This weekend I returned from a month abroad to a surprise in my living room. My super-talented brother had finished my custom coffee table while we were gone, and I returned to find it sitting beautifully in situ. It’s made from sapele wood, a lovely reddish tropical hardwood, and when the light pours into our living room through our huge bay windows, that wood positively sparkles.

We bought some houseplants yesterday, which I’ve been meaning to do… for a year, and I can’t stop admiring our sweet little jade plant atop our gorgeous new table.

Oh, yeah, and I’ve been especially enjoying lots of tea from this spot–

We also came back from our trip with a suitcase (my suitcase) full of Moroccan textiles, and I would love to show you some of our new rugs around the house. But that would involve showing you how messy our house is right now, so I’m going to hold off. Here’s the stack of coton and wool towels, rugs and blankets, though:

And as a bonus, here are those big, bright bay windows opposite the new table, shot with my newish iphone fisheye lens: