Designers will often refer to a house as having “good bones”. When a home has strong, clean design, there is little need for clever efforts in the decor department. You can choose elements, colors and objet to enhance the strength of the home’s character, but there’s no covering up. Of course, sometimes we have to make do with an imperfect home: a baffling window placement, a challenging room size, an engineering oddity. And rather than be frustrated, we can take the wabi sabi view of living and look for ways to strengthen “the bones” and feel comfortable with flaws.

River stones are one organic way to help create strength and balance, whether used to hold candles, hang towels, embellish your doorstep or add a decorative touch to a house plant. Featured here is a favorite of mine: stacked from large to small, smooth and substantial stones form the base of the eye-pleasing Stone Cairn lamp from sponsor VivaTerra. (I think it would look beautiful a symmetrical, modern space, too.)