Welcome to Homebody

For those of us who would rather be at home 🪴

Welcome to the next iteration of this newsletter: Homebody.

If you know me, maybe this is one of the first words you’d think of to describe me. I love to be at home. For me home is a sanctuary, a sacred space. A place to surround myself in beauty, a place to make me feel more like myself. Fashion is good for this, too, but for me self-expression begins and ends in the home.

No one can deny the power of walking into a beautiful space, the way it makes you feel. When you stay at a gorgeous hotel, or dine at a beautiful restaurant. But I don’t think good design should be a luxury. I think we all deserve to live in a space that enhances our lives and reflects who we are.

(Also, I am very into robes. A must for any true homebody.)

When you love your home, you love to invite people into it. Some people, I’ve discovered, detest the word “entertaining,” which I get. It can feel a little stuffy. In fact, I recently bought a new entertaining book after hearing about it on a podcast and was shocked at how… not-modern it felt. I loved the idea of it, which was to feature tables from women all over the country who love to host and create beautiful tables. But let’s just say, there was very little diversity amongst these women, who pretty much all looked like they belonged to the same country club, and the tables were so over-the-top, so packed with so many things I seriously doubt there would ever be room for anything to actually eat — just my nightmare, really. If this is what the average person associates with “entertaining,” then I get the aversion.

I love beauty, but I am a practical person. I don’t do fussy. And I think this is evident in not only the way I host, but the way I decorate.

That is at the heart of what I am hoping to achieve through my new line. Beautiful things to enhance your table and space, but also practical things, things you can (and should!) use everyday — napkins you can throw in the wash (I was gifted a gorgeous set for my wedding and my eyes rolled into the back of my head when I read that they were dry clean only, I mean honestly, who takes their napkins to the dry cleaner? (probably the women in aforementioned book)) and table runners designed to live on the table, to enhance the entire look of the room through their own whimsical color and pattern.

Color and pattern — this is what I feel is missing from home textiles. Well, they do exist, incredibly beautiful fabrics, but they are only available to the trade, meaning for those who are able to hire a decorator and do everything custom.

But what about products you can buy ready-made, like tablecloths, and runners and napkins? Oven mitts, even. I have the most horrible set of yellow oven mitts, I mean they are fine, sort of cute I guess, but really they are just the best I could find, probably acquired at Home Goods as a very secondary item (from my past life, most chefs simply use a towel to grab a hot pan) that another person who found themselves cooking in my kitchen might ask for. But seriously, I found myself wondering, for a person who loves to create a beautiful table as much as I do, why on earth do I have so little to dress my table with? And the answer was clear, because everything out there felt so damn boring. How many times had I googled “cute printed tablecloth” or “colorful table runner” to no avail.

And it was when I was decorating Violet’s nursery that I found myself really frustrated, because I had a vision for a simple patterned curtain and I could find nothing of the sort. But in my online search I found a fabric I liked, so phoned my sister to see if she could sew them up for me. Now, the only reason I even thought to do this was because I knew my sister was an incredible seamstress who used to “do nurseries” for friends and neighbors — as in, I haven’t yet had the luxury of working with an interior decorator, so having my own curtains sewn is something I just wouldn’t have even thought of.

Maybe there will be curtains in our future, because when you create fabrics there’s no limit to what you can do with them. But I will begin with tablewares because that is my first true love, and selfishly, I already have the curtains I need at the moment.

Anyway, as I have been delving into this world of textiles and considering what it is I want to create, I have allowed myself the pleasure of falling in love all over again with everything home and design and beauty. And that’s what I’m up to in this newsletter.

For instance: I have finally purchased a new set of white plates. Such a big move! Boring, you’re thinking? I can assure you it’s not. There’s much to know and consider before acquiring the perfect set of everyday white dinnerware. A purchase to be considered carefully and over the course of several months, if you’re me. My plates will be arriving soon, and I will be reporting back with all of the details.

And then I got to thinking of antiquing… living here in the Hudson Valley, there are so many great antique shops, shows, estate sales. With Violet getting bigger I have been thinking about different things I can take her to do, and this was at the top of my list. I have always loved vintage tabletop, you may recall my collection of pink depression glass, which I used to call my “rosé glass” back when rosé was having a moment. A lot of it I got online, through Etsy or eBay, but it was always more fun to find it in person. Maybe I will try my hand at Majolica next? I’ve been busy taking some classes but soon they will finish and then I’ll have a bit more time for treasure hunting.

I’ll be sharing more on all of this, from the treasures I find to the classes I’ve been taking, more BTS on my own creative process as I continue exploring for my new line, basically anything and everything related to my never-ending love affair with all things home. Not to mention the fact that we are planning to buy our first home in the next year or so, meaning I’ve got quite a few design inspo-rabbit holes planned.

I heard a designer ask this question during an interview the other day, “What enchants you about your dwelling?” And I had to jot it down. Yes! Exactly. That is always the goal, to be enchanted by my dwelling. And if you ask me, we should all be so lucky.

x Sarah