TKW's Daily Blog 
Objects from travels as well as things that are gifts from friends are a reminder of your past. Surrounding yourself with them in your home creates a layered feel that becomes a look back into your history as your eye glances over them.
Take a moment, or more, each day to reflect, give thanks, meditate, say a prayer, think, ponder–whichever you chose. Time will slow, savor it.
A place card at a table setting is a lovely way to greet your guests as they first arrive at the table. Think out of the box for clever ways to make a place card. Old game pieces with letters are swell as well as hydrangea leaves with the names written right on them.
The gift of a note or letter is one of the very best things. To make the process easier, put a small stack of cards & envelopes out on your desk at the ready. That way you can reach for one easily and jot off a quick note in a heartbeat. Makes someone’s day!
Take time to dream. At any age, it is good for the soul to set a goal and see where the road to achieving it takes you. It might be right to your intended destination, or not. But the journey will teach you so much all along the way.
Pay homage to the beauty of the leaves of your favorite blooms. Mass them together in a vase just as you would the flowers. For the simplest arrangement of green, green, green.
A collection can really start with a few things–by displaying them together you get a much bigger visual impact than if the grouping is scattered about.
A simple bloom or blooms are always welcome in the bathroom. Lovely to have your eyes land on them in the morning as you get ready for your day. Then again at the end of the day when you are getting yourself ready for bed. The joy of surrounding yourself with beauty during your daily rituals.
Roadside farm stands are a great way to get your hands on some of the very freshest eggs, produce and flowers. It is also a lovely way to show support of those hardworking farmers in your community.
Vintage platters are a swell thing to collect. Utilitarian as all get out, they can be used in a host of ways. They stack neatly as not to take up lots of room, plus they are pleasing to the eye.
Take a moment, or many, each day to give thanks.
A well-stocked fridge and cupboard can produce a quick appetizer board in a pinch. Nuts, crackers, olives, jams, butter, salt–all can be called into action. Just add a piece of your favorite cheese and a bunch of radishes and away you go.
Take time to stop and smell the flowers. I mean this quite literally, take a moment to smell the blooms. It does your soul good and it slows your heart rate down a few beats. The moment becomes still and the scent becomes the focus for a brief moment. But what a grand, glorious moment that is.
Think outside the box when it comes to planters. The hardware store can provide plenty of inspiration, as well as tag sales, flea markets and antique malls. You are only limited by your imagination. Drill or hammer in a few holes for the water to drain, and off you go with a new creative container.
Use the leaves of flowers, in this case hydrangea, as place cards. It is an earthy, natural, use what you have, resourceful way to be creative. Use markers or crayons or watercolors to write the name.
Painting your front door a vivid, eye-catching color is one of the easiest ways to spiff up your home–with low cost and high impact.
During these chilly months, a big platter of citrus out on the table brings the sunshine in.
During this busy time of year, don’t forget to slow down a bit, take a breath, and look around you at all the beauty that can be easily overlooked–the details of a historic building, the pattern on woven fabric, the dance of stems of flowers in a vase.
Live with what you love. Enjoy it. Use it. Take it out of the drawer and display on a table for your visual enjoyment.
Lighting a few, or many, candles is the quickest way to add a bit of mood & ambiance when setting a table.
Nature can often supply a design element to bring the outdoors, inside. A fallen branch or a cool looking grouping of twigs, shells picked up on a beach walk, rocks that have interesting shapes and catch your eye–all sweet reminders that bring a bit of nature to an indoor tableau.
In this month of giving thanks, it is a reminder to give of what we have. If you are baking bread, make an extra loaf to give to a friend. If you have a tree filled with fruit, bring a basket brimming with the bounty to your next dinner or party you are attending. These gestures have so much meaning and will be long remembered after the gift is enjoyed.
Wrapping paper can be as simple as Kraft paper & twine and still be ever so chic.
An ordinary roll of parchment paper picked up at the grocery store can be used for so many simple stylish uses. Line an old silver tray with it slightly askew for a visual app/cheese tray for your next gathering. Plus it makes clean-up a breeze.
Pots of herbs can be picked up for a song at garden centers as well as many grocery stores. They are incredibly handy in the kitchen where you can snip and use the herb as you need it when cooking, plus they give you an energizing hit of green in the space.
Clip and trim back your outside plants before the cold really sets in. Bring those inside and enjoy the heck out of all those clippings, as they harken back to sunny memories and are such a hit of sunshine grouped together in a vase or pitcher.
Vintage plates are a lovely thing to collect and have on hand to pull from to give easy variation to your table settings. Look for sets that have been broken up for best deals. Buy whatever number you like, as sometimes having 1, 2, 3 or 4 of a certain pattern is fun and all you need. The variety is key.
When you get home from the grocery store or farmers market, give your herbs (like basil & parsley) a fresh cut right away and put them in glasses or vases on your counter or dining table so you can enjoy them visually. They become like little arrangements–that are called into action while you cook, doing double duty.
The small stuff matters. So often we get busy during the day and time just flies by. We don’t take the time to notice the small things, like the grain of the beautiful wood floor or the pattern of a chair. Stop. Take a deep breath. Notice the details. They enrich our lives.
Many of one thing makes for a striking visual display. This concept can easily be translated into your home for eye pleasing vignettes. If you have many of one thing, such as silver candlesticks, group them all together on the middle of the dining table instead of having them scattered around a room and you will be treated to one strong & nifty visual display.
Turn soon to be stale bread into delectable croutons. Turn oven to 350 degrees to pre-heat while you cut up the bread into bite sized pieces. Scatter them onto a baking sheet, sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil, salt & pepper. A winning trio in so much of my cooking. Put tray in the oven being sure to keep an eye on it and move around the bread often to make sure things cook evenly. Pull out when nice and golden. Then liberally dust with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. You now have tasty, tasty croutons for salads or for snacking. These also make fab hostess gifts if you fill up a cello bag with them and close off with an earthy colored ribbon.
As holiday celebrations approach, stud oranges with cloves to make festive pomanders. Both the scent and the sight will delight.
Often grocery store floral departments can have awesome deals on orchids. They usually last for months and months, breathing a happy hit of flowery life into any corner of your home they grace.
A simple bloom or blooms are always welcome in the bathroom. Lovely to have your eyes land on them in the morning as you get ready for your day. Then again at the end of the day when you are getting yourself ready for bed. The joy of surrounding yourself with beauty during your daily rituals.
Be it a big garden full, pots of, or a windowsill brimming, living with herbs can be a very special thing. Not only are they lovely to gaze upon, but also ever so fab to snip and use in your cooking to add a healthy hit of flavor.
Keep a random assortment of vintage bottles by your sink in the kitchen. That way they are at the ready to hold herbs, blooms, stems. The sight of them will make doing dishes a delight.
This busy, gift giving time of year, bake two of something and give one away. If the recipient is a neighbor or someone you hardly know, even better. ‘Just Because’ gifts this time of year given out of the blue can hold extra special meaning for both the giver and receiver.
Food, particularly vegetables, can be exquisite on the eye. If you know you are cooking them later in the day, leave them out on the counter to enjoy their beauty. They will also feed your soul.
At this abundant time of the season, when beautiful produce is so plentiful, fill up a bowl with it and leave on your counter for you to enjoy visually throughout the day. As the saying goes, we first eat with our eyes.
Zinnias this time of the season are just a riotous profusion of color, a symbol of August in their tones. Mix them with herbs, like rosemary, for a simple arrangement that is a nod to Summer.
Clip stems of herbs from your garden, buy them from farmers market stalls or even the produce aisle at the grocery store, for a little hit of green in your kitchen. Snip off leaves as you cook away to add loads of herbaceous flavor.
A house (which to me means your dwelling, be it a dorm room to a palazzo) filled with the things you love, will always equal a home.
Dried blooms, such as hydrangea, serve as a reminder of the past sunny Summer on the chilly days of January.
For an instant jolt of style the moment guests arrive, paint your front door an eye catching color. You will also make yourself incredibly happy every time you come home.
Leafy plants in your yard can become a quick, simple but oh stylish arrangement in a pinch. Plus they make great gifts too.
Often plants, both indoors and out, get ‘leggy’ where a stem needs to be clipped or breaks off. These can actually end up being little gems. Place in a vase or stylish drinking glass for instant enjoyment from a stem that some would discard. You are treated to an instant hit of color.
For a quick appetizer this Summer smash (either with a fork or food processor) cooked peas along with some mint, EVOO and salt & pepper. Set atop a toasted baguette slice that is slathered with ricotta laced with lemon zest.
Winter is often a time when fresh flowers are less readily available. This is when a quick spin through your yard or neighborhood can produce a welcoming still-life from things that have dried. A quick snip, snip and you are on your way to a little natural visual interest.
Use small vintage plates or bowls that are no longer part of a larger set, as little dishes to hold a variety of things–like cherry tomatoes with sea salt, change from your pocket, or your keys. They can be incredibly beautiful so prolong their life and enjoy these solo gems.
Give old tea cup saucers that have lost their mate, new life. Use them as little dishes the next time you serve cocktails to hold a variety of tasty treats.
The very freshest eggs are not always the easiest to peel when making hard boiled eggs. As we head into deviled egg season, buy your eggs 5 to 7 days before you need to use them for a much easier time peeling.
Jam jars that are no longer holding jam make great glasses for picnic drinks. With the lid on nice and tight, they travel perfectly, so drinks are taken care of the moment you unpack the picnic basket. Be it sparkling water, juice, wine or a martini, they become a clever & stylish libation vessel.
Cooking with fresh herbs is a game changer. No matter whether you grow them or buy them, using fresh herbs whenever possible will infuse herby delightfulness and extra depth of flavor to just about anything you are whipping up.
A great loaf of bread can be a game changer. There are so many fab artisan makers who offer their breads at farm stands, bakeries, even specialty sections at the grocery store. Exceptional bread transforms sandwiches, is excellence sliced and added to a cheese board, or toasted for morning toast. When it becomes a tad stale, cut up into small pieces and make croutons or use it for the base of bread pudding.
One of the easiest collections to start is that of vintage plates. Flea markets, antique malls, tag sales–are all places where you can pick up assortments of plates. They typically are incredibly well priced as the set is not complete and each piece is priced separately. That way you can only buy one or a few. It is such a treat to change up the look of your dinnerware often. It makes setting the table, even for week night simple dinners, a joy.
A small container of truffle butter is a simple luxury to have at the ready in your fridge that does not break the bank. A few dollops tossed with pasta makes for a luxurious meal. A bit put on top of popcorn turns an ordinary treat into a memorable treat.
Savor the moment. If an out of the blue opportunity to have an impromptu picnic with a friend arises, grab it. If a quick trip comes up to see a relative, do it. Then while those moments are happening–enjoy them fully. Breath. Laugh. Savor.