Sorry for the silence - things have been busy recently! So, the East Coast is pretty snowy right now, eh? This Polar Vortex 2.0 has me thinking of nothing but cozy, clean winter white. Thankfully, January is also the season of white sales, so I am in fluffy white bedding and bath heaven. I found myself on the Pottery Barn website the other night -- first as research for a client, but ultimately as research for myself -- and saw a couple of pretty exciting soft white things that were begging to be ordered and shipped to my home pronto (I had a very old merchandise credit that needed to be used, which helped promote this purchase). What did I get? Read on to find out! The items might seem a bit random, but I always wait until the January sales to pounce on items like these, and I've been thinking about these things for some time. So for me it was a no brainer - especially with that merchandise credit! My Exciting Winter White White Sale Purchases 1) A New White Quilt! I love Pottery Barn's pickstitch quilt. It is soft and luxurious, and it's also a pretty tolerable price point. We've had it in porcelain blue for years -- and the color has never felt quite right to me (Matt says it's a little like the color of hospital bedding, though it really has grown on both of us over time), so I have always secretly really wanted the white version. The thing is, even though it's a somewhat tolerable price point, at $179 it never feels right to just buy a quilt for the sake of buying a quilt. It feels like an unnecessary splurge. Discounted to its current price of $159 feels a little more tolerable, and with my store credit, I felt even better about the purchase. The quilt is linen-cotton and super soft, and it's a really nice weight for bedding. I layer mine either under a duvet in the winter or folded as a throw at the bottom of the bed over the duvet in the summer. You may recall my post on our on-going bedroom makeover. This quilt is one of the steps to serenity! 2) New White Bath Mats! I know, I know. How could I be excited about bath mats? Let me tell you, it's possible. We've had our current bath mats for maybe five years, and that's like 95 years old in bath mat years. They are very old and tired and ready to retire. I have been eying bright white looped bath mats for a while, which should complement our charmingly old white tiled floor. Our current mats are a sage green, which worked great in the modern sienna colored bathroom we used to have in our old rental and do not work so great in the purple and white bathroom we currently have (yes, it's purple, the wallpaper, counters and curtains are from the '60s -- we're talking flower power, sad plaid, formica counters, fluorescent lights, the works -- and until we are able to renovate, I'm doing everything in my power to make the room feel modern and light despite what's really going on). When we moved in, we got the Pottery Barn white waffle weave shower curtain, $59, which helped the room enormously, and I've been eying these Cotton Twist Bath Rugs, ($24 for the medium, down from $29) for a while to complement the clean white look. It's like a fresh start for the new year! I bought two - one for next to the tub and one for in front of the sink. It's going to be gloriously fresh! Where To Buy: Pottery Barn is my go-to for white bedding and bath staples - it's easy, good quality and the price is right. I particularly like their pearl-embroidered bedding, $17.99-$109, down from $29-129. An embroidered boudoir pillow is particularly fun. Monograms are $7, but worth it. I love a good monogram in a bedroom. You can also try Restoration Hardware for some slightly more expensive options. I can't dig too far into this sale because it involves actual furniture items and makes me want things I can't afford. Like this dresser. In "antiqued natural." Which is sooo totally off topic! Back to bedding and bath, Neiman Marcus is an excellent place to purchase Lauren Ralph Lauren towels at a discount in January. Things are more or less half price ($5-$25 instead of $8-43), which is exactly what I'm looking for in a sale. Go ahead and get them monogrammed. It's free, and everything is better with a monogram. It feels so grown up and sophisticated. Stay safe and and warm... happy fluffy shopping! KK
3 Comments
Happy Friday! As an only child, I find it hard to be so far away from my parents, and I love finding ways to communicate with them beyond the telephone or email. Spotify is what works with my dad (we both have the same bizarre taste in music and can share all sorts of strange songs and artists each other at the touch of a button - it's awesome!), and I have been convinced for some time that Pinterest is my mom equivalent. My mom is hands down the most stylish gal I know, and I talk to her often about clothes and interiors and ideas about everything. We are both very visual people, and the fact that we live 1,000 miles apart really gets in the way of our ability to communicate sometimes. One such distance-related communicative "roadblock" occurred earlier this week when we were discussing my grandmother's apartment in Kansas City. I am helping my "Mama Norma," as I call my grandmother, redecorate her apartment, and I am tres excited to get started (on the left there is Mama Norma, and on the right is my mom - photo credit, Isaac Alongi). There are a number of distance-related issues with actually performing this task though: I live in New York, Mama Norma spends her winters in Arizona (because who wouldn't, if given the option?), and the apartment is in between. I am also working entirely from memory at this point (no photos, no floor plan), which makes the redecorating a little bit difficult, don't you think? Thus, I called upon my mom to beg her to please take some photos of the apartment and try to locate a floor plan and also to bounce some ideas off of her. But in the midst of our chatting, I tried to describe ideas I'd had or images I'd seen, and kept failing miserably to capture what I was visualizing. It went something like this: "I was thinking about something like... Oh, nevermind... Did you see that thing I pinned... Oh nevermind, you're not on Pinterest... Ok, well, there's this fabulous kitchen on Pinterest that has a really light color scheme... and this other kitchen on Pinterest where I like the drawer pulls... and this living room on Pinterest that's just perf... OH! I JUST WISH YOU WERE ON PINTEREST ALREADY!" I expected my mom to sigh and go off about how technology was just so. frustrating, and she just. couldn't. But much to my delight she said, "Oh, I can do Pinterest. Yeah. Get me on Pinterest." It was said with great defiance, and I loved it. "Okay!" I said, and right then and there, she logged onto her computer and we went about the Pinterest set up. At first it was a little like this: But then it was like this: Soon enough, she had a name, a photo, a follower (me), a followee (me again) and about 5 boards and twenty pins. And it was a little like this: I don't have children, so I haven't yet experienced the wonder you must feel when seeing your child discover or do something for the first time, but I think this was my equivalent. Yesterday, I called my mom just to check up and say hi. But I didn't even get a chance to say hi: "IS THIS MY PIN-INTEREST FRIEND?!?" Yes, she calls it Pin-Interest. "Did you see that thing I sent you on Pin-Interest?! It had the neutral sofa and the mirror behind it?" I thought for a second. You can't send things on Pinterest. Only share. "Oh! You mean the one I pinned and you repinned? Yes! I did! I was hoping you'd like it." "Oh ha! That was you? Well, I like that. But not with the mirror. I really just like the sofa." And so we are able to communicate visually from 1000 miles away. It's magical, and I'm so happy. If you're curious, this is the image we both pinned (yes, it's from Restoration Hardware, and no, you may not judge): Happy Pinning! Happy Long Distance Communicating! KK |
Kate KellyI am an artist/designer and former financial professional with a background in comparative literature, business and design. I live in New York with my overworked lawyer husband and my two boys Michael and Theo and spend much of my free time dreaming about how to enhance the aesthetics of our little world. I am endlessly inspired and always in search of something new. This is a blog about my search, my inspiration and things I just really, really like or want. Archives
April 2021
Categories
All
|