Museum Fix

Museums are slowly opening up, and returning to more traditional travel is (knock on wood) on the horizon, but jetting around to the latest exhibitions seems ambitious at the moment.

For those of us who are still committed to armchair travel to get our fix of arts and culture, we have some compelling online options, several of which are hands on and fun for the whole family. 

One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that museums and galleries have put more of their pieces and the stories behind them online, so you can access them anytime!

Museum of International Folk Art

In addition to exploring the museum’s mind-bogglingly extensive online collection of folk art from all around the globe, you can try your hand at some of their DIY art projects, inspired by traditions including Mexican paper making and Japanese fans.

Tate

Through podcasts, articles, videos, and more the Tate offers a deep dive into numerous pieces in its collection and the passionate creators behind them. We also recommend the  Create Like An Artist series, with fantastic hands-on projects for both kids and adults with options including soap carving, making chocolate paintings inspired by Jackson Pollack, and using the techniques of master watercolorist Joseph Turner.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi

Online options at this gorgeous museum are extraordinary. We could spend days exploring, from an online book focusing on clothes and costumes in the collection to curated playlists to spoken word poetry inspired by various galleries to a “futuristic audio and visual experience”.

National Museum of India

Looking for some bite-sized art education? The National Museum of India’s Museum at Home features short videos on sculptures, artistic traditions, and more. The video gallery also offers quick, insightful dips into India’s fascinating art and history. 

Bata Shoe Museum

This quirky Toronto museum focuses on shoes throughout history (yes, the collection is as amazing as it sounds).  With the museum’s #BSMFromHome offerings, you can brush up on your knowledge of various shoe-making techniques, get a virtual tour of exhibitions, or de-stress with some shoe-themed coloring sheets.

Petra

If you haven’t been able to cross off the architectural wonders of Petra off your bucket travel list (or if you just want a return trip), this comprehensive “tour” of the Rose City might satiate your wanderlust for a short time. It’s not technically a museum, but there’s enough history and art to make for an educational and inspiring armchair voyage.

We’ve Got a Whole New Look!

We have been hard at work over the past few months totally overhauling our website, adding more to the services we offer, introducing our online store, and even launching a brand new design platform.

The new and imporoved sarahillery.com

We are so excited to officially debut our new and improved website. We have been working hard upgrading not only the look of our website, but the services we offer. Now you can fill out a design request online, allowing us to get right to work making your house the home you always dreamed of. We have expanded our portfolio with some of our most recent projects. And you can pick from three design services that will suit your unique needs!

Sara Hillery Curated Collection

The Curated Collection is a carefully selected grouping of furniture, case goods, art, accessories, and lighting for sale online as well as the full line of Sara Hillery Home textiles. Our working relationships with vendors across the US and abroad ensures our customers have access to an extensive variety of new, antique and one-of-a-kind products. 

Design Delivered by SH

We have launched an innovative design platform called Design Delivered by SH which brings the design process directly to homeowners who want to work at their own speed. The launch of this platform represents a new approach to home design projects and comes during a shift in the design industry as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Completely contactless, Design Delivered is a web-based platform that gathers an individual’s home project information and design needs and produces a new design all within six weeks.  Whether it’s a complete room re-design or a simple space refresh, Design Delivered produces a comprehensive package put together by Sara Hillery and her team of designers. The package comes with various pricing options, based on the size and scope of the project, and includes a floor plan, a color storyboard and proposals for window treatments, art work, lighting, fabrics, upholstery and paint plans. After a Zoom consultation and accessing a private design portal to upload inspiration images, a questionnaire and how-to measuring guides, the client then receives in the mail a final design box with a plan of paint colors, fabrics, wallpaper, draperies, furniture, accessories and of course a floorplan - all within six weeks.

While you’re here, you might be interested in Five Reasons to Hire an Interior Designer

The Freshest Holiday Décor Trends of 2020

The Holiday season is in full swing, and if you are looking for ways to refresh and up the ante of your holiday décor, look no further! we have created a list of our favorite, freshest, and most festive holiday decorating trends for 2020!

BLUE IS BIG!

“Classic Blue” was named Pantone’s color of the year for 2020 so there’s no huge surprise that hues of blues might pop up in holiday décor, blue feels unique and fresh, especially for Christmas décor!

We love mixing in Chinoiseries pieces with our decorations. These blue and white porcelain pieces, planters, and ginger jars have been popular for quite some time now, but utilizing them for holiday decorations is trendy and fun. Not to mention, if these are a staple in your everyday home décor, you’ll be saving time and energy when it comes time to pack up the holiday decorations!

Design by Emily Clark

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These chinoiserie painted oyster shell ornaments are another great way to incorporate blue into your décor this year.

Another way to use blue this holiday season is by using classic navy. Not as bold as black, but just as chic, navy is an unexpected and gorgeous color to use while decorating!

Design by Becki Owens

Blast from the Past

With all of us living through a global pandemic, it’s no surprise we are yearning for the idyllic holidays of the past. Try raiding grandma’s attic for vintage decorations!

A throw back to a Victorian trend, try displaying your holiday cards over your mantle. You and your family will love seeing all of the season’s greetings you received this year!

These iconic ceramic Christmas trees have become popular again after taking a back seat for decades. We love this version in an updated all-white colorway!

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These traditional Christmas tree Highball glasses provide the perfect subtle festive touch to any holiday cocktail!

Pretty In Pink

This one is just fun! Pops of pink provide an unexpected and crowd-pleasing ambiance. It’s definitely not a traditional look, but we love how surprising and cheeky it is.

A forest of pink bottle brush trees is a great and easy place to start if you’re unsure how to tackle the pink Christmas trend. Scatter these across a credenza or mantle for instant fun and charm.

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Design by Arin Solange at Home

Design by Jennifer Perkins

Bright shades of neon pink are sure to make a big splash! Try using pink ornaments and garland to create a unique and crafty mantle vignette.

For a more classic look, try dusty pink rather than a brighter shade. This combination of crisp, white table linens, crystal drinkware, long leaf eucalyptus, and dusty rose blown glass ornaments is absolutely gorgeous!

Design by Joli Place

Mix and Match

This one is definitely a favorite of ours! A maximalist approach creates such a warm and collected look for the holiday season!

Design by Quintessence

Layering, and layering, and layering pattern, textures, and colors is key here. Don’t be afraid to embrace several different colors and patterns!

If you’re unsure where to begin with this trend, try out a block printed tablecloth as your base and build from there.

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Design by Sara Hillery Interior Design

Scandinavian Chic

In contrast, Scandinavian minimalist décor with natural elements, this straightforward yet chic style will be everywhere this year.

Design by Homeyohmy

With a focus on, simple, fresh, and natural materials, these wreaths are a tasteful nod to the minimalist elements we associate with Scandinavian design.

A great way to add depth and drama to your minimalist décor is to embrace black! It might seem crazy to use black for your holiday decorating, but when mixed with fresh greenery and sleek Scandinavian elements, using black makes for show stopping décor!

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Design by Burkatron

No matter how you decide to decorate this holiday season, we hope you stay healthy, happy, safe this year!

Celebrating Fall and Thanksgiving in Color

One promise we made ourselves during this challenging year was to add sprinkles of joy whenever possible. So for our Thanksgiving table this year, we moved it outdoors! We wanted to change it up a bit this year, we’ve been having a wonderfully mild Autumn and wanted to take advantage of the nice weather before Winter. Moving outside also allowed us to gather and remain Covid-safe.

We leaned heavily into our love of natural elements, vintage details, and handcrafted pieces, and plenty of color, of course! Instead of creating a monochromatic or neutral color palette, we embraced a variety of warm colors to give us and our table guests some life and vibrancy.

We began with a fresh white cotton tablecloth that had been hand block printed with repeating blue patterns reminiscent of leaves and tree branches. A rattan charger grounds each place setting along with folded and draped gorgeous ikat napkins in dreamy purples and pinks. The green bamboo dinner plates from Blue Pheasant add gloss and texture, while flatware in gold and green tie into this color scheme while adding modern flair. Vintage Kaiser white bowls from Germany finish off the clean and composed look of the place settings.

For drinkware, we chose chic yet distinctive variations from typical clear glass. Blue, vintage inspired goblets and hand blown “tortoiseshell” glasses offer a faint whisper of the exotic and prove that unconventional matches can work beautifully together.

A vintage brass bowl overflowing with globe amaranth and coleus leaves and surrounded by mini pumpkins, apples, and figs makes the table feel especially romantic. By drawing from colors found throughout nature and pairing surprising textures and tones, we created a table that celebrates the simplest and most pleasurable of joys these days: sharing an intimate meal with loved ones.

Easy Halloween Decorating During a Pandemic

It’s safe to say that Halloween 2020 is not going to look the same as other years. In some communities, trick-or-treating is banned outright, and in others, the festivities are feeling more than just a little subdued. If you have little ones in your life, however, cancelling Halloween is simply not an option. You can still celebrate this fall favorite and herald the beginning of the holiday season with some home-focused activities.

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We are also fans of this modern pumpkin hoop wreath. Both of these can carry your décor through Thanksgiving.

Decorate Outdoors!

Putting up some Halloween decorations well in advance of October 31st will set the festive mood in your neighborhood. We love this dried golden wheat wreath, it’s unique texture will bring warmth to your front door.

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Whether your decorations skew creepy, like these oversized spiders, or slightly more playful, like this trio of bate garden stakes, you can create a eye catching display that’s a visual treat for me than just one night.

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Encourage friends and neighbors to decorate ahead to make the holiday atmosphere last for several weeks: seeing the spirit of Halloween will cushion the blow of a having a less traditional celebration this year. Your family can walk or drive by decorated houses, perhaps making a game of counting the number of spiders, ghosts, or bats along the way.

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Bring the Holiday Home

Especially if Halloween ends up being a home-based affair this year, adding little holiday touches around the house can actually go a long way in keeping the mood feeling festive.

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A cozy plaid throw will be in heavy rotation this fall (and is the perfect thing to hide under during the spooky parts of Halloween movies).

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We also adore this chic, subtle ghost tassel banner for adorning fireplaces and doorways.

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Grab a Pumpkin (or several) and Get to Work.

If pumpkin patches are open in your area and have set up appropriate precautions, going to select your own pumpkins is a time-honored tradition. If not, head to a nearby grocery store and select different sizes or colors, then come home and decorate! Add your finished beauties to your porch or steps to add to your house’s decorations.  Even left au natural, pumpkins look great when grouped together. But first…

Make Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

We love roasted pumpkin seeds: by the handful, folded into granola, sprinkled on salads. We promise they won’t last long however you decide to use them. Here’s a tried-and-true recipe that you can spice up as necessary

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Play With Your Food

Halloween-themed food is so easy and so much fun to make, your kiddos may even forget all about the candy. Just kidding, they will definitely remember the candy, but at least they can nosh on these creations in between getting their sweet fix.

Mini Pumpkins: Peel a bunch of clementine. Chop up a celery stalk into small pieces to resemble a stem. Stick a celery piece into the clementine and voila-snackable pumpkins!

Ghost Bananas: This is such a simple and sweet idea. Add two chocolate chips as eyes to a peeled banana.

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Mini Mummy Pizzas: Place am English muffin half or a mini bagel half on a sheet pan. Spread on some tomato sauce. Pull apart a cheese stick into shreds and layer/cross the shreds on top to look like mummy bandages. Finally, add two black olives slices as eyes. Toast until warm if desired.

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We hope that everyone has a happy and spoooooooky Halloween Season!

5 Reasons to Hire an Interior Designer

In a world of Pinterest boards, readily available internet design apps, and design savvy homeowners, people often wonder why they would even hire an interior designer and if it’s “worth it”. We absolutely think that experienced, professional designers are worth their weight in gold, and we’ve outlined 5 reasons why you should think about hiring one!

1. The price of a good designer is offset by the connections, time savings, and reduction in stress levels!

Decisions, decisions, decisions! When designing a room or a house, you have tons of choices regarding styles, colors, textures, and more. Thinking about designing or redesigning a house or even a room can be so overwhelming that people often end up giving up and living in a space that doesn’t serve them or their interests. We get it: many decisions can’t be taken lightly. Buyer’s remorse, especially for big- ticket items like custom furniture or a whole house paint job, is painful and real (especially because they are often nonrefundable). By talking through the process of what to expect and things to consider as well as using our years of skill-building and expertise with a huge variety of clients, designers can help make the decision process much easier and streamlined. As we get to know you, we can quickly identify what best suits your personality, preferences, and budget and connect you with the resources you need. We also help ensure your projects proceed in a timely, predictable manner and that the final product is one you absolutely adore.

2. We can broaden your style horizons.

There are a multitude of options beyond mass-produced versions such as those at Crate and Barrel or Pottery Barn, and we are constantly learning about new vendors through trade shows, word of mouth from other designers, antique distributors, and social media. The result: your home looks and feels personalized and unique. Instead of having the same pieces as everyone in your neighborhood, we can help you find artists and artisans that perfectly reflect you and your family. Some of these smaller, independent vendors are often able to customize pieces!

3. Our senses of scale, functionality, and proportion are well-honed.

While many people have a great sense of color, getting a sense of scale and size within a space can be tricky. In addition to our formal training, we’ve worked in a huge variety of homes and living spaces and pride ourselves on our ability to make sure a space feels balanced, fresh, and serene. We know all sorts of tricks to make spaces appear bigger, lighter, and more open, and we create rooms and homes that feel comfortable and chic. As a company proudly run by a mom-of-three, we are experts on stylish, family-friendly living and choosing design elements that durable, sustainable, and hardworking.

4. We can help with projects big and small.

On one end of the spectrum, we offer full service interior design for whole house renovations and new construction. We guide you through the whole process from soup to nuts! Having a professional act as your liaison to help handle logistical issues as well as aesthetic ones keeps the process manageable. Tackling whole house redesigns is a challenge we are happy to accept, but we also don’t underestimate the power of even a single room refresh. Whether through adding new window treatments, helping to select new art, or finding the perfect paint color or wallpaper for an underutilized room, we love taking a space that needs a little TLC and make it functional and livable.

5. Designers work WITH you and the pieces you love and don’t push unnecessary changes.

The job of the designer is NOT to clean house entirely and start from scratch with entirely new pieces and products (unless, of course, that’s what your heart truly desires). We strive to incorporate the elements and pieces you currently have and love into the final edit. Because of our expertise and experience, we have innovative ways to incorporate the collections, keepsakes, and new purchases that tell your story. Our clients love that they end up with a marriage of some of their “favorite things” alongside impactful additions or changes. Our specialty: creating a space that still feels like home…but newer, fresher, more inspiring, and representative of the life you and your family are living.

BONUS REASON!

We recently launched another service that brings interior design right to your mailbox, Design Delivered by SH is a flat fee room by room design and decorating service and a great option for all those do it yourself-ers out there. Click the link below to learn more!

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