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If you’ve been here a while, you’ll know I’m a thrifter at heart. I spend YEARS sometimes looking for a specific piece that never seems to show up. Our kitchen is now 2.5 years old and there are some very basic kitchen staples I was missing, simply because I was holding out hope I’d find them at the thrift store. Think, serving spoons and placemats. Things like that.
Serena & Lily has long been a favorite store of mine. I love the quality of the pieces and the fact that everything is classic with a spin. Any purchase I have ever made from Serena & Lily has stood the test of time because nothing is super trendy, but nothing is super basic, either. Their pieces have just the right amount of funk. The style, combined with their incredible quality, makes me feel good about clicking, “add to cart.”
The first piece I grabbed for the kitchen was a new rug. I’ve tried out about 8 different runners in my kitchen, and none of them ever felt like the right fit. With a deep blue range and orange barstools, it was always difficult to find the right colors. The Oakmont Hand-Knotted Rug in the 2.6′ x 7′ size had such great vintage vibes, and the terracotta and blues look like they were meant for this space. I love that the rug was crafted by master artisans in Turkey, too. If you love this rug, but need a different size, you’re in luck. It comes in eight different sizes.
I had also been short on a lot of small items for the kitchen. It’s been driving everyone in the house nuts that we never have serving spoons. And it’s been driving ME nuts that I never had a spoon rest. We opted for quartzite counters when we renovated the kitchen and they are LOVELY, but they will stain if you rest anything super hot on them. I’m always reaching for a plate or a pan at the last second, and have always had my eye out for a cute spoon rest. I grabbed the Whale Spoon Rest from Serena & Lily and the new Ombre Serving Set fits perfectly on top of it. I can FINALLY make my pasta properly. My Italian-American mother is very relieved.
One thing that I must admit that I didn’t really need, but REALLY couldn’t resist was this extra large Woodbury Serving Board. I do love the large scale of it for entertaining, but it also just looks really good popped against the Circulous backsplash tile. It’s an etu home piece, which is the same brand of my smaller circular cutting board and I am obsessed with that brand.
Last, but certainly not least, I decided to grab a bunch of placemats. I always have a really hard time finding vintage placemats that are 1. in good condition and 2. have enough in a set. I have a large collection of vintage tablecloths, but I’ve long been on the search for a large set of placemats that can just as easily be used on the kitchen island as the dining room table. I love my dining room table because it is a family heirloom piece that I love to be on display. I always find the tablecloths cover up the beauty of the table and the placemats are the perfect way to display the table, while protecting it at the same time. The Catalonia Placemats come in rectangular and circular shape and two different patterns, but I opted of the navy scallops to pick up the blue on my range.
It’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole that is the Serena & Lily website, but I still encourage you to head on over there. It’s refreshing to visit a store, whether online or in-person, that has quality at top-of-mind, but still has pieces that stand out from the same old stuff you see at every big box store.
