It’s a good thing that beach season is months away, because if there is one thing that makes this time of year tolerable, it’s huge mugs of piping-hot melted chocolate, milk, and whipped cream. We’re talking, of course, about the obligatory beverage of any wintertime night in: hot chocolate. While your hot chocolate ritual might entail a box of factory-sealed envelopes containing micro-portions of chocolate-flavored powder (it has a time and a place and we don’t judge), we’re here to tell you that an über-rich, molten hot chocolate made from scratch takes almost the same amount of time and effort to make. Get out a bar of chocolate and put on some sweatpants—let’s make hot chocolate!
Let’s just get this out of the way: nobody likes to pack. Unless you are a next-level organizing fiend with an inexplicable love for tedium, you probably put off filling your suitcase until the very last minute. This might be expedient in the moment, but has a tendency of complicating things once you reach your destination. We’ve all found ourselves hunched over our bag, tossing wrinkled t-shirts onto the floor in an attempt to find a toothbrush. With the holidays right around the corner, packing becomes even more of a challenge—how to pack your clothes, toiletries, and presents into a carry-on? We got you. Here are a few quick tips to simplify your packing + help you feel organized once you get to your destination.
There are certain things that are no-brainers when it comes to throwing a party. Food, drinks, music—check, check, check. But there are some other details that can make all the difference between a snooze-fest and an all-nighter (in a good way).
Have you ever noticed how guests always corral in the kitchen during parties, only to leave your living room a ghost town? Do you find that people hover for too long near the canapés and cocktails without circulating? The problem could be traffic flow. While your furniture arrangement might work for day-to-day use, a dining table or an inconvenient sectional chaise can cramp things up when things get crowded, forcing people into bottle-necks. Avoid the holiday traffic jam this year and follow these tips for maximizing your cocktail party floor plan.
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A floating sofa might look lovely on a normal day, but it’s only in the way during a party. Scoot all of your furniture along the walls for your fête to create a clear flow for walking and enough standing room for everybody to be comfortable. Bonus points: if you re-arrange often, think about investing in a flip sectional like our Eddy model shown here. You can switch the chaise from left to right depending on your layout.
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It may be tempting to artfully arrange food and drinks in a centralized location, but it’s a recipe for overcrowding! Instead, place food and beverages throughout your party space to space people out and subtly encourage mingling. Coffee + side tables are great places to put a bowl or two of snacks.
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Need extra seating? Shift some of your throw pillows from your sofa to the floor for a cozy + casual place to sit down.
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Move your dining chairs to the wall and form seating clusters to foster conversation. Side tables can be moved from the sofa’s edge to these areas for placing drinks and snacks.
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Transform a console into a bar by putting down trays and glassware.
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Swing your dining table against the wall and turn it into an oversized buffet for serving large dishes or punch!
If you’re miserable at chopping vegetables and a roasting turkey is best left in somebody else’s care, chances are you’re the type of person who gets tasked with setting the table at holiday dinners. Although this not-quite-thrilling duty is simple (does it really matter where the salad fork goes?), it does present the culinarily challenged a rare opportunity to show off. Follow the simple tips in this video below and you’ll earn extra points with your host and compliments from other dinner guests. “What a lovely table setting! Who did that?” YOU DID.
Concepted, written, and photographed for West Elm’s blog, Front + Main.
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Forget sock boots and metallics—the hottest Fall fashion trend that we can’t get enough of is duvets. With a name derived from the French term for down—an allusion to the feathery material that typically fills them—duvets are customarily seen atop lavishly appointed beds and covered in all manner of beautiful fabrics. This season, they’ve come into vogue as a stylish garment—one that can be donned for practically any occasion. Need something to wear for gala season? Duvet. Going out for a quick lunch with the ladies? Duvet. Heading to an important business meeting? Yes way, duvet! While there are myriad ways to style this new wardrobe essential, here are 10 of our favorites.
1 — The Ball Gown
The quintessential duvet look. Pair with the shoes and jewelry of your choice, or go without for a bold and minimal look.
2 — The Chic Scarf
Make a statement when you hit the streets this fall by tossing your duvet around your neck. Added bonus: it will act as a stylish airbag if you end up tripping on the sidewalk.
3 — The Lump
Got a movie night planned with your SO? Go for this elegant seated look.
4 — The Ghost
Bad hair day? No need to fret when you’ve got a duvet in your sartorial arsenal. Throw it right over your head to complete this mysterious femme fatale look.
5 — The Mermaid
Remember leg warmers? Try an au courant twist to the eighties trend by wrapping a duvet entirely around your lower body.
6 — The Friday Night
There is no better way than to celebrate the end of the week than by wearing the season’s must-have item!
7 — The Saturday Morning
Evidence that duvets are your closet’s most versatile item, they can seamlessly shift from day to night and back to day again!
8 — The Coffee Line
Add a duvet to your day and dress up even the most quotidian tasks! This comfortable look will take you from grabbing your morning coffee to powering through a day at the office.
9 — The Puddle
Favored by trend-setting avant-garde crowds, this look sees the duvet worn atop a sedentary body. Excellent for leisure activities.
10 — The Midnight Snack
Stunning when bathed in the crystalline light of a refrigerator, this ravishing look will add a touch of intrigue to your late nights.
Thanksgiving is about friends, family, and the opportunity to give thanks for the wonderful things in your life. It is also, if you happen to be hosting, a prime time to show off. Yes, you’re excited to see the family members you don’t speak to any other day of the year, but let’s be real: part of you really wants to display how grown-up you are by way of an expertly basted Turkey. Or dang-near-award-winning cranberry sauce. Or—if try as you might, cooking really isn’t in your wheelhouse—perhaps a seriously extra place-setting, courtesy of an origami-like napkin fold. Get out that fabric starch and iron, because these wild napkin-folding techniques will be the talk of the table this holiday season!
Concept, art direction, set design, and writing for West Elm. A series of long-loop Fireplace + Yule Log videos. Designed to be played on televisions, videos were created in conjunction with the launch of West Elm’s Fireplace app for Apple TV.
A crackling fireplace is an obligatory fixture in any holiday fantasy, but so few of us actually have the fireplace to make such a thing happen in our own homes. Wouldn’t carving the turkey be so much better in the glow of a warm fire? Or your next cocktail party? Or opening presents on Christmas morning? If you’ve got a serious case of Fireplace FOMO, we hear you. And we came up with a solution. Enter Fireplace by west elm, our Apple TV App and YouTube Playlist that features 20+ cracking fireplaces, free to stream into your living room from your TV! It’s not a real yule log, but it’s the next best thing.
Concept, art direction, video editing, title design, and writing for West Elm.
Videography by Zack Taylor. Soft Styling by Eduardo Vinueza.
Created for and published on West Elm’s Instagram.
Your bed won’t make itself! ? Here are all of the layers for making a perfect bed: ✨ 1. Flat sheet – Adds a thin layer between you and your duvet. Keeps you from needing to launder your duvet cover as frequently + functions as a lightweight cover on hot summer nights. ✨ 2. Duvet/Comforter – Filled with down or down alternative, this fluffy number will keep you cozy + warm on cold nights, and adds comforting weight. ✨ 3. Coverlet/Blanket – Kept at the foot of your bed, a coverlet is great as a middle-weight cover for adding a tiny bit of extra warmth when you need it. ✨ 4. Pillows! Pillows come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and fills. Explore your options on westelm.com to see what’s best for you!
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