A few years ago, “Tomato Girl Summer”—a breezy aesthetic ode to la vita bella—went viral on TikTok. Think “Coastal Grandmother” decides to ditch Nantucket to sunbathe on the Mediterranean. Now the fad has trickled down to home decor in the form of actual tomatoes, and I couldn’t be happier to succumb to a trend. As a child, I loved tomatoes so much I would bite into them as one would an apple, and as an adult, they’re key ingredients in my favorite foods (tikka masala, marinara, salsa, you get the idea). Combine my pomodoro passion with a soft spot for trompe l’oeil and this moment seems made for me. Here are (more than) a few of my favorite picks celebrating this symbol of Southern summers.
Window Dressing
Line up a mix of these red, yellow, orange, and green heirloom beauties—really beeswax candles handcrafted by Artifaqt and modeled after the real deal—on the kitchen sill and light them whenever the time is ripe ($28–$32 each; artifaqt.com).
Scent of Summer
Now, the above candles may look like tomatoes, but if you want to bring the distinctive, dirt-sweet smell of actual tomatoes bursting on the vine into your home, the Tennessee Tomato scent from Nashville’s Ranger Station will do the trick ($39; rangerstation.co).
Big Dippers
Remember that vintage ceramic tomato tureen I was coveting a couple years ago, by the Italian maker Mancioli? I finally snagged one (thanks, Etsy!), but there are even more worthwhile modern takes now. I highlighted Luisa Paixão’s perfeito version back then ($170; luisa-paixao.us) but am also obsessed with this whole set by Bordallo Pinheiro ($285 for tureen; chairish.com). I mean, look at this pitcher ($225; chairish.com)!
Pour One Out
When I have the dinner party I’m going to throw just to use my new-to-me Mancioli tureen, I’d love to ladle out my gazpacho into these Emma Bridgewater bowls ($55–$74 each; westontable.com).
Six’s Company
Speaking of serveware, I need someone to come to my house and physically restrain me from buying this nineteenth-century Royal Bayreuth porcelain tea set ($600; chairish.com).
Bright Idea
No one buys a tomato lamp because they need a tomato lamp. They do it for pure pleasure. I’m craving this one from the Maryland-based lighting company Doco ($166; docos.us).
Taste to Text
My tom-session doesn’t stop at the front door. This pretty, eco-friendly Pela phone case is coming with me ($65; pelacase.com).
Oh, how I wish I weren’t renting right now, or I’d snap up a roll of Hygge & West’s Heirloom wallpaper for a kitchen accent wall that’s always in season ($245 for a roll; hyggeandwest.com).
Taper Talk
Dot your summer dinner party table with these glass taper candleholders, specially made for Big Night ($65 each; bignightbk.com).
On the Record
How does my garden grow? I need a new journal to record all my plantings, successes, and (many) failures, but I’m torn between these two darling options from Paper Farm Press ($8; paperfarmpress.com) and artist Laura Thomsen ($12; denik.com).
Kitchen Aid
I burned a hole in my best oven mitt (don’t ask), and I’d love to replace it with one of these Anthropologie versions ($18; anthropologie.com), along with its coordinating set of napkins ($38 for four; anthropologie.com).
Stirring Idea
I usually eschew all these trend-tinis that pop up on drink menus for my tried-and-true gin with a twist, but have you heard of a toma-tini? I’m tempted. Various recipes call for some combination of white balsamic or champagne vinegar, dry vermouth, fresh tomato juice, lemon juice, and vodka or gin. I’d serve it on this embroidered linen cocktail napkin from Houston’s Biscuit Home ($60 for four; biscuit-home.com).
I absolutely need these Urban Outfitters snack picks, complete with adorable storage tin, for my toma-tini cherry tomato garnish ($22; urbanoutfitters.com).
Cool As Ice
And I’ll keep my ice for the cocktails cold in this vintage silver-plated bucket from Abask ($975; abask.com).
Pillow Talk
My husband and I just bought our first couch together, a green velvet beauty. Should I get this UO Home foot-long tomato throw pillow for it? Why not ($49; urbanoutfitters.com)?
Nap Buddy
And to complete the couch, perhaps this Vera Bradley fleece throw ($60; verabradley.com)?
Art Imitates Life
I have several food-themed prints by Southern artists hanging in my kitchen already, including my colleague Gabriela Gomez-Misserian’s Little Bitches oyster (there’s a poster version here) and blue crabs by New Orleans watercolorist Annie Moran. I’d love to add these tomatoes from Hendersonville, Tennessee’s Steven Allen Boggs to the collection ($425; 1stdibs.com).
Keith Meacham stocks a cornucopia’s worth of ceramic vegetables, hand-cast and enameled in Spain, at her Nashville shop Reed-Smythe, but you know me, I’d go straight for the… ($100; reedsmythe.com).
My husband teases that I’m Superwoman due to how quickly I spin out of my work clothes and into my robe once home. But I’m desperate for a new summer look, and voilà, Printfresh delivers with this bright organic poplin number (a pattern also available in pajama sets and a tote) ($158; printfresh.com).
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