Hillary Thomas Designs Chic Shop in LA

As I mentioned before, I recently took a trip to LA. Although my schedule was pretty full, I squeezed in a tiny bit of shopping before I left. Thanks to my guide, Shannon Wollack, one of my stops was Hillary Thomas Designs' Chic Shop in Brentwood. It's such a cute little store that's full of unique giftables and pretty treasures for the home. And of course, the shop also sells Hillary's exquisite collection of finials, aptly named "the Finial Touch."

The merchandise in the Chic Shop all has a very a fun, fresh vibe. It was a refreshing size (the store has a small footprint) and it was great to take in such an edited, yet diverse selection of goods. I loved all of the Chinoiserie accents and as a lamp and lampshade hoarder, I wanted ALL of those...especially these darling cane shades. Here's a glance at the whole shebang...

Behold....the Finial Touch! 

Hillary's signature Gasparilla and Saranac candles...

Vintage glass...

Barware galore!

Like the Zulu Love Train finials, these colorful bowls are handwoven by Zulu weavers with telephone wire... 

Lots of cute pillows too...

 Loved seeing orange Waylande Gregory pieces!

So pretty, isn't it? If you're ever shopping in LA, put the Chic Shop on your itinerary! Until then, you can shop it online. Did you spot anything that you plan to order? What do you think of the finial collection?

Agate on Acrylic

By now we're probably all aware of the rock trend that's been going on in both fashion and decor. Stones seem to be on everything from jewelry to lamps. I'm liking this trend because rocks are geological formations and thus each one is unique. Further, most of the rocks used for aesthetic adornments are sparkly and vividly colored which are ideal qualities for home decor applications. I'm loving the colorful agates that are everywhere at the moment. I especially love seeing them paired with acrylic because agates are somewhat transparent and acrylic lets the light filter through them. So, I've been wanting to get my hands on something that combines the two materials.

On a recent trip to Blue Print I picked up a rich blue agate coaster that looks much like the ones made by RabLabs (and it may very well be from RabLabs). I bought it with the purpose of using it on an acrylic ice bucket that we received as a wedding gift. The bucket is gorgeous on its own, but I thought it would be fun to jazz it up a bit with an agate (I also considered using Malachite stones but thought an agate would be better since it's more transparent). I haven't broken out the glue yet, so tell me what you think of the idea...

Here's the agate...isn't it the prettiest shade of blue?

Topping the ice bucket...

The blue lacquer in the shelves above the bar ties in nicely doesn't it?

And I couldn't resist including a shot of the cutest gift bag EVER...it's a little square :)

So, what do you think...should I add the agate? If I don't I can easily use the pretty little rock as a coaster.