I recently set a holiday lunch table out in my garden. Have you ever wondered how to style a holiday table when entertaining guests? I live in Southern California so it doesn’t exactly look like the holiday season for those in the East Coast or in colder places, but since it’s so nice outside, I had to take advantage of the weather outside during the holidays.

It was warm outside (around 53), but I still had heat lamps just in case. You never know how cool it can get in the evening. Here’s how I style a holiday table using a traditional plaid.

Summer officially ends late in September but when August ends, for me, summer feels like it is over.  Last year, two weeks after moving into this house, I threw an end of summer taco party for about 40 people. This year, I decided to hit repeat and threw another August taco party.  Maybe a tradition is in the making.  Anyhooooo, like last year, I officially decided to throw this party about a week before.  Before I knew it almost 30 of us were gathered in my courtyard for an end of summer taco party under the stars.  Want to know how I pulled it off?  Read on…

Major life update alert!

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you already know that I’ve started my first big COCOCOZY design house project! And now that I’ve got my footing, I want to bring you all along on the journey with me in hopes we can learn a thing or two together!

Basically, I bought this house as an investment property a few months ago in an historic area here in Los Angeles called View Park. The Spanish Style home is 1860 square feet and was built in 1931. It sits on a large, magical lot surrounded by palm trees and birds of paradise. It was 3 bedrooms and 3 baths — but now we are morphing it into a 4 bedroom and 3.5 bath home!

Who says dressy clothes are just for dressy occasions?

I’ve been trying to find ways to incorporate the fancier items in my closet into my regular wardrobe — and I’ve found that with a little creativity and willingness to play around, you can find a look that works for almost any day of the week!

Case in point… I bought the Chloe dress pictured throughout this post for a wedding I was going to late last year. As I’m sure many of you can relate, it’s a beautiful dress (that I spent way too much money for), but it just sits in my closet.

A little background, I purchased the dress while rushing out of the store before closing… without even looking at the price tag. I still lose sleep over that sometimes, but what can you do. I had to catch a flight early the next morning for the wedding, so I ended up deciding to make it work. In hindsight, I totally could have worn something perfectly nice that I already owned (without spending an arm and a leg) and returned the dress, but here we are. All dressed up with nowhere to go!

Last year, when I was on vacation with some friends, our friend MR spent the entire time drinking match tea.  MR, a busy New York mother of three,  had a special designer leather wrapped cup with a metal straw and spent the whole the whole vacation either tending to her kids or sipping her matcha tea.  She seemed a little jumpy the whole vacation and then the next time I saw her she had given it up on the matcha because it was a little too much. Matcha is finely ground green tea that is supposed to have some sort of nutrition benefits.  It is a trend, a craze and for some a way of life.

So the other day I was out to dinner at the Soho House here in West Hollywood with the COCOCOZY team and I discovered a new Matcha Sour drink they had on their menu…I had two of them…it was a thick green concoction that was super delicious…after I too was a little jittery…but I loved it!  Matcha mixed drinks, matcha tea…matcha matcha matcha…here are recipes 5 fun matcha mixed drinks you can make for your next summer party…

What does it cost to remodel a kitchen?  That is the question of the day.  Of course the answer can be…”as much as you want to spend” or we can give you a few details.

Today,I bring you a cute kitchen update from STUDIO LIFE.STYLE. designers Shannon Wollack and Brittany Zwickl.  This is a kitchen they remodeled for a client here in the Los Angeles area.  The designers shared some of their sources and design thinking behind transforming this space into a cute kitchen.  They estimate that a remodel like this would cost between $30K-40K.

For those of you contemplating your first kitchen remodel, I have also broken down a possible kitchen renovation budget from low to high end too.  How much does it cost to remodel a kitchen like a designer…details…details…

With summer almost here, there will be little need for a fire burning in your living room hearth.  Why not use your fireplace as a great decor opportunity?  Adding some cut wood, candles, vases, plants or even books to a fireplace can create an easy but impactful “style moment” to a living space.

Time to clean out the ashes and make way for some bold and creative fireplace decor ideas!

Today’s mission: Figure out a cute office design for the head of the department at my day job.  As many of you know, during the day, I work as an executive at a big corporation and by nights, early mornings and weekends, I blog and design.  A few months ago, the department head, knowing that design is my passion, asked me to look at her office and her help her figure out an arrangement with a round table as a desk. Her current office is filled with standard company furniture she inherited from the person who had the office before her.  It is bland.  She described her style as modern.  With little design information, except that she wanted something really modern, with a round table as a desk, I had the COCOCOZY team put together a few office design inspiration board thought starters.

I asked the COCOCOZY team to start off with a classic mid-century modern white Saarinen tulip table as inspiration.  Here are some sleek modern office design ideas.