I was invited to check out the grand opening of the new Williams Sonoma store at the South Coast Plaza last week, and while I normally consider myself to be more of a flea (marketer) and less of a (mall) rat, there are certain things I prefer to buy new as opposed to vintage — and cookware and kitchen supplies are pretty high up there on the list, hovering just beneath undergarments and beauty supplies. And while I love the convenience of online shopping, I really enjoy perusing brick and mortar shops to get inspired for display and organization.
The visual merchandisers are so good at making the spaces look pristine — I always come away with new ideas of how to arrange things when wondering through beautiful retail spaces. For example as soon as I got back to the studio I lined up all of my many throw pillows side by side on a shelf like in the above image. (Before I rearranged them they were stacked on top of each other) It makes the pillows so much easier to pull out, and it looks really clean, right?
It was also cool to see the Williams Sonoma Home collection — which up until then I had only seen online. The petrified wood bookends were among my favorite pieces from the home wing of the store. Kinda makes me feel like putting petrified wood all over my house.
From the tabletop side, I fell in love with their coppper chargers…such a great alternative to gold. I couldn’t help but pull down all my favorite pieces and create a little place-setting to see how the colors worked together (one more reason I love shopping in-store), although everyone who walked by me was looking at me like I was nuts. I was in my gym clothes and I had also stolen a few pomegranates from the displays for my photos too, but bloggers gotta blog, yo. :P I was also really smitten with the washed linen napkins and the gold flatware.
Below you can shop my William Sonoma Faves…
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And then, just when I thought I had found all my favorites, I went ahead and discovered that among the many food items that Williams Sonoma carries, they also carry potato latkes, which is pretty much my favorite thing ever. I mean, yum. I’m officially ready for the holidays now.
In-store photos by Danae Horst.
Post created in partnership with William Sonoma.
I definitely need some copper chargers in my life (and maybe some latkes too)!