This roundup of things we liked this week originally appeared in the June 20, 2024 edition of the Secret Strategist newsletter, a weekly email where we share the stuff our staff — plus a rotating cast of writers, design-world people, and various others with very good taste — would otherwise keep to themselves. If you want to get our picks straight to your inbox each week, sign up here.
If we had to buy one item off our own list of things to buy this week, sadly, it would probably be the $925 mirror. But we’d settle for the relatively affordable Billy Cotton for West Elm side tables. —Katy Schneider and Simone Kitchens
This Week’s List
* We saw a really great pink flatweave rug in the background of designer Sally Breer’s kids’ room. When we asked her about it, she said: “It’s vintage — a flatweave wool rug from Etsy — high pile in a kid’s room sucks for playing cars and LEGOs and gets real gross with Play-Doh quickly. Wool is just the best, most durable natural fiber.” We found some similar ones here, here, and here.
* Systemarosa designer Sam Herzog posted that she wants these good 2024 EUFA Nike shorts for her birthday.
* Alternatively: some beautiful men’s raw silk pants for $259! (Also here: pink silk vest, beaded loafers, shiny pink pajamas …)
* Designer Billy Cotton’s collaboration with West Elm, which came out in February but slipped under our radar, is so nice; everything looks way more expensive than it is. Great glasses, great side tables, great couches.
* James Thurstan Waterworth of Thurstan Design posted this incredibly appealing picture of a bedroom corner with a striped duvet cover, a gold reading lamp, and this insane little mirror. That, he said, is an “antique early-18th-century gilt-framed Spanish mirror,” and we searched and searched and found one that’s similar … for $925 :/ But it’s very special. We’re going to keep Googling “antique early-18th-century gilt-framed Spanish mirror” until we find a cheaper one, though.
* Our features-writer friend Madeline Leung Coleman found a perfect tank top from a brand called Mallki. It looks like FloreFlore but is only $45! “It’s perfect,” she said. “The back seam! On the shorter side but not too cropped! Runs small!”
* Nice non-Noguchi, non-Nelson pendants for a pretty good pendant price …
* Other lighting news: We saw these little tin guys in both Sam Youkilis’s and Kerrilynn Pamer’s home.
The Strategist is designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read about here. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
