For more than 10 years, I’ve led Apartment Therapy’s real home content, producing thousands of house tours from around the world. Currently, I live in my maximalist dream home in New Orleans, Louisiana, with my partner, a perfect dog, and a cute cat.
As Apartment Therapy’s Executive Home Director, I head up our decorating, trends, and designer coverage. I studied Media Studies at UVa and Journalism at Columbia and have worked in media for more than a decade. I love homes, heels, the history of art, and hockey — but not necessarily in that order.
Olivia Harvey is a freelance writer and award-winning scriptwriter from outside Boston, Massachusetts. She’s a big fan of scented candles, getting dressed up, and the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley. You can make sure she’s doing okay via…read more
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
I want to tell you about one of my favorite budget decor items, but fist, let’s flash back to my first time attending a live auction 15 years ago. My friends had brought me to a barn sale in upstate New York as part of our weekend entertainment. Before the auction began, we were allowed to walk around and look at the lots of things that would be sold. I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of objects on offer.
Once the bidding began, we sat in the bleachers in the cold, drafty room watching as bidders scored antique bureaus for half the cost of something from Target, art for even less — the prices were gobsmackingly low. I didn’t particularly need anything that March afternoon, but I was swept up in the excitement of the bidding and the deals. When the auctioneer brought a pair of carved marble lamps up to the block, I raised my hand to enter the fray, and not a soul bid against me. I got the pair for a cool $20! I hadn’t even gotten a close look at them when we’d walked around the preview, but I figured they were so cheap, I’d surely scored a deal.
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When I went to pick up my prize at the end of the auction, I had second thoughts about my hasty purchase. These lamps were a little old-fashioned. I mean that in an endearing way, of course, but I wondered: How were they going to look in my Brooklyn apartment, where almost all of my furniture was vaguely mid-century modern with a smattering of IKEA to round out the collection? My friends assured me they were great, and I tucked them into the back of my station wagon.
Back at home, I set up the lamps in my living room, and something magical happened: They elevated the whole room. Instead of looking too fussy, they looked effortless — chic, even. The room gained more of a collected-over-time look. My big-box store lamp landed on the stoop for someone else to take home.
A year or so later, I spotted a similar pair of alabaster lamps at a yard sale. Much more diminutive in size than my first pair, these possessed some truly awful glass shades that made them look decidedly uncool. By then, though, I knew the bases were classic style chameleons. They were also the perfect size to place on a dresser. I think I spent another $20 on these, and then bought shades to refresh their look for another $25.
More than a decade and two moves later, I still have those two pairs of vintage stone lamps in my home. After using them in many rooms and noticing them in other homes, I believe vintage alabaster or marble lamps can elevate any room. Part of their design power lies in purchasing a pair. With two matching lamps, a room feels even more finished — like something picked out by a decorator — not just something you stumbled upon at a yard sale.
If you don’t have a local vintage shop, you can buy similar lamps on eBay and Etsy for a little more (but still usually less than $100 a piece or even $50, if you really search); a quick search revealed this $80 stunner on Etsy. Your keywords beside “lamp” should be “marble,” “alabaster,” “carved,” and, if you subscribe to my idea of symmetry, “pair.” Don’t get dissuaded by a hideous shade; a replacement is just a click away, and you’ll still have spent less than you would have on a new lamp.
Still not convinced vintage marble lamps are a must? Let Nate Berkus persuade you. He’s definitely on “Team Vintage Stone Lamp,” and I am, too.
Originally from California, but turned New Yorker since 2000, I’ve been shooting my entire life and am still inspired and excited about it. Lately I have been putting my energies into my Fine Art, which can be seen on my website and on Saatchi Art. Being infatuated with interior design doesn’t hurt either, which mixes well with my love of photographing interiors.
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Last year, Target unveiled its much-hyped concept store, which features new design elements and a bigger retail space. To be exact, the new location in Katy, Texas, covers 150,000 square feet, compared with the company average of about 130,000.
That might not sound all that exciting, but wait until you see the tour videos on TikTok.
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In the following clip from user @movingwiththemilitary, we see a Target store with large windows that let in more natural light, plants and walls of reclaimed wood, and aisles that are twice as large as their regular counterparts. As for the shopping carts, the design has been improved such that, according to the content creator, “it glides like a dream.”
Because of the concept store’s size, it’s able to offer a wider variety of products (and even stock more high-demand items so you won’t feel left out), as well as fit an expanded food section and outposts for Ulta Beauty, Disney, and Apple.
In addition, the redesign also includes the installation of natural (CO2) refrigerants to help lower emissions, electric vehicle charging stations and solar panels, more open and modernized offices for employees, and a much-bigger backroom fulfillment space to support same-day services like Drive Up.
Beginning this year, the retailer plans to incorporate the concept store’s design in more than half of their 200 full-store remodels and all of their 30 new locations. In 2024, all of Target’s remodels and new stores will have these new design elements.
“Our new store layout is bigger than our previous stores, and that extra space and optimized layout ensures our team can offer the very best of Target to our guests, whether they’re shopping online or in our stores,” said John Conlin, senior vice president, properties, Target.
He added: “Guests are turning to us for more things now than they ever did before — more joy, more inspiration, more fulfillment options — and this new store design enables us to even more easily and efficiently deliver for our guests all those things and more, now and into the future.”