Honed Marble Countertops: Three Years Later

As a blogger-on-the-side, I’m constantly telling myself I’ll post more updates. And I’ve even had fun things to announce! A feature in Apartment Therapy! Another one! A mention on Architectural Digest's new site, Clever, and an interview by the Associated Press that got picked up by the New York Times! OMG.

But if I’m being real, what actually inspires me to post here is real-life design questions and challenges. And a couple of weeks ago, a guy named Bill who found me via this blog reached out to ask about my countertops. You know, the ones I posted about in 2015 and said I’d update everyone on later.

Well, Bill was curious how those honed marble countertops of mine were holding up. He was thinking of putting in honed marble in his own kitchen, and wanted to know how they actually weathered the storms of my kitchen, kids, and life. Did I still like them? Knowing what I know now, would I use the same material, or would I go with something more “durable” and less costly, like quartz?

Here’s what I told Bill. And here are some crappy pictures I took to show him exactly what I meant.

Hi Bill! I still absolutely love the marble. It has taken on some visible wear, so if you’re partial to a really immaculate look, you might not be thrilled, but personally I love the character. It’s a very European/bistro look. 

I’m trying to get a good shot of what the etching looks like right this second but you can only see it under certain light and certain angles.

​Keep in mind I make zero effort to keep lemon juice/vinegar off the counters. I just deal. 

​Also worth noting is the opaque marks that could appear around the sink edges if, say, your six year old throws a fish tank into the prep sink (yup).... it’s because it’s a softer stone, but again, these don’t bother me. I’d do it again!  

So there you have it. Anyone out there have honed marble countertops and NOT feel the same way I do? If your experience has been different, what did you not like about their aesthetics and durability over time? Share with me in the comments below!

xx Donna

Obsessed With: Clean Countertop Finds

If 2017 was the Year of the Dirtbag, I’m hoping 2018 is the Year of the Clean Start. This week I was thrilled to be featured in Apartment Therapy for my ideas on getting rid of things that don’t work for you and your home—a major theme in my upcoming book—and I’m on a cleaning tear in my own house. Out with the clutter, the the messy piles, the yuck.

My dream for 2018 is for life to feel like this.

A post shared by Shannon Tate (@shannontateinteriors) on Nov 19, 2017 at 12:23pm PST

Or this.

A post shared by erin kestenbaum (@erinkestenbaum) on Jan 2, 2018 at 6:17pm PST

This ain't bad.

A post shared by Will Taylor (@brightbazaar) on Oct 15, 2017 at 1:04pm PDT

Neither is this.

A post shared by Marianne Simon Design (@mariannesimon) on Dec 31, 2017 at 8:04am PST

BWAHAHAHAHA. Kidding...There is no way 2018 is going to look this good 100% of the time, at least not in my house. BUT, if you look closely, all of these clean and uncluttered kitchens and baths have a few things in common:

1. Lots of light.

2. A good amount of white space.

3. They’re not littered with products and packages that yell at you, or other visual noise-makers.

So I’m going to try to keep those principles in mind as I go about my decluttering and decorating. On the topic of #3, I’ve previously explained my neurosis around neutral-colored toiletries. But they’re surprisingly not easy to find. So today, in hopes of getting us all closer to these minimalist-spaces-of-our-dreams, I’m rounding up six beauty and cleansing lines I love not just because they work, but because the product can happily remain out in the open without making your space look like the bottom of a trash chute.

1. Murchison-Hume Clean Starter Kit, $42, Nordstrom. 2. Shamanuti Activated Charcoal Cleanser, $28, Petit Vour. 3. Herbivore Botanicals Jasmine Glowing Hydration Body Oil, $44, Sephora. 4. Aesop Reverence Aromatique Hand Balm, $27, Nordstrom. 5. Farmaesthetics Sweet Soy Bath & Beauty Oils, $27 each, farmaesthetics.com. 6. Barr & Co. Reserve Liquid Soap, $28, Candles Off Main. 

• Murchison-Hume is a cleaning-products line I admittedly discovered via Instagram. I was like, whaaaat are those amber-colored spray bottles I see on every pretty kitchen image out there? Then I got a whiff of the fig scent and died.
• Shamanuti is an all-natural skincare line to which I was introduced by my friend Alisa. (Fun fact: Her home makes a cameo in Your Home, Your Style!) This charcoal cleanser changed my rough and blemish-prone skin, no joke, and it's now a fixture on my bathroom sink.
• Herbivore's Jasmine oil just mayyyy have turned me into a body-oil believer.
• Aesop's hand cream? Let's just say I there are restaurants I have gone to primarily because they put Aesop products in the loo.
• Farmaesthetics is a line I discovered a decade ago while working as a magazine beauty editor, on the hunt for pure, pretty, handmade products to include in home-spa roundups. And oh, this fit the bill.
• Barr & Co.'s heavenly-smelling and photogenic soaps and lotions came on my radar via the cutest boutique in North Carolina last year, and it's been love ever since.

Have you tried any of these lines? What do you think? Are there any others you love not just for their function and scent, but for their looks, too?

Your Home, Your Style... and My Book!

It’s been 13 months since I announced my book on this blog, two years since I got the publishing deal, and almost three years since I first got the bug to write a book at all. It’s been both an exhilarating and excruciating process.

Exhilarating: Spending countless hours with interior and lifestyle photographer Joyelle West, who has become not only my go-to collaborator on beautiful imagery, but also a dear friend during this long process.

Also exhilarating: Working with friends, friends-of-friends, and colleagues to capture their spaces and make them shine in print. What’s unique about Your Home, Your Style is that none of the featured rooms was put together by a professional interior designer. For the photo shoots, I added a few choice props and plants and rearranged items a bit, but for the most part, it was about celebrating the homeowners’ individual styles and showing the fun they’ve had decorating. The accompanying text then breaks it all down into actionable tips and ideas that anyone can adopt. It was important to me to show that personal and “imperfect” can be utterly charming and welcoming, and it was unbelievably fun.

Excruciating: Having to keep everything under wraps for this long. But I’m happy to share an update... The book is now at the printer! Holy cow. And the cover design, which I agonized over, is finally here:

Photo credit: Joyelle West; cover design by Laura Palese

I’m in love. The pattern, which I found on a pillow on Joss & Main, will have a textured, faux-cloth finish and will wrap around the spine and across the back cover. It echoes the colors in my parlor (the room featured on the front cover, a space which I’ve already changed—ha). More important, it’s a pattern that I could see working on coffee tables of all styles, from traditional to rustic to shabby-girly to beachy.

Over the next few months, I’ll share some outtakes from the shoots and post updates on fun stuff like advance press, book launch events, giveaways, and more. In the meantime, you can head over to Amazon and pre-order a copy of Your Home, Your Style now.

Happy decorating! XX

Mock-Up to Makeover: How Four Celeb Spaces Came to Life

You know that phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none”? Lately that feels like my motto. I’ve been jumping between work, my upcoming book, and of course my family, and it seems like none of it is getting enough attention. The good thing is, everything I’ve been doing has been heaps of fun.

This summer and early fall, my plate was stacked particularly high with makeover projects. I was able to design a great living room and office for the author and personality Katherine Schwarzenegger (yes, Arnold and Maria’s daughter), a backyard space for Pretty Little Liars star Shay Mitchell, and a bedroom and nursery for entrepreneur and TV star Whitney Port.

One challenging aspect of these projects is working with the homeowner from a distance and not being able to see the spaces in real life before I select the products. Fortunately, technology is there to help bridge the gaps: I get measurements of the space and often create 3D rendering of the rooms using software such as RoomSketcher, which is a stripped-down version of the advanced CAD software a lot of interior designers use. We also communicate via phone and email—so, so many emails!

But the biggest aid is my beloved room mock-ups, a concept I dedicate a lot of space to in my book, Your Home, Your Style. The benefits of a digital mock-up are twofold:

1. They help me visualize how products will look together in real life and see whether the space looks balanced.

2. They let my collaborators in on the design plan so they can flag anything that doesn't work and suggest changes.

Here’s a mock-up of the backyard entertaining setup I put together last year for Julianne Hough:

Here it is in final photos:

Photo credit: Justin Coit for Joss & Main

Photo credit: Justin Coit for Joss & Main

Photo credit: Justin Coit for Joss & Main

Here’s the mock-up of Katherine Schwarzenegger's living room:

And here’s the space finished:

Photo credit: Lu Tapp for Joss & Main

Photo credit: Lu Tapp for Joss & Main

I worked on actress Shay Mitchell’s outdoor space with my colleague Emily Arnow for AllModern:

And the pics turned out great:

Photo credit: Lu Tapp for AllModern

Photo credit: Lu Tapp for AllModern

Photo credit: Lu Tapp for AllModern

Whitney Port’s nursery project with Joss & Main was SO MUCH FUN. We tinkered a lot and came up with this:

It turned out even better in real life. We added wallpaper at the last minute:

Photo credit: Nicole Gerulat for Joss & Main

Photo credit: Nicole Gerulat for Joss & Main

Have you ever created a mockup like this? Do you have any other favorite ways to document and organize your decorating projects?

Moroccan Tile on a Budget

For those of you not following me on Instagram—and if you're not, please do!—this entry is inspired by a pic I recently posted from NYC's Javits Center, where I headed to scope out trends in home decor. Among the aisles of throws, pillows, baskets, lamps, and bowls, I spotted a booth full of what looked like encaustic tile—you know, those Moroccan-style patterned squares everyone on Pinterest seems to be putting in their entries, bathrooms, laundry rooms, and kitchens. 

The booth was overflowing with people, which makes sense given how popular Moroccan encaustic tile has become. Take, for example, this bathroom flooring at my hotel in Nashville recently, the Thompson:

My friend Jamie recently renovated her mud room, and she covered the floor with this black and white pattern:

A local designer I know, Shannon Tate, recently installed this gorgeous tile in a client's kitchen:

Design by Shannon Tate Interiors, photo by Joyelle West

But not everyone has the budget (or fear of commitment) that a tile install like his requires. Enter the alternatives. The samples I saw at NYNOW were actually vinyl "rugs" you could place over any hard surface to get the look of Moroccan tile on a non-permanent basis. Here are some more pics courtesy of the company, Adama Alma, which is based in Spain. Cool, right? 

Source: Adama Alma

Source: Adama Alma

Source: Adama Alma 

Apartment Therapy has done a feature on other ways to give your space that punchy, patterned look for less. One of my favorite ideas they featured was stenciling a tile-like pattern on your flat surface, as shown on the stairs below. 

Source: Lonny via Apartment Therapy

What do you think? Are you brave enough to do the tile thing? Would you fake it? Do you even like the look?