I have had it on my list to write the post on one of my favorite local stores, The Navy Lobster in Greenwich, Ct for so long. This little gem is right off the Post Rd and it is filled to the brim with treasures. Mary Beth, the owner, curates her charming space with unique finds from all over the globe. From soaps and candles from Positano to southern embroidered cocktail napkins. If you are searching for the perfect hostess or birthday gift, Mary Beth has you covered. After just one visit you will quickly see why it is a go-to in Greenwich and the surrounding areas.
Here is Mary Beth’s version of the back to school bag. Her pouches are fabulous for cosmetics, pencil and pens, and even masks. The block print masks are soo great too and made of the softest, thinnest breathable cotton!!!
I am such a fan of blue and white accessories. I love that monkey candleholder and those vases…….
Here is the place to go for a book bag….one is prettier than the other…
All of the french soaps are sooo amazing….
These “Art Of” book make great gifts and I love that tissue box holder, so cute in a college dorm room!!!!
Navy Lobster has a never ending selection of cute note pads and cards…
The Bill Cunningham book is high on my list and I love these petit appetizer dishes..so chic!!!
Love the throws too…..
The selection of cocktail napkins and guest towels is also huge…
Not to get too political!!!!!
Love these napkins and hand towels!
One of the most exciting things in life is buying a home, whether it be your fist home, or your dream house. You start to imagine furnishing and accessorising every room of the house, and then you spot the price of a cushion and you realise that you will have to change your expectations when it comes to the big shopping trip.
Once you’ve finalised your mortgage or rental agreement, your next steps include furnishing the house you’ve just moved into. The process is a big one, but it doesn’t have to be stressful, not if you plan properly. The internet will give you article after article on how to furnish your house with Feng Shui in mind and it’ll tell you how to balance colours and lights. When it comes down to it, though, you need to consider your budget. You can read all the articles in the world, but your budget is what will determine how you can furnish your house. So, with this in mind, let’s check out what steps you can take to furnish your house on a budget.
Know What You Want
When you walked through the house for the first time, you likely visualised exactly what colour scheme you wanted. You could even picture the appliances and the sofas, beds and bedside tables. It comes to life in your head, so make a list based on what you need from room to room. Once you do this, you can write down the smaller items, too, from lamps and bedding to rubbish bins and cushions. You have to make these lists so that you know what to look for when you are actually shopping, and then you can fit it all to your budget.
Get What You Need First
On those lists you just wrote, put stars next to the things that you absolutely need in the house. Everyone has those dreamy ideas of what to have in their homes, but you really don’t need eleven billion throw pillows – those are wants. The things you need are the big ticket items, such as your bed, your sofa and your refrigerator. You may even decide you need a freezer separate to the kitchen. Once you budget for the things that you need, you can see what you have left for the things that you want.
Plan The Actual Budget
You could be saving for a long time to get what you want for your house, but you need to know what the actual budget will be for your house before you go shopping. You can window shop online and compare the things that you need over several stores if you are looking to find good deals. You can even get great options from NetVoucherCodes.co.uk and find some discounts and vouchers to make your furniture shopping experience a pleasant one. Either way, you have to know what your budget for furniture will be so that you can stick as closely to it as possible when you’re buying. To that end, it’s a good idea to try to avoid getting credit or store cards for furniture. If your monthly budget isn’t particularly high, the last thing that you want to do is add to it and have to pay more.
Be Smart With Furnishing
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to put something in front of every wall in the rooms of each house. Go through your priority furniture list and start buying the things that you need. When the budget starts to run out, save for the next room or the next furniture piece. Continue on from there and start with ONLY the things that you need.
Watch The Sales Cycles
Every single store goes through cycles of putting items up for sale or adding discounts to things that they sell. End of summer, Christmas, Black Friday – you name it, there’s a sale for it. If you aim to buy much of your furniture through the sales, you can save yourself a lot of money along the way. You could even look at buying last season’s models in the sales, which will make your money go further.
Go For Second-Hand
Facebook Marketplace is an invaluable resource when you are furnishing a house for the first time. You can find some gems on there, as well as those in car boot sales and antique stores. Thrift stores and flea markets both offer tons of items at cut-down prices, and these can either be excellent options for your house, or they’ll tide you over temporarily while you save for the better options.
Choose Quality
Don’t let your choices for the houses be overtaken with quantity over quality. Yes, you can fill a room really cheaply, but you can fill a room with quality furniture and take your time instead. Quality furniture will last you for years, but too much cheap furniture will just rinse your budget and break down early. Don’t worry about buying end tables that are expensive, either, not when you can use the cash on a high quality mattress. You spend more of your life in your bed than you do resting a coffee on an end table!
Filling up your first home with new furniture takes some time, but embrace it! Take your time and get it right, and you can avoid sacrificing your dream furnished house. You should feel settled and you don’t have to get into debt to do it. If you take a targeted approach with furnishing your home, you can ensure that you have the perfect house for you. It will never be the perfect house for those in interior design, but it will be the perfect house for you and that’s what counts. Choose your budget and live to it carefully – it will make all the difference in the future.
I am so excited to tell you that I have partnered with a fabulous Italian shoe company called Andrea Carrano. The Carrano family began creating their uber comfortable and stylish shoes during World War II in Naples, Italy. During this time, when shoes were in high demand, women from all over began trading in their leather bags for a pair of shoes. The company took off and by the 60’s the Carrano’s had chain boutique stores all over Italy!!! And then later, all around the world and with such haute couture collections such as Christian Dior, Alberta Ferretti, and Norma Kamali. Today, the son of Andrea Carrano has taken over the reins of the company and still manufactures the shoes in Naples but now incorporates contemporary designs with their classic styles from over 60 years ago. Andrea Carrano remains one of the most prestigious names in fashion throughout Italy. The family just reintroduced one of their most popular shoes, the Mocassino collection. This timeless style was a favorite of the fabulous Audrey Hepburn. I am so in love with all the colors of the suede version. They will look so great with jeans all fall. While I am deciding you can check out all of the amazing styles and colors on their WEBSITE!
How beautiful was Audrey? And love her in the Moccassinos. She was a fan of the light tan!!! So Chic!!!!
I love all the colors…
I am in love with the Blue Suede Shoes….
Jewel tones are always so popular too!!!
I can see the purple with a great pair of white jeans…Just like Audrey’s
Dark Chocolate suede is always a winner…
For the green lovers….
Pumpkin is always a fab Fall staple…
The Uber Stylish Olivia Palermo is also a big fan…
I recently partnered with a company called Coastal Cast Iron. The founder Mike is a cooking enthusiast with a professional background in metal finishing. He has spent the better part of the last decade inventing a special nonstick, easy clean coating that will hold up to the “rigor that a cast iron pan is expected to go through. Mike believes that there is no turning back after you cook with cast iron. “It just feels different and it feels like you are creating something special”. Costal Cast Iron sent me the most beautiful grey pan. It is so fabulous I do not want to even cook with it and get it dirty!!!! BUT then Mike sent me his EXCLUSIVE Best Steaks EVER recipe and I had to try it. The pan is incredible..The Filets were so easy to cook AND the clean up was even better. There is currently a promotion going on on the WEBSITE right now, 10% off your order with the code SUMMER10. How great is that??!!???? I will be working with Mike and Coastal Cast Iron from now until the rest of the year so stay tuned for even more fab recipes….
The Best Steaks That I Ever Cooked Recipe from Coastal Cast Iron:
Get filets, not too terribly thick. Maybe 1 1/4 inch. Season heavily with salt and pepper about an hour before you plan to cook.
Heat up your skillet to about 400 degrees and put in Avacado oil and let that heat up for a few seconds.
Put the steaks on and don’t touch for 4 minutes.
Add 4 tablespoons of butter, 4 smashed garlic cloves and 3-4 rosemary sprigs then flip the steaks.
Once butter is melted, tilt the pan and spoon the butter/garlic/rosemary over the steaks regularly.
Cook for about 4 minutes on the second side and remove from heat.
While your steaks are resting, but still super hot, we put a Gorgonzola compound butter on top and let it melt.
When I worked at Tiffany, we had the coolest boss, Susan. She was so Stylish and Funny and she had the best taste, laugh, and handwriting. She was the epitome of “THE Tiffany shopper” wrapped up in the cutest little package. My cube was right outside her office for so many years so I was the luckiest with a ringside seat to all her fabulousness!!!! I recently learned that Susan started The Pittsburgh Mercantile, a curated collection of crafts and goods from local Artisans of the Pittsburg area. You will find “designs with clean lines and meaningful ornamentation, work that reveals the beauty of the raw materials and the hand of the artist. We celebrate quality and utility and attention to detail. We love things that get better with age. In short, things with character.” I have quickly fallen in love with this site. And, recently made some purchases myself. It is my new go-to for gifts and unique finds. Oh and Susan packages and ships all the items so every purchase comes with a painstakingly perfectly tied bow a la Tiffany & Co style.
Click images below to go to the website page…
I love the simple elegance of these drop earrings…
I ordered these “two little birds” earrings after seeing them in a video that Susan posted. I just loved how they move and jingle…
I saw Susan wearing these on Instagram and have taken a second look a few times now..I really just love these..
I added these to my gift wish list…These Star Dominos are a great for any family!!
This folding ruler reminds me of the one that we had in our garage tool shed when growing up. I’m dying for one…great for the handi man or lady in your family!!
I have a few friends with fall/winter birthdays that are going to be getting these hand knit rainbow socks….so fabulous!!!
Every respectable closet needs these amazing Swedish Lavender Sachets..They keep your clothes smelling fresh and keep those pesky moths at bay…
This is a brilliant idea, a cookie box. Such a cool way to safely transport all of your homemade goodies (the best part of the meal!!) from school to your book club and everywhere in between!!! There is also a pie and cake box as well!!!
It is soo hard to find good pillar candles….these are extra tall and hand dipped…and they come in soo many great colors…
This backgammon set is what everyone in my husband’s office is getting this year…I love the colored board. It will look so chic sitting out in any room AND such a fun game to pass hours together!!!
One of my favorite items on the site are the vintage Pucci purses by designer Carolyn Roberts
Here is one in fall colors..I am dreaming about this…
The Tassel Necklaces are also perfection…
Looking for privacy? Well, you’ve come to the right place because there are a lot of interesting privacy solutions for homeowners. The traditional saying goes ‘fences make good neighbors. But what is this true? Well, you don’t feel like your private space is invaded, not by their overgrown plants or weeds and neither by their prying eyes. But it’s also because spaces are clearly defined. You don’t get into arguments with people, who know where they stay with each other. But surely, there are modern and contemporary ways to achieve this right?
The classic fence
Let’s start off with the benchmark, the classic fence. Did you know that it’s not just wood that is used for the garden fence but vinyl too. Vinyl is cheaper and lighter but doesn’t have the same kind of allure that wood does. These are some of the fence companies that you should be contacting to know more about the key differences. Wood is very versatile but needs to be taken care of more proactively. It is also more prone to things like termites and rot. However, vinyl may be lighter and less work, but it’s not as strong as wood. If you live in a cold or windy area, you may want more support for your fence. The last thing you want to do is to have one of your fences pushed down by the wind, and have it crush the neighbor’s rose patch.
Steel fence
The modern steel fence is usually found in gated communities or upper-middle-class homes. As you can imagine, it’s more daunting and imposes a different kind of image onto your home. Painted in black, white or just kept bare, the steel fence is a very sturdy and elegant option when done right. The stems and spikes on a steel fence make for good protection from burglars and wild animals. This kind of fence is great if you have small children and live in a neighborhood where there are big dogs around. However, it’s also one for longevity, so once it’s in it’s very tough and expensive to remove, so make up your mind thoroughly before fitting this type of fence.
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Pickets and planks
The contemporary fence is etched in everyone’s mind because it’s so simple and picturesque. The white picket fence is made up of dense wood, such as oak, cedar or beech. You can also get yew wood if you want to engrave personal designs into each plank. However, you should note that this kind of fence is more for the front garden and not the back. It won’t afford much privacy but it looks homely and comforting. You can set how far you want each plank to be which will determine how much people can see beyond the fence and how protected your children playing on the lawn will be.
Fences are great for your privacy but they can also bring a new layer of depth to your property. Choose wisely and select the kind of color and material you want beforehand.