August 7, 2026

Friday Favorites: Still Summer, Already Thinking About Gifting

by Shana Starr in News

Friday Favorites

The Summer Gifting Edit

The calendar still says summer — windows open, candles lit for the scent more than the light, no one quite ready to say the word "holiday" out loud. And yet. Somewhere in the back of our minds, the gifting list has already started.

That's what this week's favorites are about. A few are the kind of thing you tuck away for someone special. A few you'll want to keep for yourself. (We won't tell.)

Garance Footed Bowl

Some pieces look like they've been in the family for generations, and this is one of them. The aged, stony finish and pedestal shape give it real presence on a dining table or entry — fill it with citrus now, ornaments come winter. A keeper, through and through.

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Year of the Horse 2026 Mahjong Ornament

For the mahjong-obsessed in your life — and you know exactly who we mean. The jewel-toned Joker tile and little horse make it a perfect small gift ahead of the Lunar New Year: thoughtful, unexpected, and impossible to forget.

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Descanso Square Pillow

Basically a piece of art you're allowed to sit on. The scenic, hand-painted feel — cherry blossoms, rolling hills, that soft blue-and-coral palette — makes it the piece that pulls a whole room together. Give it to the friend who's forever "almost finished" decorating.

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Cereria Mollá Grapefruit & Bay Candle

Summer on the Mediterranean, in candle form. Cereria Mollá has been making these since 1899, and it shows — bright grapefruit over warm bay, in a black vessel worth keeping long after the last burn. The definition of an easy, always-right gift.

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xoxo, Shana + Katie

Every Room Deserves Something Living. Ours Never Wilt.

The last layer of a room is almost never another piece of furniture. It is the one thing that makes people stop in the doorway.

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Wallpaper Is More Than a Wall Covering: It's a Design Decision

Where pattern has been doing the real work in our recent rooms, including a few you haven't seen yet. We tell clients this often: if a room feels like it's missing something and you can't name what it is, it's probably not the paint. It's the wall that has nothing to say. Wallpaper isn't a finishing touch we reach for at the end of a project. It's usually one of the first decisions we make, because it sets the tone for everything else that gets built around it. Here's where it's been doing that work lately. The Fifth Wall The ceiling is the most overlooked surface in a room, and it's usually the one we look at first. In our Whiskey Room, we wrapped the ceiling in Worn Timber, a painted paper from Painted Paper with a wood grain convincing enough that most people assume it's reclaimed plank. It brings the ceiling down and in, which is exactly what a low-lit whiskey room wants — warmth overhead instead of a flat white expanse doing nothing. "People default to paint on a ceiling because it's the wall nobody thinks to question. It's usually the one with the most room to do something." — Shana Explore the full room: Whiskey Tasting Room Pattern With a Point A different project, a different room, a different job for wallpaper to do: our Ladera Ranch Speakeasy Game Room needed to feel collected, like it had been furnished over decades rather than decorated in a weekend. We used Tatum, another Painted Paper pattern, a deep charcoal tartan with just enough texture to catch light without turning glossy. Paired with the room's hidden door, custom millwork, and handblown chandeliers, it stopped being wallpaper and started being the reason the room reads as old rather than new. The Bathroom That Doesn't Apologize Wallpaper doesn't need a big room to make its case. Sometimes the smallest room in the house is exactly where it belongs. In one of our recent guest bathrooms, which we call "The Gilded Garden," we wrapped the walls floor to ceiling in a lush, jewel-toned House of Hackney botanical. It's the boldest choice in the whole project, and it works precisely because everything else in the room stays quiet: a simple brass mirror, understated fixtures, nothing competing for attention. The wallpaper gets to be the whole story. Read the full room here: Bathroom Design Ideas: Four Bathrooms, Four Stories The Powder Room That Started It Long before the Whiskey Room or the Game Room, one of the very first powder rooms we ever took on got the same instinct: wrap the walls, skip the half-measure accent wall. The walls are wrapped in Odette Arboretum, a Painted Paper pattern with a metallic woodland print — delicate gold florals dancing across a black backdrop. The ceiling is a plain grasscloth, texture instead of pattern, so the room has two different things happening in it instead of one print doing all the work. It's proof the instinct was there from the start. A Stripe That Knows What It's Doing Not every room needs a story that surprises you. Sometimes the win is restraint, done exactly right. In a recent guest bedroom, we used Schumacher's Westerly Stripe in navy — a crisp, tailored stripe hung to line up with the room's existing millwork so the color reads as built-in rather than applied after the fact. It's the quietest wallpaper in this whole roundup, and one of the harder ones to get right: too wide a stripe and it dates itself, too thin and it disappears into the wall. This one lands exactly where it should. Wallpaper as a Bar Back, Not a Backdrop Full reveal on this one is still coming, but here's an early look. When a client gives you a Nancy Meyers aesthetic... we created a rose-colored bar cabinet with open shelving. The easy move would have been to keep the wall behind it quiet so the glassware carries the room. We didn't. House of Hackney's Golden Lily, in the Cirrus colorway, went up behind the shelves, visible only in the frame each shelf edge creates. Every glass and bottle now sits in front of its own small piece of pattern instead of a blank wall. It turns storage into something closer to a gallery wall. One More Ceiling We Couldn't Resist We told you the ceiling was the wall nobody thinks to question. We meant it enough to do it twice, and this time we went the opposite direction entirely. In a podcast room we're currently finishing, the ceiling went up in Margo, a fruit-and-floral print from Painted Paper dense with figs and botanicals, right down to the last fine detail. Where the Whiskey Room ceiling reads warm and weathered, this one reads lush and layered, proof the fifth wall isn't one trick, it's a decision you get to make fresh every time. Full reveal still to come, but we couldn't wait to show you what's happening overhead. Dining Rooms Don't Need to Play It Safe Also coming soon, and teased on social this month: a full dining room wrapped in a black croc-embossed wallpaper by Graham & Brown, deep and almost monochrome, with just enough sheen to catch candlelight without turning shiny under it. Dining rooms are among the few rooms in a house that are used only for a couple of hours at a time, usually after dark. That makes them the best room to take a real risk in. A texture this bold would be a lot for a room you sit in all day. Lit by candlelight a few nights a week, it's exactly right. The Case, in Short Wallpaper doesn't need an accent wall to justify itself. It can be the ceiling (twice, apparently). It can be the few inches of wall a shelf doesn't cover. It can be the whole room, if the room only gets used after dark or for five minutes in the morning. The rule was never "one wall." That's just where most people stop. Ready to see where pattern could go in your own space? Get in Touch → xoxo,Shana Wallpaper Credits Worn Timber, Painted Paper — Whiskey Room ceiling — full project here Tatum, Painted Paper — Ladera Ranch Speakeasy Game Room walls House of Hackney — "The Gilded Garden" bathroom — full project here Grasscloth-textured paper, Painted Paper — early powder room Westerly Stripe, Navy, Schumacher — guest bedroom Golden Lily, Cirrus colorway, House of Hackney — bar shelving, full reveal coming soon Margo Fruit Floral, Painted Paper — podcast room ceiling, full reveal coming soon Croc-embossed wallpaper, Graham & Brown — dining room

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The Easiest 4th of July Table You'll Ever Set

A few easy moves for a red-white-and-blue table that feels gathered, not forced. There's a certain kind of holiday that doesn't need a plan. The 4th of July is the best of them: no reservations, no elaborate menu, just a backyard, a few people you love, and a table that looks like you put in more effort than you actually did. That last part is the trick. And it's easier than you'd think. We've been styling festive tables in the shop all week, and the formula keeps coming back to the same three moves. Start With One Honest Color Story Red, white, and blue can tip into theme-party territory fast. The fix is restraint. Start with a neutral base: your everyday whites, a natural linen, a bare wood table. Then let the patriotic notes come in as accents instead of a costume. Our American Flag Salad Plates were practically made for this. A hand-drawn flag, a soft blue rim, and an organic edge that keeps them feeling collected rather than kitschy. Layer one over a plain dinner plate and the table already feels done. Let the Napkins Do the Talking If there's one festive thing worth buying this year, it's the napkins. They're small, they store easily, and they carry the whole theme so the rest of your table doesn't have to. The Cuties Americana Napkins read "home is where the stars & stripes are," while the USA Heart Napkins keep it even simpler: a little flag heart and "the land that I love." Fold them, knot them, or tuck one under each fork. (They also make the easiest hostess gift there is: a set of four, wrapped, done.) Add One Thing That Glows https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0611/0389/8707/files/Palma_Lifestyle.jpg?v=1778884815 Every table we style ends the same way: with light. As the sky goes pink and the fireworks start, a warm glow is what turns dinner into the evening everyone lingers at. A cluster of candles down the center works beautifully. So does our cordless Palma Lamp, carried straight out to the patio. No cord, no outlet, no fuss. Tap the base and let it do the rest. "The secret to a table people remember isn't more. It's one or two thoughtful touches and good light. Everything else takes care of itself."— Katie, Co-Founder Come Pull It Together With Us Here's the honest part: we'd love to help you build this in person. Through the holiday week, our 4th of July accessories are 30% off and all of our open-box furniture is 20% off. Those lightly shown, one-of-a-kind pieces only come around once in a while, and both offers are in-store only. A note on timing: we'll be open Tuesday through Thursday, 11 to 6, and closed on the 3rd and 4th so our team can be home with their families. So swing by before the weekend. 📍 24847 Del Prado, Dana Point, CA 92629📞 (949) 503-1155 Come find your reds, your whites, and your blues, and we'll help you set a table worth gathering around. xoxo,Katie + Shana

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Friday Favorites: Still Summer, Already Thinking About Gifting