Coffee Table Styling Like a Pro

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite styling tips that I picked up from one of my fave designers, Emily Henderson in her fabulous new book, Styled. It's using natural forms to create interest and movement in your vignette. 

I used this tip in the image above. Here I draped a seashell necklace across my coffee table tray which really adds some movement and an air of lived-in casualness. It works because it fits the achromatic color scheme of my set-up and adds to the overall story of texture, seaside, and casual elegance. 

I love how the twigs in the clear vase create motion on this coffee table tray. You have these cute little succulents and candles, but then your eye is drawn to the height of the twigs and their imperfect shape- it works perfectly! 

This image (no link, source unknown sorry!) There is a simple elegance going on, and the soft hydrangeas are the crowning glory of the display. Something about the soft, delicate flowers, and the straight, green stems leading to them just really adds to this look shape-wise. Love it! 

If you don't know, I'm positively in LOVE with Alice Lane's style! Here they styled their coffee table tray with delicate, white roses in a clear vase. The clear vase shows off the roses' stems, connecting them to the rest of the display. Also the roses bring the perfect touch of elegance and femininity. 

I love what Maria Killam has done here using two organically shape pieces- the flowers and the urchin. They're balanced on opposite ends of the vignette, and the fact that they are both organic/ unusual shapes relates them to one another. They also add some great verticality. Try covering these two pieces with your hand and imagining the display without them- It's just not quite as interesting is it?!

I am in love with the feminine charm of this set up! The roses in the vase relate to the other glass piece, and add a vertical punctuation mark that ends in off-white, elegant beauties. 

I love this simple display by the Everygirl. The creamy jar of the little succulent relates to the other off-white pieces, but then tops off the display with some unexpected free-form shape. The green is a fun punch of color too. 

This vignette is by Emily Henderson herself. I love the asymmetry going on here, and how the horizontally lying tray and fruit bowl subtly stair-step their way up to a the flower vase, and then a vertical BANG of billy balls at the top. So cool! 

In this lovely coffee table display by 12th and White, I love how the wild leaves bring your eye upwards, outwards, and back down to the table. They relate to the candles by pointing at them, and add the perfect amount of oomph to this simple and monochromatic display. I also love how they add so well to the asymmetry going on here too! 

And last but not least, here's a round coffee table from My Domaine. Once again, put your hand over the flowers and notice how the display as a whole lacks the amount of charm you get when you take your hand away! The other pieces are cohesive and cool on their own, but the blush peonies gently drape over the pieces, helping to relate them all. They're also a wonderful addition of softness to the overall textural story. Beautiful!

Soil and Stem Floral Workshop

I'm so excited to share my outstanding experience attending Soil and Stem's Thanksgiving centerpiece workshop with you! It was seriously phenomenal! I've always liked flowers, but Nicole Land (the owner) showed me just how magically artistic floral arranging can be. 

I stumbled across Nicole's feed on Instagram a while ago, and have been following along ever since. Her work is just so inspiring! I absolutely love her wild, organic floral arrangements, as well as the romantic and moody tone of her feed (check out here amazing work here).

At the workshop I got to meet some lovely ladies who are also creative types like me- some were florists, a few were photographers, and others were students and fans just looking to learn. Heather Nan was our professional photographer who took photos of the class for us. I also just love her talent and photography style (check out her beautiful website here). 

  The workshop was held inside a spacious industrial-modern building in Salt Lake City. I love thw interior so much for a workshop. The windows were massive, letting in tons of sunlight, and I loved the achromatic pallet with all the textures as well as the warm, stained concrete floors. The wooden tables Nicole set up for us were just lovely as well. 

Nicole was a great teacher. All eyes were glued to her as she demonstrated some of her special techniques for keeping flowers in place- chickenwire stuffed into a vase. It was revelatory to me and made so much sense for positioning and re-positioning stems without doing damage to floral foam. 

 She began the class by demonstrating and talking through how she would create a Thanksgiving centerpiece using the materials she's collected for us to use. Some pieces she bought wholesale, while others, such as some of the berries and grasses, she just found on the side of the road-clever!

 I know this sounds ridiculously cheesy, but there was seriously a point in the class when I literally had a few tears well up in my eyes because of how beautiful her arrangement was looking. It was true art! I couldn't get over the way the colors and textures played off of one another so effectively, it was extraordinary! 

After her demonstration, it was our turn to try our hand at floral arranging. This was my very first time ever arranging flowers, so I was a bit timid! But I tried hard to remember the principles she taught us such as creating a "bed" for our flowers first by laying down greenery on the bottom edge of the vase, and turning the vase 180 degrees every once in a while to make sure both sides would look good from a diner's perspective. 

Nicole was so kind as to help me along the way. I had tons of questions!

 The workshop was a lot of fun. I so enjoyed the creativity and found it pretty relaxing actually! Plus, how can you go wrong working with nature?

And here is my final arrangement! I know I have tons of room for improvement, but It was so, so fun to put together! 

-Madeleine xo

Throw a Festive Hot Chocolate Party

Looking for a fun and easy way to celebrate the holidays this Thanksgiving? Hot chocolate party to the rescue! It's a great Friendsgiving idea too. 

Grab some chocolate, toppings, and friends for a quick and easy night of cozy fun. 

For my party I used my favorite hot chocolate powder (Stephen's dark chocolate) as a versatile base and added some toppings for people to flavor their chocolate however they like. 

I also threw in some milk chocolate salted caramel biscotti I found at Target- the perfect addition!

Throw in some festive decor (I got mine here and here) and you've got yourself a pretty little party fit for the holidays! 

Taggart Family Home

The Taggart family needed a major overhaul of their space since their small 1800 sq. ft. home was becoming too small for their growing family.

To achieve this, we doubled the square footage of the home, opened up the living space for entertaining, and added a master suite that would become a welcome retreat for the couple.

Great Room

Great Room Design Board

Custom Fireplace Elevation

Master Suite

Master Suite Design Board

Master Bath Elevation 

Play Room

Play Room Design Board

Girls' Bedroom

Girls' Bedroom Design Board

Girls' Bedroom Elevation

Mudroom Elevation

Main Floor Plan

Basement Floor Plan

A Relaxing Trip to Bali

My husband I spent a relaxing 4-day trip in Bali on our way from Perth to Sydney. We stayed at the Viceroy, Bali in Ubud. It was mostly a time to relax, but we also spent a bit of time exploring Ubud: temples, museums, markets, and rice paddies.

Upon arrival were taken aback by the amount of traffic and people on scooters. And when I say people on scooters, I am actually referring to the fact that whole families squished on together- we even saw a family of 4 on one bike! But for a place that is warm all year, and has limited parking, having a scooter does seem to make sense.

The Balinese are generally Hindu, so there were tons of statues everywhere. And the statues were so beautiful and intricately carved out of stone! Because of the humid and jungle-y environment, the statues were usually surrounded by lush greenery and were covered in moss which just added to the romance of it all. 

We also learned that the Balinese (or at least Ubudese -is that a word?!) liked nude statues with exaggerated genitals. I think this has something to do with the Hindu culture. 

Ubud is known for its art and we brought home a few pieces. It was cool to watch several artisans form their art from stone working to wood carving to weaving. The woman above was weaving an ikat fabric- really awesome! I regret not bringing home some of these lovely fabrics. 

We stopped by a museum called Agung Rai Museum of Art. The exterior landscape alone was gorgeous! The art inside was also fantastic, featuring both modern and antiques pieces. In the photo above, the statue is dressed in ceremonial clothing. We learned that this was done a few times per year as part of their religious ceremonies. 

This image was also taken at the museum. The integration of plants, flowers, and stone was just so dreamy. 

The Water Temple was also a cool place to visit. We ate at a restaurant that surrounded it and enjoyed the view as we dined. Afterwards we toured around the outside of it (we couldn't go in). Geremy is standing in front of the temple in the photo above. Below that you can see a close-up of the temple door- amazing! 

One of our favorite activities was biking the rice paddies and through the villages. It was really eye-opening to get a peek into the homes and lives of the majority of people who live there. Below is an image of women bringing offerings to their local temple. 

Above is an image of me biking behind our guide. He really knew the village inside and out. So glad we got to be shown around by someone so knowledgeable. 

The tiered rice paddies were breathtaking!  

The Viceroy was a dream. It was so well designed inside and out and integrated well with the natural jungle landscape. 

We learned that the owner was the interior designer. I love her and I want to be like her. I mean, how gorgeous is this place??

We also enjoyed lots of yummy food at the onsite and outdoor restaurant, CasCades. 

I highly recommend this place if you're ever this side of the globe. One perk that I should mention is that many of the services were very affordable. For example, my husband, Geremy and I went to a lovely indoor/outdoor spa called Bali Botanica Day Spa. I had a mani/pedi, and we both had a foot and leg massage all for $50. Pretty amazing, right?! 

If you're thinking about a trip to Bali or have any questions for me,  comment below! I'd love to help you out any way I can!