8 Things I'm Buying from CB2

Just a handful of useful/cool/non-trendy room refreshers, including my vote for Vibe'iest Lamp of the moment.

Hi from the CB2 store!

After a few months of intense schedules, basically using our home like a manhandled hotel room, it’s been nice in recent weeks making the shift into a new, gentler season, and just getting to know my space (and me) again. Cleaning, tending to the neglected drawers, tossing all the expired yucky things…things that suddenly feel like they’re part of the past.

Which is where a dazzling new cotton duvet comes in. And a visit to CB2. If you’re wondering why I chose CB2 for a shopping edit, there’s a tiny backstory for context. Years ago I had a meeting at the corporate offices of Crate & Barrel. It was a short 2-day trip to discuss a project we were doing at the time, and the thing I remember most, other than the lovely person I was traveling with, was the company’s styling warehouse. Literally…a warehouse just for styling, housing a maze of industrial shelves, meticulously organized in categories, all filled with any kind of vintage object you could imagine: tiny statues, pottery, candles, sculptures, planters, napkins and textiles, tea-cups, on and on, it was insane. Shooting a spring tea party on the lawn? We’ve got ALL the accoutrements you can handle. Après-ski holiday dinner in the Alps? Right this way! An Ab-Fab cocktail party? Why not…check out our Lacroix section (jk). I remember walking through this massive airplane hanger filled with treasures thinking….uh, can this be the store?

As far as I know, CB2 doesn’t sell vintage, but much of their offerings have a very specific style and a VIBE, some of it vintage-inspired, which makes it an excellent gateway if you’re a little cagey or hesitant about home stuff and don’t really know where to start with making your space more personal. Which is kind of how I approached this assignment…going after just a handful of good-looking things that can also add to a foundation/starting point for figuring out what you like AND need. It’s just one step in the process, albeit a useful one, of all the adding, subtracting, vintage mixing and matching that goes into making a space a little more together/a little more you. Over time, of course (a home is never done:).

On my recent trip to the SoHo outpost, I did find myself longing for some of that vintage warehouse bacchanalia to shop…but that’s not what I needed. This time around, a short list of special basics was the goal…and for the most part, I found what I was looking for🍁.