National Hot Tea Month May Be Over Yet It's Not Too Late To Have A More Tea-Filled Year

It shouldn't surprise you that I'm writing this post while also enjoying a homemade "medicine ball" - honey citrus mint tea - because nine times outta ten, I'm drinking tea. My love of tea grew exponentially in the last 4 years when a health concern required me needing to scale back my coffee consumption. I was distraught at first & then decided to make the most of it & explore tea varieties. Now, 4-ish years later, I'm plotting growing my own tea garden... that's how much I've come to love having tea as part of my days.

LifestyleAlbie KnowsFebruary 9, 2023tea, at home cafe, gardening, shopping, hygge

Mood Board Inspiration: November 2022

To know me is to know I try to live a hygge inspired lifestyle - chasing creating moments of bliss as often & consistently as possible. With that, I've designed my home to be a very hygge inspired safe place for my family & I. One of the major tenets of hygge inspire design is color - and not a lack of... instead, it's about layering hues & textures to create movement in a space, even when the tones are all neutral. My home isn't all neutral. It's layered. This is why my November 2022 monthly moldboard inspiration may likely be my top favorite from the monthly moldboard series... not to mention being very on brand for the season.

ShoppingAlbie KnowsNovember 1, 2022mood board, fall, hygge, shopping

Mood Board Inspiration: October 2022

When I see this inspiration board, I am reminded of what I want the coming weeks to feel like - I want them to be soft & kind, while also allowing for endurance & assertiveness. I want this new season to be like a warm embrace... and I dunno about you, but for me, the best hugs are both strong & delicate... like this palette.

DesignAlbie KnowsOctober 2, 2022mood board, color, hygge, cost plus world market, target, shopping, lulu & georgia, amazon, fall

Mood Board Inspiration: September 2022

DesignAlbie KnowsSeptember 1, 2022mood board, color, hygge, cost plus world market, target, shopping, lulu & georgia, amazon, fall

New Year's Resolutions For Your Home

With a new year always comes new year's resolutions -- all those personal things we want to accomplish over the next 365 days. But did you know that your home affects how you show up in the world? Think about it -- this is the place you eat, sleep, live...naturally how it looks & feels will carry over into how you look & feel.

This is why I've decided to come up with 7 easy resolutions (translation: resolutions that you can actually keep) for your home, to not only help you love your space but also design your life for 2018.

How To Hygge For The Holidays?

Attributed to the Danish, Hygge is finding happiness in the little things and finding moments throughout our day to embrace & create bliss. I grew increasingly fascinated with the concept & principles of Hygge, and the deeper I dove, the more I wanted to learn.

What Hygge represents runs parallel with what the winter holiday season represents — warmth, happiness, coziness, and gratitude.

Creating a Basic Hot Chocolate Charcuterie Board

While setting up the kitchen cafe for the season, I stocked up on a bunch of favs for hot chocolate for the family; and now that I have more kitchen (and counter) space, I decided to try something fun this year when it came to what would normally just be a hot chocolate bar. I decided to create my first ever charcuterie board... specifically, a hot chocolate charcuterie board.

Video, ShoppingAlbie KnowsDecember 13, 2021holiday season, hygge, how to, amazon, at home cafe

Shop With Me: What's In My H&M Home Cart?

It's been a while since I've done an H&M Home haul and that's definitely not for lack of shopping; but with the recent decision to make some changes around the house, now seemed like a great time to do some window shopping, especially with so many of their new releases giving me all the hygge vibes my little heart can handle.

ShoppingAlbie KnowsFebruary 11, 2021h&m home, hygge, my home, shopping

Capsule Decorating: Home Decor Must Haves feat. H&M Home

I'm a creature of habit, especially when it comes to shopping, which is precisely why a at the top of the year I decided to create a capsule wardrobe for myself - I was no longer going to be working from home as an entrepreneur and was truly tired of staring at a full closet yet saying, "I have nothing to wear". Why was this happening? Because I had a BUNCH of pieces that didn't play well together. I was purchasing in a vacuum, instead of thinking of my wardrobe holistically, so getting dressed each day became this daunting, arduous task for no. damn. reason!

The way I shop for my closet now is, for quite some time, how I've shopped for my home - capsule shopping. Yes, I've created a decorating capsule.

ShoppingAlbie KnowsSeptember 7, 2020h&m home, hygge, capsule decorating, shopping

Shop With Me: What's In My H&M Home Cart?

It's been a while since I've done an H&M Home haul and that's definitely not for lack of shopping; but with the recent decision to make some changes around the house, now seemed like a great time to do some window shopping, especially with so many of their new releases giving me all the hygge vibes my little heart can handle.

ShoppingAlbie KnowsAugust 23, 2020h&m home, hygge, my home, shopping

Living Room Refresh: Summer Hygge

Earlier this year, I'd made the decision to stop messing with my house — I literally decided to stop doing home projects, choosing to just focus on the day to day styling and organizing, but also (mostly) enjoying the home I'd created thus far. Paired with my husband being on deployment and not knowing where we'd be a year from now...yeah it was time to just chill.

But then 'rona came to town and, like everyone else, I was forced to appreciate but also reevaluate our home.

LifestyleAlbie KnowsAugust 9, 2020hygge, my home, living room, design therapy

Mood Board Inspiration: June + July 2020

The only thing that inspired me recently is Black people.

Black culture.

Mood Board Inspiration: May 2020

How is it already May?!

And yet here we are…

About halfway through the second quarter of the year and nearly 3 months into a global pandemic that has all but crippled our “normal” way of life. Now for me, I am thankful that COVID-19 and the stay-at-home order hasn’t too much impacted my day to day — changes have happened but nothing drastic — but I also couldn’t think about all the changes happening in nature that we can’t see… and possibly all the changes happening because we aren’t out in the world messing with things.

I remember reading about reports that indicated a decrease in air pollution across the world because factories were closed, cars weren’t on the road, and just overall how our being home was giving Mother Nature a much-needed reset of her home. Imagine that!

I thought about how clear skies and vibrant colors, and my may mood board inspiration came into bloom…

Mood Board Inspiration: April 2020

Living in the Pacific Northwest gave me a newfound appreciation for nature’s beauty, but specifically the colors in nature — I didn’t exactly always get the benefit of seeing a crayola assortment of trees and clear blue skies while living in Hell’s. Kitchen. While I’m sure this is problem the first spring for all of us, where we’re spending most of it in our homes, there is still so much beauty out there in the world to appreciate — and with any luck, that we’ll be able to enjoy before the season changes.

That was my inspiration for this month’s mood board — bringing home the simple beauty around us.

Mood Board Inspiration: March 2020

Design, ShoppingAlbie KnowsMarch 17, 2020mood board, color, hygge, cost plus world market, target, horchow, serena & lily, the container store, shopping

Shop With Me: How To JOMO?

What is JOMO? It's the JOY of missing out.

Instead of burdening yourself by worrying about what you could be missing by not being at all the places, with all the people, doing all the things, you take pleasure in having personal time. You can experience JOMO but not attending social events (aka not people'ing) or by simply unplugging, which these days, is a vacation all in itself.

Here are 28 essentials that I think are perfect for getting your JOMO on.

ShoppingAlbie KnowsFebruary 16, 2020jomo, hygge, self care, covid19, shopping

Mood Board Inspiration: February 2020

Design, ShoppingAlbie KnowsFebruary 13, 2020mood board, pottery barn, west elm, color, hygge, h&m home, shopping

Shop With Me: Decorating With Natural Weaves

Y’all know I love me some hygge right? And one of my favorite elements of hygge design is the use of natural elements to create a design that feels layered with warmth and texture and character.

Some popular weaves and textures are raffia, rattan, and jute — elements that can be (and often are) easily mixed up with one another — and that’s just scratching the surface! When it comes to wanting to add that earthy feel to your space, you can also consider options like water hyacinth, rush, and grasscloth.

Decoding the precise differences between the different options would require a whole different post, and ain’t nobody got time for that. LOL. Today, we’re going shopping — how can you bring in these cozy elements into your home through different furnishings and decorative elements?

ShoppingAlbie KnowsJuly 11, 2019hygge, decor styling, natural weaves, design therapy, shoppingComment