Obsessed With... Bamileke Tables

Lately it seems like everyone I know is looking for a round coffee table. Maybe it’s that more of us finally have enough space in our homes for big furniture and are now trading our three-seater sofas for sectionals, which are often better suited to round tables than long rectangular ones. Maybe it’s that more of us have kids, and we’re all sick of worrying about someone busting a cheekbone on a sharp corner. Whatever the reason, everyone seems to be searching for just the right round table for the living room: not too tall, not too low, not hideous, and God help us, not too expensive.

In my own search, I kept coming across tables like this one, featured on the cover of the lovely Justina Blakeney’s book The New Bohemians:

Love this book. Get it at Amazon.com... After you read it, I guarantee you'll want your house to start looking all hippie-chic.

Cool, isn’t it? I've learned that these pretty specimens are known as Bamileke tables, and they’re traditionally carved from a single piece of wood. They’re used in special ceremonies by the chieftans of the Bamileke tribe in Cameroon, and depending on the size of the tree trunk that was used, they can vary in size from small stools to large, table-sized drums.  

Here are a couple more shots of these amazing pieces, which look great in homes of all styles:

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Source: HouseBeautiful via Dering Hall

Source: Restoration Hardware, which sadly doesn't carry them anymore. 

Source: Better Homes and Gardens

I haven’t brought one of these beauties home just yet (heads up, Dave!) but here are a few that have caught my eye of late. Can’t get enough of that bamileke-inspired pendant light! Swoon.

1. Abdalla carved wood coffee tables, $580 for two, Amazon. 2. Outdoor bamileke table, $1498, Serena & Lily. 3. Carved wood coffee table, $349, West Elm. 4. Arteriors Jarrod large wood pendant, $1488, Wayfair. 5. Bornova coffee table in warm gray, $499, Ballard Designs.

Do you have a favorite? Love or hate the look? Let me know in the comments below.

DIY: Inkblot Wall Art

I’m not what you'd call a “crafty” gal. Sure, I can sew pillows (passably), add a bit of trim to a table cover (with imperfections), and I do own a glue gun. But painting, scrapbooking, pottery, even papier-mache... not in my repertoire.

One thing I’m never afraid to try, however, is DIY wall art—mostly because store-bought wall art is painfully expensive, and I’m not the type to stare at blank walls while I save up for a legit painting by a legit artist. I have DIYed some trendy brushstroke art to fill out a gallery wall in my family room...

I recruited my daughter to DIY some abstracts for my parlor…

...and I framed some of her abstract watercolors to hang above my bedside desk.

This past weekend, though, I decided to go big. We have this wall of framed family photos in our hallway, see, and while I love each of the pics individually, to my eye the full gallery was just missing some oomph. But what could I put in its place?

Meh.  

The answer came to me last week. While browsing Etsy for a set of vintage prints that might work, I came across this trio of inkblots:

Source: KYLOprints on Etsy

Bingo. Mark my words when I say inkblots could be the next brushstroke art. There’s just something so funky, handmade, and appealing about them. And they’re so easy to DIY.

I got to work. After the kids went to bed on Thursday, I assembled my supplies: One bottle of Crayola black tempera paint and one stack of thick paint-and-marker paper. I folded the paper in half, gave it a random spattering of paint, folded and pressed the paper together, and voila: a piece of one-of-a-kind art.

Dave was skeptical of the whole endeavor, but even he had to get in on the action once he saw how much fun I was having.

The first few came out pretty sloppy due to an excess of paint; it all sort of blobbed together and the first three inkblots looked basically the same. Once I transferred the tempera to a finer-tipped squeeze bottle and learned to spatter just a small drizzle of paint on just one side of the creased paper, we were in business.

Once I had nine inkblots I was happy with, I arranged them all in a balanced grid and left them on the dining table to dry overnight. 

In the morning I popped them into the frames. Here’s the finished look. We’re calling the one in the middle Gene Simmons, because duh.

I’m loving the look. Of course, now I need to find a new home for the family photos, as I fear my decor habits might eventually traumatize my kids. (“Doc, when I was five, my mom took down my picture and replaced it with a RORSCHACH TEST. Isn’t that messed up?”) Psychological references aside, however, what do you think?

Desk Chairs That Don't Suck

Guys, I'm about to show you something bad. REALLY BAD.

It’s my husband’s office. Poor guy.

Ugh. 

For years, this room has been a holding pen—a temporary home for things that construction has displaced, or pieces we’ve acquired but haven’t yet placed in a permanent location. For a long time it was our family room, but then we excavated the basement and put a family room down there.  Next it was Dave’s office, and for a time it was an office by day, newborn-nursery by night. (The first kid gets a fully-designed bedroom; second one gets stashed in an empty corner, right?) Everything we don't want to look at gets stuffed in here: workout equipment, power tools, Christmas gifts, and unassembled furniture.

Ugh. 

Ugh. 

It's time to get our act together. It's not fair that my husband, who works from home, has to look at this pile of crap all the time. So I’m now in the process of making some upgrades.

I started with a finding him a desk. It was time to replace the inexpensive metal one we bought 5 years ago (the same kind I DIYed into a bedside table last year). After much searching for a simple yet elegant Parsons desk, we settled on this lovely beast from Jayson Home, which I scored during a killer holiday sale.

Source: Jayson Home

Now it’s time to find the desk’s partner: a great office chair that swivels. This has proven far more difficult than I anticipated, because apparently 95% of the swiveling desk chairs on this planet suck, or they're so ungodly expensive you’d have to work nights just to afford one. Every chair I browsed seemed off: too formal, too feminine, too utilitarian, too uncomfortable-looking, or the wrong finish. Most options looked like they belonged in bad lawyer’s offices, overfunded startups, or the Holiday Inn business center.

Finally, though, I stumbled on a few gems. Have a look.   

1. Rhodes desk chair, $799, Ballard Designs. 2. Sunny mid-back desk chair, $298, AllModern. 3. Tory desk chair, $176, Joss & Main. 4. Prince mid-back desk chair, $110, AllModern. 5. Althea mid-back desk chair, $176, Wayfair. 6. Soho swivel desk chair, $251, Domino. 

I’m still deciding what to get, and of course I’ll need to consider the other furnishings we plan to put in the room, like new seating (soon), rugs (soon), a new light fixture (later), and built in bookcases (much later). All that aside, though, which would you choose? Do you have any favorite sources for good-looking office chairs?

All in a (Half) Year's Work

As you can probably imagine, my big project for 2016—writing a book—almost completely took over the second half of the year. Sometimes it seems like that’s all I’ve done since selling the project to my publisher, Rizzoli, late last winter.

But looking back on the year as I tossed and turned in bed last night (thanks, champagne), I realized I haven’t stopped to take in—or share—some of the awesome projects and features I was able to take part in as part of my day job as style director for Joss & Main. It’s pretty crazy... and I’m pretty proud. Here’s a recap.

In late June, my Joss & Main team and I flew out to Salt Lake City to shoot the outdoor spaces of mega-bloggers (and sisters!) Rachel Parcell of Pink Peonies and Emily Jackson of The Ivory Lane. These uber-stylish women picked out most of their own stuff with some input from me, and so it was mostly a matter of arranging their spreads so that photographer Nicole Gerulat could snap these gorgeous shots. The story was picked up by Architectural Digest online, and I just about lost my mind.

All photos credit Nicole Gerulat for Joss & Main

Then, in July, I was asked to redecorate the showroom of NYC company BaubleBar. They wanted to spruce it up for meetings with external partners as well as the celebrity influencers who come in to preview and select products to wear. My team and I came in with a tornado of furnishings, and they threw a party to celebrate the showroom’s girly, glam new look.

Source: Baublebar

In August I worked hand-in-hand with Lauren Bushnell, winner of The Bachelor, to completely redecorate the home she now shares with Ben Higgins. What. A. Blast. Working via phone, text, and email, we started with a few pieces she was obsessed with, like a beaded chandelier and some hand-painted watercolors a friend had gifted her, and went from there. We also took a few gambles, like putting an oversized Serge Mouille-inspired light fixture in a pretty tiny space. My colleagues and I flew to Denver in September, hired a crew of movers to help us unpack the zillions of products that Lauren and I had selected, and did a full install of new furnishings and decor in a single day before photographing it the next. I love how it all came together. Here’s a peek.

All photos credit Nicole Gerulat for Joss & Main

These pics and more were featured in People, Huffington Post, Architectural Digest, Glamour, Real Simple, The Nest, US Magazine, Yahoo!, POPSUGAR, Martha Stewart, and Style Me Pretty. Wowza. Click here to watch an interview Ben & Lauren did just after we revealed the space, and here's a Q&A that we ran on the site. 

Next up was style blogger Amber Fillerup Clark, a.k.a The Barefoot Blonde. Though her cute NYC apartment was already full of great pieces, I helped fill it out with new bedroom furniture, rugs, pillows, wall art, and decor from Joss & Main. Her husband, David, and her two kids were all part of the shoot, and they were just adorable.  

All images credit Nicole Gerulat for Joss & Main

Other late 2016 highlights? A profile in Huffington Post, quotes in syndicated articles by Marni Jameson and Kim Cook, a mention in the Patch, and a Q&A with Haute Living Boston, who wanted to know where I like to shop and dine. (Wal-Mart and Applebee's, obvi.) It was an insanely busy second half of the year.

Heading into 2017, I’m working on interiors for a few well-known athletes and a bedroom revamp for a Canadian celebrity. Oh, and there’s the matter of getting the book shoots finished up, the edits done, and having the whole thing designed.

Who needs sleep? Here's to another year of adventures...