Kelly Larkin

Ideas for the week include lots of beach time, backyard swimming sessions (we’re bringing a little pool), visiting my brothers in New Orleans (we’re less than 1.5 hours away), eating at outdoor seafood restaurants, hitting up the outdoor children’s museum, and hiking the nature trail. The backstory is that our cabinets are currently painted Benjamin Moore Ivory White, but slowly over time, the paint has yellowed—and quite significantly in certain places. Kira from Kira David Design (who’s helping me with the project), recently figured out that the cabinets were likely painted in an oil-based paint… and oil-based paint has the tendency to yellow in spaces that aren’t very exposed to natural light. One home project per day” update: We’re hanging these brass hooks on the back of our front hall closet doors for the girls to hang their coats on.

A huge thank you goes out to Kira from Kira David Design—now serving Chicago, Boston and Rhode Island!—as well as my friends Bradley (who will one day have her own design company) and Shaheen (who’s in the middle of renovating her kitchen) for helping so much with this project. The desk cabinets aren’t yellowing as badly, and Calacatta marble is far less blue than Carrara… so this might add to why I’m so in love with how it turned out, haha. Bench upholstery: At the moment, the bench looks VERY white against the cabinets, and I’m a little worried about that. The cabinet knobs: I spent all of 10 minutes scrolling through Rejuvenation’s cabinet hardware before I fell in love with the Massey knobs in “Aged Brass.

Longer days, warmer temperatures and the looming end to a global pandemic have me planning some delightful spring outfits, and today I’m here to share what I’ve found for a perfectly simple men’s capsule wardrobe. J. Crew: As far as I’m concerned, J.Crew is the best value in the men’s clothing game. No matter the season and no matter the weather, basic pocket t-shirts are the key to any men’s wardrobe post. Casual sneakers, comfy clogs, flip flops, dress derbys, mud-proof Bean boots, boat shoes and rain boots are the minimum varieties of shoes I need for the spring.

Don’t let this make you think that these are winter sneakers because they’re not; I wear them all summer long as well and my feet don’t get hot! I also love this gingham cashmere sweater, which is a warmer substitute for the classic gingham button-down, and this striped cashmere sweater! Looks really good with the Quilted Trench Coat and Wool Trench Coat, too. Sweater Blazers with Striped Boatneck T-Shirt or Striped Perfect Long-Sleeved T-Shirt or Short-Sleeved Version