Quickie 1

First of 2 quickies today. Welcome to the home of Susan Sheller, owner of Sydney homewares shop Cotton Love (online too). Belgian influences, fresh bright white and a lovely family home.

  

Click to read more ...

The Modern Shop

This is just a quick post to welcome The Modern Shop to our sidebar. I have featured this shop before, back in October when I went to their grand opening (and when it was called The Modern Light). I am always eager to help promote local shops, especially ones as COOL as this because I often complain about the sh*tty selection of shops (for furniture and clothing) here in Ottawa. The Modern Shop is FOR SURE among my top 5. I have to admit I've been avoiding stopping by there lately because they carry such awesome furniture and lighting and I really need to get through my house additions first before I buy more stuff. They carry lines such as Flos, Hay, Modernica, MASHstudios, Moooi, Thonet, Jonathan Adler and MANY more. They'll ship anywhere, and offer free shipping on most orders within North America.
Now I'm thinking maybe I could stop by The Modern Shop today, just for a few minutes....

(I sooooo want a bunch of these....)

Quick shop mentions

We've had a couple new advertisers join desire to inspire so I thought I'd do a quick post to plug their Etsy shops because they sell awesome products and I wanted to make sure you all went over and had a looksie.

First up is Michael McDowell's shop mudpuppy. I've been a long time fan of this shop and have had it marked as a favourite. Michael sells hand-crafted modern ceramic - mostly airplant hanging pods, baby head planters and chimes. I'll take one of each!

The next shop is Samantha's called Royal Countess where she sells modern, timeless jewelry. Lots of goodies here including earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings. I picked out a few favourites, below.

FarFetchers

This morning I'd like to take a moment to introduce a new advertiser. This is another one I got pretty excited about. FarFetchers is a bit like 1stdibs, but perhaps a bit more affordable. Below is a bit of info on this shop that I would likely pass out in if I got to visit it in person. And frankly, once someone mentions the words JIELDE and TOLIX, I'm pretty much SOLD.

FarFetchers was formed in 2010 to help interior designers, architects, and home owners find the right elements for their designs. We operate as a sourcing service to the trade and the serious home owner/decorator. We also have a listing service for products of select dealers all over the world. The two services work hand in hand. We list products and display the showrooms of dealers carrying European industrial products, rustic country antiques, French Art Deco, Mid-Century classics,  you name it we can often find it. Whether you need a Belle Epoque Carousel horse by Gustave Bayol, a Jules Leleu wardrobe, a Jielde factory lamp, or a set of marble bistro tables and vintage Tolix come to us and let us help.

One fun thing about our site is the showroom browser. We try to capture the excitement of antiquing in Europe, poking around the back corners for those discoveries that make the experience irresistible. Some examples of showrooms that we've captured are European industrial, Antiques of Sport, Classical antiques and Asian pieces, French Art Deco, and French country and rustic.

I spent some time perusing their online shop and came across the following awesome pieces...

  

Click to read more ...

Mixed Pickles

I love the name Mixed Pickles for a vintage shop. We heard about a very cool vintage shop of that name though San Francisco based photographer Christina Schmidhofer, who happened to have photographed it. Christina put us in touch with the owners and they provided us with a bit of history:
Mixed Pickles is Sharon Hoyle, Roger Williams and a big pile of really great vintage stuff. Sharon opened the first location in North Berkeley in 1998. Roger wandered into the shop in 2002. They struck up a conversation about 1920's Jazz musicians, and have been talking ever since. The opportunity for a great new location in their hometown of Oakland presented itself. The new bigger & brighter shop opened as a partnership in December 2010 when the contents of their two homes reached maximum capacity. Favorite things: Salvaged and architectural antiques, advertising signs, furniture with clean lines, and finding new uses for vintage items. We dislike things made of brass, and the color lavender.
(Check out their blog and website for info, particularly their latest finds). The shop looks like a place I could spend a ridiculous amount of time in scouring each and every little square inch. Too bad it's so far from Ottawa...

  
  

Click to read more ...