Home design, fashion and everything in-between
Wait till you see the most recent pictures of the house (promise they will come this week). In the meantime this morning had been all about prep – we are dropping off the lighting fixtures and cabinet hardware today. Installation will take place this week and next! The boxes are endless- thankfully my in-laws have allowed us to ship and store all of the boxes at their house until now! Can’t wait to see everything installed soon-
We purchased our last lighting fixture today- Hooray! We couldn’t be more excited (and relieved). Now that we have everything purchased it is fun to look back and day-dream about how each room will come together with the furniture we have been looking at and for the fixtures we have selected.
Pottery Barn has been one of the top destinations for our lighting fixtures. There were several fixtures we were thinking about using in the Dining Room but in the end we agreed that the Mia Faceted-Crystal Pendant was the perfect choice. It has a little glam and sophistication with the crystal but the antique bronze gives it a warmer feel.
We purchased the larger size as the room is a good size and we wanted it to have an impact over the table and when you walk in. Looking at the pictures again it gets me excited for our first Holiday season in the house- looking forward to using a mix of old and new furniture and tableware in hosting our family and friends!
Have I mentioned that I love shopping? But as much as I love it, we are on a major break from shopping in order to save and get ready to furnish our house. In less than 4-months I will be ready to purchase and fill our house with old and new pieces that will make it feel like home. While I love our current apartment space is limited and I haven’t really put a lot of effort recently into decorating it. Now, every time we walk through the house my mind is spinning with ideas for color, patterns, and key pieces that will help create our home.
One of my favorite ways to track places to shop has been maintaining the Shopping page on the blog. I update this frequently with staples and new discoveries of where to shop. The list has gotten longer but I edit it to make sure it gives you a quick view of where to shop. I am a big fan of investing in big purchases and mixing in the “low” pieces to finish out any room. Of course I shop elsewhere (local design stores and antique stores) but this is what I see as the “bread and butter” to decorating any house.
If you have a favorite place to shop and don’t see it on the list please share it with me- I love finding a new shopping adventure.
Top 14 places to shop for your home (and counting…)
Over the next week or so I want to wrap my head around lighting fixtures for our bathrooms. While the lighting fixtures are a focus I feel that I have to think about the room as a whole to pick out the right fixture. For today, let’s focus on the half bath on the first floor (right off of the kitchen, next to the mud-room).
As you may remember we have already selected the sink, plumbing fixtures and toilet. We still have to select the mirror, lighting fixture, toilet paper holder, wainscoting and wallpaper. There is so much out there to choose from! I love the look of a frameless tilt mirror for this bath. For storage, we can get a separate small cabinet and place it in the corner so I am not worried about having a medicine cabinet. Here are some products I found and loved online-
Product can be found at:
Pedestal Sink: Toto
Faucet: Ammara Designs
Toilet- Toto
Lighting Fixtures- Bellacor
Mirror & Toilet Paper Holder- Pottery Barn
I have used the below images as inspiration for wainscoting and wallpaper in our Half Bath-
Wainscoting
Classic beadboard…
Or modern wainscoting…
Grass Cloth Wallpaper
bold choice but I love it!
More neutral but will work better with the tile floors
This could work well
What do you think of these ideas? Any favorite pics or suggestions for lighting- let me know!
xo kris
We are ready to start tackling our lighting! Today, we regrouped with our builder to review what we have to source for lighting based on our building plan. Now, that we have our “checklist” we are ready to dive in.
Here are the items we are looking to source (outside of what we can get through our builders):
– Kitchen: Pendant Lamps for the Island (2-3 depending on the side)
– Kitchen: Chandelier for Kitchen Table
– Dining Room: Chandelier
– Front Hall- Chandelier
– 1/2 Bath 1st Floor- Vanity Light(s)
– Guest Bath 2nd Floor- Vanity Lights
– Master Bath 2nd Floor- Vanity Lights
– Exterior: Front of House/ Garage Lights, 4 in total
– Bedrooms: Dome Light Fixtures, 4 in total
Lots of things to start checking off…one is in the works. Have any favorite lighting stores or sites? Let me know, we need ideas!
Here are some of the top sites I have found so far:
– Lighting Direct– this lantern is perfect for our exterior lights, and a great price!
– Pottery Barn– as I have mentioned before, great lighting options. Just waiting for a sale to splurge on some of their pieces- I have my eye on this for our front hall–
– Lowes– they have a ton of options! You have to go in know your price point to help narrow down the options. I think this will be a good spot to find our dome or “flush mont” lighting for the bedrooms. This fixture could be great for one of the guest rooms-
Coming back from vacation this week I have a stack of magazines to catch up on! Excited to spend some time reading these and gathering more ideas for the house.
I have a ton of tear sheets from old magazines that I have gathered over the past 6-months. In order to see these tear sheets I decided to start creating an inspiration board where I can easily pin and update the board with the latest ideas I find from some of my favorite magazines- Traditional Home, Coastal Living, HGTV Magazine, Boston Home, Better Homes & Gardens. Plus some shopping in the catalogs- Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, Shades of Light, Ballard Designs.
When building or decorating it is key to start building a library of ideas before you start the project. While Houzz and Pinterest are great options for online, I personally still love looking through magazines and creating tear sheets of my ideas. Either way, the earlier you start creating your library the easier the process will be!
xo KB
Today was the perfect day to spend with my mom shopping around town (and long overdue). We went to all of our favorite stores plus some new one’s that we couldn’t wait to visit. For the most part, we focused on the home stores but we had to visit some of our favorite fashion stores as well.
I got so many design ideas for the house and made my first antique purchase…first round of shopping inspiration is below. More to come tomorrow- enjoy!
Shopping Around Southampton:
Hildreth’s– a long-standing brand in Southampton, this store offers everything you could need for your home and is a great spot to pick up a house-warming gift as well.
Great options from Dash & Albert for outdoor run options for the farmer’s porch
Love this chair at Hildreth’s- would opt for a different fabric but the design is great
Aerin Lauder opened her first store in Southampton this summer. I have been in it a few times and absolutely love everything she has to offer. It is a small space, but the merchandise is so well-edited. Whether you are looking for the perfect hostess gift, a special piece of jewelry or something “just because” you will find it (and probably find more than one thing to buy!).
This summer, Pottery Barn was a new additional to the town of Southampton. Taking over the building where Saks was Pottery Barn opened just in time for the summer shoppers. I have to say, I was so impressed by the store- it was the perfect select of merchandise for what you would need in decorating your house in the Hamptons. So many ideas from their displays…
More to come tomorrow!
xo KB
Some of our friends and family have recently asked what has overwhelmed us so far with the building process. I think Jarret and I would agree that the only “decision” that has overwhelmed us (and we are delaying thinking about) is selecting our lighting fixtures…for the entire house! Again, it is one of those details that may seem small but it is a really important decision in tying together all of your design elements.
Before I even start thinking about lighting options, I need to find some trusted and reliable sources to shop. This is our first time buying lighting fixtures so all ideas and recommendations are welcome- tell me your favorite places to shop!
From my initial research here are some trusted sites and favorite products they offer…updated on the Shopping page as well!
btb Style and Design 