Within each category, the specific choice should reflect your actual aesthetic rather than a generic version of the type — but there are some principles worth applying regardless.

One good botanical print in the right scale, in the right color family, used in one place with complete conviction, will do more for a room than any number of smaller, hedged floral gestures.

The days have been shortening since the solstice, and by mid-August the change is visible in the quality of the evening light, which takes on a warmth and a lower angle.

Late-summer peaches — the ones that have been sitting in the sun long enough to go soft at the shoulder, the ones that drip when you bite into them — make the finest tea you’ll ever drink.

These are thin, crispy-edged, chewy-centered, and genuinely addictive. Fully plant-based as written; the flaxseed egg binds beautifully and you won't notice its absence.