Happy Sunday Gorgeous! I’m SO excited to bring you beauts the best of the best this week! I’ve been dying to tell you about two shops in Chicago I’ve recently become acquainted with here. Apparently I’ve been living under a rock because Gather Home + Lifestyle and Bow & Arrow Collection are the bee knees y’all and I’m here to tell you why.
First off, let’s all be real. We all instagram stalk from time to time and for me, that usually involves beautiful places and spaces. Both of these shops are no exception. I’ve been drooling over them for months but hadn’t had the time to get out to their stunning storefronts…UNTIL NOW. Both of these shops are located in Wicker Park here in Chicago and the uber cool, trendsetting vibe of Wicker couldn’t be a more perfect spot for these two.
First up is Gather Home + Lifestyle, run by the wonderful Kristen Basilo. Not only is she incredibly nice, fun, and clearly has great taste, but she also knows what a girl wants – cue Blue Jeans & Bellinis. Thanks to some sort of home interior fate, I came by on the day Kristen was offering Bellinis to all of her customers while they shopped. (Scouts honor, didn’t know but definitely will be adding every Blue Jeans & Bellinis to my calendar in the future obviously).
After talking with Kristen, it’s no surprise that she thought of something so fresh and fun! Although the store was crazy busy, she was nice enough to talk with us for a few minutes to talk about how her stunning store came to life. She noticed that Chicago didn’t have what she felt it needed – a shop with local, hand-curated items with a chic, minimalistic touch. Enter Gather Home + Lifestyle, the minimalistic design of your dreams people! Between all the effortlessly cool clothes and the eye-catching decor and home goods, I could have easily spent hours and hours there. I’ll definitely be implementing some of their home design aesthetics into my place in the near future and can’t wait to head back to check out the shop again very soon! Between the array of adorable cards, pins, and planters, to the impeccably placed and curated clothing, there was no shortage of finds here babes, I’m telling you. I adored her brick accent wall, which I’m a total sucker for, and I will definitely be adding my hats to the wall in a similar fashion to the way Kristen did to get my place that same cool vibe. Check out some of the goodies below!
Next up, Bow & Arrow Collection.
You guys. I can’t even begin to describe how much fun this place is! First of all, the decor is everything you could ever want, and to top it off they had the most amazing items. From stunning prints (more on that later), pins & patches, to bar cart glam, this place has it all. When you think of starting your own place, this and GH&L are definitely what come to mind. Like Kristen, the shop owners at Bow & Arrow also wanted to fill a void and GURL, let me tell you, THEY DID. Owned and started by three sisters (I’m already sold) -Danielle G Lenczuk, Nicole Galanti, and Casey Galanti, this beaut brought together all the stylish-ness you could dream of but with a touch of fun and humor. From their hilarious and adorable wall of cards, to the cheeky signs and pins all over, the store is nothing short of amazing. I could live there, and I basically did. Sidenote: major props to my friend Chloe who put up with me gawking over everything for what I’m sure must have felt like hours and hours, but guys I couldn’t help myself! Not only was the store amazing, but even the employee Tyle was. He was incredibly kind and lively and whenever I asked to see more goodies he was there with incredible items waiting – shoutout to you Tyle, you da real MVP. He actually brought out the prints I ended up purchasing and I couldn’t have been more thankful! Enough talking though, I’ll let these gorgeous pics of the shop speak for themselves. Ps. so in love with the new patches and pins trend that’s happening, and if you’re looking for the best of the best, B&A collection has it (see pic below).
I absolutely adored the variety of items they had, from party favors to sweets and goodies, to desk decor, it was never-ending in all the best ways.
I also loved their use of pattern and color. Marble will always be my favorite and they styled it perfectly without overdoing it. They also added an accent wall and mini living room corner that was to die for! Definitely love the idea of an accent wall for a bar cart (pictured below) to really bring out the fun of the bar cart!
Finally, here are the gorgeous prints I snagged from B&A Collection – so stay tuned for how I use them in my decor next time!
Now go get your shop on!
Ever Elliott 