It is with mixed emotions that I announce the indefinite pausing of our beloved lifestyle and home goods boutique. As many of you know, I started Bonboni with a passion for creating beautiful spaces, and after five years of running the shop, I have realized that my true calling lies in interior design, which I will pursue full time as Bonboni Interior Design.
While this decision was not an easy one, I believe it is the right step in following my passion and growing my business. During the closure of the shop, I will be putting all my energy into the interior design aspect of Bonboni, while eventually reimagining what the future of the store may look like.
Please note that effective February 4, 2023, we will only be open on Saturdays from 10 AM to 3 PM, with our final shopping day on Saturday, February 25th. I will be there on February 25 to give out lots of hugs, high fives, and “see you soon’s!”. We will be deeply discounting merchandise in the store until it's gone (no online discounts) until it's gone, starting with 30% off this Saturday. (Vintage merchandise is not included in the sale as I will be moving these items to my antique booth at the Hill Antique Market in booth #53A).
The past five years have been an absolutely incredible journey full of the highest highs, and some pretty tough lows, and I am forever thankful to each and every one of you who has supported us and become a part of the Bonboni family. I opened this shop when my kids were babies, and Bonboni has been like a 3rd child to me, nurturing it and guiding it to what it is today. Your unwavering support and encouragement have made this possible to even exist, and I am so thankful for the beautiful memories.
I am deeply grateful to my team of employees who have all worked with me for multiple years: Evan, Kaylene, and Melonnie. Many of you have gotten to know them as they kept the shop running smoothly, greeted you all with smiles, and helped to create the gorgeous atmosphere that you love. I understand that this news may come as a disappointment to some of you. While Bonboni is closing for now, I hope to continue to host the occasional event such as pop-ups, craft classes, and the Tiny Art Show.
Please continue to follow along with me on social media and in our email newsletter. In the coming months, I will be sharing updates on my design projects and the future of Bonboni. I would be honored to have you join me on this new journey, and I look forward to continuing to bring beauty and inspiration into your lives in new and exciting ways.
I am so proud that Bonboni received recognition as "The Most Beautiful Independent Store in Missouri" by Architectural Digest, and I am committed to bringing the same level of beauty and attention to detail to my interior design projects. I have always been driven by a desire to make spaces feel whimsical, inviting, and truly reflective of the people who inhabit them, and I believe this pause will allow me to bring that vision fully to life in new and exciting ways.
Should you have any design needs, I would be delighted to speak with you to see if we would be a good fit working together to create beautiful spaces in your home. I can be reached via email at lauren@bonbonistl.com or via this contact form.
Thank you again for your support, and I hope to see you soon as I embark on this new chapter.
Warmest regards,
Lauren Thorp
]]>The Tiny Art Show makes original artwork accessible to a broader audience as each piece exhibited is available for purchase for $75. Complimentary tickets are required for the Opening Night event on October 19 and will be available on September 29.
Starting October 21, Art can be viewed without tickets at 2246 Klemm St., St. Louis, MO 63110 on Fridays from 10-3, Saturdays from 10-3, and Sundays from 11-3 through November 4.
The participating artist include:
Our Summer Be Bright Box is on it's way out to our subscribers! Inspiring you to add color and joy to your home throughout the year, the Be Bright Subscription Box invites you to treat yourself to cheerful & whimsical home goods each season. Each quarterly box contains: a textile (such as a pillow, throw, cocktail napkins, etc.), artwork, a unique vintage decor piece, a luxurious candle in a fresh scent, and other seasonal (not holiday-specific) item(s) to liven up your home.
If you are a Be Bright Box subscriber and have not opened your box yet, please do so before watching this video. I don't want to spoil any surprises!
As the the sunlight lingers longer into the evenings, my family dines together on our patio more than ever. This quarter, I was inspired to curate a box focused on setting a vibrantly beautiful garden-inspired table. Finish off your table by cutting a few flowers or small branches from your yard for an easy centerpiece.
If you are a Be Bright Box subscriber and have not opened your box yet, please do so before watching this video. I don't want to spoil any surprises!
Our homes are our sanctuaries, a place where we can be our true selves and where many of our core memories are solidified. I've found that the more I love my home, my stress level decreases, and my happiness increases. My aim is that Be Bright Box can do the same for you.
That's why I love being a shopkeeper. I get to help people communicate their love for each other through meaningful products that don't just become another "thing" that will later be discarded, but that will be cherished and used for years to come.
Take a look at our holiday lookbook video featuring products from Bonboni. We had so much fun doing this photo shoot. I hope you love it as much as I do!
As this is most definitely not a food blog, I will not bore you with a lengthy diatribe about the origins of chocolate or the deep spiritual awakening I feel when I take a bite of these soft and rich chocolate chip cookies.
The World's Most Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies
Wet Ingredients:
Dry Ingredients:
Directions
Best of all, it bakes up beautifully in our ceramic brie baker with wood spreader.
[[ recipeID=recipe-7kg87wtcp, title=Super Simple Baked Brie ]]
Our line of candles, Be Bright, has taken off in the last year. We've recently introduced a unique way to craft one-of-a-kind candles that are also eco-friendly using vintage items repurposed into candle vessels.
Come into Bonboni and select your vintage vessel then choose your fragrance, and our shopkeeper & chandler (a fancy name for candlemaker) will craft your custom candle in 1-2 weeks.
Bonboni is currently open on Saturdays from 10-3 (as of 9/26/20) (VDCBSYGZ10GN) or by appointment.
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Thank you for all of your enthusiasm for Part 1 of my home tour that I posted last week. If you didn’t catch the first part, you can read it here.
As promised, here is part 2 of my home including our 2nd and 3rd floor. In case you were wondering, yes, it does feel a little pompous to call out the fact that we have a third floor. However, that was just how homes were built in our neighborhood 120+ years ago. The plots of land were smaller (I believe that home prices were based on the width of the plot), so buildings tended to be tall and skinny, as is the case with ours.
We’ll start with the stairs leading up to the 2nd floor, because I just can’t resist that woodwork. I’m thankful that it managed to fend off a paintbrush for so many generations. The window on the left used to be a stained glass window, but sometime in the 80s or 90s it was replaced. I know this because I have completely stalked every reference of our address on newspapers.com and found a real estate listing from 1983 that mentions a stained glass window.
The portrait at the top of the stairs is of my husband’s great uncle, Paul VandenBerg who was a WW2 pilot who saved his and his fellow soldiers’ lives by hanging his parachute out his bomber’s window which allowed him to land safely. That parachute was sewn into a baptismal gown that 44 or so of Justin’s family members have been baptized in. Here’s the story on my father-in-law’s blog.
At the top of the stairs, we have 3 bedrooms including our master suite and a hall bathroom. We also have a 2nd floor laundry area which I’m so thankful to have so I don’t have to trek up and down all of our stairs for clean clothes every day.
We just had our master bedroom painted a deep navy, which I adore. This is the first time in our marriage that our room finally feels “put together”. It always seemed to be the lowest priority.
Our master bathroom has a walk in shower. My next project will be to paint this bathroom (i.e. hire someone to paint it), but it leads into our walk-in closet, so it won’t be a quick task.
My four-year-old son’s room is next. His room is a collection of vintage pieces and his artwork from pre-school. His bed is part of a set of twin beds that were my grandmother’s (so his great-grandmother’s) that I also used when I was a little girl.
I have a love affair with the wallpaper in my two-year-old daughter’s room. It’s the Watercolor Flora Wallpaper from Anthropologie. We moved to this home when she was 6-months-old, and this wallpaper was actually in her first nursery. I decided that she I loved it so much that we would also have it installed in her new room.
The kids share a bathroom in the hall. I used a wall of wallpaper from the 70's (though really, it might be contact paper) that I found at an estate sale for $2.
Last is the third floor. It’s quite roomy and is actually a second master suite, which is perfect when we have guests (and when we rent out our home on airbnb). When we moved in, there wasn’t a door leading up to the third floor, which was problematic since my husband works from home and his office is also on the 3rd floor. We could all hear each other all day long, and it just wasn’t working.
I found this old farmhouse door with lovely original hardware on Facebook Marketplace and drove an hour each way with my kiddos in tow to pick it up. It adds a lovely touch of character to this space. A couple of those floral paintings were an "alley find" (i.e. someone set it out for the trash). Seriously.
Our third floor is bright and airy and feels a bit like a tree house. I have big plans to make over this room, but I think it’s still lovely as-is.
Lastly, we have a half-finished basement that is used as our kid's playroom for now. Naturally, there is a playhouse with its own chandelier.
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If you’re anything like me, you love peeking into the lives of other people homes. It’s part curiosity (nosiness?) and part a desire to be inspired by others’ ideas.
I just love our home, and the history of it. It was built in 1897, and as you can imagine has seen many families call it home throughout the years. my shop is actually next door to our home, which makes juggling motherhood and my career a tad bit easier (though it's never easy). I’ve had several former owners of our home reach out to me after finding the shop online, and they have shared pictures and stories with me about their time growing up.
Here’s a shot that a sweet woman shared with me of our home from the 1950’s. You can see the shop before it was Bonboni on the left side of the picture behind the house. It looks like the garage hadn’t yet been built. The exterior looks very similar, except our sycamore tree sure is a lot taller now!
Here’s a glimpse into my home. We’ll start with the living room.
Most of my furniture is vintage or thrifted. I don’t think I have more than 2-3 pieces of furniture in our house that we’ve bought brand new! I’m always on the hunt for new pieces, and furniture gets moved around often. The beautiful wooden staircase is one of my favorite features. They certainly don’t make houses today like they did 123 years ago.
The dining area is open to the kitchen. Our island has a bar. One thing that I would like to change in our home is making the island all one height. The bar is so high for the kids that it doesn’t get used much.
Last but not least, we have a tiny powder room off of the living room. It has the World’s Tiniest Sink™(I’m guessing). I found this roll of wallpaper on clearance at Anthropologie last year, and snapped it up in a hot second, and figured for $20, I could definitely learn how to install it. (I did!) I thought I was going to have enough wallpaper to finish this room, but I ran out and have one wall left.
After lots of phone calls and emails, turns out I bought the literal last roll of this pattern ever made. Cue deep sadness. I check eBay occasionally to look for an extra roll, but so far no luck. If anyone happens to see a roll of Sketched Ikat wallpaper from Antrho, please let me know!
Read on to Part 2 of my Home Tour.
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