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I adore my sister. She is eight years older than me and always served as my protector. She let me crawl into her bed at night when I was afraid of the dark. She introduced me to Seventeen magazine, The Brothers Karamazov, The Brothers Grimm, and The Preppy Handbook. She cooked from The Silver Palate, which is where I learned that prunes really are great if you know what to do with them. She made her own raku pottery. And, after a lifetime of dismissing sports, she is now the golf champion at her club.

She is also a sentimentalist, and when your interests span cooking, housewares, books, and art, you end up with a lot of possessions. In drawers. In hall closets. In the closets of spare rooms. In the garage. And in your car.

On day 2 of The Great Clean Out, Rhonda rounded a corner and saw Dean, Leslie, and me plotting our intervention. When she saw our guilty looks, she laughed. She knew what was coming.

Leslie suggested we gather collections of objects and have Rhonda select a smaller group to keep. For instance, if she had 15 trays (and she did), she could keep five. And so on. The rest would be donated to a Veterans’ organization.

Our attachment to possessions is wildly powerful. They possess us. This is particularly true for Rhonda; I could see that letting go of her things was tantamount to letting go of parts of her life. It was almost physically painful. With a few tears but a determined smile, she soldiered through. By the time we left, we’d filled a dumpster with trash and the Veterans’ group had hauled away a truckload that included chairs, golf clubs, books, deviled egg plates, and wrapping paper. (The teamwork paid off: the house sold in three days.)

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We are living in an age of “tile-drenching,” where every surface in a space from the floors to the walls to the ceilings is getting tiled. And for good reason. There’s an abundance of beautiful tile in the world. Tile has texture and heft that suggest permanence. It is also heavy, requires special installation, and can be wildly expensive. Did I mention that you also need to consider the grout color?

Tile can be daunting! This is likely why, when I asked what you wanted a deep dive on, tile won.

I turned to two of my favorite American tile companies—Heath and Fireclay—to get their expert tips. Cathy Bailey, brand steward of Heath Ceramics, and Jamie Chappell, VP of Brand and Product at Fireclay Tile, shared intel with me on how to choose the right materials for your project, find a reputable installer, and look out for small details that make all the difference.

At the end of this post, I’ve also assembled a list of 20 tile brands and artisan makers who I like, including the tiles we selected for our Ojai house.

Let’s start with the 5 main things to keep in mind for your next tile project:

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On A Tiny Apartment, Christene documents her vintage design hunts, home upgrades and renovations, and her inimitable style. For this week’s post, she gets honest about having to accept a big change in her neighborhood and home—with little advance notice or sense of control. Her catharsis is one we can all learn from. Let’s dive in:

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Creatives who start their careers living in Manhattan often end up, by mid-career, living in one of two places: south Brooklyn or Maplewood, New Jersey. So I perked up as soon as I learned that this week’s houseguest, the designer Hollie Velten-Lattrell, was based in Maplewood, the land of creatives!

Then I learned that her firm, Spaces, was behind a storybook bedroom renovation that I loved.

Hollie used to be a dancer. People in the performing arts have an ingrained understanding of visual narratives, whether that’s the movement of dancers or the flow of a design from room to room.

Her true secret talent, though, is the way she interviews her clients and teases out good memories and feelings from their lives, then brings these details into her spaces. I don’t want to spoil the conversation so please read on—and if you’re looking for help, get on the list for one of Spaces’ Studio Sessions!

This week’s post is free, so please share it if you enjoy reading. (You might need to click “view entire message” for the full story.) I’m also curious to hear from you all: How does your life story show up in your home? Let me know in the comments!

Yours in house snooping,

Amanda

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One of the projects that most clearly captures our studio’s philosophy is a 1908 Colonial Revival home in Maplewood, New Jersey. The clients came to us wanting to honor the history of the house while creating something that felt lighter, more relaxed, and deeply personal to the way they live.

Early on, we found ourselves talking less about design references and more about a feeling—memories of California, favorite hotels, family rituals, and the ease of homes that seem to invite people to linger. One tool we use is a deck of conversation cards to help guide our design development. For the question “Where did you leave your heart?” the clients answered with stories of their picnics at Hog Island Oyster Co. in Tomales Bay, where they would buy a bucket of oysters to have with bread and a bottle of wine. Other prompts brought up their favorite sports bars and boutique hotel lounges. For the “objects with meaning” question, they showed us their personal artwork, which featured a lot of northern California landscapes. That all led me to a menu from Berkeley institution Chez Panisse for the project’s color scheme. Together, those references became the foundation for what we affectionately described as “a New Jersey home with a California soul.”

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At Spaces, we often begin projects this way. Rather than asking clients what style they prefer, we’re interested in what they remember, what they collect, and how they want their homes to make them feel. My background in dance and my love of cinema have profoundly influenced this process. I think about rhythm, improvisation, anticipation, collaboration, narrative arc, and emotion. A home is like a sequence of scenes, where each room creates a distinct mood while contributing to a larger whole.

Many of our clients are former city dwellers who have traded apartments or brownstones for larger suburban homes and suddenly find themselves overwhelmed—by extra square footage, compartmentalized layouts, and rooms that don’t support the way modern families actually live. Others inherit homes that have been renovated in pieces over decades, resulting in a patchwork of additions and updates that have obscured the home’s original charm and left it feeling disconnected. And, increasingly, we meet families who have purchased recently renovated properties that are perfectly nice but read generic: builder-grade finishes, one-note decorating, and spaces that don’t reflect who they are.

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Essentially, our work is to uncover the hidden potential and emotional narrative of a house, creating interiors that feel bespoke, layered, and personal. The process is incredibly collaborative. We guide our clients through an expressive journey, helping them to determine not only how they want their homes to look, but how they want to live, gather, and create memories.

The Project:

• Location: Maplewood, New Jersey

• Year built: 1908

• Square Footage: 3,000

• Team: Millwork by @purplelightsllc

The renovation in six mood board images:

My non-negotiables: Bespoke solutions. Especially in older homes, thoughtful customization can completely transform how homeowners experience their space. Whenever possible, we advocate for custom millwork—not only to create beautiful architectural moments, but to solve the everyday realities of living: clever storage, integrated seating, hardworking mudrooms, and rooms that function intuitively.

We feel the same way about soft finishes. Custom upholstery, window treatments, and workroom-crafted details bring a level of personality, comfort, and refinement that ready-made solutions often can’t achieve. They allow us to tailor scale, texture, and function in a unique way.

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Room that changed the most from start to finish in the way we envisioned it: We turned the front room into a mudroom, clad the walls with bead, added custom cupboards for coat and shoe storage as well as a window seat, and gave it a really cohesive, functional build-out. Generally, tiny spaces like a powder room can undergo some of the biggest transformations.

Before we began, the space was originally envisioned as a music room to feel a bit more loungey and secret library-like. But when we got further into design development, the clients wanted more functional storage and a landing zone for their family. So we had to match the design vibration with something more utilitarian, which inspired the moody mudroom.

How the house architecture and/or location influenced designing the interiors: Every project begins by listening to the house itself—what it is saying through its architecture, proportions, light, setting, and the relationship to outside/in, along with the particular mood it carries from one room to the next. In Maplewood, where homes are often architecturally eclectic from the start, we are especially attentive to that conversation. The history of a house matters, but so do its current stewards: the people who will shape its next chapter and make it feel unmistakably theirs. We are not restoration loyalists, nor do we design with resale in mind. Instead, we aim to honor original character while layering in the todayness of the present and leaving room for a future that can unfold naturally. We think of installation as a kind of dress rehearsal—the house is set, but the final performance belongs to the life that will happen inside it after we hand back the keys.

The New Jersey suburbs are full of extraordinary homes that have often lost their way a bit over time. Many have been renovated room by room and are covered in trends or stripped of the details that once gave them character. Part of our work is architectural storytelling—peeling back those layers and reconnecting a house to its original spirit while making it function beautifully for modern family life.

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Budget breakthrough: Cork as a wall finish can sometimes be less expensive than high-end wallpaper. (One of my go-to sources: AmCork.) I also love stainless steel countertops as a cost-effective alternative to stone options. I often work with remnant marble from a stone yard; even a small piece can add character to a backsplash. Whenever we don’t select a piece of furniture for the FFE (Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment) presentation, I always use a placeholder, believing it will later reveal itself to a client.

I’m a big believer in sustainably reimagining furniture that people already own, too. We reused the client’s sofas, which moved with them from Los Angeles. The seating suited their California home, but felt a little too modern and disproportionate to the larger room size at Hickory. So we made sure to fill in the negative space and “support” the smaller sofas with built-ins that provide more visual weight and a few upholstered ottomans and a coffee table to form a modular conversation square.

We also like to get creative with beds and select an inexpensive, simple platform bed, then splurge on a bespoke headboard—for this project we cut a classic shape and upholstered it in a gorgeous Dedar striped fabric .

Another fairly significant save was to not clad the TV room’s fireplace surround with new stone. We were shopping for marble slabs but decided to paint the entire room Treron Green by Farrow & Ball and ended up updating the hearth with some checkered Heath ceramic tiles.

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Advice for the first-time renovator: Give yourself permission to think beyond aesthetics. We work with a design deck of cards as an exercise to ask questions about childhood homes, favorite films, memorable trips, family traditions, and objects the client can’t part with. The answers often reveal far more than discussing a preferred design style.

For example, one of our sensory prompts asks, “What might be cooking or served in your kitchen?” Rather than listing favorite recipes, one family responded with memories of neighborhood diners and the feeling of passing shared meals across a crowded table. That response told us they valued communal gathering more than formal dining. We translated those memories into an integrated island with banquette seating facing the kitchen, paired with a generous dining table that encourages easy conversation and togetherness. The banquette subtly references the comfort and familiarity of restaurant booth seating—an emotional cue that became more meaningful than any stylistic inspiration.

For another client, the prompt of what they most wanted to see in their home was simple: “Books. Lots of Jane Austen.” Rather than designing another bookshelf, we wrapped the powder room—including the shelving and overhead lamp shade—in a Jane Austen heritage wallpaper from Adelphi Paper Hangings, then layered in antique brass, found art, unique fixtures, and collected mementos to create the experience of opening an old book cover to reveal treasured stories inside.

For readers at home: Try making a 3-D mood board—almost a memory box or scrap book—with a pile of collected mementos and magazine tears, maybe even a favorite piece of jewelry or clothing, or a postcard from a beloved holiday destination. Lay it all out on the floor and take a photo. This will shape the brief. And if you keep coming back to it, things will start to reveal themselves. We’ve seen clients uncover unexpected connections—like our project in Chatham, New Jersey, where we pulled millwork details from the original train station to evoke the feeling of travel that was important to them. I think people begin to realize that what they’re after isn’t a specific Pinterest image but rather a sense of ease, nostalgia, intimacy, or surprise. Those discoveries lead to homes that are profoundly personal and singular.

Advice for the second-time/serial renovator: At the same property, consider whether you really need to renovate more than once or twice. Beyond that seems excessive unless you’ve been there a long time. At a new/different property, consider the indoor/outdoor connection. That might be something you overlooked in earlier renovations and offers a new challenge.

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How my design process, which is more analog, might show up in a finished space: I started Studio Sessions, a service that can be booked for remote or in-person consultations, as a way to create a more approachable entry point into working with Spaces. I wanted to connect with people who love design and want a little guidance, but who may not be ready for a full-service renovation or a traditional design engagement.

Over time, it became clear that the studio space itself was an important part of the process. I didn’t want it to simply be a place where samples lived—I wanted it to function as a creative tool and a place for collaboration. Having a materials library, textiles, finishes, books, and objects all within reach allows ideas to develop in a more intuitive way than they often do on a screen. There is something powerful about sitting together, pulling fabrics, layering materials, moving things around, and having those spontaneous moments where a new direction emerges. Some of the best design ideas happen through conversation and experimentation, not just through a perfectly planned presentation.

Studio Sessions became a way to invite more people into that process—whether they need help making a few key decisions or are beginning the journey toward a larger project. At its core, it is about creating a space for curiosity, collaboration, and confidence-building around design.

Our sense-scape trays and sensory exercises, for example, help clients articulate feelings that can be difficult to put into words. We might discuss the smell of cedar in a childhood cabin, the color of light in a grandmother’s kitchen, or the soundtrack to a certain film. Those emotional references become design tools.

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One of the biggest realizations I’ve had through various projects is that sometimes I don’t actually “see” it right away—I feel it. Design is often about recognizing something before you can fully articulate it. A room can have all the right pieces and still feel disconnected, or it can have unexpected elements that somehow create the exact emotional response we’re looking for. I’ve learned to trust that instinct, knowing it comes from years of creative exploration and professional experience. It’s not about having the answer immediately—it’s about sensing when something is aligned, then using our process, tools, and research to uncover why—and bring that vision to life.

Best shopping sources:

• Nickey Kehoe

• Plain Goods

• Adelphi Paper Hangings for wallpaper

• deVol and Corston for hardware

• Olde Good Things

• Kingston Consignments

• The Summit Antiques Center

• Etsy, 1st Dibs, Chairish, Facebook Marketplace, neighborhood flea markets, and thrift stores are all spots for finding vintage gold!

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Dream guests: Rather than a formal invitation, I’d choose a relaxed set-up where a group takes over my house and I’m just a happy observer, with the whole day stretched ahead of us.

I’d sit with my mother, who is no longer here, and my daughters. There would also be artists and storytellers who have shaped my imagination: Serge Diaghilev dreaming up a production; Éric Rohmer talking about the poetry of ordinary moments; Luca Guadagnino and Terrence Malick discussing light, memory, and landscapes; Jean Cocteau and Picasso drawing costume and set designs at the table.

I wouldn’t need to join them. I’d be perfectly content overhearing all the snippets of conversation, stealing fragments of wisdom while sitting beside the people I love most. My girls would be sketching the scene, taking photographs of the guests and each other, collecting little moments so we’d remember them later.

Eventually we’d gather all together and break out some chilled wine, little plates of olives, anchovies, melon, and fresh bread. Nothing fussy.

What I learned about myself during the reno: In my own home renovation, which I am just finishing and hope to share soon, I was reminded of the humbling reality that even as a design professional, you are still a client without a special superpower that makes the uncertainty disappear.

Timelines stretch, budgets evolve, and the emotional weight of a renovation can be surprising. Living through construction while also managing difficult conversations, asking for accountability from trusted partners, and making countless decisions can bring up a lot of vulnerability.

The experience has given me an even deeper empathy for my clients. I understand in a much more visceral way what it feels like to live in the uncertainty of the process—to hold the vision while navigating the messiness of getting there.

Renovations are strange because time becomes almost abstract. It feels endless while you’re in it, much like waiting for a baby to arrive. There are moments of discomfort, impatience, and wondering when it will finally happen. Then suddenly, the space is complete, new life is happening all around you, and you can barely remember the difficult parts.

Thank you, Hollie!

• Cruiser or city bike with a comfy seat

• Pedal-assist

• Stylish 🙂

• Optional trailer for my many farmers’ market bags

Got any recs?! Leave them in the comments or dm me. Thanks!

(In the spirit of trading recs, if you’re looking for a durable beach cruiser, this one is great. We’ve had them in Wainscott for 5 years and they don’t have a lick of rust.)

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Tad and his two siblings own a summer house in Wainscott, New York. They are more stewards than owners, really, because the house has been in his family since 1915, when their great-great uncle, Charles Pierson, a New York corporate lawyer who argued in front of the Supreme Court, bought the house. All of our kids will become the next stewards.

Steward is a noble-minded word for what can feel like being nursemaid to a feeble and unruly patient. The house, nestled among pitch pines, looks out over Georgica Pond and the beach and the Atlantic beyond. We say that it’s in Wainscott because situating it in “the Hamptons” suggests a whole bunch of other things, but not the locale’s beauty and serenity.

The house was built as a summer house, so there was no heating system and no insulation. At the end of the season, the family would drain the water from the pipes and throw sheets over the furniture. They’d lock the house and hope for the best during Long Island’s raw, damp winters.

When I first started dating Tad, the house was in a low period of deferred maintenance. It was suffering from too many family members involved in the decision-making (thus no decisions were made) and a collective aversion to throwing anything out. I had a hard time appreciating the beauty among the clutter, or seeing the charm of lots of handwritten signs admonishing you, the user of the toilet, to beware of the fragile septic system. Why not just fix the system? But then I’m not a WASP.

When Tad and his siblings finally took over the house, things began to change. We used money earned from renting the house during June and July to improve it. First, we pared back the clutter and unearthed the handsome, sturdy bones of the place. We updated the kitchen and shifted the layout from a wildly outdated servants-areas and family-areas arrangement to one with unified and open spaces. We modernized the kitchen, added HVAC, and stuffed insulation wherever we could, making the house usable for 8 months of the year.

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A lot of the work was unsexy, like the year we replaced all the plaster walls with drywall and stripped and refinished the floors. The house looked nearly the same, but our bank account did not.

There have been fun projects, too, like when we replaced bedroom furnishings, renovated the kids’ bathroom, and updated the lighting fixtures throughout.

Once the house had been opened up, simplified, and nicely finished, we were able to focus on smaller and more personal things, and to better preserve the family history that used to be strewn among boxes in the eaves of the house. Tad took on the enormous task of going through hundreds of files, letters, and photos to do a rough cut of what we might want to save. His sister Timmie, and I, who have teamed up for most of the interior work (she’s an accomplished interior designer in San Francisco), have since been plugging away at getting things framed and hung around the house. Let me show you what we’ve done so far:

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That’s also why I love old cookbooks and old recipes. And why I spent 5 years of my life working on a book that assembled 1,200 of the most noteworthy recipes from the New York Times’ archive, which dates to the 1850s. You can check it out here (or here for an independent seller). Or you can become a founding member of Homeward and I’ll send you a signed copy!

My cookbook collection consists of numerous vintages, some a few hundred years old, a robust batch from the 1990s when I reviewed cookbooks for the Times, as well as new books that arrive in a steady trickle. My shelves are full, so I’ve begun making stacks inside my son’s room, in my study, and next to the bookshelves in our entranceway.

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While I was setting down a pile of t-shirts in that hallway, which doubles as a dumping ground for cardboard going to the recycling bin, unexciting-to-open boxes like the paper towels from Amazon, a tote filled with photos and video tapes that Tad likes to move from room to room in lieu of sorting through, and the aforementioned pile of my in-limbo cookbooks, I happened upon The Sunset Cookbook, gifted to me by a family friend.

Sunset Magazine, to its generations of fans, quintessentially captures the west coast lifestyle with design spreads of sun-filled living rooms and outdoor entertaining areas, travelogs of coastal hikes, and cooking features rife with lush produce. I have a fondness for Sunset in part because it was one of the first publications willing to accept my freelance story pitches. I wrote for them about date shakes in Indio in 1997. One reason we landed in Ojai was that its SoCal lifestyle has been so indelibly editorialized by Sunset.

During its 90 years in business, Sunset has also published dozens of books. The Sunset Cookbook came out in 1960 and contains playful illustrations by Earl Thollander. As I paged through, pausing on items like Bucati with Anchovy Sauce and Rice Griddle Cakes that I didn’t expect to find in a ‘60s cookbook, two recipes demanded that I make them at once. They’re below, along with videos of me testing them out!

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First up this week, my journey to finding the Platonic ideal of mixing bowls. Further down, Dan Barber’s vision for a more sustainable food system, including sparkling buckwheat soda and my (future) fave new chip flavor.

If I have a mission in life, it may be to design the perfect mixing bowl. I’ve searched and searched for one that’s just the right diameter and depth (wide and low) and also the proper heft so it doesn’t slide around when I’m mixing. It needs a spout whose lip is thin enough to cleanly stop the pour of liquids as well as of thick batters. I designed a ceramic set back in 2018 for Food52’s house line, Five Two. They sold out and then we had issues with the manufacturer and discontinued the set. Sigh.

For Ojai, I bought Sori Yanagi’s steel bowls, which I’m a longtime fan of for basic prep. They’re sturdy and utilitarian but also a teeny bit design-y. They’re cherubically round, with thinly folded rims and a brushed matte surface. Accompanying strainers fit neatly inside each bowl.

Still, the Yanagi bowls aren’t the ideal shape and they lack pour spouts. I wanted a stoneware set with all the right features.

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I’m going to be very open, and I ask only that you respond to my candor with grace. Having had family members who are on SNAP benefits, I’m particularly aware of my privilege: we are extremely fortunate to be able to afford a second home (or even a first one, as this next generation is experiencing).

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Also, this post is FREE. If you like it, please share it!

Yours in Julia nostalgia,

Amanda

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The Results of the Poll

In a recent post, I asked you whether you’d like me to do a deep dive on tile or on bath hardware. It was a tight race! Tile won by a hair. So keep an eye out for my treatise on tile soon.

’Tis the Season

As we enter the high season for outdoor cooking and entertaining, I put together a dedicated sourcing list, most of which is open to all—including trays, folding chairs, vintage lanterns, and shatterproof plates. Here are some of my faves:

• Woven Food Tent

• Enamel Lobster Steam Pot

• Tea Light Holders

• Cast Aluminum Cooler

The full slate can be found on my Rec League.

A few weeks after we moved to Ojai, I was headed to our mailbox when I spotted a couple who walked by almost every day, the woman sometimes carrying a set of swinging weights.

They stopped to say hello. I got talking to Bob and Susanne, and learned they were entrepreneurs. Bob was born in Paris where his mother, Betty Evans, had been studying cooking around the same time that Julia Child was there doing the same. Although they didn’t meet in Paris, Betty and her husband Gordon later became friends of Julia and Paul Child, bonding over their Paris years.

“Julia named a tool that I designed,” Bob said proudly. He had created a cast aluminum tool that local fishermen could use to pluck and pound the abalone they’d pulled from the waters off Santa Barbara, and he had it made in his grandfather’s foundry.

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When Betty showed the tool to Julia, she slapped it in her palm and said, “This is not a plucker and pounder, it’s a whackerspoon.” She later used the whackerspoon to make steak Diane on an episode of “The French Chef.” Its handle is ribbed so it fits nicely in your grip, and its pleasing weight enables you to flatten chicken breasts, crack spices, smash garlic cloves, and crush olives or nuts. The Whackerspoon is available here.

My friend Alex came by with this insulated wheelie bag by Hulkan that looks like it’s ready for the International Space Station. He said, “it’s like the IKEA bag’s cooler cousin.” It’s a super well-thought-out design for farmers’ market shopping, picnic toting, and any other time you need to transport something heavy or cold. The spinner wheels are smooth and nimble (like the ones on a great suitcase) and the handles have thick plastic covers so they won’t get gross. There’s one loop for pulling the bag like a wagon, two for carrying it, and thick straps on the sides for hauling it up stairs. Then, the whole thing folds flat. And it’s all wipeable. Oh, and it comes in other colors, too, but I’m kind of into this space cube.

Did I mention I’m writing a book based on Homeward? And that I’d love to include your voices/opinions/anecdotes in the book? I’m going to ask you questions and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. (FYI: If you comment, you give me permission to publish your comment in part or in whole.) Don’t worry, I’m only going to use the most colorful and detailed comments (and am only using first names), so fire away!

Here’s my first question: When does a home feel done… or does it ever?

When we left Ojai for the summer, there was just a single piece of art up in the house, a fresco of Tad as a child that’s been in his family for 60-ish years. We don’t really have a plan for art yet. This is partly because we’ve put our checkbook in the freezer for a while. And partly because after making a flurry of design decisions, we were looking forward to treating art more like a journey.

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Still, I have to admit I craved having some walls feel less bare. Our designer Frances introduced us to the photographer David Hartwell, who did a series of painterly photos of weeds and flowers from his back garden in Pasadena. We fell hard for a photograph of a trumpet vine. We also discovered The Framing House, a wonderful shop in L.A., who advised us by phone on the best way to frame it. The photo is going in a guest room.

I’ve had the book Pakistan wedged into my not-yet-shelved book stack for many months. I was looking for a new summer side dish, and found it in Afghanistan by way of Pakistan.

Maryam Jillani, the author, reminds us that Pakistan, which is situated between Afghanistan, China, India, and Iran, has long been a conduit not only of trade, but of cuisines. She writes about nanhkatai, a shortbread popular across Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan; Punjabi chicken with chickpeas; and the Afghan-style fried eggplant in yogurt. Jillani’s book is a reminder that every cuisine is interconnected, and that the most interesting dishes often emerge when they overlap.

One disclaimer: I subbed coconut yogurt for whole milk yogurt. It was great but the choice is yours.

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Borani Banjan | Afghan-Style Fried Eggplant in Yogurt

Serves 4 to 6 as a side

Ingredients:

• 2 cups full-fat yogurt, lightly whisked (I used coconut yogurt)

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• ¾ cup vegetable oil, plus more as needed

• 1½ pounds Italian eggplants or baby eggplants, cut crosswise into ¼ inch slices

• 1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced

• 1 teaspoon garlic paste

• 4 Roma tomatoes, cut crosswise into ¼ inch slices

• 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder, plus more for garnish

• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder

• 1 bird’s eye chile, finely chopped

• 1 teaspoon dried mint (optional)

Instructions:

1. Place the whisked yogurt in a flat serving dish and stir in the lemon juice. Set aside.

2. In a large skillet, heat ½ cup of the oil until it begins to shimmer. Add the eggplant, making sure not to crowd the pan. Fry the eggplant for 1 to 2 minutes per side on medium heat until browned evenly, lowering the heat and adding more oil as needed. Transfer the fried eggplant to a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb excess oil.

3. In a clean large skillet, heat the remaining ¼ cup oil until it begins to shimmer. Lower the heat to medium-low and add the onion. Fry for 7 to 10 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic paste and fry for about 30 seconds, until it no longer smells raw, taking care not to let it burn.

4. Increase the heat to high and add the tomatoes, chile powder, salt, turmeric, and chile. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until the tomatoes soften. Lower the heat to medium and cover the saucepan with a lid. Let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes until the tomatoes have cooked down.

5. Carefully add the fried eggplant. Turn the heat to its lowest setting, re-cover the skillet, and let steam for 10 minutes.

6. Carefully place the eggplant and tomato sauce on the yogurt. Garnish with additional chili powder and the dried mint (if using).

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Here’s how I made out:

If anyone else needs to see this recipe—or a cosmic carry-all, or a niche-but-very-necessary whackerspoon—please feel free to share this post!

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If you’re Jesse James—founder of the edited home trade show Shoppe Object, lifestyle showroom Aesthetic Movement, and home brand Sir/Madam—and his life-and-business partner Kostas Anagnopoulos, a poet and proprietor of the popular antiques shop Pidgin and the new home gallery Norman Hasselriis (also, check out his new book Night Painting), you set your sights on an entire 19th-century village and help rejuvenate it, building by building. No spoilers here. Read on!

Yours in house village snooping,

Amanda

Over the past couple of years, our home upstate has morphed from a mad-dash weekend getaway into our primary residence. We first arrived in Rensselaerville in 2016, when the drive from our place in Jackson Heights, Queens took at least three hours each way—we were strictly Friday-to-Sunday, joining the great exodus out of the city and back again. Now we head into the city when we need to, flowing against the current, and the same drive takes closer to two-and-a-half hours.

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The latest from life in New York

• I had a double-header with my friend Liz. First, a stop at The Analog Stationer in Park Slope. Do paper stores make your heart go pitter pat? For me they tap into that childhood dopamine node, like when my mom took us to the ski store. Analog is the perfect size shop, about 250 square-feet; large enough for a variety of list-making pads and dot-grid notebooks, but not so large that overabundance short-circuits the happy node.

• Just down the block, we waited in line at Canyon Coffee for a perfect drip and tall, crisp semolina bread toasts glazed with butter and cinnamon and almond butter. Definitely line-wait-worthy.

• I spoke at Substack’s Once and Future Media Forum alongside , who writes the top-ranking food Substack “What To Cook,” and Hamish McKenzie, a founder of Substack. We talked about how the New York Times food coverage has been letting us down lately, as well as about what it takes to run a media company right now. The real answer: no one really knows. But good storytelling, a nimble mindset, and humanity go a long way, even in the age of AI. , another speaker that day, said reporting secrets will be powerful currency for media companies going forward; it’s something AI can’t do.

• Also at the conference, Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering, talked about her new book The Art of Fighting. And how we’re bad at it. And how being good at argument is good for discourse and relationships and society. I really liked her talk.

• A chef friend invited Tad and me last minute to Chez Fifi on the Upper East Side. It’s been on my list for a long time but is a tough reservation to get. It was easily the best dinner we’d had in months. Try to go with someone who has an expense account. One of the appetizers was described as toast with tuna tartare and caviar. $30….”a bite”!

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When our son Walker was about five, we had a cocktail party at our apartment. Before our guests arrived, he’d been concerned about what to say to people at this, his first adult party. We suggested that he ask guests questions and that he talk about what he cared about, because passions are interesting. At one point in the evening, I noticed that he was at the center of a group of young women who were leaning in as he regaled them. While we were cleaning up, we asked Walker what he’d been talking about. “I was telling them some facts about the blue whale,” he said. “But they were getting too close because I was too interesting, so I had to start talking about the Minke whale.”

I was thinking about this the other day, as I was near exhaustion from New York City being too interesting. I’d been socializing too much. Eating out too often. Meeting too many people. I needed to change the mode and be home for a bit. Which is what’s happening this weekend. It’s 91 F outside and I am happily, peacefully working, eating cereal, and talking to no one.

Yours in cocktail party training,

Amanda

Two Notes on Rec League:

1. Laurie Cambra Seplow, whose kitchen I wrote about way back, is on Rec League where she features many of the beautiful Spanish pots and French baking dishes that inhabit her own beautiful kitchen. Recommended follow!

2. A few weeks ago, I let you know that I’d launched an account on Rec League, where people share recommendations on everything from travel spots to vintage movies to home goods products. Some are pay-walled and some are not. I heard from several of you who were disappointed that my Rec League wasn’t completely free. I really appreciate that you’ve supported my work, and your feelings matter to me. So I wanted to make sure I’ve made everything clear.

Most importantly, I will continue to recommend products in both my free and paywalled Homeward posts. This was always the plan and it’s what I’ve done since the beginning, e.g.: kitchen stoves, pillows, dinnerware, towels, and pizza ovens, as well as discoveries like the perfect work shirt, portable lantern, and bath towels.

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However, Rec League and Substack have different capabilities. For both, I draw on my years of research intel, hands-on testing, and relationships with makers and craftspeople to compile a thoughtful mix of shopping finds. Here are the main differences for me and how I’ll be recommending products on each platform.

Substack:

• In-depth product guides that get into the nitty gritty, often comparing products side-by-side and interviewing people at the brands to get a better understanding of the products (pros and cons!)

• Incorporating your recommendations and advice on different designs and models.

• Giving context to a product, e.g.: a tour of my kitchen storage where you see everything in action.

• Featuring one-off products that I’ve enjoyed using.

Rec League:

• A visual way to show my picks and preferences organized into themed collections.

• Compiling longer lists that couldn’t possibly fit into one post, such as Everything I Bought For My Ojai House, which has 200+ recs.

• Continuously updating collections, which you can be notified about (vs. a more static Substack post, which you wouldn’t be notified about unless I resurfaced it).

• An easier way to access content when you only want shopping and travel recommendations.

If you’re interested in joining Rec League, all Homeward subscribers receive a discount (free subscribers see here; paid subscribers right this way), which gives you access to all of my recommendations. You can also join Rec League as a free subscriber on the site or app to enjoy the collage-style visual world (a former Substack developer is behind them!).

Making product recommendations takes my research time and expertise, along with support from my editor and assistant. I want to be able to share excellent finds with you, and I value the work we put into them. But, put plainly, organizing and expanding my picks on Rec League entails a lot more work. I hope this helps you understand why I think Rec League is useful to have as a separate account, and why I need to charge for some of it. I’m very thankful for your support and for being part of the Homewardian community, in whichever way you choose.

Moving on to a pressing question:

Renovation Budget Planning + My Takeaways

We are not entirely done with our renovation, but we are far enough along and the bills, which for a long time felt like they were spewing at us from a firehose, have slowed to a trickle. There is art to figure out. A few furniture pieces to add. A pantry to finish. Books to ship out from Brooklyn. Bikes to acquire. A garage to organize. And future projects that have been put into the penalty box.

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First: Before we left Ojai, we prepped the house for its summer hibernation. We hauled in most of the outdoor furniture that felt as if we’d just put out weeks before. We lowered the window shades and the AC. And we turned off the water filter. The house was ready to rest peacefully.

However, the local fauna caught wind of our departure. Within weeks, both a black widow spider and a rat had snuck into the garage—the rat by gnawing a giant hole in the garage door’s weatherproofing strip. And moles—tiny, cute, deviously destructive moles!—had tunneled labyrinthine trails beneath our native-planted front lawn. An exterminator and mole expert are now evicting the miscreants.

Second: asked me to do a feature on a home design object that I pay a lot of attention to. My friends, where to begin!? We settled on small lamps for kitchen countertops, which I feel are a lighting design necessity so that you have a warm glow at counter-level to balance ceiling lighting, pendants, and sconces. You can read all about my small lamp finds here! And subscribe to Secret Strategist while you’re at it; you won’t be sorry.

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Now to the main event:

My sister Rhonda recently decided to sell her home outside of Denver. It was filled with furniture and belongings that she and her family had collected over decades. Getting her house ready was a lot for one person, so our brother Dean, his wife Leslie, and I flew in to help her pare down her stuff and get the house staged for sale.

This was extremely hard for Rhonda; I could see that letting go of her things was somehow letting go of parts of her life. It was almost physically painful. With a few tears but mostly a determined smile, she soldiered through. I’ll share more on that front soon. But today we’re digging into a related note: organization.

Days after leaving Denver, I was back in New York to do The Great Saunter, and ended up walking 32 miles with Shauna Yule Brasseur, a professional organizer from Hingham, Massachusetts. We had a lot to talk about, and 11 hours to do it.

Shauna was incisive and nuanced about the way she approached home organization. She has built a robust business, Lovely Life Home, within just a few years and has a growing number of recurring clients, who see the work she does with them for their homes much like the work a trainer does for their fitness. After the Saunter, Shauna agreed to have a follow-up conversation, so I could share her insights and advice with you all.

If there is anything you want to know that we don’t cover below, please dm me, or share your questions in the comments or here, and I’ll do a follow-up post with answers from Shauna.

Yours in neat rows of socks, and just the ones I need,

Amanda

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Today’s post is free. I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, please share it with a friend!

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Last week was Design Week in New York, which means thousands of design-heads trek all the way west to the dreaded Javits Center for ICFF, then spend the rest of the week at smaller design events and showrooms complaining how the show has lost its mojo. People like complaining, and for that alone ICFF is providing a public service. I, too, thought it was pretty ho-hum except for two designers. Virginia Sin has a clever new sconce system that packs flat (less expensive shipping) and that allows customers to mix tile bases with a variety of shades, including a paper-thin cork shade. Cool.

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The other highlight was Tala, a business I wish I’d thought to start. Tala makes high-quality specialty lightbulbs. Such as wobbly shaped Edison bulbs. Cute round E26 bulbs. Even oval bulbs. Take a seat before you look at the prices. These are bulbs for fixtures where the bulb is part of the fixture’s presentation. Tala also makes lighting, and I was pleased to see that they released an updated version of Muse, their portable lantern, in new colors, including “claycourt orange.” I’ve had this lantern on my wish list for Ojai, but was waiting for the update!

I stopped by Apparatus Studio, which is the closest you may ever get to feeling like you’re in a Bond film. It may also be the closest you ever get to seeing how billionaires shop. I like that they let non-billionaires like me make appointments. This year they had a “peep-show”:

Not to be outfoxed, The Future Perfect and Dudd Haus hosted a show of 120 nightlights made by artists; scroll down to see the catalog. I had two favorites: this Victorian era-inspired glass cube by Alexis & Ginger, and this ramen light by Warren Young (for $10!).

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My friend Jojo and I also stopped by Afternoon Light, whose entranceway, designed as an homage to the old Halston offices (see up top), nearly upstaged the show. There are smart developments happening in tile finishes. Get ready for stripes from Parmatile (not on their site yet). I finally got to try out the RAD Furniture x Studio Sam Klemick chair that pops up on Instagram design accounts every few days, and I’m happy to report that its cozy and chic factors are aligned. There’s a company called Dimwit making dimmers that look like pieces of candy. And houndstooth showed up in a new way.

All that browsing and hoofing required a hearty lunch from Daily Provisions. This is my avocado toast with its bacon roof:

Yours in Bond and bulbs,

Amanda

Before I left Ojai, I made some kumquat preserves, a recipe I learned from my friend Genevieve Yam, a senior editor at Serious Eats. She’d halve the kumquats and blanch them 3 times before simmering them with sugar. I shortcutted a bit, but next time I’d halve the kumquats, a good task to take on while listening to, say, Famesick. Here’s a loose how-to and some tips on how to use them (including dropping them on top of the Maialino Olive Oil Cake):

A few months ago, a company called Typical reached out to see if I wanted to try their towels. I was skeptical: the colorways seemed too Instagram-ready, their sales pitch was about the towel being stretchy. Who needs a stretchy towel? “It’s a subtle innovation, but it fundamentally changes how a towel feels and performs,” wrote Sean, their head of communication. The company was started by a co-founder of Herschel Supply Co., maker of high-quality backpacks. I was just curious enough to say yes.

I used the towels for two months. I had guests use them. Kara, who works with me, tried them, too. Everyone liked them, especially those with long hair—having a little stretch helps hold a wrapped towel on your head. It also helps hold it around your body and makes it easier to dry off your back. The towels are thin but not ungenerous in feel. They also dry swiftly. The only issue I had was that the towels in darker colors felt less absorbent, so I asked Sean if dyes changed the nature of the textile. “You’re right that it comes down to the dyeing process,” he explained. “Darker colors require more dye and higher heat, which slows down how quickly the fibres can take on water straight out of the packaging.” It’s not a drastic difference, but keep it in mind if you’re choosing colors.

Last year, I did a towel round-up. My only edit would be to add Typical to the list.

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Every year, founders Karuna Scheinfeld and Mae Fatto of the B-corp fashion brand Four Objects send their Work Shirt to women whose work inspires them. This year, they teamed up with my friend Libby DeLana, a creative director and the author of Cold Joy—and I was one of the lucky ones on their shirt list.

With the shirt was a note from Libby, “There is a photograph of Georgia O’Keeffe that I keep returning to. She is standing in the New Mexico desert, wearing a plain black shirt with the collar buttoned to the top, the fabric loose and honest against the landscape. She does not look like someone who got dressed. She looks like someone who got to work.” It’s a beautiful work shirt, soft but mildly structured. Four Objects uses chemical- and plastic-free fabrics from organic mills and Japanese deadstock. I plan to cook and write in mine. I thought you’d like to know about the brand, which was new to me.

(By the way, you may be thinking that I was paid to write about the towels and shirt. Or that I write about anything people send me. I can assure you I do not. The great majority of the foods and products that are sent unsolicited don’t get coverage. I only recommend products that I like and believe in.)

Now that we’re on the edge of June, here’s a preview of what’s ahead: I’ll be covering more on renovation budgets, organization (I recently helped to clean out my sister’s house and have lessons to share), and fun design stuff, like every wallpaper we chose for the Ojai home—a big departure from our Brooklyn apartment. Have a great weekend!

Chloe Redmond Warner is a joyful person. It comes through when you meet her. She lights up when she sees you and makes you feel like you’re the best part of her day. Her humor and enthusiasm shine in her writing, which you can enjoy on her Substack RAD Minimag or in her glittering new book, This Must Be The Place: Homes With Atmosphere. On bedroom design, she wrote, “Did you know some colors make people feel energized and hungry? Burger King did the research on this and their selections are the opposite of what you should choose for your bedroom. No reds, no yellows, don’t do high-contrast, don’t make it smell like beef.” It also radiates from her interior design work at her Berkeley-based firm Redmond Aldrich. An unhappy mind could not create a room like this or a design brief called “Little Women on Acid.”

Chloe calls her firm “a purveyor of aesthetic intelligence” or “AQ.” There’s so much cultural emphasis on IQ and EQ, but I’m with Chloe on her quest to bring AQ into the conversation. Life would be pretty dull if there weren’t people with a strong AQ.

For Chloe’s book launch—copies are now out in the wild!—she kindly took time to answer my questions about her own home renovations, and to dive into the tension that designers face in reconciling with their own homes versus their often more lavish client projects.

On that note, chime in to this week’s Chat (or in the comments below) if you have any insights on the when and how much to renovate.

Yours in house snooping,

Amanda

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I feel a little bit shy talking about my own home. Like, I shouldn’t share until it’s better: a perfect reflection of my inner life that also, tastefully, reflects every single thing I am capable of. Ha! That amount of pressure probably isn’t serving me sanity-wise, but it did give me pause when Amanda first asked me to contribute. When I thought about it, though, I realized a big part of what I believe in is the quest. I believe it’s worth paying attention to what makes you happy, to make an effort to improve your surroundings and that will improve your life. It doesn’t have to be all at once. I sense if it did happen all at once I would find something else to improve.

When I started my firm, the first project published was my newlywed apartment, and I remember feeling a huge sense of alignment between my home life and my work life. Fast forward 15 years and now the projects we do for clients have outpaced what I’m able to do for myself, and I don’t always feel aligned when I come home at the end of the day. Some of the choices I made when we moved in now feel deranged to me: I went ham with decorative painting, I basically bedazzled stock paneled doors, I had a corny chevron pattern applied at the back of the bookshelves I look at the most. I hate these choices now, but because I know how much work and money it takes to bring things up to snuff, I just ignore them! Other choices are so good I feel sorry my clients will never get to have them: the tension between the vintage wicker lounge chair that sits in front of my sofa and two huge Landon Metz paintings, or the kooky pair of side tables with built-in plant holders. These things are wonderful but were unplanned. They are the result of accidents and scrappiness and a tiny bit of laziness, and those traits just don’t come to work with me.

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• Considerations for our outdoor shower (hint: always keep sight lines in mind)

• Nathan Turner’s new design book

• A south Indian egg recipe

• Art Deco lamps

• A tour around the Future Fair in NYC

But first, thanks to the many of you who responded to the short survey in last week’s post. There was one comment that I’d love to hear the group’s thoughts on:

“Truthfully, it would be fine with me if you produced less content. I think a lot of Substackers try to make subscriptions ‘worth it’ by posting a ton, but I don’t have time to read everything.”

Do others feel inundated? If so, please let me know in the comments.

Another reader wrote:

“Are you actually doing the promised 1 free post a month?”

I am, but maybe I’m not making it clear enough which ones are free. From now on, I’ll note *Free Post* at the top of these posts.

There’s still time to answer the 3-question survey here. I’d love to hear from you!

Start Survey

Now, to outdoor showers…

I was not raised with outdoor showers. I hear from Tad and other friends who grew up going to East Coast beaches and summer camps that showering with the open sky above and fresh air all around you is magical. It sounds a lot like camping to me. One of my life goals is to become a camper, but I’m not there yet. Having an outdoor shower in Ojai may be the gateway drug.

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Everyone has a short list of menu items that their brain scans for. For Tad, it’s the words bolognese and beets. For my friend Merrill, it’s ricotta and rosé. For me, it’s anchovy, tonnato, and zucchini when it’s in season. So local Ojai favorite Rory’s Place had me defenseless with its “Romanesco zucchini tonnato, anchovy bread crumb, pickled mustard seed.” I will be working on a recipe for it to share this summer.

In other summer prep news, my friend Anna told me about this amazing bug catcher (and releaser). There are a lot of bugs everywhere in summer, so stock up on this humane and well-designed tool, which is Tad-approved. Ojai is full of spiders, and he’s the spider-catcher in the family. I’m the shrieking spider-spotter. The catcher tool even has a built-in magnifying glass should you want a close look at a spider’s pedipalps.

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More scintillating inspo in this week’s Homeward:

• Our return to NYC

• A guide to outdoor furniture: what we did for outdoor “rooms” and seating areas in Ojai; which products we chose; and why outdoor furniture feels so disconnected from the rest of the design industry. (There wasn’t enough room here to include my 50+ picks, so head over to Rec League to see them all. A reminder that free subscribers get 15% off with this code. Paid subscribers, scroll down for a special discount.)

• Some questions for you all just below!

• If you haven’t yet picked up a gift for Mother’s Day, here is my list from a few weeks ago (also, Ode à la Rose roses or Farm Girl Flowers peonies are a great back-pocket save).

Homewardians! I would love to hear your thoughts on these two quick points:

Start Survey

Ok, let’s get to it.

We returned to New York for the summer. To pigeons nesting on our bedroom air conditioner, loudly cooing every morning. To fireworks awakening us at midnight (a special feature of living in Brooklyn Heights). To a bathroom that needs major wall and cabinetry repair due to a leak while we were away. And to a kitchen drawer that refuses to stay closed and sneaks out to stick at 7 inches open (I measured).

That said, we’ve also been reminded of New York’s unparalleled energy. On our first day back, I went to an opening for SIN, a ceramics brand created by Virginia Sin, whose porcelain paper plates I bought back when her business was her side gig. The Williamsburg location is Virginia’s first brick and mortar store, and it’s like a shoebox filled with treasures. We have her square, woven flushmount sconce in our Ojai house.

I joined thousands of walkers for the Great Saunter, a 32-mile (34 with the odd detour) loop around the shoreline of Manhattan, then spent the next 24 hours horizontal. I ate a cardamom bun from Ferrane and a cruller from Daily Provisions. I walked a packaging trade show at the Javits Center, and learned that New England still boasts a number of paper printing companies that were started in the 19th century.

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My neighbor in Ojai texted me a photo of the “moon water” she’d made (moon water is like sun tea but made with water, crystals, and moonlight instead of water, teabags, and sunlight), and I felt very far away from Ojai.

Our Backyard Design

As it’s getting “warm” in New York and many of you are probably starting to think about opening your windows and dusting off your grills, it seems like a good time to show you what we did for outdoor furniture in Ojai. We worked with Terremoto to create a landscape with lots of separate areas and modes. Then we collaborated with Reath Design on clusters of seating areas. Here’s a zone-by-zone lay of the land:

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I am in deep, enduring love with our pizza oven. Cooking with it is so different from a stove. It’s as if you’re the captain of a small ship, feeding it coals to keep the engine running, steering its course, and heeding the whims of the passengers. When you make pizza, people gather around you and peer inside the oven. Everyone likes to play with the infrared temperature gun. And when you serve up a fresh pizza, it’s like bringing a birthday cake with candles aglow to a table. Everyone centers their attention; you can feel the joy.

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The other fun part is that people want to participate. When I’m at my stove, no one asks to brown the chicken. When we had our neighbors over for pizza in Ojai, at one point I needed to run into the kitchen and I asked Marty and Max, a father and son, if they’d mind taking charge of the oven. “We’ve been waiting for you to ask us,” Marty said. Max also brought an incredible dough using his sourdough starter. I will work on getting his recipe for you!

I don’t want to spoil the video below, which takes you from oven installation to oven curing to pizza making, but I want to be sure to share some resources that complement it:

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I’ve spent the last 15 years in the kitchen and home business, and I thought it would be an important exercise as I plan my next business to put myself in the shoes of a customer. Plus, I love shopping, which I guess is like saying, “Plus, I’m American.”

I wanted to experience what it would be like searching for a handmade mixing bowl in what I deem the perfect shape (more on this in a future post), or a good steamer for my clothes, or a reasonably-priced vintage rolling pin.

I plan to continue looking for things when I travel and to support local businesses wherever I can, but when we moved in I was managing two tight book deadlines, some other work issues, this Substack, and the remaining construction on our house. In other words, I was busy like many people, and did a bunch of my shopping on the Internet.

I have a leg up on most people because I know a lot of companies and small makers. I think of myself as someone who’s dialed into where to look and what to look for.

Yet the TL;DR is that it’s been a humbling experience. Shopping online has become a lot less fun. The ad industry has rendered it useless for discovering new products from companies that don’t pay for advertising—namely, individual designers and craftspeople. Internet product search is now a digital version of the Sunday circular: a place for big brands to push discounts and deals.

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People say that online customer reviews have improved the experience of buying mass items (like a vacuum cleaner or a blender), because you can get a read on a product’s effectiveness. But this isn’t true. Amazon, for instance, elevates products with lots of positive reviews, which locks in a product’s position in search results, making it increasingly difficult for a better product to get traction. Often it’s pay-to-play with Amazon, where the only way for a company to get its product on the first page of results is to buy a “sponsored” placement. This makes shopping for the best product even more opaque and confounding.

There are review sites like Wirecutter and The Strategist, but even they have fallen prey to featuring brands that they know they’ll get good affiliate rates with. You rarely come across a brand on these sites that’s a one-person entity without a marketing budget.

Big brands compete for your dollar. Discovery and delight are dead.

But not if you talk to the right people. As has been the case forever. I now know who to ask about pillows, plates, and stoves: you. And for everything else, you can always ask me.

A few months ago, I heard from Grier Stockman, who I knew from Block Shop, a textile company she started with her sister. Grier had left Block Shop to co-found Rec League, a platform that collects the recommendations of tastemakers of all stripes—in shopping, travel, and beyond—which people can join to access.

Grier asked if I’d like to gather up my home, cooking, and travel recommendations. For this born list maker, the timing was uncanny. I had been keeping a huge spreadsheet of the products I was researching for our house. I also keep travel itineraries, book lists, and logs of makers that I like for my new business.

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Today, I’m excited to share my Rec League lists and guides. Some are free, some are paid. (Scroll to the end for a special discount code.) Why? Because this isn’t just something I jotted down. It’s my style and point of view; it’s based on the decades I’ve spent studying home goods, working with makers, traveling, and learning.

While some products have affiliate links, most of the products I like come from makers and companies that don’t play the affiliate game. I don’t recommend with affiliate sales in mind; I recommend based on my taste and knowledge (even the products that are sold through Amazon).

You can think of it as a sourcebook that continually updates and expands—I will periodically add to existing collections and launch new ones (such as Outdoor Living and Tabletop). You’ll get updates (if you want) whenever anything new is added. I hope you’ll enjoy what I’ve shared and find it useful for your own lives.

Btw, paid Homeward subscribers will get a portion of these recs through my posts. But if you want a complete resource with everything in one place—including all my baking tools, glassware research, hosting gift recommendations, and everything I bought for the Ojai house—then Rec League’s the spot.

Yours in sharing the useful, the worthy, the unusual, the beautiful, and the delightful stuff,

Amanda

P.S. Free subscribers, here is a 15% discount that you can share, along with this post!

Paid subscribers, you’ll receive 25% off with this special code:

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As you know, I’m being very selective about what comes into the Ojai house. Everything is carefully researched—either by going down internet rabbit holes or, even better, seeing things in-person and vetting them first-hand. Like I did with pillows recently.

After complaining in a recent post about the bed pillows I’d ordered for Ojai, I sent out a call to Homewardians for their suggestions. You delivered bountifully, sharing a number of brands I’d never heard of and strong opinions about a pillow’s construction, sustainability, and comfort. I have found my people! People who are particular about density, fill, and sleep-style ergonomics.

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After collating your notes, I ordered seven of the pillows to test out. Below are my findings, complete with a video, so you can see the pillows in use and get my analysis. I’m also sharing my ideas for Mother’s Day gifts—things at reasonable price points that hit the thoughtful, practical, and delightful trifecta.

I’m also excited to soon share a shopping resource I’ve been working on that will compile my many, many sourcing lists—from cookware to cookbooks, kitchen tools to pantry storage, travel guides to paper goods that support my list-making in style. I’ve always wanted to have everything in one easy-to-navigate spot (think: not a spreadsheet).

Yours in memory foam and buckwheat,

Amanda

And now, onto your recommendations. After going through your many great suggestions, these are the seven I ordered to test out. I included capsule info on each pillow, followed by a video review of my slumber series:

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