When I was new to market work and working really hard to learn about the home decor and design companies I didn't know, one of the first brands I became aware of was L'Objet. Someone had called in the Key Tassel candle for a shoot and later I ended up with it. I still have it, and love it, especially for the memories it evokes of the beginning of my career. I love how pretty it smells, and it was probably the first time I ever saw a candle and thought, "Wow, that looks so elegant." I will say all the best houses I've ever been in for shoots or interviews have always smelled incredible, so good, high quality candles are worth it. 

This year L'Objet celebrates its 10th anniversary and in honor of that milestone, founder and creative director Elad Yifrach has designed a new collection of pieces called Sous le Ciel. There are essentially two lines within the collection: The Han dinnerware and accessories, and the Soie Tressée dinnerware. 

China's Han Dynasty marked a period of unprecedented advancement and innovation in the arts, particularly in regard to the invention of paper, glazed ceramics, and developments in silk weaving. The Han Collection is a nod to this time and the ancient craftsmanship employed. The emperors of the dynasty were called "Sons of Heaven" and through their trade along the Silk Road, the Chinese acquired a superior breed of horse that became a symbol of power and prestige. They were called "heavenly horses" and are why the accessories have an equestrian theme.

The designs are very pure and zen (the pattern reminds me of the designs you can make in the sand of a zen garden) but the techniques used to make this line were very complex. L'Objet shared that the plates are crafted with an unusually deep foot, which is almost impossible to fire and references the Chinese philosophy that we should never be too grounded, but always be lifted up a little toward heaven.

As a complement to Han; Soie Tressée offers a contemporary take on an ancient shape. The pattern references the timeless image of the silk braid, and pairs its simplicity alongside the more intricate Han pieces.

Over the years, L'Objet has incorporated bright colors and on-trend patterns (love the leopard and malachite), but this collection is classic L'Objet, featuring the crisp white Limoges porcelain and 24K gold for which they are so well known. 

Here is a look at Sous le Ciel:

How was your weekend? We had a great time in the sunshine and the water (so happy my parents have a pool)! Now that it's basically summer, I'm thinking how much I can actually do on the iPad so I can work outside more often instead of always being cooped up inside at my desk. 

If you're going to work outside, you need a comfy place to sit. Now that I've seen these special edition hammocks in Elle Decor, I'm kind of obsessing over a loftier way of lounging. 

These hammocks are designed and woven by a young collective of craftspeople based in Masaya, Nicaragua. Each piece they produce (made-to-order) is handmade using cotton and bamboo or sustainable woods.  The collective also makes a variety of hammocks, swings, and even a macrame crib!

They further minimize their environmental impact by only purchasing hardwood not in danger of extinction and use recycled paper and small amounts of tape in their packaging. 10% of the price of each item is used for community projects. 


Don't these make you just want to set up a hammock outside, grab some lemonade, and sway to the breeze? I mean, look at these amazing settings. I just want to dive into these pictures, especially the last one (see more here):

Are you enjoying all of the sunshine as much as I am? The weather has been beautiful and I couldn't be happier about it.

I am very excited to share that Arhaus Furniture and I had so much fun working together on my guest post for their blog the greenhaus, that together (and via Arhaus' extreme generosity) we are giving away their fantastic tabletop pieces to one lucky winner!

If you win, you'll receive exactly what I used for my family dinner (pictured above):

• 8 Luisa dinner plates in mint
• 8 settings of Kent Black flatware
• 1 Classic 72" x 90" Natural Linen tablecloth 
• 2 sets of Angelique Linen tea towels (4 tea towels per set)

To enter, use the widget below; there are a few different ways to enter:

Fine print: Total retail value of products is $1,392.12. No purchase required. No likes or follows required, though they're welcome! Sweepstakes is open June 4, 2014 through June 9, 2014 at 11:59pm.  Winner must be resident of the U.S.; Void where prohibited. There will be one (1) winner chosen at random within two days of the end of the contest. Please use the widget to enter and submit your entry, there are multiple ways to enter and the more ways you enter the greater your chances of winning.  For complete rules, click here. 


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My father is notoriously difficult to buy gifts for because he always buys everything he wants immediately and then there's nothing left for birthdays, holidays, or special occasions. For Father's Day, he asked for tickets to a concert he wants to attend next weekend. I bought them the other day, so I'm all set ahead of schedule, but if you're still looking for the perfect gift for your father, father figure, husband (I am), or another great dad in your life, consider getting him a Man Crate. 

With a sense of humor and a masculine sensibility — a brass-knuckle meat tenderizer, supplies for increasing levels of zombie threat, and a Chuck Rodent club cover are par for the course (no pun intended) — the Man Crates fulfill a wide range of interests and tastes. More than two dozen crates are pre-arranged or you can request a custom gift. Each set comes with a crowbar so your man can pry open his own gift which comes adorned with "no bows, ribbons, or fluff."

Two or three years ago, instead of a work shirt or video game (my husband's usual requests), I bought him a bacon-related gift pack from another vendor and it was very well-received. Personalized gifts are always much better than something you might buy any other day of the year because they show much more thought as to who someone really is and what they like. If your guy is a first-timer, the Tactical Baby Bag (top) offers a survival guide and other smart supplies for added energy during the sleepless nights (note: this comes with the tactical bag, not a crate). 

Which ones suits your guy/dad? A few of these would work for my husband, but I think he is the retro gamer all the way. 

If you're like me, you spend nearly every lunch at your desk, trying not to get crumbs in your keyboard or condiments on your papers. It can be costly to buy your lunch every day as most of us did in Manhattan. When I was pregnant, I was very good about bringing my lunch and extra snacks from home. Now that I'm working at an office part-time, I don't want to spend the money to buy lunch or the time to go out in search of it. So I bring my lunch and sometimes my breakfast. 

For the last couple months, I've been happily using Island Picnic's insulated organic lunch bag set. It's a four piece set consisting of an insulated lunch bag with hidden handle, sandwich bag, snack bag, and napkin, all made from 100% certified organic cotton.

While they have their place and purpose, zipper-lock plastic bags make me crazy. Instead, I use a mix of the bags from the set and plastic lunch containers I've amassed from various places. Island Picnic doesn't use any plastic materials to line their bags, but rather un-dyed, unbleached organic cotton sateen. The lunch bag insulation is 100% certified organic cotton batting. 

You can use these bags for nearly any kind of food, even messy PB&J sandwiches which I often do. Just brush off the crumbs to use again tomorrow, or flip the bags inside out and toss in the washing machine. All the pieces are machine washable. I usually put a handful of baby carrots in the snack bag and even though they're wet from rinsing when they go in the bag, the outside of the bag does not get damp and it doesn't affect any of my other food. The lunch bag is big enough to fit extra bags or containers and I like that I don't have to rely on paper napkins.  

There are a bunch of fun color and pattern options and if you're not in the market for a full set, the snack and sandwich bags are available in a separate set of two. 

Do you bring your lunch to work (or play)? What do you use?

'Tis the season for limited-edition collaborations! If you read shelter magazines regularly, you know that Farrow & Ball is the high-end paint brand widely favored by magazine editors and interior designers. And if you read fashion magazines, you've likely seen the handbags by The Cambridge Satchel Company in both classic and neon colors. Now the two British companies have joined forces on a small collection of exclusive bags that has just launched.

I think it's almost always a no-brainer for great fashion and home brands to match up and offer a tactile combo of both their strong suits. With this partnership,  you get the benefit of the exceptional craftsmanship that is a hallmark of both brands: a chic durable leather bag in a bespoke shade formulated by color experts.  

One of Farrow & Ball's latest colors, Stiffkey Blue is inspired by the remarkable color of mud found at the beach in the hamlet of Stiffkey on the north coast of Norfolk in England. I would love to know what makes the mud this unique shade! 

The nautical/beachy background of the color makes the satchel perfect for summer and beyond. The shade is a bit moody, which you know I love, and it will go well with other neutrals, metallics, and brights as well. 

The bags are handmade in England and will be available in four sizes as a limited edition of 200; each piece will be embossed with a number inside.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We were very happy to run around and play outside, both on land and by the water. 

Several years ago, when I interned at Bridal Guide magazine, I was responsible for photocopying important pages from magazines we received at the office that our EIC wanted for her files. Fashion ideas, interesting page layouts, anything that triggered a thought for the future. Rather than just go up to the Xerox machine, do the copies and file the magazines, I would pore over each one, and often I'd make a second copy of certain pages for my own files. This was a great way to learn about the other magazines but also a different way of reading magazines because I was looking at ideas and trying to think of how they could be adapted for a different market. 

Though the name of the magazine and exactly what else was in this article escapes me, there was an article in a woman's magazine, and the gist was something like, what piece of clothing changed your life? And that sounds like it could be superficial, but one response was from a woman who talked about her first Marimekko dress in the 1960s.  It's been so long that I can't remember anything else she said about her style or the pattern of the dress (though I'm pretty sure if I delved deep into my own files, I have a photocopy of this article somewhere), but I distinctly remember that when she wore the dress, it totally transformed how she saw herself as a woman. Ever since then, I've had an interest in Marimekko. I've also loved mod 60s style since I was a child watching reruns of 60s comedies. 

So, I was very interested to belatedly learn that Marimekko and Banana Republic have teamed up for a limited-time summer collection.  The collection just launched a few days ago and is selling out very quickly already. These two pieces are some of the few still available online and in select stores. 

Of course, there's always the real deal, too. I love these new dresses available on Marimekko's site: 

Well, it seems like a million years since I had a chance to last post, but I can finally share one of the reasons I've been so busy. I was totally caught off-guard and flattered when Arhaus Furniture asked me to be the first guest blogger on their blog, Greenhaus. I've worked with Arhaus for years on editorial stories and it's always been a pleasure and I remember how fun it was to get a preview of their Manhattan flagship store before it opened. 

It actually took a long time for me to figure out what I should write about for the post. I was trying to think of some grand theme I should try to create but finally it occurred to me to talk about what I know, dinners with my family, and make it look exactly like it would if I were buying it for myself with no online attention. 

I knew I wanted something bright and fun, something that would make me smile, and even though I was stressing out until the very last second, I think it came out well and somehow from my brain translated to the table exactly how I wanted it to. 

This was the first "full-scale" shoot I've done since I moved and let me tell you, it was as fun as I remember but so much harder! For a typical magazine shoot, you put your concept together but you can order lots of options to choose what works best together. I couldn't do that so I just had to hope that my idea would come out right and make me look like I know a little about what I'm doing and not criminally insane. 

I really love the pieces I chose and I can't wait to keep using them in different ways. I had a great time digging through my own things and finding a few new pieces (can't get enough of these zebra glasses) to pair with them.

If you read the post, let me know what you think!

One of the things I miss about New York is easy access to the zillions of great shops with modern and cool home goods (everything here leans pretty conservative). The Conran Shop, now closed, was one of those shops I liked to take a spin through, especially their lighting department. So occasionally I check out the website of the original London shop. You can't find pieces like these beautiful glass pendants here (though, luckily, you can find them in New York).

Designed by Czech partners Jan Plechách and Henry Wielgus for Lasvit, these handblown crystal glass lampshades are directly inspired by the grand chandeliers found in opera houses worldwide. There are five designs of the Neverending Glory collection:

Designer Plechách said, "We wanted to create just a ghost of the original chandeliers, or just the soul, the shadow, the shine of the original ones. If you imagine the grand, original chandeliers in these opera houses, they’re glorious, and the ‘neverending’ part relates to the profiles and the idea of infinite rotation—a neverending glory." 

I love the sketches below showing the process of translating the original design to the modern interpretation. 

Another thing I love about these pieces is the scale of them. Each is between two and three feet high. I think every house needs a statement light fixture. 

Each light certainly holds its own, but they look quite striking together in a row. 

I'm not sure which is my favorite though I'm leaning toward either La Scala, or probably not surprisingly, Metropolitan Opera. Which is your favorite?