Bobby Berk Just Shared the Easiest Hack for Shiny Flatware — And You Probably Have Everything You'll Need Already
The celebrated designer knows a thing or two about hosting. His latest tip keeps your silverware and glasses watermark-free — and it's SO easy.
Filing this one under 'reasons to love Bobby Berk ...'
For the uninitiated, Bobby Berk — home designer extraordinaire and former member of the Queer Eye fab five — is an Instagram must-follow. Not only do we rely on him for gorgeous vignettes and interiors inspo (have you checked out his design rules?), but we also love his helpful cleaning or designing hacks, which he shares every now and then on his ever-growing grid. And we here at Livingetc love a bit of interior design trickery, especially if it is in the name of preserving our purchases from some of the best home decor brands.
Today's Bobby-provided tip of choice? One that's going to breathe new life into your flatware and kitchenware (and just in time for dinner party season).
A photo posted by on
It's a tale as old as time: You wash your flatware and glass kitchen a million times, but those pesky little water spots just won't dissipate. You're insecure — it's not that the items are dirty! You just cleaned them! But the blemishes stick to each piece like white on rice.
Fortunately for us, Bobby has a fabulous trick for vanquishing these despicable dots, as demonstrated in the video above. Simply load up your dishwasher as normal before adding a sizeable strip of aluminum foil to one of the racks. Run a typical cycle and ... voila! You're left with spotless dishware and some peace of mind.
Now, being the shopping fanatics that we are, you know we couldn't leave you without first sharing a few chic tableware options to add to your arsenal. It just wouldn't be right! Spotless dishes and some brand-new buys? It must be your lucky day.
12 Chic Tableware Options for the Aesthete
Flatware
Price: $115
It's hard not to love anything Jenni Kayne, and of course this vintage, bistro-style flatware set is no exception. Just the right amount of weight in the hand and a lovely rustic finish around each stem. Includes a soup spoon, dinner fork, dinner knife, tea spoon, and salad fork.
Price: $99.95
The best flatware sets are those that subtle elevate the surrounding tableware — the fork and the knife are not the stars of the show, but they should complement the pieces that are. Such is the case with this gorgeous brushed gold set from CB2. A best-seller in its own right.
Glasses
Price: $48
These hand-blown cone-shaped glasses are artisan made, and crafted from recycled Heineken bottles. How colorful and unique!
Plates
Price: $9.99
Channel your inner Grecian goddess with this porcelain plate from H&M Home. This one in particular, which you could use as an accent on your wall or as a proper dish, reminds me of Mamma Mia.
Price: $42 for four
Shown atop these larger plates for scale, Fable's 'little plates' as they call them are absolutely darling — and a wonderful vehicle to serve smaller sides or desserts during a party.
Price: $40
Though available in a few different colors, the lavender shade of these melamine dinner plates from Anthro called to me immediately. Especially in the summer, when meals are full of fresh fruit and veg, your dinner will stand out against such a soft shade.
Bowls
Price: $69.95
Fancy yourself a visitor to the south of France with these Williams Sonoma cereal bowls (to me, they look quite European though the design was inspired by Chinese porcelain!).
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Brigid Kennedy is a freelance writer and former style editor for Livingetc.com, where she scoured the internet for the best and most stylish deals on home decor and more. She also served as the website's in-house sofa expert, completely revamping and reworking Livingetc's expansive sofa buying guide by interviewing a total of 17 interior designers and sofa experts at top brands like Article and Benchmade Modern; sitting on upwards of 50 sofas across both Pittsburgh and New York City; extensively polling her friends and family for their own sofa-buying anecdotes and product recommendations; and traveling to Dallas, Texas, to tour the floor of a couch factory. In total, she estimates she has spent 40+ hours (and counting!) reading, writing, and talking about couches with accredited sofa connoisseurs o then pass that knowledge on to you. She describes her personal design style as colorful and clean, and in her free time enjoys reading, watching movies, and curating impossibly niche playlists on Spotify. She recently relocated from Manhattan to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she's decorating and DIYing a new home downtown.
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