and designs of your favorite scents but still give them a beautiful place to release aroma around your room.
Bud vases are perfect for the Minimalist. They look beautiful even when they are empty. But, when you are gifted a gorgeous flower or find one on your next walk, it is the perfect place to give it a spotlight.
This fluted pot is a perfect place for our minimalists to store their daily clutter like keys, chapstick, hair ties, etc., while keeping their bookshelf clean and chic. The ideal way to keep your aesthetic clean while also having a place to store all of the little things we all use every day.
The Eclectic style is all about maximization. Flip the Minimalist on its head, pack your shelf with books, trinkets, and plants, and you have the beautiful Eclectic style. Along with your favorite travel memorabilia and collectibles, we think these items are perfect for you.
This golden palm tree jewelry holder is the perfect way to bring your shelf some interest while also being multifunctional. Use this holder for your earrings, rings, or other jewelry items you have laying around, and also allow it to break up visual space between your book collection.
These fun porcelain figures are sure to bring about a conversation in your home. Use their white design to break up space on your shelf and the interesting design to spark conversation with friends and family. These figurines are some of our favorite decor items at Bench Home.
Stoneware is perfect for any eclectic type. This terra cotta-like color and modern design are perfect for holding your favorite greenery and blends perfectly with a boho-chic style.
Bring your home bar to your bookshelf with this Monkey Decanter. Not only is it cute and chic, but it can also hold your favorite beverage with style. Use it as a bookend, or let it sit within the foliage of your favorite Pothos for a layering effect.
There are plenty more bookshelf styling ideas and items at our San Diego store and online. Support our small business by checking out our store. If you need help creating a beautiful custom space in San Diego, contact us today about our interior design services. We cannot wait to learn more about you.
]]>If a picture is worth a thousand words, a bookshelf is worth ten times more.
Like any other piece of a well-designed room, a bookshelf is a visual tool to express your creative energy and show guests in your home exactly who you are. Approaching this space is an opportunity to cultivate meaningful design, which is a surefire way to make you happier and more comfortable in your home.
We have broken the art of bookshelf decoration into three simple archetypes—the type-A, the minimal modern, and the eclectic—in the hopes that one resonates with and inspires you as you put this space together.
If you watched the news in 2020, you’ll know exactly what the type-A bookshelf looks like because it sits in the background of so many interviews. It’s the shelf of the lawyer, the organizer, the businessperson, the everyday neatfreak.
This style of bookshelf is typically reserved for books alone because those with this taste lean toward the straightforward and utilitarian. The basic premise here is that the books themselves are both the focus and the purpose of the shelf.
Type-A bookshelves can be characterized more so by the way you organize them than anything else. If you’re a huge fiction reader with a pile of colorful novels, this space might just be color coordinated. If you’ve got a wide variety of sizes, you can arrange them into a beautiful slope. If your inner organizer just can’t keep quiet during the design process, you can go by whatever is most important to you—alphabetically by author or title, by genre, or even by order of favorite to least-favorite.
The type-A bookshelf can look distinguished and strong as it draws the eye. It’s the perfect way to bring a little bit of heaviness into a room, especially if you use invisible bookends that allow you to bring the books right to the edges. If that heaviness doesn’t resonate with you, it can be lightened up with a pair of stylish bookends that reflect your style a little better.
This bookshelf makes a powerful visual statement as well as a personal one: it says that you love your books and are ready for guests to peruse them.
Minimal modern is a great bookshelf idea for those who might not have a ton of books but still want to turn a bookshelf into a beautiful focal point in a room.
The key to the minimal modern bookshelf is selecting the items you put there with extreme care. This is a fantastic moment for any art books you may have, and stacking books horizontally instead of vertically is a great way to take up space in an interesting way.
You can also create a gorgeous minimalist effect by turning the books page-side out so the spines are hidden and you’re left with the varying shades of white and tan.
Another component of a minimal modern bookshelf to consider is art. A couple of well-framed prints on a shelf leaning casually against the wall makes a clean, sophisticated look and an interesting bookend or a potted succulent can pull a clean space together.
The eclectic bookshelf is a place for the expressive designers who can’t choose a single aesthetic. This space is more than just a bookshelf, it’s a blank canvas and a chance to show anyone who enters this space all of the things about your personality that you want to share with them.
An eclectic bookshelf should be a little wild, literally—flowing plants look absolutely fantastic here and a little pothos can go a long way once it’s draping beautifully off of a shelf. Display things that are meaningful to you, be it a Stormtrooper figurine, a big crystal you found at a flea market, goofy photos of your childhood, that C+ worthy bowl from your high school pottery class, a collection of Russian Nesting Dolls you picked up on vacation, you name it.
The key to creating this style of bookshelf is finding the right balance between eclectic and clutter. To avoid that clutter, make sure you have a range of object sizes—you don’t want a cluster of tiny objects clumped together in a corner—and that anything you display has enough space around it to make a statement.
We hope our styles inspire you. For a little more direction, great bookshelf styling is absolutely everywhere—at your local indie bookstore, in a “bookshelf decorating ideas” Pinterest search, or even at your grandparents’ house (grandparents always have a knack for collecting and displaying cool stuff).
Our brick-and-mortar location is nestled in the beautiful Kensington neighborhood of San Diego, California. Our small team curates, packages, and delivers all of your items to you while welcoming guests and helping them find the perfect-for-them items. That’s why it is essential for us also to support small businesses. A rising tide lifts all boats, and today we want to highlight some of our favorite artisans so that you can learn more about the Bench community and people that create and are featured in our store.
“Shop Small” isn’t simply a catchphrase small business owners use to hook you in—it is incredibly impactful for our economy. According to the Small Business Association, since 1995, small businesses have created 66% of all new jobs. Plus, small businesses are known for giving more back to the community, providing better customer service, and providing a sense of community. With the rise of social media, those communities are spanning across zip codes and states. Plus, when you support small, you spread kindness by making someone smile and directly impacting their dreams. That’s why we want to support these wonderful makers today.
For our community looking for luxurious and even sensuous living, Gavin Luxe is one of our favorite makers. My, founder of Gavin Luxe, built this business to create multi-sensory experiences for their customers. A local San Diego business, they create beautiful fragrances for your home and body and even skin serums for a beautiful glow. You can find their products in our shop and online.
If you want to support artists, Laura from Shalla Wista is one to choose. Laura creates gorgeous jewelry for any occasion and gains her inspiration from nature and stepping outside of her studio. These pieces inspire us and are such a magnificent addition to our shop. Check out this stunning jewelry here.
Amplifying your design style with handmade ceramics in your home is a gorgeous way to introduce texture and color into your interior. Jess of Jess Carter Ceramics comes at every project with creativity and light-heartedness. Each color is hand-mixed and inspired by Southern California in the ’70s and ’80s. They are timeless pieces that will make you smile at every sight. See more here.
This artwork displays beautifully in our unique store in San Diego. Jennifer McHugh calls her style “organic abstract,” using organic shapes and colors to create stunning pieces. She takes inspiration from travel and nature, allowing the canvas to tell a story. You can find her work in our shop in the Kensington neighborhood of San Diego.
Ruth is a creator through and through. Whether dancing, learning graphic design or creating gorgeous artwork, she evokes excitement and adventure in her life and work. As an abstract painter, she creates landscape work, improvisational pieces, figure paintings, and more. You can see her work in our store!
At Satazi, Samantha creates jewelry differently. Taking inspiration from her surroundings in Louisiana, you can see character in each piece. This jewelry adds color and fun to any collection. You can find it on our website!
First thing’s first is figuring out the perfect layout for your furniture. The difference between a cramped or cozy living room furniture layout all depends on thoughtful planning. Figuring out how to decorate a living room and make it feel like a place to relax can breathe new life into the furniture you already own.
When you shop for furniture, be sure to buy furniture sized to fit your space. It is common for people to either over or under-size their furniture. This alone can lead to feeling like there is something wrong with your home when the issue lies in how it is laid out. When measuring out space for furniture, the critical things to remember are passageways, doors, and distance from focal points like fireplaces. If you have a moment, take out a piece of paper and sketch out your living room, placing a box where the furniture would be to get a birds-eye-view of the space before you spend your money.
Now that you have the baseline down with your furniture, it is time to pick wall decor. We like to start with one piece that we love and base the rest of the room’s vibe on that. Perhaps you have a piece from a local artist, like one of our favorites, Susie Zol. Or, maybe you have artwork that you’ve created. Find a staple piece and work on building out the rest of your artwork from there. Typically, you can transform a room with a large statement piece on your largest wall or a beautiful gallery wall to display all of your favorite pieces. The most important thing to know is where to place the artwork on your sightline.
No matter your style, there are a few “rules” to remember when hanging your artwork:
No matter if you are a minimalist or a maximalist, storage is still essential. From plant stands and coffee tables to bookshelves and benches, think about how you use your space and build your room around it.
Not only do these storage spaces allow for you to keep your favorite things, but they also are the perfect place to display your styling chops. With decor that can go on your coffee table and storage for your favorite books and travel collections on your bookshelf, your home will be full of inspiring design.
As with furniture, it is essential to plan your storage spaces out. Be sure to know your ceilings’ height, the measurements of blank wall spaces and door openings, and plan accordingly.
At Bench Home, we have tons of accessories to help you make your house a home. A comfy candle, a modern planter, or an exciting figurine for your mantle can make your space sing. When you accessorize, think about items that function as well as add a little pizzaz. For instance, these beautiful candles become planters when finished, perfect for a succulent or gorgeous plant to add to your living room. This tray can hold your trinkets while you lounge by the television while adding some color to your space. Some items might be just for fun, but that is A-ok, as long as it makes you smile.
Once you have your place accessorized and decorated, the final piece will be adding texture. A gorgeous throw pillow, window coverings, and a cozy blanket can add dimension and mood to your room. Plus, if you keep your older furniture around longer, this is a surefire way to make it feel fresh. And, just like we want some of your decor to be functional, throw pillows and blankets will get a ton of use as you cozy up for movie nights.
As seasons change and trends update, these few tips are easy to swap out, rearrange, and enliven to meet a new style or keep your style fun for you. Check out our blog for more tips on interior styling, support our small business by shopping with us online, or contact us for your next interior design project in San Diego! We cannot wait for our products to delight you. ]]>
Hello, my name is Susie and I am an abstract painter working in acrylics and mixed media. I’m originally from Vermont and moved to California in the ’80s after college and have lived in San Diego ever since. I was always dabbling in one creative project or another since I was young but my education and career was in business. I owned an insurance agency with my husband for 30 years and have recently retired. The start of my journey toward becoming a full-time artist began about 12 years ago when I tagged along with a friend to a workshop in art journaling. I was painting, writing and creating in a journal and really beginning to understand my creative process. After a few years, I shifted from the journal to the canvas and while I still create in my art journals, the canvas is where I feel the most at home with myself as an artist.
Truly, by painting a lot!
For me, painting intuitively means I am not planning my steps ahead. I am staying in the moment, allowing and accepting whatever happens. I let my heart choose one thing at a time and play on the canvas. During the process, I’m not considering what the final painting is going to look like at all. It isn’t until many layers have come and gone that I move into a more thoughtful approach to the painting and consider the composition and elements to begin a process of editing to the final version.
My morning routine is pretty regular with plenty of movement and meditation to start my day. I try to get at least one if not two “sessions” of painting every day. A session for me is 2-3 hours in my studio without interruption. Heading into my studio, I always have multiple paintings in process to work on. As an intuitive painter, I rely on my heart to guide me and I choose whichever painting I “feel” I want to work on. The majority of my time spent working on a painting is creative playtime as I build up my layers of paint, paper and fabric. This is where the allowing and accepting comes in and I am careful not to judge my work. Once a painting has many layers on it, I will spend some time deciphering the marks, looking for where the painting makes sense and where it doesn’t and putting some thought into the composition and color palette. If I don’t feel a pull toward any particular direction with the painting, I know it is headed for another session of creative playtime. The timeline for a painting isn’t straightforward and while some paintings are finished rather quickly, perhaps a week, others may linger in the play stage for months.
Original art brings a creative energy to any space. It changes the vibe of the space like nothing else can. Anyone can buy a poster or print but collecting a piece of original art and showing it in your home will elevate your mood and inspire you.
I like to connect with people and build relationships. When I met the owner and staff at Bench Home I was welcomed like an old friend! I always look forward to visiting the store and seeing them. I am a good judge of character and will know right away if I want to work with them. It’s always more about the people I work with than the location or brand.
I would say relax, be patient and be ready to work just as hard at marketing your work as you do at creating it.
My biggest inspiration is nature. It’s right outside my door and I can be in the mountains, on the beach or in the desert. I get energized by the colors and shapes I see.
You can find out more about Susie on her website, or see her work in-person at Bench at the Cottage—a local San Diego gift store.
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If the kitchen is the heart of the home, the living room is the mind – it’s where we can slow down and be ourselves in front of a fireplace, a TV, and loved ones. While creating the energy of a room is a creative, subjective experience, there are some simple rules about living room furniture layout that can help you turn the blank canvas of a living room into the most inviting spot in your house to settle into.
Every room needs a focal point to anchor the rest of the furniture, which can then act as complements to that anchor. For example, the focal point of any bedroom is generally the bed, the focal point of an office is a desk, the focal point of a kitchen is an island or a beautiful stove.
The same rule applies in the living room. A fireplace, a beautiful window, or even a TV for the movie buffs out there can serve as an anchor that you can then use as a starting point. Design the space working out from there.
Once you’ve established a focal point, deciding on creating a symmetrical space or an asymmetrical one can be a great point of decision making going into this process. Keep in mind that the shape of some rooms can allow (or force) you to choose one or the other; you ultimately have to work with the space you have.
Symmetrical furniture layouts generally fall on the formal side, so if you’re going for a more elevated space, it might not be a bad idea to go in that direction. Putting two identical chairs directly opposite a sofa, for example, is a great way to create symmetry while using a couple different pieces. Putting accent tables or plants on either side of a fireplace will create the same effect.
If your style is a little more casual, there’s lots of room to play with asymmetry. Pair a large chair with a small chair and a funky sofa. Get a wacky-shaped rug and a long, low credenza covered in your favorite bric-a-brac. Keep furniture away from a wall and cover it in art or funky wallpaper.The key to asymmetry is finding balance within contrast and half the fun is the experimenting you’ll do when putting a room like this together.
To create the illusion (or reality) of space, it’s important to position your furniture in a few different ways.
First things first, make sure to choose pieces in different sizes to create variation. This will set you up for success by providing the tools to create an interesting space (think of your furniture as a painter’s palette and the room the canvas). Even if your room is symmetrical, two matching chairs should not be the same depth as the couch.
There are a couple of simple rules with regard to furniture size to keep in mind: your coffee table should be at least half the size of your couch and it should never be more than a few inches taller. If you have too much big furniture, it can make a room look cramped. Too much small furniture will also make the room look unbalanced.
One must-do is keeping your furniture away from the walls, especially sofas. Nothing should ever be flush; 3-5 inches is the absolute minimum.
The final basic trick of creating space with your furniture is utilizing area rugs. Make sure at least 2 legs of any piece of large furniture are on a rug to pull them into the space that the rug is being used to create.
We’ve developed a few examples of how you can put a living room together using anchors, symmetry, and creating space. These just provide a basic frame; it’s up to you to decide how funky you want to get with the pieces you find to really utilize the space you have.
For this square room, we’ve decided to go for a traditional, super-symmetrical layout. This living room is the very definition of harmony, using a fireplace as a focal point and building an area that emphasizes sitting down and chatting with friends and family.
The open concept kitchen-dining-living room is incredibly versatile. With a large open concept, going big on furniture can be totally appropriate, as these spaces can feel overwhelmingly large. It’s up to the furniture to reign the space in.
The kitchen provides a casual spot to eat; the living area is a natural gathering place; the dining area creates a formal space that separates the two. The furniture itself provides a mechanism for dividing the space.
Furniture layout for a rectangular living room with a fireplace is better divided into smaller spaces than used as one single sitting area. You can section off a space into formal and informal sitting areas, create a miniature library, or use part of the room as a small dining area
It’s important to fill up a small space without making it look too cluttered. The key to doing small living room furniture layout is choosing pieces of and spacing them out deliberately. Try not to over-design in small spaces; keep your layout simple and let your taste in decor do most of the talking.
At the end of the day, this space is your own and you should use it to express yourself. You can follow these principles to stay within the lines of interior design to start, or run free to create the home of your dreams. We are also here to help. If you need help styling your space, contact our team today!
]]>We love pops of greenery wherever they can go. They breathe life into a room and add a sense of warmth and comfort. We have a few vases that are perfect for your coffee table decor with a plant—but they also stand gorgeously on their own.
This is one of our top picks because of its organic color. Using beautiful pieces to create an ambiance in your room is a lovely and subtle way to make changes throughout the year.
Another organic vase with a more minimalist or industrial feel is our Terra Cotta Vase. Its gorgeous concrete and black colors fit perfectly into almost any style of room and are even the perfect gift for that person who has it all on your list.
Timeless elegance with a modern twist, the Genie Bottle Vase is whimsical and beautiful and would add a lovely height to any coffee table. Plus, mixing metals with brass, black, and silvers are very ‘in’ right now. We think this adds that perfect punch to a mixed metal vibe.
You can stack books however you please on your coffee table. We have some great choices to add to your coffee table book collection.
Stay inspired with the beauty found throughout the pages of the Magical Room Book. This book is perfect for laying on your coffee table and flipping through as you start to wind down for the night. If you love styling and design as much as us, you will indeed find lots of ideas from just a few minutes of diving into this must-have.
One thing we get asked a lot is how to decorate for the season. This book dives into the rhythms of each season and is filled with ideas to help you transform your home in whatever way you please.
This tops our list of favorite coffee table books because everybody loves cheese! Plus, this fun book is filled with ways to share a beautiful cheese board with friends and family. Adding dimension and fun to your table with this book is a sure win.
We like to leave room for useful items on our coffee table. These are just a few things that come in handy time and time again.
This boxed match set with dogs is so fun to have laying around for when it is time to light up a candle and relax. Plus, it adds some unexpected humor and love to your room. We all love our furry family members, so why not give them a little spot to shine right on your beautifully decorated coffee table.
This is one of our all-time favorite candles because the usability does not end when the wax is through. You can use this candle as a planter as well, adding that greenery to your table with the same gorgeous ceramic design. Plus, these scents are amazing.
While we are having fun with the rest of these items, we thought we would add these beautiful coasters to the mix. Fun colors and textures make these coasters stand out on your coffee table and are perfect for holding your morning cup of joe or evening cup of red.
Your coffee table doesn’t have to be boring. On the contrary. You can show your unique personality with fun touches like the ones below.
The white resin yoga rabbit is not only unique, but it's beautiful too. Add this to the top of your coffee table book stack, or set it ever so subtly beside your beautiful greenery. Something like this is sure to stand out and make you smile each time you get a glance. Isn't that what good design is all about?
This bowl has a bit of whimsy but a lot of beauty. The organic material and classic shape are perfect for holding your keys or other items that you may need to place, making it functional and beautiful.
Trinket dishes are the perfect stylish storage to have anywhere in your home. For us, dropping our rings off in something sturdy and cute is part of our daily routine. Having fun trinket dishes on your table is a subtle way to add something fun and unexpected to your coffee table styling.
If you are looking for more help styling your home, we are here for you. We offer styling services and are always updating our blog with helpful info. Peruse our online shop for more fun additions to your home. We can't wait to get to know your style.
]]>Long gone are the days of a beautiful coffee table and a few coasters strewn across them. As you search for the perfect items to match together to compliment your style, a plant is always a perfect touch. Whether you are a minimalist or a maximalist, adding a little bit of greenery will take your coffee table a long way. If you like a simple style, perhaps a single stem flower in a small vase will do. Our Sienna Vase is perfect for this because of its organic tones and exciting shape. We love the ZZ plant for its stunning looks and easy care for someone who loves a lot of pizazz.
This is probably one of our favorite coffee table design hacks. Stacking books on your coffee table add texture and dimension to an otherwise flat surface. It is also a fun way to display the things you love. There are coffee table books about everything from interior design, to gardening, to dogs! It's a fun way, not only to add visual interest but for your guests to pick up and flip through as they hang out in your living space. Thinking through different tastes, you can take this trick as far as you want, either using one or two next to another decorative piece or stacking them in quadrants to show the depth of your coffee table. Some people even choose to stack other items like vases and collections from travel on top of the books for visual interest.
We don't know about you, but for us, our coffee table gets used a lot. Whether we set our laptop down as we pour a cup of coffee, use it to hold our glass of wine as we wind down for the night, or place a candle on it to fill our room with beautiful fall and winter scents. With that in mind, it is essential to think about the utilization of your table. Yes, we can make it beautiful and usable. So, as you think through the decorative pieces, is there a candle holder, candle, coasters, or dining tray that you love? Consider adding it to your table for styling and to grab when you need it. We like to keep a candle and matches right at arms reach for a quick room refresh.
The fun part about small spaces like a coffee table or bookshelf is that you can simply swap out the items when your style changes, and you will have a fully refreshed room. Make sure that your big purchases, like the coffee table itself, are timeless and of good quality. As you decorate and play with styles, allow a little creativity! If you get sick of seeing your plant in the center, you can move it around or swap it out for another one in your home—this is your space, after all. So, be daring, add a strange element you've found at a local store to your decor and then know that when you want, you can move it or gift it to someone who would love it. We are passionate about design because it is ever-changing, just like us. And, each year, we will all learn new and fun ways to make our homes even cozier.
For all of you last-minute shoppers or folks who plan ahead a little, we know the perfect gift for her. Yes, her. That special woman in your life. Whether that be your significant other, mother, grandmother, sister, or friend—each of them would love a unique jewelry gift. And, while you could shop at any old jewelry store, shopping small will give you a chance to make a jeweler and shop owner grow a big smile. So, here are our best jewelry gift ideas laid out just for you.
The classic look of a bezel goes with any style. A bezel setting simply means that a stone is set into a thicker, full setting. In our case, we have round and oval settings from our fantastic partner jewelry stores in San Diego, but these can come in many styles. If the woman in your life loves a pop of color, oversized cozy sweaters and blankets, and a cup of hot tea to unwind, we think she would love one of these rings.
A dainty necklace with a statement charm can go a long way. These necklaces are everyday items. They can be paired with a cute date-night outfit, your everyday clothes, and yes—your even your new ‘everyday’ clothes (eh-hem, sweats). Our jewelry gift ideas below range from all brass to thin chains with a gorgeous pop of color, and we don't think you can go wrong with any option. It's a win/win kind of thing.
We are all about the chain look nowadays. And, this style comes in several different options, from a chunky, stylish chain for the edgy woman in your life to delicate chain jewelry for the woman with a soft presence and a little edge.
Nothing says style quite like a choker. If the person in your life has plenty of necklaces or likes a different style, a choker is a beautiful option from something simple to something stunning. Pair a choker with some small stud earrings or a simple ring, and you have completely up-leveled your style.
Maybe the person you're buying for has all the jewelry that they need. You can get them a cool jewelry holder. From something simple and minimalist to jewelry holders with lots of personality, we have an option for you!
'Tis the season to have your house smelling like happiness. We all love a good fall and winter scent. It brings a certain "Je ne sais quoi" into the home and fills us with memories of the past and hope for a brighter future. But, it can be a little confusing to know which candles are best. So, we've rounded up our favorite fall scented candles and our favorite winter scented candles to help you through the process!
Autumn is one of the best times of the year, with the sound of leaves gently crunching under your boots, oversized cozy sweaters, and a crisp breeze in the air. And, who doesn't love a quintessential fall scent flooding their home? This candle tops our list as one of our absolute favorites with notes of roasted chestnuts, cinnamon, and coconut. It is a perfect gift for a friend or yourself!
For a bit of a deeper scent, we love this Whiskey & Tobacco candle by Northern Lights. Not only is this scent different from the typical autumn candle, but it is perfect for the person in your life who has a calm disposition and likes to sit in a comfy chair with a hardcover book with a whiskey on the rocks.
The scent of evergreen is pretty hard to pass up when the holidays roll around. Whether you've been aching for the smell of a fresh tree in your living room or just "need a little Christmas right this very minute,"—we get you! This Illume Evergreen candle has a 28 hour burn time, and electroplated pressed glass creates a gorgeous ambiance in any room.
This luxurious candle is hand-poured in Tennessee and will make you feel like you are in a log cabin in the middle of the Smoky Mountains. But, the good news is, you don't have to leave home. This Paddywax candle looks stunning in any room and smells even better. The aromatics have notes of peppermint, mint, and citrus for a unique spin on a winter scent.
If you like deeper, earthier winter scents, you will love this Illume candle where evergreen and cypress scents are perfectly paired with cardamom, white peppercorn, and citrus to round out this unique holiday scent.
Cinnamon, cream, and sugar are the notes that filled the rooms as our grandmothers and family members bake for the holidays every year. That is why this scent feels like home. The Bon Bon candle by Illume is the perfect candle to burn when you feel nostalgic or want the smell of delicious winter dishes without the work that goes along with them. Plus, these brushed metal candles add an elegant pop to any holiday decor.
As you shop for gifts for your friends and family this year, candles are a great place to start. We have a wide selection of candles and other beautiful gifts at our brick-and-mortar location in Kensington, San Diego, California, or our online shop. Take a look around to see if we have anything that catches your eye, and consider shopping small this holiday season. We know we will too. ]]>Ah, Thanksgiving. One of the few days of the year where we get to sit around the table with our entire family and enjoy the things we have, the people who support us, and the fortune to be under a roof with a table covered in food to begin with.
There’s something to be said about the look of a Thanksgiving table. It’s always a subtle compliment to the evening – typically sidelined by the bountiful feast of your choice. Nobody has the decor at the forefront of their mind at Thanksgiving when done well because we want our Thanksgiving decor to seamlessly integrate with the meal, with the coming together of friends and family. The trick to the decor is the feeling it invokes for your loved ones around the table. It can be subtle and gorgeous and add something truly special to the evening.
It’s easy to go overboard on Thanksgiving decorations. With so many bright orange turkeys popping out of cornucopias splattered across storefront windows surrounded by a nightmare of tissue paper, “subtle” is not the first term that comes to mind during the holiday season.
But don’t worry, we can look past the paper decor and create a beautiful spread to support your delicious meal. Here, we’ll break down a few different ideas to change up the look of your Thanksgiving table this year.
When we say you should update tradition, we’re mostly talking about paper plates covered in turkeys, but that doesn’t mean we have to do away with fall symbols entirely. We recommend these gorgeous glasses with gold fall leaves. They don’t scream Thanksgiving, but they certainly nod to the beautiful season characterized by falling leaves. If you do want to use those classic colors, a yellow charger or napkin might round out your table nicely.
A surefire way to create an elegant space is making everything look easy and unintentional. This can be accomplished by pairing neutral and fall colors together. Consider opting for shades of tan and black or white as your base, then incorporate burnt oranges, maroons, and yellows in smaller details (and in smaller amounts) – a glass here, a leaves in a wreath there. There’s no need to cover your table in themed glitter, and we definitely think a couple of small painted pumpkins that match your theme can bring more to the table than a cornucopia taking up too much table space.
We’re going to make a statement that might drive some Thanksgiving purists a little nuts but bear with us. Consider throwing the traditional color palette away entirely—no bright reds, no bold oranges, no leaves or turkeys. Remember, this is your table, and you get to make the rules.
While subtle neutrals are the obvious choice for an elegant Thanksgiving table, we think you should consider going in the opposite direction: blues. This isn’t as out of place as you might think: going for colors that lean toward this side of the color wheel invoke the sense of transitioning from fall to winter. Blue is both bold and comforting; it’s the color of a crisp sky and of an icy river. Experimenting with color can bring an entirely new, festive feel to the table.
One tip we always recommend is creating depth and dimension in any tablescape. One simple way to do this is stacking dishes – it’s artful and creates just enough drama if done correctly. Start with a charger, add a main plate on top with a salad plate above that. Top with a napkin with a bold napkin ring if you have one, and a sprig of rosemary (any favorite herb or leaf will do nicely).
While polyester fall foliage will not add much to an elegant table, incorporating materials that invoke the fall outdoors can bring a wonderful touch to any tablescape. Bring in some bright crispy leaves from outside or opt for some gorgeous berry branches to create a table that feels like a fall evening.
There’s nothing that says cozy as well as candles do. If you’d like to take your decor in a more rustic direction, bringing an interesting candle holder or two can go a long way.
This Thanksgiving is going to be a bit different than usual for most of us – namely smaller and more intimate. This is a beautiful time to experiment with new decor and create the tablescape of your dreams.
Take this year as an opportunity to really cultivate an environment that is nurturing, welcoming, and represents the gratefulness you have with those who you are sharing your table with. It has been a challenging year for us all, and now is the time to be grateful that we’ve made it through, and nothing brings us together like a beautiful meal around the Thanksgiving table.
]]>With (some of the) days finally getting cooler, we’re reminded of the seasonal change that fall brings. We’re now moving away from the noise and heat of summer and toward the months that make us realize how important cultivating a beautiful home in which to spend time indoors with our loved ones is.
This means a shift in decor is in order. How to decorate seasonally is different for everyone; we each have our own unique process. But we’ll provide a few tips and techniques you can utilize to point your seasonal upgrades in the right direction.
The first question people tend to ask is, “When should you decorate for fall?” and the simple answer is that it’s entirely up to you. Some people like to get started at the end of August; those of us who live in warmer climates often choose to wait until November when the weather actually starts to dip into lower temperatures before we get to work. Others skip fall decor entirely because they’re so excited about winter decor (and that’s okay too).
Fall decor is all about looking inward into what makes us comfortable and into how we can let our personalities shine in the world around us as the seasons change. Having a home that makes us feel supported during times of change like these is something we take very seriously (and have a whole lot of fun with), so follow these five steps and cultivate a space in which you can wind down at the end of a chaotic year for us all.
Before anything else, when it comes to decorating, you have to know what you want your space to look like.
Start asking yourself the basic questions:
Sit down with a pen and paper and start writing down keywords. These could include anything from “cozy” to “bold.” If you live with a partner or have children, you need to create a space that works for everyone, so it might be a fun exercise to ask them how they feel about the decor.
After you have your key words written down, make your way to the inspiration side of the internet: Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and YouTube (Architectural Digest has some spectacular stuff). Collect images that resonate with you and mold them into a mood board that includes a color palette. By the end of this exercise, you should know how you want your home to look to incorporate the colder seasons.
We think a great place to start is by combining neutrals like tans, whites, blacks, and browns with deep oranges, emeralds, and even reds as the seasons turn closer toward the holidays. A shock of bright color can also create a gorgeous effect on the decor. At the end of the day, this is your home, and choosing items and colors that make you feel good is what matters.
This step is important because we all have different budgets, and this is a surefire way to make sure you don’t go too crazy buying new Fall decor. Dig through the seasonal decor you already have, take an inventory, and select pieces that resonate with your style after you’ve found your inspiration. Do you have a beautiful old fall wreath that your mom picked up at a German Christmas market? Maybe hang onto that.
This can also be a great opportunity to simplify and purge. If you do have children who are now all grown up, getting rid of some of those kid-friendly Halloween decorations, for example, can make it easy to focus on the items that suit your taste better.
Once you’ve taken stock of what you have, it’s time to compare what you’ve got to your inspiration. The big idea in this step is consideration. Sit down, close your eyes, and envision the space you have, the decor you can use, and the holes left in that picture.
Ask yourself: “What do I need to get close enough to my dream idea to make myself happier in this space?”
To decorate a living room for fall, for example, it’s important to nod to your theme without letting it take over your home. We recommend more-neutral fall decor because it doesn’t scream, “HEY! IT’S FALL!!” Instead, we want decor that smiles at anyone who walks into the room like an old friend. This type of decorating says, “It’s already fall? Oh, I almost forgot. It’s a good thing I was already prepared with these beautiful little decorations.”
We want our homes to look effortless, and the trick to doing that is being very careful about your choices. A candle that invokes the scents of fall is essential. A beautiful blanket placed carefully on the right pillows will go a long way.
You don’t have to inundate your space with polyester leaves (though a few real dried ones placed in a beautiful jar might do you good) and exploding cornucopias to give it the feel of fall.
Once you’ve filled the holes in your fall decor, it’s finally time to actually start decorating. This part can be either frustrating or an absolute blast, depending on how you approach it.
If you walk into this expecting perfection the first time you place everything where you think it belongs, you probably won’t have a good time. Instead, carve out an hour or two, lay out all of your fall goodies, throw on your favorite music, and run around your house playing with looks, placement, and combinations of items.
Some things will look better in places than others, and you have an opportunity to decorate, step back, and refine until, eventually, everything is just where it should be. We have some unique fall and winter decor in our shop to help you fill any gaps you might have. Take a look today and see if anything could help take your home from comfy to fall and winter cozy.]]>Bench at the Cottage is located at 4153-1/2 Adams Avenue - just steps away from our original storefront. Look for the stairs just to the right of our previous shop.
Our shop hours are: Tuesday - Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday - Sunday 10am-5pm. We hope to see you soon!
]]>Tuesday - Friday 11am - 6pm | Saturday & Sunday 10am - 5pm
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