Today on weekend meanderings, we’ve made progress at our pied-à-terre with consignment furniture bargains, shopping with Kim part two, summer essentials for your closet and table, plus Dad stuff.
Happy Saturday, friends!
It’s time for the weekend post with Kim and Elizabeth. Our weekly roundup of inspirations and goings on.
Things are falling into place nicely at our pied-à-terre. Most of the things we brought over here and couldn’t find space for have been boxed up and taken to storage. In addition, we’re finishing up our wheeling and dealing with the things we’ve sold on Facebook Marketplace going to their new homes today.
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Progress at Our Pied-à-Terre
On Thursday we came to the harsh realization that our queen bed from Snowberry’s guest room is not going to work out. Two adults and two dogs in a queen bed is two too many. After several sleepless nights, and two nights of Jim on the sofa – which tweaked his back, we threw in the towel and bought a king mattress (we really love the Aireloom brand, made here in California). It’s being delivered this afternoon and BFF Jane and family will arrive shortly to take the queen bed off our hands. She has four adult kids who are as wonderful as my nieces at absorbing our excess.
Downsizing is hard.
In other news, last weekend we swung by Home Consignment in Danville looking for a dining table and scored this Crate & Barrel Terra oak dining table and four Addison slip covered dining chairs. These pieces appear to be new and we think they were model home furnishings that arrive at Home Consignment fairly frequently. Can I just say, again, how much I love consignment furniture? We brought home an essentially brand new table and chairs for a fraction of the retail price. (The table retails for $1350, we paid $299, and the chairs retail over $400 per chair, we paid $250 for all four.) The table is now command central for our new house project. And, yes, it’s also used for dining.
While out scouring the shops for summer table top finds for my post, I found these woven, fringed, reversible placemats And I bought four of these oversized linen napkins that match a set I already have, but they unfortunately went to storage.
Jim tagged along on my shopping trip and decided I needed this graphite cocktail shaker and jigger.
You may need to sit down for this, my biggest win of the week … finding a Herman Miller Aeron desk chair at Home Consignment for just $199. One hundred and ninety nine dollars! The chair retails at over $1,800, although you can find it in the $1300-1400 range. It was a hot item during the pandemic but home office furniture has cooled off considerably and tons of these chairs can be found on resale sites in the $250-300 range. I planned to use a pretty French style accent chair at my desk. Pretty and pretty uncomfortable. What a difference a good ergonomic chair makes. And can you believe, $199?!
We still need to find a dresser for the office to hold folded clothes and to double as a credenza for our printer and my blog stuff.
The bottom line is that order is restored and we’re ready to get on with normal life. Whatever that is.
Pretty Summer Outdoor Table Ideas
Earlier in the week I joined five amazing blogger friends to share ideas for pretty summer outdoor tables. My approach to summer al fresco dining is a one-and-done. By that I mean I come up with a table setting at the beginning of the summer and use it – with small variation – all summer long. If you missed it you can catch up here, I’ve added some links and sources since it originally published.
And be sure to follow the links at the end of my post to see the great ideas my friends have for making the most of the summer al fresco dining season.
Shopping with Kim, Part 2
In more catch-up news, part two of last week’s shopping and lunch with Kim. I promised to elaborate on some of the cute things we found at Bloomingdales and J.Crew.
Before meeting Kim I took a swing through Anthropology. They have the most beautiful plants and florals.
And I already shared these wide leg, cropped pants that I found at Lululmeon … and have been wearing all week.
Bloomies
Kim and I met at Bloomingdales and we wandered around the shoe shop looking at sandals.
Kim spotted Christina working in the shoe boutique. Christina is the daughter of one of Kim’s tennis friends and she is very sweet and helpful . And she was wearing the chicest yellow shift. Why we didn’t take a picture I have no idea. Anyway, if you’re shopping at the Stanford Bloomies and Christina is there, consider yourself lucky.
There are Birks galore and I bought these Arizona EVA slides in gray which work with everything. I’ve been wearing them constantly.
I used to turn my nose up at Birkenstocks but have come to my senses to fully embrace the beauty – and feel – of these wonderful shoes.
I love these twist top FitFlops, but they don’t work on my very narrow foot. Boo.
And I’m a fan of toe ring sandals and these Aqua’s take it to a new level. These flat, strappy sandals are also great … the gold would work well with a maxi dress for a summer events.
On our way to lunch we were sidetracked by the Naghedi bag display. A couple of years ago I waxed poetic on a Naghedi St. Barth’s Tote I bought in ombre. It’s the medium size and perfect for everyday running around. I’ve always wondered about the small size, is it too small? But seeing it up close and personal, it’s just right. It works for everyday when you don’t need an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink carryall. And fun for casual evenings too. Of course I love the navy and white. I really want to buy it and think I will before our vacation.
J.Crew
Speaking of cute woven bags, these colorful (and also neutral), straw mini bags are adorable and ideal for summer.
Soft butter yellows seem to be the darling of the season and J.Crew’s soft yellow linen pants are so subtle and pretty. Yellow isn’t my color, but I could probably pull it off on my lower half. I love the linen pants in a stripe too. Fortunately I remembered I have two similar pairs at home – Reformation which is always sold out (catch it on a restock), and Quince, before I duplicated – or triplicated – effort.
Kim tried this lightweight and oversized cashmere sweater which looks great thrown over the shoulders to pull on when it gets chilly. It’s a great piece for travel … on the plane or in an air conditioned restaurant. It comes in several pretty colors, Kim tried the mint green (you can see her modeling it here in my reel), but I’d probably lean toward the – safer – city blue.
I made a cute little reel of our adventures in shopping and you can see it here. A mish mash of the pieces that caught our eye (some shown in the reel) are linked below.
Dad Stuff
This weekend is both my mother’s birthday and Father’s Day. I sure do miss both my parents. Especially on special days like their birthday’s, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. This will mark the fourth Father’s Day since my dad passed away … I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone by.
Since there’s no dad for me to buy for I focused my attention on helping the girls – Pippa and Maggie – pick out something for Jim. He was pretty sore this week – after the move and a round of golf – and we live across the street from a Stretch Lab which he’s been curious about. The girls decided to buy him a gift certificate for four 30-minute stretch sessions. Great choice, girls. They’ll take him out for a walk on Sunday morning as well.
On the topic of Jim, he just ordered a pair of these board shorts – love the washed denim color – in prep for our upcoming vacation. And, at Cindy Hatterley’s suggestion, these FitFlop slides.
He also ordered these linen pants from Quince. On his own. I was astounded when he asked me if I knew about Quince. Know about Quince? I’m the Quince queen. Ugh. Anyway, he really likes them and ordered a second pair in navy. And he took himself to Nordstrom and bought a few shirts. This Bonobos jacquard stripe, this All Saints camp shirt, and this Rails textured stripe that reminds me a little of the beautiful embroidered shirts my dad brought home from the Philippines.
Odds and Socks ~
Elizabeth’s baked goods always look scrumptious and this week’s Easy Lemon Raspberry Crumble Bars recipe is no exception. Yum!
This week I bought not one but two Madewell cropped tees. I’m always on the lookout for a good white tee, I wear them nearly everyday, and need a constant resupply. One of these days I’ll follow through on my threat to write a post about the best white tees.
Current Favorites ~
That’s what I have for you today.
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