What I'm Loving: All Black Footwear + Shopping Links For Shoes, Boots, and Sneakers

I recently purged my closet & it should come as no surprise that I have my fair share of black wardrobe pieces. When I turned my attention to shoes & sneakers, however, I realized I had a whole lotta color & very little black. With the exception of my Suede Nike Blazers (similar), stacked heel lace up bootie (similar), a pair of Mary Jane inspired pumps, and Crocs clogs, and Crocs sandals - so basically one of each shoe in each category lol - it's been a real long while since I've had an truly ALL black shoe... meaning no white sole or colored logo or some kind... just black on black on black. So, naturally, I began online window shopping for all black sneakers, shoes, and boots, in hopes that over the course of the year, I'll actually purchase a few.

Lifestyle, ShoppingAlbie KnowsJanuary 5, 2023color, fashion, black, shopping

Mood Board Inspiration: October 2022

When I see this inspiration board, I am reminded of what I want the coming weeks to feel like - I want them to be soft & kind, while also allowing for endurance & assertiveness. I want this new season to be like a warm embrace... and I dunno about you, but for me, the best hugs are both strong & delicate... like this palette.

DesignAlbie KnowsOctober 2, 2022mood board, color, hygge, cost plus world market, target, shopping, lulu & georgia, amazon, fall

Mood Board Inspiration: September 2022

DesignAlbie KnowsSeptember 1, 2022mood board, color, hygge, cost plus world market, target, shopping, lulu & georgia, amazon, fall

Kitchen Accessories Shopping Guide: Gold & Brass

I remember when I did my very first kitchen accessories guide, it was partly to help you guys with your own shopping & partly to satisfy my own love of digital window shopping. But this time it’s different. For my own kitchen reno, in addition to wood, white, and black (coming soon) accessories, I’ve been shopping gold & brass accessories to complete the design.

ShoppingAlbie KnowsNovember 6, 2021kitchen color guide, kitchen, color, shopping

Kitchen Accessories Shopping Guide: Red

If you’ve been keeping up with my kitchen color series, then you know the two most recent shopping guides were hues of blue and all white everything. With Memorial Day just passing and 4th of July on the way, it just made perfect sense (to me at least) to close out the American flag trifecta of kitchen decor. So here we are folks — a red kitchen accessories shopping guide!

ShoppingAlbie KnowsNovember 2, 2021kitchen, color, kitchen color guide, shopping

How To Create A Tablescape: Easy Tablescaping Tips & Ideas

Tablescaping isn't exclusive to dining tables, although this time of year, it's often assumed that it is. Any time you're decorating a tabletop surface and/or creating a sort of flat surface vignette -- dining table, coffee table, fireplace mantle, console table, sideboard, bar cart, bookshelf — YOU'RE TABLESCAPING!

Kitchen Accessories Shopping Guide: Blue

We're back with another installation of the kitchen color series! And I figured what better color to do during the winter than the cool hues of blue. If you read my High Point Market trends forecast from Fall 2018 market, then you know that one of the color families that was very prevalent at market was denim blue hues. We’ve got some navy, some royal, some aqua…a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

ShoppingAlbie KnowsOctober 28, 2021kitchen, color, kitchen color guide, shoppingComment

Kitchen Accessories Shopping Guide: All White Everything

The all white kitchen trend is one that every season people wonder if it’s over. But here’s the thing — there is more than one way to achieve an “all white kitchen” look. If the trend of all white everything is one that you’re holding on to with both hands and/or have secretly been coveting for your own home, you can totes get your wish without doing a complete overhaul of your cabinets and counters. For this installment of my kitchen color guide series we’re tackling the ever so popular (or hated) white on white!

ShoppingAlbie KnowsOctober 26, 2021kitchen, color, kitchen color guide, shoppingComment

Kitchen Accessories Shopping Guide: Blush Pink!

This year blush pink as definitely become a growing trend in fashion & home decor, serving almost as neutral and getting paired with lots of metal tones and/or dark dramatic hues. But despite, it's growing popularity, it's definitely one of those colors that is a kitchen challenge — how do you do it without dredging up old school kitchen nostalgia?

ShoppingAlbie KnowsOctober 25, 2021kitchen, color, kitchen color guide, shoppingComment

Amazon Shopping: ROYGBIV For The Home

One of my favorite presentation styles as a merchandiser was color blocking but specifically using ROYGBIV to display merchandise. What’s ROYGBIV? ROYGBIV is an acronym for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet — aka the rainbow. With June being LGBT Pride Month, I have been reminded of how a rainbow — ROYGBIV — can be a fun and vibrant addition to any space! Since shopping Amazon is one of my favorite past times here are my ROYGBIV inspired finds for the entire home.

ShoppingAlbie KnowsOctober 23, 2021amazon, color, design therapy, shopping

5 Easy Steps To Choosing Color

So often when I'm working on a design the biggest dilemma tends to revolve around color -- picking colors, matching colors, using colors -- so I thought it be cool to share some of my "wisdom" on color!

DesignAlbie KnowsOctober 22, 2021design therapy, free resource, color

Kitchen Accessories Shopping Guide: All Black Everything

In case you missed it, my cabinets are a combination of matte white and matte black cabinets by BOXI from the creators of Semihandmade.

Inspired the matte finish of our new cabinets, I was drawn to accents with the same smooth, non gloss look — like my dinnerware from the holidays — for utilitarian and decorative items for the kitchen.

ShoppingAlbie KnowsFebruary 28, 2021kitchen color guide, kitchen, color, shopping, black

Brass vs Bronze vs Gold

Although I'm not against mixing metals, as they've grown in popularity, I've noticed people using them haphazardly without any regard for how they'll play off of one another. This has been especially the case when it comes to rose gold, copper, and gold. Albeit similar, these are all very distinct metals, and when used in decor, these distinctions can make or break a design. Use correctly, they can absolutely elevate a design to something elegant and timeless; however, done incorrectly, and it'll be a piping hot mess!

ShoppingAlbie KnowsAugust 30, 2020national kitchen & bath month, metals, design therapy, color

Mood Board Inspiration: June + July 2020

The only thing that inspired me recently is Black people.

Black culture.

Mood Board Inspiration: May 2020

How is it already May?!

And yet here we are…

About halfway through the second quarter of the year and nearly 3 months into a global pandemic that has all but crippled our “normal” way of life. Now for me, I am thankful that COVID-19 and the stay-at-home order hasn’t too much impacted my day to day — changes have happened but nothing drastic — but I also couldn’t think about all the changes happening in nature that we can’t see… and possibly all the changes happening because we aren’t out in the world messing with things.

I remember reading about reports that indicated a decrease in air pollution across the world because factories were closed, cars weren’t on the road, and just overall how our being home was giving Mother Nature a much-needed reset of her home. Imagine that!

I thought about how clear skies and vibrant colors, and my may mood board inspiration came into bloom…

Mood Board Inspiration: April 2020

Living in the Pacific Northwest gave me a newfound appreciation for nature’s beauty, but specifically the colors in nature — I didn’t exactly always get the benefit of seeing a crayola assortment of trees and clear blue skies while living in Hell’s. Kitchen. While I’m sure this is problem the first spring for all of us, where we’re spending most of it in our homes, there is still so much beauty out there in the world to appreciate — and with any luck, that we’ll be able to enjoy before the season changes.