It might not rank quite as high on my list of favorite places, but there is definitely something I love about this pared-back place and the time I get there every summer. Don’t get me wrong, I love a decadent summer trip to Europe as much as the next designer/foodie/travel lover. But there is a freedom that we get out of this week in Fenwick that we haven’t found in France or Spain, and that is a return to the absolute essentials. When we go there we are not getting dressed up. We are not going to fancy meals. There is no scene, no shopping, no best-this or best-that to speak of. We pack the essentials and barely anything more. It is our version of the week of minimalism that reminds us that we can certainly live, and live well, without all of the stuff.

In that vein I thought I’d share some favorite pared-back summer inspiration, plus the few things I pack and wear every year for our week at the beach.

When we first started going to Fenwick I packed everything I’d have worn that week at home plus a few bathing suits and cover-ups. I quickly learned that I didn’t need about 90% of what works in Connecticut in the summer. The beauty of my beach wardrobe is that unless something gets stained or ripped, I don’t ever need to swap or replace it:

• A picnic blanket for breakfast and chasing crabs on the beach, and an umbrella (ours is more pretty than practical, my cousins who live down there tell me, but it works for us!)

• A Brick for my phone and camera for when I want to go phone-free.

• Navy blue one-pieces: I own and love this one with chic straps (size up), this printed boat neck, and this sculpt suit that is a game changer for when you’re not feeling quite like wearing a swimsuit.

• Tops, too, all button-downs: Doen brought this one back that I bought last year, and JCrew always sells this classic option.

• Shorts and pants to wear over said one-pieces: this summer I found myself wearing my Gap eyelet and lace pajama pants quite a bit (cue my grandmother rolling over in her grave, but it’s the truth!), these drawstring denim shorts, classic linen pants (I get the petites), and cute eyelet shorts.

• I bring a couple of pairs of shoes: navy beach flip flops (mine are actually an 8-euro pair of what I think are meant to be knockoffs of these? they do the trick), leather flip flops for dinner (mine are 10 years old from J.Crew, but these are a good alt), and a pair of boat/bike riding sneakers. My aunts wore this style sneaker in the ‘90s, and I’ve loved them since.

• A practical hat that won’t blow away on the beach and some sunglasses that never go out of style.

• A simple linen shift for a night out.

• Some favorite simple summer inspiration: an out of print classic Family Houses by the Sea , Summer House (featuring one of our favorite projects!) and Summer by the Sea featuring photos by my friend and photographer Read McKendree.

  

  

  

  

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Here’s to a simpler summer!

x Lilse

I love things and layers, but I also want to live with as little friction in my daily life as I can. For most people, a well-edited home is a luxury. For me, it is directly correlated to how well I can function in all aspects of my life. When my closet is so full that I can’t find a dress, I will definitely be late to the party. When our mudroom looks like complete chaos as I usher the boys to the car, I am much more likely to lose my cool before we even get to school.

The most organized home we ever lived in was a tiny walk-up apartment on West 11th Street. It was probably 650 square feet. We lived there before we had kids, when we were finally making enough money to buy what we needed in terms of furniture and organizing supplies. Nothing was fancy, but the Ikea wardrobes had all the pull-out shelves for shoes and jewelry organizers I could dream of.

The week we moved out, I opened our hallway closet to pull packing tape out of a perfectly sorted Container Store box and sobbed. It takes so much work to get a space dialed in like that, and I knew a new space - even a bigger one - meant starting again with new closet layouts and storage tactics, and a new system to learn. We’ve lived in our house in Connecticut for 5 years now, and I’m still honing the storage tactics in this house.

When I got some time to edit over the last couple of weeks I had to use it wisely, so I wanted to share a few tactics I use— not because I think everyone needs a perfectly sorted house, but because I think most of us underestimate how much our homes are either supporting us or working against us as we go through our daily routines.

• Be absolutely ruthless with clothing. I love Nora Ephron’s line, “If only one third of your clothes are a mistake, you’re ahead of the game.” I like my closet to always feel like it is about 80% full. Think of any photo of a styled closet that makes you want to move into the magazine spread. It is never crammed full of dresses the homeowner wore once. If you can, make sure your hangers match. I like black felt hangers because the color never changes with a new dye lot.

• Apply this same ruthless energy to your kitchen. Toss anything you’re not using or anything that is getting gross. New baking sheets and dish towels are underrated small joys.

• Put AI to work on your junk drawers. I don’t use AI for design work or writing beyond some edits, but I found it really helpful when I needed to quickly figure out how many Container Store drawer organizers I needed, and which sizes. Take photos of your drawer and everything in it, give the drawer dimensions, and the sizes of organizers you want to buy. ChatGPT will give you a layout with notes on where you’ll put everything from the photo.

• I found these swimsuit bags through This Oak House and they are a game changer for keeping swim neatly stacked rather than floating around a drawer.

• While we’re on the subject of swim, I just stumbled upon these adorable wet bags from Weezie - the print is so sweet, and I always end up needing extras when summer days feel nonstop.

• For a long time I threw sunglasses in a bowl in our kitchen (our mudroom is short on space) and had the extra buttons that come with clothes loose in a drawer in my closet. These felt organizers for sunglasses and jewelry trays have helped me get both sorted and put away in my closet.

  

• Rejuvenation makes the best classic hooks. I love these and just hung some in my garage as a place for our L.L. Bean totes to land. We have one for each of the sports the boys play, so the equipment they need for the sport is always packed and ready to grab on the way to the car.

• These clear plastic jars work perfectly for crayons, markers and colored pencils, and look nice displayed in a playroom.

• I just bought a few of these lidded jute boxes and they are great for hiding all sorts of things on open shelves: eye masks and red light glasses on a bedside table, tampons in a bathroom, even a sound machine and charging cords.

• Do a quick scan of your house for unused storage space. It sounds strange but sometimes a client who says they need more storage has an empty piece of furniture or closet that they hadn’t considered. I realized my living room secretary had empty drawers, and ordered some of my favorite drawer liners to put them to use. These handwoven baskets are another great solution - the taller rectangular styles look nice under a console table and the round versions are great for extra blankets.

• Beautiful labels help everyone keep things sorted. My friend Stephanie Woodmansee designed a linen cabinet with labels like these that inspired me to order them for my linen cabinet in my laundry room.

• I ordered a few of these pouches with different words embroidered on them: “First Aid” in red to keep stocked with all of the essentials in our cars, “Sunscreen,” and “Bugs” to keep in the mudroom for quick SPF application or bug spray on the way out the door.

• If you only have five minutes to yourself, sweep your front step and wipe down your front door. Keeping the entry clean is very important per feng shui wisdom, and it always scratches the itch for me of feeling like I (maybe, sort of) have it together amidst the chaos.

Happy editing!

x Lilse

I don’t need to tell you about the magic of safari. There are plenty of travel writers who can do a much better job of that. But I do want to share a few of the things I took home with me.

A Bit of Freedom

On one of the long flights back, I listened to an interview with a luxury travel advisor who said safari travel was up 24 percent for her firm in the last year. Her theory was that people are craving in-person experiences again. We all want time in nature, real connection, and a break from our screens that a week by a pool doesn’t always give us.

As I listened, I was still processing the experience of safari while mentally racing back toward real life in Connecticut. But it struck me that she was right. Being away from my phone was truly one of the greatest gifts of the experience.

At the camps, I could check in once a day, which was enough to know nothing was on fire, but for most of the day my mind was free from email, Instagram, and the reflex of looking something up the second I wondered about it. I found myself daydreaming again. Suddenly, I had time to think about old goals and ideas I have carried around for years but don’t always have the space to sit with properly.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to bring some of that mental space home. I do have a Brick, and I am going to try to start bricking my phone again for as much of my free time as I can. The thing that always pulls me back is the camera. I want my phone nearby because I want pictures of my boys. I want to remember the summer they were 5 and 7, down to the messiest details. But I also want those photos to live somewhere other than my phone.

I’m hoping this instant camera, which can print photos on the spot, might be the answer. The boys can take some pictures themselves, and I can hand them the good ones as we go. I want them to have a little summer scrapbook in real time, and as much time with a phone-free me as I can give them.

Some Inspiration

With my mind a little quieter than usual, I kept thinking about how a trip like this eventually finds its way into creative work. So many of my favorite designers have woven nods to African travel into their interiors.

A more recent favorite space of mine is Amanda Ross’s Arts and Crafts house in East Hampton, designed by Muriel Brandolini. Brandolini’s interiors are never about one reference. They are layered with travel, textiles, craft, and a sense of having absorbed many places over time. In Amanda’s house, she used woven African bowls much like the ones I bought in the camp gift shops, which were made by the camp staff. I love the way they sit in such an American-feeling room. They add texture and looseness and something handmade.

At every stop in Botswana, there were wire and bead animal sculptures that reminded me of Marie Christophe’s sculptures and lanterns, including the one Brandolini had custom-made in the sunroom of the same house.

The camps also had Tuareg mats brought down from the north, which I have always loved mixed with European and American pieces. They take the formality down a notch and make a room feel more relaxed and alive, like in one version of Lauren Santo Domingo’s East Hampton living room.

This longtime favorite room of mine by Jacques Grange carries more of the feeling of the camps in Southern Africa rather than any specific items. You can’t quite put your finger on it, which is, of course, the genius of Jacques Grange.

Souvenirs & Safari Gear

I came home with a few little things that could fit in my bag: a woven wrap (similar here), malachite ring dishes (like these), a few woven bowels (love these too), these hand-embroidered placemats that have my kids excited to set the table.

Even after two weeks of wearing mostly brown and green to avoid tsetse flies and predators, I am still reaching for some of what I packed:

• This field jacket, which I first spotted on Julia Amory, is such an easy layering piece for a slightly chilly day.

• Oversized scarves are always a staple for me, and this one from The Great is light enough for warmer weather and can double as a sarong.

• The camps gave us warm water bottles for early morning drives and chilly nights, and I loved it so much that I picked up this cover in London on my way home.

• A friend of mine recommended these sculpt swimsuits from J.Crew and I packed this brown one for Botswana and a night in East Hampton (along with this hat), so I think it’ll be a summer staple for me.

• I’ve owned this Lindquist bag for a bit now and reach for it more than I was expecting to - I ended up using it every day on safari.

I included a few readily available pieces for the home that highlight African craftsmanship - Tuareg mats, African indigo pillows, and handwoven placemats and bowls that bring the same sort of unfussy, relaxed vibe as the interiors I spoke about above. You can shop the whole edit here!

And if there's anything you'd like me to write about in a future Field Notes, I'd love to hear it! Leave a comment below.

x Lilse

The living room and the kitchen were always meant to work together, but the connection between them felt disjointed. We removed the windowed wall between them and replaced it with a cased opening large enough to fit a good-sized island. In doing this, it created openness without fully consolidating it all into one large space, which was important - we wanted each space to feel defined, even as they began to work more closely together.

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I had the pleasure of revisiting our Maine project recently when I received a copy of Jaci Conry’s new book, Summer House. It brought me back to the early stages of the design, thinking through what the house needed, and how much we reshaped along the way. A few weeks ago I asked my Instagram followers to write in any questions they had about the project, and I’m excited to dive into everything here.

As I started writing, I realized there was much more to say than would comfortably fit in one note, so I’ll be sharing this in two parts, starting with first impressions of the house, the floor plan, and the entry. I also did a little shopping and put together a small collection of pieces inspired by the project - shop everything here!

Often with projects, before we ever think about furniture, we spend a great deal of time working through the bones of a house: adjusting layouts, rethinking openings, and considering how each space needs to function. This project required a close look at how the house was organized: how spaces connect, and where small architectural changes could make a meaningful difference. The architectural work is something we often can take on entirely in-house, and it’s one of my favorite parts of the process.

Q: How do you know what the possibilities are from the bones of a house?

This is my favorite question I got when I shared that I would be diving into the specifics of the renovation of this house in Maine. I wouldn’t say that I know what the possibilities are from walking through a house. When I’m there in person, I get an inkling of what is good about the house and what is possible. During my first visit to this house, I loved that it wasn’t too formal. There was something very easy about the architecture, but the spaces unfolded onto one another in a way that was not quite right, and I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why.

I come away from that type of visit with a list of wants, knowing that I’ll work out the real possibilities on the drafting table. There are a few basic spatial “rules” that I have learned from taking a few classes, a lifetime of reading all the tips and tricks I could get my hands on, and from doing this for a while. But I think beyond that, for some of us, there is an innate understanding of how space works and how the eye interprets it. We can feel when a cased opening is too big for the space it opens onto, and we know when creating an axis or focal point will help focus the room for the people who are enjoying it. Maybe we can’t articulate it on a first visit, but a study of plans and photos will give it away. A beach house like this one is a destination, and is meant to be a place to escape to and congregate within. With that overarching goal in mind, we began to re-work the floor plan, ultimately resulting in the below red-line drawing of the first floor.

Originally, the entry functioned more as a pass-through space. While that made sense for a shingle-style house on paper, in reality it felt dark and a bit forgotten. For a summer home, where people are traveling from far away, that first moment matters. We wanted the house to greet you with a sense of cheerful ease - something that immediately signals you’ve arrived somewhere special, a place meant for gathering and unwinding. To do that, we began reworking both the structure and the feeling of the space. We removed a small vestibule that led into a guest room, significantly expanding the footprint, and added built-in cabinetry to accommodate all the practical things that accumulate in a summer house - sunscreen, towels, bug spray.

There’s a balance I think about often in spaces like this: how to give a room definition while still allowing it to feel open and expansive. Floors are a great, and often overlooked, decorative element - what you do with them can either expand or contract the space to the eye. We found an early 19th century wall stencil in this book and because I wanted to open and brighten the entry, applied it to the floor in an intentionally oversized scale, which helped both stretch the room visually and counteract the original darkness.

At the same time, we were thinking about how to introduce a bit more personality into the architecture without losing its sense of ease. The clients were very drawn to Beauport - a shingle-style house that is unique for its kind in its layered, eclectic, and highly personalized interiors. Frederic Magazine captured it beautifully here. There are moments where the architecture surprises you, particularly in the use of arches and irregular openings. We pulled from that idea here, introducing subtle arched case openings to give the spaces more character while still maintaining a sense of restraint.

We painted the existing Dutch door a deep blue and updated the hardware, creating more contrast and visual interest in the space. The detailing throughout, including the surface-mounted HL hinges on the cabinetry, is simple and utilitarian, but rooted in the language of the region. That balance between simplicity and personality became an important thread as we designed the rest of the home. We wanted the spaces to feel grounded, while still allowing for a sense of charm, playfulness, and celebration - from that first moment of arrival all the way through the house.

Q: What historical references did you use for this project?

As I mentioned, our client was really inspired by Beauport and sent me a book from her visit there which served as the jumping off point for a few concepts throughout the house, like the paint color for the kitchen cabinets. She also was hoping for a bit of a “Gloria Vanderbilt moment,” with gingham used throughout the house. We carried that idea through the first floor in varying scales and colors, allowing it to appear in different applications and forms from room to room. It’s one of those elements that adds personality and continuity at the same time: playful and fresh, yet entirely fitting for this home.

I did a lot of internet digging (since we were under lockdown for a good portion of the time I spent designing this house) and was very inspired by the late 18th and early 19th century New England homes featured in Folk Art Murals of the Rufus Porter School and American Wall Stenciling, 1790-1840. I think we imagine these homes having really muted, muddy palettes, but that wasn’t actually the case. Like the historically accurate homes in Colonial Williamsburg, many of the images of these homes were refreshingly vibrant. My reading about Rufus Porter informed the wall mural in the dining room, by Connor Owens of S.O. Beaux Arts.

There is a lot more to this house that builds on these early decisions - how the kitchen and living room came together, the defining of the dining room and keeping room, and how the porch ultimately became one of the most used spaces in the house. I’ll get into all of that, along with the rest of your questions, in Part II.

Linking the Maine-inspired shopping edit again if you don’t feel like scrolling back up- just a handful of pieces that echo the same mood and sensibility of the house. Enjoy!!

X Lilse

I’ve been culling inspiration for the season ahead, with construction projects, lots of events, and travel on the horizon, and wanted to share some of it with you:

• If you can find twenty minutes to watch the Chanel Cruise 26/27 show, it is worth it. I was inspired by my friend Julia to watch it this weekend, and I’m so glad I did. It all feels joyful, layered, a little undone, and designed to actually be worn. All of the individual looks are linked here.

• The show made me nostalgic for Marbella Club Hotel, where we stayed last June. It is my favorite hotel I’ve been to. Marie-Caroline Willms struck the perfect balance of polish, ease and whimsy. That combination is a tricky note to hit, but she does it again and again across the property.

• I loved this Paris apartment by Laura Gonzalez. I first noticed it because of a straw marquetry credenza that stopped me mid-scroll, and was so happy to see the full project published. She has a real ability to mix styles and eras in a way that never feels forced. We stayed at Saint James Paris, also designed by her, a couple of years ago, and I still think about the pool during a surprise June heatwave.

• We have been slowly chipping away at landscaping at home with our landscape designer Gabrielle Daly. Every time I start a garden project I am reminded of how much there is to learn. Kathryn Herman is speaking at a fundraiser I am attending this week. I have long admired her work, including a neighbor’s house that is currently on the market, and I am looking forward to her new book.

• I’m heading on my first safari next month and trying to be thoughtful about what I bring, sticking to things I’ll actually use there and at home. Indagare recommends a hands free bag, so I ordered this one from Lindquist, along with an insect repellent shawl that I think will end up being useful all summer.

• I sadly missed the Ticking Tent in New Preston, but managed a full day of antiquing nearby at Michael Trapp and Plain Goods, followed by a delicious lunch at Smyth, just a few steps from R.T. Facts. A perfect Friday and a great reminder of what time away from your desk can do for your eye, and your brain.

  

• After some damage from the winter storms we’re in the beginning stages of a kitchen and primary bath refresh. This kitchen by Jeannette Whitson has been on my mind because the layout works so well for living inside and out. It’s exactly how we host once the weather is finally nice.

  

I also put together a little shopping edit inspired by everything I’m seeing:

• Now that it’s finally patio season and my garden is shaping up, I realized I’m in need of some updated outdoor-friendly tableware. I thought this flatware set from Zara was very chic, hoping the color leans more citrine, less pistachio.

• I own and love these plates from Ark Elements (part of their spring sale) and use them often on my patio. I also love these striped napkins.

• These marbled edge terracotta pots can be hard to find but Litten Tree Antiques has a good selection! I own a few in different sizes and they always spark joy.

• A screened food dome is often a total after-thought - this one has beautiful woven details. Attractive + practical.

• I went looking for some new lanterns and found these nice looking ones from Ikea that I think I’ll order.

• Lastly, if you’re in the mood for some spring clothing shopping, I linked a few pieces I’m ordering in the edit. You can shop everything here!

x Lilse

Get Your Drawings Right First

Always, always start with good as-built architectural drawings of your space. You need them for a slew of reasons (where are the outlets? is that light centered? etc.) but the most important is scale. I hand draw all of my furniture plans and do a combination of hand drawn and CAD elevations to help confirm scale and give our clients a visual. A survey and architectural drawings can be expensive so if you can’t swing it, grab a measuring tape and try your hand at it. For my first apartment I hand drew the plans and elevations to make sure I got it all right. Buy a scale ruler and sketch out your space on graph paper so that you can draw that dining table or sofa in before you buy it. A 1/4” scale (1/4”= 1 foot) is typically best for floor plans and 1/2” scale is best for most elevations.

Some free online resources will allow you to get the sense that you are doing this to scale by “dropping in” a sofa, but the dimensions are almost never exact to the piece you want to buy, so I think a hand sketch is worth the effort.

A quick google will tell you how much space you need around your dining table for chairs to pull out (+/- 36”, I consider this a guide and not gospel) or how to determine if your ceiling fixture is the right size for over the table (take the length and width of the room in feet and add them up, the total is the ideal diameter in inches, i.e. a 15’ x 20’ room needs a 35” diameter chandelier over the dining table).

The More Lamps the Better

Good lighting is essential to enjoying a space. If you spend a small fortune decorating a room and rely on recessed ceiling lights it will only look good in the light of day. At night it will feel like you’re in a bad office park. It is very important to have warm lamp light at your eye level and below, to give you a glowy uplight effect when you walk into a room. The more non-recessed light sources you can add to a space, the better.

Here are few neutral lamps that would do the trick in many settings: An ivory ceramic lamp, cordless rattan accent lamp, classic brass floor lamp, and a floral plaster lamp for a touch of something pretty.

Shopping Notes for Home

• How cute is this delft style sconce and this fabric pendant light with the floral detail? I don’t have a home for them right now but maybe you do!

• I’m hoping to use these sconces in a project we’re doing in Vero Beach.

• I’ve always wondered why Svenskt Tenn doesn’t print Joseph Frank fabrics in the colorways from this photo of his artwork I found many years ago, and now Sandberg is making this overscale wall mural in that same softer palette. It even comes in peel and stick if you’re in a rental!

• How sweet is this little swing arm hook in the clover? And the fish?

• I really like this rug as a neutral that is not a solid jute, and thought this one would be nice in a bedroom. I love a Pottery Barn surprise!

• The scale and colors in this Lulu & Georgia rug are really beautiful and would make a great starting point for a room.

And a Spring Staples Refresh

• Every now and then I do a big Gap haul to refresh the basics and scored a few things worth sharing in my last one: a super comfy cotton crew neck sweater that is somewhere between sweater and sweatshirt (also comes in a good brown), linen pj pants and top, a great white tee.

• These new Julia Berolzheimer for Margaux shoes will be a staple for me this summer. Sadly there was frost on the ground this morning here in CT.

• From kids, a puppy, and a very cold and dry winter the baskets in my house need to be replaced. Pottery Barn beachcomber is a classic for fire logs or large toy overflow.

• Caraway sent me a few pans to try and I really loved their nonstick. We use the 8” so frequently that they don’t last in my house, so I’m ordering a new one.

Happy sourcing!

x Lilse

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The truth is that was never the intention. I’m not an influencer and I don’t imagine sharing links will ever be a meaningful source of income. Long before I knew about Substack, I started Field Notes simply as a way to share more context with people who followed my work. It was a place for things that don’t quite fit into an Instagram caption or fleeting story.

Before I was a designer, or even working in the industry, I was a devoted reader of shelter magazines. In my teens and college I didn’t own a home of my own, and couldn’t afford custom finishes or high end interiors vendors, but I wanted to learn. I wanted to know what was the best, and more importantly, how designers thought about the world.

Of course, I wanted to know where Charlotte Moss bought baskets, and which CB2 pieces Miles Redd deemed worthy of placing in his projects. But it went far beyond catalog shopping for my room. I paid just as much attention to where designers traveled (always in search of beauty for beauty’s sake), what they wore (usually classic rather than trendy), how they hosted (graciously), and what they were cooking (taste forward, always). Their recommendations felt aligned with my tastes in a way that celebrity culture or trend-driven fashion, food, and travel writing rarely did.

At some point, the magazines shifted. They became more focused on ad dollars and clicks than on sharing those notes from designers, and I found myself missing that quieter, more personal kind of guidance. A few blogs filled the gap for a time, but many of them either disappeared or followed the same path of the magazines when the influencer economy took hold.

When I started my business and built a small following on Instagram, I noticed something interesting: people asked me just as often about books, clothes, travel, and recipes, as they did about rooms and furniture. That curiousity inspired Field Notes, which became a space to hold and share all of that, and a creative outlet within my business that could expand on the design work.

Field Notes has always had strong open rates, and I like to think that’s because it offers something similar to what those pre-internet shelter magazines once gave me: a small spark of inspiration that can be applied to everyday life.

A few sparks from this week that I wanted to pass along:

• Valentino’s London flat in the 90’s by Roger Banks-Pye of Colefax & Fowler is a masterclass in maximalism that still influences so many of us. I saw it pop up on my friend Max’s instagram this week and again on Natalie Catalina’s newsletter.

• Natalie also shared a link to an archive H&G article on Graydon Carter’s apartment in the 90’s. I split screen with his current downtown apartment, recently featured by AD and styled by my friend Mieke ten Have, for a little side-by-side on how his style has changed and stayed the same.

  

  

  

  

  

• A few people mentioned The Artist’s Way to me recently, and Sam Penner wrote about it here. I completed the course in college for a creative writing class and kept up with morning pages for years because of how much mental clarity they brought me. Rereading it now has been a reminder of why those pages work, and of the brilliant concept of artist dates.

• Belle Burden’s Strangers is incredibly hard to put down. Naturally, I’m hoping someone publishes her home next.

• We made beef bourguignon with toast to get through this bitter cold and it was delicious but also, maybe more importantly, made for excellent leftovers.

• I keep trying to fit in a trip to Ikea, mostly because I really need a fresh set of these classic dish towels and a few of these bags that are really the best for schlepping.

I hope these notes land with you the way those shelter-magazine moments landed with me - small nudges towards a richer, more inspired life. If there’s anything specific you’d like me to write about, I’m all ears!

x Lilse

We’re heading to one of our favorite spots in the Bahamas later this month. After a January of snowstorms and viruses, plus a week with my phone bricked, I’m finding it hard to think about anything other than our upcoming trip to Harbour Island.

When I have a trip on the horizon, I set up a foldable hanging rack and start pulling together outfits. I like to travel efficiently, and packing a carry-on always requires more intention than checking a bag. I get a lot of requests to share more of my wardrobe, so I’m testing the waters here and sharing what I actually pack and wear.

Over the week or so leading up to a trip, I add and subtract from the rack, building mental momentum for the trip. It feels a bit like scheming a room, with all of the materials laid out so I can visualize the plan. I usually settle on a clear palette so that everything works together and can be worn interchangeably. I pack with cubes (mine are old Paravel, but I like the look of these) that somehow manage to save space both in my suitcase and wherever I land. I’m hoping to squeeze everything into this Away larger carry-on I bought in London last year to pack purchases (their boutiques will messenger bags to your hotel, if you’re ever in a pinch!).

We’ve been going to Harbour Island nearly every year for a decade, and our days tend to fall into an easy rhythm. We start our mornings with coffee and breakfast at the Cocoa Shop or Arthur’s, then we pile into the golf cart and head to Ms. V’s for beach chairs, long swims, and grilled lobster for lunch. It’s vacation, so we have a painkiller or two before we head home from the beach. For dinner, we’ll pick up conch salad from Queen Conch and sushi from Da Vine for nights at home. If we’re going out, I like waiting for a table at the bar at The Landing, and the boys are happiest with the pizza at Acquapazza.

Nothing is formal, and all I need for the week is linen, a few bathing suits, and a handful of easy accessories. Some of the necklaces here are by Sophie Buhai and truly beautiful, but I also love semiprecious beaded necklaces found on Etsy (search for lapis, malachite, jade) and in souks and antique shops. I’m rewearing many pieces I already own, with a few additions I ordered online from my friend Elizabeth Tuke’s shop. This striped dress, a simple shift with a waist, and this chic bathing suit didn’t make the cut on the collages below but will get a lot of wear on this trip.

Ok, enough daydreaming about lounging at Ms.V’s. Back to work!

x Lilse

On the Walls

Q: Love that wall floral design! Where’d that come from? :)

A: This is the entry hall of a historic home built in the mid-1700s, and it has more intimate proportions than the formal rooms of the house. My clients wanted the entry to make a statement while still feeling very inviting. I wanted to trick the eye into believing the space is larger than its actual footprint. One decorative way to achieve this is by using as much white space as possible within a pattern.

Scenic wallpaper is often the solution when you want to make a statement, and I was drawn to something historic. I stopped by the Pierre Frey showroom to see what Zuber might have that could work for this house. In the showroom, they had framed maquettes of an early 19th-century scenic paper that struck me as the perfect inspiration for a mural. Rather than gray tones, I wanted blues on an ivory background. What I loved about the maquettes was that they felt slightly more naïve than the final product.

Because we wanted the ceilings to feel higher, we removed any additional design elements that would overcomplicate or crowd the space and draw the eye downward. We kept only the trees and painted them onto the ceiling to draw the eye up and make the ceiling feel taller. We also benefited from the fact that this part of the house is so old that there is too much movement in the ceilings for crown molding to sit flat, so we had nothing stopping us from bringing the trees up onto the ceiling.

If you’re interested in the history of scenic wallpapers I highly recommend this book.

Q: Or do you give your painter a color scheme + rough concept + they come up with it?

A: This one got cut off, but I think the question is about how specific I am in my instructions for my decorative painters when we are working on a project like this one. I am very specific, but also ask the artist (in this case, Connor Owens of S.O. Beaux Arts) to follow his intuition and give us a sample that he feels confident will communicate the look we’re targeting. Below are images we reviewed, sketches I drew up for this idea, and the sample he made based on our brief. It was perfect.

Custom murals (and custom floor cloths) require months of back and forth between my team and the artists, with tweaks to colors, texture, and maquettes, until we land on the final vision for the space.

I love this video of Connor Owens painting the mural:

On the Floors

Q: Did the walls or the floor come first in your vision?

A: Because I wanted to solve for the space feeling tight, I envisioned these two solutions together. Adding a grid with “white space” (sand strie space in this case!) to the floor expands the space for your eye. A grid in the right scale makes any space feel larger, just as a pattern with white space makes walls retract.

Q: Teach us your ways of finding the perfect balance of warm and cool 🙏

A: This is so personal, but I think when a house is too cool, with no warmer tones, it feels sterile. I always try to find a balance, so thank you for noticing! Here I used a strie on the trim that is a warm, light sand color that is close to the strie color that existed in an adjacent room. We made the oilcloth slightly darker to add contrast and to better hide any dirt that tracks in.

Q: Would love to learn more about floor cloths- design and how they even stay in place!

A: Oilcloths (or floor cloths— either works!) were actually fairly common in early American interiors. They often featured stencil designs or faux marble meant to mimic expensive marbles found in Europe. I love to use them in entries, halls and kitchens because they are waterproof and wipeable. They are essentially painted canvases that are sealed. I sketch the design and scale, provide the paint colors, and our decorative painters interpret the pattern from there. In a space like this one, the cloth is cut to fit the space just like a custom carpet would be. It is kept in place with some adhesive in the corners that is easy to remove and doesn’t harm the floors. The floor grilles, which you can see in the image above, were painted to blend seamlessly with the cloth.

Q: Deciding on carpet vs. painted floor

A: I love a painted floor (or oilcloth) for any space that will be getting a ton of foot traffic and would benefit from a wipeable surface. I also find them easier to customize than carpets because paint colors are easier to manipulate than threads in my opinion. With a painted floor you might need to touch it up every few years, but you wont worry about staining, pilling, or wear on the fibers like you would with a rug.

Q: Where is the carpet on the steps from? How did you select the runner for the staircase?

A: The runner is from Elizabeth Eakins. I wanted something that could withstand a lot of foot traffic, in a tonal version of the blues in the mural. I love a wool basketweave.

Q: Love the painted posts and railing! Do you mind sharing the finishes?

A: Thank you! The spindles are Benjamin Moore Palace Pearl CW660 in a Satin finish. We didn’t touch the existing handrail.

Q: Do you have any consult openings?

A: So nice of you to ask! I’ll add some to the calendar :)

Some Favorites from 2025

• I put Bricks in the adults’ stockings for Christmas and have been using mine every day to cure my Instagram habit. The clock that shows you how much time you’ve spent off of your favorite apps is the little boost you need to keep going, and it has made me much more thoughtful about how I’m spending my “unbricked” time on my phone.

• Cute winter boots that keep you warm are kind of a taller order. I keep reaching for these Penelope Chilvers boots that fit the bill. And they are on sale!

• I reread my Best Year Journal from January of 2025 over the weekend. There is so much to be learned from a written snapshot of the past. I don’t often take the time to look back on my notes, so having a specific journal for this helps to direct me to do it in the new year.

• I was on the hunt for a good side sleeper pillow and my friend recommended The Pillow Bar to me. I love the process of designing your pillow on their website. It has been a game changer for my husband and me. If you have a snorer, get him one of these. I reached out to them and they offered you guys a one-time code, MCKENNA10, for 10% off of your order until February 15th :)

• Without realizing it I started collecting symbolic accessories for my desk and bedside this year: a cloisonné snail from Tangier, citrine paperweights from Creel & Gow, a set of handmade dice. I like having these visual cues to slow down, be grateful, and let a little chance into my life.

• I know this sounds silly and is a bit of an eyesore, but my kids and I love this towel heater. It is the only way I’m getting them out of a hot tub or shower in the depths of winter.

• These paper plates came in handy a couple of times over the holidays.

A Few Upgrades

• These are my longtime favorite photo frames that I buy on repeat for my house.

• We needed a little refresh in our kitchen after the holidays so I bought this drying rack and pad.

• I found myself bookmarking a lot of salad recipes to try, so I upgraded my salad spinner and my mandoline. I also love this dressing shaker.

• I’m trying to take some time to myself to slow down every day this year, so I picked up this 5 Minute Journal and a physical copy of The Daily Stoic. I’m keeping them in my car and taking 15 minutes between school drop-off and getting to my desk to try to be intentional with my day.

• This Hatch alarm clock (which I think I originally found through Nan Philip!) is really helping on dark January mornings. I might’ve snoozed it a few times since I got it last week, but we are making progress!

• I just ordered these jars to replace plastic containers for freezing homemade broth and soup. They store a generous single serving of soup.

• My kids got a lot of puzzles, legos and toys with small parts for Christmas, so I ordered clear organizing bags (small and large) to try to keep all of the pieces together and encourage them to reach for them in the playroom closet.

• The boys have marble jars at school, so I decided to order vintage-style marbles and a jar to encourage good behavior at home as well. I’m hoping this experiment yields better manners at the dinner table, among other things :)

• The annual closet purge commences soon. I bought these sweater dividers to try to give a little visual structure to my shelves this year.

Do you have any favorite buys from this year or upgrades for 2026 that we should know about?!

xx Lilse

Like most things that don’t go as planned, The Week of No Planning ended up being a blessing. You see I spent the week with my beloved French bulldog, Rupert. We were staying at our friends’ gorgeous cozy perfect house upstate, with a plan for the boys to ski while I cooked and worked and planned. There was fresh snow falling when we arrived, firewood thoughtfully set up for us for the week, and their adorable new kitten was skipping around the house. I couldn’t (and can’t) believe my luck to have such generous friends who let us bring not just our children — but even our dog— into their home for a week.

About an hour into our stay, though, it became clear that the dynamic between their kitten and Rupert would require nearly constant intervention. Cats and dogs and all that. In the moment I was so frustrated. Rupert always got along with every animal. This was supposed to be my time to think. Couldn’t he just stop trying to sniff this poor kitten? I couldn’t leave them alone, and I felt too bad cooping either of them up to keep them separated, so I spent my days spoiling Rupert with small treats to keep his attention off of the cat. I brought him on every errand and took him for long walks. No reading or booking flights, just sitting on the floor petting Rup. He was in heaven and— when I got over my vision for the week— I was, too.

At the end of the break I woke up to Rupert shaking in pain, and two days later he was gone. It was all impossibly sudden, and completely unavoidable. Losing Rupert was one of those terrible, awful fears that lurked for me just below the surface. And the truth is, it is as heartbreaking as I feared it would be. I spent the entire day after he left us watching old videos and scrolling through old photos, just confirming all of my fears that he was, in fact, the perfect dog.

The flip side of grief like this is that it sifts out all of the noise and reveals what is actually important. Looking back on last year’s photos, there aren’t enough of Rupert. I was so lucky to have a year of wonderful projects for work, and a ton of travel sprinkled in between. I went to Tangier, Paris, London, the Bahamas, Spain. I gained so much from those trips: time with friends, countless new resources for work, endless inspiration, irreplaceable memories with my people. But I lost something in them, too. I stopped cooking for pleasure. I barely hosted friends at home all year. Weeds filled the garden and the potted plants died. I forgot to slow down enough to take pictures of my perfect dog.

I was so upset on New Year’s Day that I didn’t have a resolution to sink my teeth into for 2026. No big plans for the year to speak of. But now, just a few days later, I’m so relieved. Maybe this year isn’t the year for big plans. Maybe it will be about being home, about cooking for my people and filling our house up with friends. It will be slower, and it will be exactly what we need.

A few Field Notes:

For reading and listening:

• On grieving pets, from my dear friend who not only opened her home to us, but also sends thoughtful links like this one when you need them.

• I love listening to This Is Water a couple of times a year as a little reset. I put notes in my calendar to listen to it before the rush of the end of the school year, and before the holidays in 2026.

• This note on Substack prompted me to listen to Tracey Ellis Ross on Emma Grede’s podcast and it was one of the best I listened to all year.

To cook up:

• This chicken chili (from my favorite cookbook) is always a hit, and did wonders for an awful weekend. Serve in large bowls because you’ll want more, make cornbread, eat it with corn chips, pour yourself a real Coke if you need it.

• With leftover dinner rolls from Christmas I simplified the best stuffing (took out a few herbs, added sausage) and a riff on Ina’s make ahead French toast (I cut the raspberries and orange zest, and added cinnamon, kids loved it!). I’ll be making these whenever I find myself with day old bread this winter.

• My friend had Lidey’s cookbook on her shelf, and I found myself wanting to try a bunch of recipes. She has a great alt to fondue that I’m eager to try, and these are a hit for lunch in the winter.

• Dinner at Stissing House prompted me to buy the King cookbook. I’m excited to try a few of their soups and desserts this winter.

For around the house:

• My best day upstate was spent antiquing with Rupert in tow. I bought a carving tray like this one for the holiday rotation, a Japanese footed bowl, and a Hungarian pitcher. I saved some more vintage and antique finds based on my favorite things I saw upstate if you’re in the refresh mindset at home.

• I cannot recommend Spatial Alchemy enough for a thoughtful refresh for your own home. As an intern for a design firm on my first real shoot, Olga’s work opened my eyes to how thoughtful styling could transform a project with juxtaposition, and make it worthy of a magazine cover. I have been reading her book slowly, stopping to go hang a piece of art or clear out a bedside table as I go. Working on my own space is so cathartic.

So many of you sent me sweet notes about Rupert. Thank you for being here and for reading and sending me sweet notes. I feel so lucky to have this community, especially in times like these.

x Lilse

Christmas Brunch Menu

We’ve had big Christmas brunches before, but now we typically have a smaller group for breakfast. I still make this menu because I love it, and it has some make-ahead elements (french toast, salad dressing) that make it simple enough to serve in the middle of Christmas morning.

Raspberry Baked French Toast: This can be made the night before and popped in the oven an hour before you’re serving. I make mine in a dish like this one.

Scrambled Eggs

Oven Roasted Bacon

Citrus Brunch Salad : I look forward to this salad all year, and its a nice foil to all of the decadent sweets on Christmas Day.

Champagne, Fresh OJ and lots of Coffee!

Getting Ahead of It

12/24: Make the french toast and chop the veggies (not the citrus) for the salad.

Christmas Lunch Menu

In recent years we’ve opted to host a big Christmas lunch over brunch or dinner. It gives us the afternoon (into the evening sometimes) with our family and friends, and doesn’t need to be too formal. Last year we had thirty-five people for lunch at our house with this menu and schedule.

Beef Tenderloin and Red Wine Reduction Sauce

Via Carota Insalata Verde

Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes : I swap sour cream for the goat cheese.

Roasted Carrots

Green Beans Gremolata

Trader Joe’s Half Baked Ficelli : A trick I picked up from my mother in law to serve hot bread that smells freshly baked without the process of making your own.

Getting Ahead of It

12/23: Make the mashed potatoes, salad dressing, and check to make sure the oven is clean enough to cook the tenderloin without smoking up the kitchen. Iron whatever needs ironing, polish whatever needs polishing.

12/24: Make the red wine reduction sauce if cooking for a big crowd/ doubling the recipe. Blanche the green beans. Set up the bar and set the tables.

12/25: Roast the carrots in the morning while making breakfast, prep the salad, make the gremolata. Cook the tenderloin, heat the red wine sauce, sauté the green beans, and reheat the carrots and mashed potatoes just before serving.

Nice to Have

Ina says to replace your zester every couple of years so I added this one to cart.

A baking dish like this one makes for a nice presentation for the french toast or mashed potatoes.

In that same vein how cute is this bowl for serving your salad?

Some sweet salad servers to go with your new bowl.

Make It Ahead: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook for the Mashed Potatoes.

Barefoot Contessa Foolproof for the Green Beans Gremolata.

Barefoot Contessa Parties! for the Beef Tenderloin.

Via Carota cookbook for the Insalata Verde and the Roasted Carrots, if you’re feeling like the carrots

need a little extra something.

Buvette cookbook if you want to make their steamed scrambled eggs, which are delicious!

Merry merry!

X Lilse

When I’m scrolling through Instagram — and reminded of just how far behind I am with all things holiday — I toggle between shame and wondering if this is the year to accept defeat. In the face of all the overconsumption we see online in the name of Christmas, the lines blur between what’s done in the real spirit of celebration and giving, and what’s just for show. I ask myself: just for this year, couldn’t we cut back on the décor, simplify the plans, and let a few gifts under the tree do the heavy lifting?

But the truth is, I’m not wired that way. I’m a Christmas maximalist, and I came by it honestly.

Growing up, my grandparents loved Christmas. My grandmother decorated their house to the nines and kept a commercial-sized roll of red wrapping paper in her office for all the gifts she wrapped. Christmas tunes played throughout the house throughout December. They loved to host holiday parties — the bigger, the better. As a child, it was pure magic, though I didn’t fully understand the ripple effect of their Christmas spirit until I was older.

A few years back, my sister was returning a gift at one of our late grandfather’s favorite stores when the salesperson recognized our last name. He told her how he always helped our grandfather find the perfect gift for our grandmother — and how much it meant to him to be invited to their holiday parties year after year.

“They had everyone,” he said. “The biggest guys in town and me.”

Of course, we both cried. And every year, when I start to wonder what it’s all for, I think about that moment. It’s a reminder of their legacy: taking the time in this season to make the people in your life feel seen and appreciated, even the ones who seem to play the smallest roles.

This year — with a business buzzing and small children at home — isn’t the season we’ll host everyone in town. But it is the season we bring our family together in our home for the holiday. The instinct to make our house feel special for Christmas, just like my grandparents did, is hardwired in me. Even if I’m still hanging ribbon on Christmas Eve — which feels like a real possibility at this point — I won’t surrender.

For years, I’ve collected all the glasses, trays, linens, and party hats I need for a Christmas party. Here’s where I’d start, if I were starting today:

• For our mantels we made some accordion stars of marbled paper like this blue one, in shades of blue, green, and red. This year I’m mixing these stars with them, and tying on velvet ribbon in french blue and red.

• I have this table cloth and love it for my kitchen table at Christmas. I bought this one for my dining room.

• In the past I’ve hung these stars over the dining table. We’ll see if they make it up this year. I am loving these lanterns and thinking of getting them for over the kitchen table, just to add some cheer.

• My kids love these party hats and everyone loves party crackers to make the meal more fun.

• I have 100 or so of these glasses, for when we have the capacity for a bigger party. We also have these goblets for setting the table for a smaller group.

• You’ll need cocktail napkins for eggnog and whiskey sours (my favorite holiday drinks). I love the contrast embroidery on these, and these poinsettia napkins that don’t feel too on the nose. For bigger parties I have a stockpile of these white hemstitch cocktail napkins.

• These red napkins and these embroidered napkins are so well priced!

• How cute are these glasses for cocktails? And I love these for water or wine.

• For the splurges in the name of Christmas hosting: I have one of these urns that I fill with Christmas greens, and this platter would be perfect for serving (I have the large serving bowl in the same red and use it for ice or salad, depending on what the party demands!)

Merry merry!

x Lilse

Whenever I think about the nuances of whites, and especially when I’m fretting over a white selection for a house, I think of a rumor I heard once about Larry David. Apparently Larry’s designer was debating between two whites (presumably to cover most of the house, if the Curb set is any indication . . .) and painted samples on the wall for him to choose between. He thought they looked the same and found the exercise so ridiculous that he fired the designer.

I think there are a lot of people in this camp of “white is white,” and there are those of us who are so sensitive to it that a bit too much gray in the white will instantly turn any room into an institutional hallway. The impact of a subtle difference in the color, and the nuance of the natural light in a room, gives me pause when someone dm’s me to say “what is that white in that photo?” What if your apartment faces north? How will I know if there is a dark corner to the room that will suddenly feel like a jail cell? What else is in the room?? We occasionally use upwards of ten different white paint colors throughout a single house because of these variables, and I don’t want to steer anyone wrong.

So how do we get to ten different whites?

(For more intel on how we select whites and our favorite white paints, subscribe below!)

Read more

• Christmas pjs for our my boys and me. Many thanks to my five year old for reminding me to order Christmas pjs. The boys love these robes so they got some new ones that will fit now, too. Strong Kevin McCallister vibes.

• My kids love to dress up at a party so these are for Christmas lunch at our house (for all of the cousins, too!)

• Hopefully everyone read the title of this post. Conor has this handsome bomber jacket in brown suede and green linen already, and I’m big on buying something you love in multiple colors. He’s getting this one for Christmas and my Dad is getting this one. The linen photographs brighter than it is in person (now that I am a very experienced buyer of this jacket).

• We have a bunch of holiday parties on the horizon. I bought this jumpsuit and these platforms in silver for a 70’s themed party, this cute dress for a cocktail party, and this jacket and skirt set from my wishlist for Christmas Eve. TBD what I’ll keep when they arrive since I can only wear certain reds, but I’m feeling very prepared for the season. I also want to call out this is a great dupe for an Emilia Wickstead skirt I bought and wore a few times (including Christmas Eve) last year.

• For cold weather staples I just ordered these boots in brown and black, and have already worn both pairs. I also ordered this sweater in cream, silver, and red, and have already worn two colors (it’s 20% off today). Some people on my list are getting this sweater, too. The red is bluer in person than it looks online. These satin party sweatpants were my Thanksgiving hosting pants, and I bought them in black, too.

• We need a few more of these Sonos speakers for around our house for the holidays, so I’m ordering them while they’re on sale. I like the black over the white because I think they look sleeker and disappear in the space.

• The sartorial struggle has been real with my kids this year, and I’m losing lots of battles. These divas cannot decide on sneakers they like, and I just discovered you can buy lightly used On shoes here. I’ll be checking there next time rather than purchasing four pairs of fully priced sneakers that will never see the light of day.

• Lots of friends were texting me about Tom Scheerer’s new book and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t scooped one up yet. I also ordered this one which somehow had never made its way to my shelves. I started flipping through both over lunch today, and highly recommend them for some inspiration.

Happy shopping!!

x Lilse

I host Thanksgiving at my house nearly every year, but somehow I still haven’t mastered the art of fully getting ahead of it. I don’t have two weeks in November to prepare and compare notes with my family on the menu. That looks lovely on other people’s stories, but for me it’s just not happening. Instead, I’m usually throwing together the menu the weekend before (as I am now, on the Saturday before Thanksgiving), and ordering whatever I can at the last minute.

My team and I are always making custom tablecloths and sourcing linens for our clients for the holidays, and somehow this never translates into me doing the same for myself. Cobbler’s children and all that. Since I’m always collecting table linens, I usually happen to have a tablecloth and some napkins on hand that will work. But this year — surprise!— I bought a new dining table, and it only just dawned on me this week that it’s round and will not work with any of the rectangular linens I’ve long collected. Maybe you, too, are panic-buying linens? Just in case I thought I’d share what’s in my cart to rush ship and what I do to whip it all together at the 11th hour:

• Ina’s Make It Ahead is my Thanksgiving textbook. Her latest Substack breaks down what to do on each day of this week if you’re making her full menu. I especially love her make-ahead gravy.

• Double check that you have all the serveware you’ll need. I always find I could use another platter. Especially one like this. Labeling the serveware in advance will really make you feel organized in the face of this holiday.

• Les Indiennes has some beautiful Kalamkari tablecloths in fall colors in stock. Don’t be fooled by their website, they have more “napkins” than you see on the linens page. I like to order their bandanas and use them as napkins (shown in the photo above).

• If you don’t have one already, add a table pad to cart. I usually buy these WS ones and love them, but am trying this one this year because I need a larger round. You’ll need to cut to fit to your table. This prevents your tablecloth from shifting around and protects your table from spills.

• A folding kids’ table, kids’ chairs, and a craft paper “table cloth” will entertain your small guests for at least the window of time between when you call them to the table and when they actually begin eating. I like to fill these plastic lined planters with crayons as a munchkin-appropriate centerpiece.

• If you’re a psycho like me, who only wants cloth napkins even at the kids’ table, find some like these red-striped cotton cuties that are priced just right for potential destruction. I can’t help myself and am adding these to my cart.

• Add some of these pads (or this if you prefer the adhesive) to your cart. Get some for Christmas too. Also throw in some felt pads for your dining chair legs in case any have fallen off. You will not regret these purchases.

• Give your glassware a quick count: If one was chipped last year during clean up you might not know or remember. I’m ordering a couple more of these goblets, which I find go with everything, and end up on the table because they don’t feel nearly as precious and irreplaceable as my true vintage options.

Now off to check my serveware and glassware, and finalize my grocery list! In the spirit of the holiday, I’m very thankful to all of you for being Field Notes readers and subscribers!!

Subscribe now

x Lilse

• I picked up a bunch of these paper plates in the blue and the green to have on hand for the holidays in case we’re feeling more casual and not in the mood to wash the dishes.

• I haven’t ordered any pies from Breads n’ Bakes yet but they looked delicious and I’m thinking I might phone in pumpkin and pecan pie next week. I’m not a huge Thanksgiving dessert fan but I’m hoping to find the time to try to make this Maple Bourbon pie that won first place at the Stissing House pie fest this weekend - Clare de Boer’s recap was a great read!

  The Best Bit

  PIE FEST

  On Sunday, thirty-three amateur bakers from across the country competed in the Stissing House x Substack Pie Fest. Fourteen judges had an hour to taste the pies and thirty minutes to deliberate and decide which bakers would receive ribbons and who would be crowned the champion…

  Read more

  9 months ago · 70 likes · 10 comments · Clare de Boer

  Maple Bourbon Pie Recipe

• Tinker and Nidge has some of the best vintage Christmas decorations and their booth inspired me to start a new collection of mercury glass candlesticks for my dining room. These, these, this and these (if you’re willing to splurge!) are similar. I also picked up some hand marbled wrapping paper that I use to make folded stars for our tree and mantel - this company makes some beautiful ones!

• Camille and Co has the best everyday quilted placemats so I always buy a new set for my kitchen when I see her. No ironing required! These and these are similar.

• Klar Vintage had more cute vintage: great Christmas decorations and wicker handbags. I collect these wooden toy soldiers and she had a larger scale one than I’d ever seen before. My kids love them because they are Christmas decorations they can play with. They rearrange them and march them around. I also got a wicker bag like this one for spring.

I had to scoot through the Ticking Tent because it was so popular, but I left with lots of business cards and plans to purchase. Here’s my shopping list:

• This cute blackwatch plaid nightgown (and maybe the robe? Because its Christmas!) from Kinderbrook Home

• A curly cue white serving bowl by Jeanette Morrow

• Terracotta plates from a new favorite resource for tabletop, Gannon Munro

• I considered elbowing my way through to try on this adorable jacket and mini set and this embroidered jacket from Sanoe

• A bunch of these chocolates from Ohho, the venue for the event. I like to give a day and night bar with a ribbon around them as hostess gifts this time of year since everyone could use a better nights’ sleep and a relaxed afternoon during the holidays!

x Lilse

We Don’t Start with Paint

I think there is pressure to select paint colors as a first move when you purchase a new house: you close on it, feel desperate to change the previous owners’ choices to work with your stuff, and jump to pick paint colors before you do anything else. Selecting colors is an incredibly daunting task when you think of it this way because not only do you need to make decisions about the colors for every room without any real guidance (other than maybe a few images you like, or a piece you already own), but you’re also faced with an endless amount of options since every hardware store and supplier has decks and decks of colors. I learned by working for designers, though, that when a professional is designing a room the paint colors are often the last elements to be selected. This is because paint is the easiest and least expensive element to customize.

Where to Begin

So before we choose a single paint color for a house, we start with inspiration photos and schemes/material selections: what marble are we using in the bathroom? What are the fabrics that will be used in the living room? What type of rug? All of these selections begin to narrow down the paint options very quickly. If the room has a cold white marble, we need a colder (more blue) white for the trim. If the living room scheme clashes with pinks, we are probably not going to have rosy walls. If we’re designing around existing items (as most of us are!) we try to get samples of those materials as well. This gives us a consolidated view of the room.

When we have completed (or nearly there) schemes in hand we pull out our paint decks to start tackling the paint sample schedule. For each project we have a spreadsheet with the paint color, manufacturer, and finish noted for each surface in each room: walls, ceiling, trim, doors, and any element that is getting a different color (like a cabinet or mantel). We start with a sample schedule and once samples are approved we create the final paint schedule.

We make these selections in our office, which has excellent natural light. Always select paint colors in natural light. Artificial light changes them completely. Even if you have the best lightbulbs money can buy there is no substitute for sunshine.

I have these paint decks on hand as my standard go to options:

Benjamin Moore Classics

Benjamin Moore Collections

Benjamin Moore Whites

Benjamin Moore Aura

Benjamin Moore Williamsburg

Farrow & Ball

Farrow & Ball Archive

If you don’t want to spring for F&B paints, your local Benjamin Moore retailer has access to the formulas for their colors and can mix them for you, but I implore you to ask them to mix a small sample pot for you first to make sure the color reads the same as your F&B card. Sometimes the Benjamin Moore mixes are brighter despite using the same formula.

The Chip is Not Enough

When you are looking at the tiny paint chip on the deck, keep in mind that the color will always read darker on the walls or when applied to a large surface of trim.

I find that if we select from paint chips alone we often end up having to sample new colors on site before we get it right, so we always order sheet samples (which are usually a bit smaller than a piece of paper) after we’ve selected options from the decks. You can request these from your paint retailer. I’ll sometimes pick just one option and sometimes have 3 or more. It really depends on how tricky the color is. It also depends on how much light a room gets. If it gets a lot of light I know we will have a truer expression of the color I am seeing on the sheet. If it is dark the color could change completely and we need options to play with to get it right.

From there we bring the larger sheets and our paint decks to the job site to check them out in the spaces and either approve them for sampling on site or make new selections.

The final step is site sampling, and it is very important not to skip this step. Ask your painter or contractor for as large of a sample as you need to make a decision about a paint color. It can be a 3 foot square if you like– whatever it takes for you to envision it. He might try to push you to skip this step in the name of speed. Do not let him bully you out of this critical step. The only mistakes I have ever made (and paid for!) with paint have been the direct result of me caving to a contractor who insisted the extra two days required to paint, dry, and review site samples would to cause a four alarm construction timeline emergency. I have a saying in my office: “You know what’s great about decorating emergencies? There are none.” This also applies to contractors who manufacture emergencies in order to pin their own timeline miscalculations on others. Do not cave. There are no emergencies. And if you are looking ahead at a paint project, tell your contractor now that you’ll need site samples to approve.

In summary:

1. Select as many of the surface materials as possible before you start selecting paint colors: wallpaper, upholstery and curtain fabrics, floors and countertops, rugs etc.

2. With those materials in hand, in a room with natural light, use your paint decks to select paint colors

3. Order larger sheet samples

4. Go to the job site/room with said sheets to see how the light treats them

5. Ask your painter to sample your favorites on the walls, trim or ceiling (or floor!)

6. Choose a paint color and don’t look back!

There is so much more to say about paints so look out for “Paintkeeping” posts on getting the right white, ceiling paint, finishes, and when to customize your paints. Talk soon!

x Lilse

My path into design started very early. I was the kid who could spend an afternoon rearranging my room, decorating my dollhouse for Christmas, fabric shopping with my mom, or antiquing with my grandmother. In college, while everyone else took study breaks watching TV, I’d dive into a stack of shelter magazines. Eventually, I took a leap and cold-called some of my favorite designers until I found my way into an office. I went on to work for others, including Markham Roberts (whose work continues to inspire me), until I got a call to take on a project of my own.

Today, I run a small studio that takes on select top-to-bottom design projects across the country—and occasionally abroad.

In 2023, I started Field Notes as a way to connect more deeply with my Instagram community and share the inspiration, process, and behind-the-scenes details that rarely make it into social media posts. This spring, our project schedule was full, and we paused the newsletter—but as those projects started to wrap, I realized how much I missed this creative outlet and the conversation with so many of you who’ve been reading since the beginning. So I made it a priority to bring Field Notes back for 2026.

As someone who subscribes to more Substacks than I care to admit, I’ve loved the casual tone and wide-ranging topics that so many creators are exploring here. There’s something freeing about the format. While the new Field Notes will still feature inspiration and glimpses behind the curtain of our design process, it will also be a bit looser and more conversational—without the pressure to button everything up perfectly.

Don’t we all want to know what our peers are reading, watching, or loving, even if it doesn’t fit neatly into a roundup or a pretty collage? I plan to treat this as a quick catch-up, with the occasional deep dive into process and projects sprinkled in—the way I first imagined Field Notes back in 2022.

If you’re new here, welcome. I hope you’ll find something that sparks an idea, or at least feels like a good chat between friends in the field of design.

Currently on my mind (and my bedside table!)

A new book

I’ve been slowly making my way through Spatial Alchemy by Olga Naiman. Olga is an incredible interiors stylist who happened to style a shoot for the first designer I worked for as an intern—it was my first real exposure to the power of juxtaposition: something wild next to something tailored, something nubby with something sleek. That lesson has stayed with me ever since. I’ve been taking notes (and a few breaks to rearrange things at home) as I read. Anyone who believes in the emotional impact of space will love this book.

Business inspo

An episode of The Founder’s Podcast sent me searching for Brunello Cucinelli’s book, which I devoured in a couple of sittings. I love his take on capitalism—and the way he built his own world, on his own terms, in his corner of Italy. It’s endlessly inspiring.

Rolling the dice

Between parenting and managing my business, I usually have at least six administrative tasks hanging over me at any given time. After hearing Cyan Banister on The Tim Ferriss Show, I adopted her “roll the dice” approach to getting unstuck. I picked up a few dice sets—some in Tangier, others online—and now I number my tasks, roll the dice, and start wherever they land. My kids have gotten into it too; they roll for odds or evens to decide who picks a movie. It’s a surprisingly effective way to add a little play into the everyday. I’m thinking of getting a few of these sets for stocking stuffers and little gifts for my family this year.

On the horizon

Holiday hosting season is upon us, so we’ll need to chat a bit about that. I’ve received so many DMs about paint colors since we installed Nan Philip’s apartment, so I’ll be doing a deeper dive on paint selection soon. I also need to make my annual pre-holiday pilgrimage to IKEA, and I’ll be taking you along for that too.

A look at my bedside table (clockwise from top): bedside table (similar), bracelet, tray, The Dream of Solomeo, dice, Spatial Alchemy, silk lampshade, lamp

If you’d like to follow along, subscribe to Field Notes for new posts every few weeks—part design diary, part inspiration board, and part conversation among friends.