The Cultivated Home

Nautical ropes are amazingly chic and are popping up as a popular design theme everywhere.  Great for a summer home or to add a bit of the seashore to an urban setting, here are our favorite rope pieces:

Forever Twined Lamp – This nautical inspired lamp from Anthropologie is made out of thin coils of rope braided to give just enough of a sea shore touch to any side table.

Dock Glow Chandelier – Coils of rope at different thicknesses wrap this whimsical chandelier to create both a nautical and natural feel.  Also from Anthrolopgie, you can hang it over a dining table or in an entrance way for a great eye-catching piece.

Rope Towel Rail – Bring the seashore to your bathroom with this great towel rail by Stock Knots.  While browsing their site, check out their other rope mats and light pulls that we love!

Rope Stair Rail – Both chic and functional, we can’t get enough of these amazing rope stair rails by StairRopes.com.  This bespoke company offers a number of different style rails with hardware to coordinate with any scheme.

Haus Rope – We are not the only ones who can’t get enough of the amazing rope mirror and door stop that are available at Haus Interior.  These two items are just a few of the pieces we are obsessing over.

Never before has a retail store made us want to jump on the first flight to London—then we came across Darkroom. This amazing concept store is located on Lamb’s Conduit Street and is more then just a retail store for fashion, interior, and lifestyle accessories, as it also features bi-monthly art exhibitions. Their focus is on the connection between fashion and interior spaces. They love to mix scale, medium, color, style, and form to create an interesting contrast and beauty. They fill their store with items for both men and woman showcasing their “personal obsession with primitive art, textiles, and jewelry and presenting them in new contexts.”

If you can’t make it to London to check them out yourself, you must visit their online site. A few of our favorite pieces are their glassware by DMK, the graphic and geometric ceramics by Solomia, and the chunky knit pillows by Darkroom themselves. We are in love with everything they do and know you will be too!

We are more than a bit excited over this amazing Atlanta based design store called Pieces Inc. and, within the first few minutes of exploring their website, we knew you would be too!  It was started in 2004 by the talented Lee Kleinhelter who set out to bridge the “gap between the high-end antiques and mass produced items offered in Atlanta”, and she could not have been more successful.  Using her interior design background, inherent style, and good taste, she has put together a collection of home furnishing and accessories that can fit in on both the East and West Coast.

We also love how her site is organized by “color”, “material”, and “item category”, making it fun and easy to see her inventory.  A few of our favorite pieces are her Ceramic Animal Tea Light Candles, White Resin Deer Antlers, and Glossy Glass Glasses—just to name a few.

If you can’t make it to Atlanta to see her inventory in person, then check out her online store today!

It can be hard to keep a secret, especially when it comes to finding deals, but we just can’t keep it to ourselves any longer! Today we are going to share with you some of our “Best Kept Secrets,” including some of our favorite interior design outlets and factory stores. Some require a car or a special trip and some are online, but all of them are definitely worth a visit!

Stark Carpet Outlet: Located in Connecticut, North Carolina, and California, the Stark Carpet Outlets have over 100,000 square feet of merchandise and feature not just rugs and carpets but beautiful fabrics and wallpapers as well. If you can’t make it to any of their three locations, check out the different carpets they have available online, and purchase them over the phone from any of their locations.

Matouk Factory Store: Located in Fall River, MA at their main production facility, the Matouk Factory Store truly represents its name. They have some of the most amazing bed, bath, and table linens out there—but with minor defects that most consumers would never even notice. We have even found amazing bedding sets and great gifts at just a fraction of the price.

Crate and Barrel Outlet: One of our favorites for classic finds, this outlet’s inventory can be viewed both online and in person. Featuring everything from furniture to dinnerware and priced at as much as 50 to 75% off, why look anywhere else!

We love color!  Every tone and shade, from bright to neutrals—if Pantone has it, we get excited about it!  This is why we became overjoyed when we downloaded the newest Pantone App for iPhones and iPod Touches called MyPantone.  This great new app allows you to display over 5,000 shades, helping you choose the perfect color for everything from a wall color, to a couch fabric, and even the perfect shade of fabric to complete a window treatment.

Can’t find your shade or color palette but love what you see in a recent photo you took?  This great app also allows you to extract the color palette from the photo and selects the exact Pantone colors for you.  It’s priced a little higher then most of the apps at $9.99, but we think that the extra cost is totally worth the fun, entertainment, and usefulness this app brings to its users.  Download it today, and make over your space this weekend!