

For years, we’ve kept a ceramic bowl on our coffee table to corral all our Instax memories. By keeping them out, friends and family have always gravitated towards the bowl, picking it up and setting it in their laps, sharing their favorite shots, asking questions and laughing along with us at baby Lucy memories.
The Search for ‘Family Friendly’
I got it in my head that I wanted a new bowl – bigger, I said! – to hold more and more memories. Scott suggested that if I was to replace the bowl, I should stick with a non-breakable material now that Lucy is an active toddler. He’s not wrong, and I think our choice is further proof that you don’t need to sacrifice aesthetics to stay ‘family friendly.’ I ultimately decided on this Paulownia Wood bowl, with its perfectly imperfect shape and raw look – and with a very budget friendly price, too! (If you’re on the hunt for something even bigger, this one is the same wood but much larger!)


Big Bowls As Decor
What I love about big bowls is that you can fill them with practical items (think: keys, wallet and phone by the front door), decorative objects, or perhaps, nothing at all! In fact, I chose the latter when it came to this glazed pedestal bowl, below. The black grounds the space, but even more so, it makes me happy whenever I see it.


During my deep dive for The Perfect Bowl, I came across so many pretty options – from ceramic to wood to marble. You can see below that I had an affinity towards pedestal (or footed) bowls, but I also considered dough bowls and planters! Half the challenge is considering alternate uses for an item. Like, a planter can simply be a statement in itself, a marble dish would be a nice touch for fruits and veggies, and wood or ceramic bowls can serve up chips and dip at a gathering.
I Like Big Bowls
Since I already did the research, I’m sharing my favorite finds below! I’ll apologize right now if a certain song gets stuck in your head as a result of this round-up. I like big bowls!


1. paulownia wood | 2. painted mango wood | 3. hand carved trays | 4. boka low | 5. lollie pedestal | 6. acacia wood | 7. orion | 8. clay + black | 9. natural ceramic | 10. black wood | 11. natural dough | 12. ayla | 13. beachside | 14. black pedestal | 15. rustic ceramic | 16. large paulownia wood | 17. three-legged | 18. whitewashed | 19. beechwood | 20. black marble | 21. deep dough | 22. dune stone | 23. champagne marble | 24. white pedestal | 25. lakshmi | 26. loaf bowl
Love the bowl idea-have used it also. Have to comment on your lead picture. That puppy dog hit the jackpot for a forever home-what a sweet picture!
Beautiful ideas… Nice post!!
Kitty is truly living her best life! LOVE it.
Love the dog on the pillow :) Do you have a washable couch or how do you do this with the dog?
The individual pillow covers on the sofa are washable when needed. In between yearly-or-so washes, we vacuum with the upholstery attachment on our Dyson and use Folex for spot cleaning. We also occasionally use a fabric shaver to cut down on pilling. Overall it’s held up very well and we couldn’t recommend it enough!