Coastal style pendant lights made from rattan, wicker, seagrass, and more.
These days, it seems, a room is not complete with a pendant light made from natural fibers. Even if you’re not celebrating coastal decor, somehow, rattan makes its way into a room.
Natural fiber pendant lights made from rattan, wicker, seagrass, jute, hemp, rope, and the like, is certainly an effective way to add texture into a room. And you can supersize your light fixture and go with a dramatic silhouette without being too too, because the earthy material tempers the glam effect.
There is a never ending array of rattan pendant lights and rattan chandeliers on the market. I’ve curated the best ones, from simple wicker globe pendants to distinctive statement chandeliers to artsy, natural fiber pendant lights that almost look like handwoven works of art.
Which would I chose? I like the tailored shape of #2, the playful boutique hotel vibe of #4, the simplicity of #10, and the nostalgia of #38, which looks like the light pendant that hung in my childhood bedroom.
Almost a year ago we repainted our family room in Benjamin Moore Steel Wool, which I detailed in a Family Room Makeover post. We hung different artwork as planned, but I never got around to choosing a new rug. Now that our older son, who likes to use the floor as a picnic blanket, is in boarding school, I feel a little more comfortable splurging on a new rug.
It should be an almost solid color rug, but not quite. It should have some variegated color, but not actual texture. The rug we have now is chunky and loopy, and I imagine the crumbs embedded in it could feed a family of four for a month. (Yeah, we’re gross.)
The room is a narrow rectangle with a slightly odd extension off one side and a bay window on the other. I’ve often thought about having a rug custom cut, but not sure if I can bear the expense. Here are 20 almost solid color, not quite patterned but not completely plain rugs.
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Shop StyleCarrot partners and other retailers for subtly patterned solid rugs.
A few weeks ago I did a small roundup of modern rocking chairs to accompany a decor story in the Boston Globe. (Every Monday my lovely colleague Jaci Conroy writes an interior design article for the Globe and I pull together a corresponding group of furnishings & accessories.) I found so many great modern rocking chairs + contemporary rocking chairs that I figured a blog post was in order.
These all have great styling and are a far departure from traditional rockers or overstuffed gliders for the nursery. We have an Eames molded plastic rocker in sky blue on the Cape that we bought for my son, though I think it’s in our room now. Sometimes I use it on our little deck. I didn’t include that iconic example here, but there are other examples (mid-century modern furniture replicas), like the #16, the Swerve which has jaunty cut-outs and a full wooden base.
I love the look of #5, a very spare rocker from NYC shop Matter, and of love the tall mint-upholstered one by Normann Copenhagen. And if only I could place that blush colored Artifort rocker in the model apartment I’m decorating. Probably thought, the one that makes the most sense for my lifestyle is Gus Modern’s GT rocker (#13). It is definitely a contemporary rocking chair in style, but with enough cushion to be comfy.
Shop 30 modern rocking chairs from StyleCarrot partners and other favorite shops.
1 Comback Rocking Chair by Patricia Urquiola for Kartell, $890 at YLiving.
2 Taxed Rocking Chair by Segis, $1,309.99 at AllModern.
A million years ago, we offloaded our television in the living room, leaving an extra roomy could-be bar cabinet free and clear. It soon became a convenient space, given its boxy shape, to store art we weren’t displaying, extra picture frames, and overflow throw pillows. A television has since taken up residence again with a new DVD player, specifically for me to watch movies (since I don’t know how to work the main TV with its fifty-buttoned five remotes), or currently, Friday Night Lights (OMG, Tim Riggins).
I had the best intentions; I imagined transforming the newly vacant slot, complete with pull-out shelf, into a stylish home bar cabinet for my husband. I thought about it a lot, knowing it would make a much appreciated birthday gift. But no follow through from me. Instead, liquor bottles remain relegated to the upper cabinet of the pantry, with some of the more attractive specimens on display atop the would-be bar cabinet in a teal lacquer bar tray, provided by the lovely ladies at an agency for Absolut. (You can see my bar tray styling post here.)
So, woe is my husband’s home bar situation. Jon Draper he shall never be. But if you have room in your living room, you could set up a stylish home bar in one of these 25 bar cabinets chosen from a dozen of my favorite sources for modern and classic furnishings, including some partner sites. Imagine tucking one of these bar cabinets into an unused corner, complete with a shiny cocktail shaker, sleek drinkware, and stripey paper straws.
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Shop StyleCarrot partners & others for bar cabinets.
I’ve been saying that I want to set up a home bar for my husband forever. Last month, I updated my post 50 Bar Carts, Serving Carts & Trolleys for inspiration. (Of course, we can’t actually have a cart on wheels in our house or our son would be taking it for a ride all around the condo.)
Unsurprisingly, I haven’t had a chance to move forward on this. (So many gift guides to write, so little time.) But then I got a message from folks at Absolut, offering to send me the newLimited Edition Andy Warhol Absolut Vodka bottle, a lacquer tray, and an Amex gift card so I could style a festive holiday bar. As you can imagine, I told them to send it all right over! Motivation? Done.
The bottle, which is fun, colorful, and sure to be celebrated hostess gift to bring to holiday parties (though I’ll be keeping mine on my newly styled bar tray), is a new creation based on Andy Warhol’s depiction of Absolut’s iconic bottle that he painted back in 1986. This year, Absolut transformed that artwork into a three-dimensional bottle, using the tagline “Make the Holidays Pop” as the inspiration behind the collaborative campaign.
Since I don’t have an unused corner for a full-on bar, a bar tray is the perfect small space home bar solution. While I’m not sure the new tray is styled to perfection yet, I did pull together some must-have bar accoutrements—copper shaker, stainless steel strainer, wine glasses, martini glasses—plus the Absolut Warhol bottle, gin, and Twenty Boat Spiced Rum from Truro Vineyards on the Cape. To prettify, I added a stalk of bamboo, green button mums, mandarin oranges in a Jonathan Adler dish, and a silver dreidel, set beneath my new swimming pool photograph from Gallery. (Scroll down for all the shopping links.)
Create a bar in a cleared out section of a bookshelf, on a lacquered tray atop a console table, a tray table, an armoire, etc. If I did, you can too. Of course, I admit, sipping that Absolut Warhol helped get me in the mood.
Bar tray styled & photographed by StyleCarrot
S T Y L I N G M YB A R T R A Y
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1 Splash by Joy Mckinney Framed Print, $370 at UGallery.
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