Beautiful hotels have always meant more to Few & Far founder Tara Solberg than simply somewhere to sleep.
She remembers one of her very first business mentoring sessions with husband Danny, around twelve years ago, when they were asked to write down what they wanted their future lives to look like. No limits. Think big.
Tara distinctly remembers writing that she wanted to be able to afford to stay in the 'good hotels'.
Not necessarily the biggest or most expensive ones, but the smaller boutique hotels where the experience feels truly considered – the lighting, the music, the artwork, the welcome, the little details that change how a place makes you feel.
For years, the most affordable option was often the automatic choice. So the idea of one day having the freedom to stay somewhere aspirational quietly became a marker of success.
And even then, Tara understood that what she was really drawn to wasn’t the hotel itself.
It was the feeling.
What Tara loves most about these hotels is the thought that goes into the experience as a whole.
Her eyes go everywhere at once. The soft lighting. The playlist. The coffee table books that actually make you want to sit down and open one. Original artworks. A handwritten welcome note. Locally-made chocolate waiting in the room.
On their own, none of these details seem particularly important.
Together, they create a feeling that is much harder to explain.
The best hotels understand that the experience begins long before you open the door to your room. It is in the welcome, the person who helps with your bags before you ask, the beautifully stocked minibar, even the signage.
Every small detail says the same thing:
We’ve thought about you.
At the beginning of the year, Tara finally ticked something off her bucket list: a stay at the Santa Monica Proper, designed by Kelly Wearstler.
It had a profound impact on her, both creatively and personally.
What struck her most was that it didn’t feel extravagant or overdone. It was calm, layered and relaxed, with the kind of lived-in quality that made the whole place feel personal.
Almost immediately, she noticed herself behaving differently. Dressing a little nicer. Taking more time over a meal. Lingering over breakfast or a morning coffee... simply because the environment made those everyday rituals feel special.
It left her wondering: how do you bring a little of that feeling home?
That experience brought Tara back to a question she had been asking herself about Few & Far: once someone has chosen to walk through the door, how do you create a space they don’t want to leave?
The Santa Monica Proper offered part of the answer.
Rather than beginning with how a space should look, Kelly Wearstler approached the hotel through how it should feel to be in Santa Monica.
A subtle shift, but an important one.
When we begin with feeling, the choices around colour, texture, lighting, objects and atmosphere start to make more sense.
The most memorable spaces are not simply filled with beautiful things. They consider how we will feel within them.
For Tara, that is what Few & Far has always been about: not simply filling a room with beautiful things, but creating spaces that feel considered, personal and alive.
Spaces that make you want to linger. To look a little longer. To leave feeling inspired, and perhaps even slightly shifted by what you’ve experienced.
Maybe that is what the 'good hotels' understood all along: when everything has been carefully collected, curated and crafted, the result is so much more than a beautiful room.
Tara’s latest reflection looks at the details that make certain places unforgettable – from the warmth of a welcome to the thoughtful design that shapes our experience and memory of a place.
Remember to visit us in-store to experience Few & Far magic for yourself.
We are a team of creatives, designers & curators with a love of
meaningful spaces, considered design and pieces made to be lived with.
