Random on a Sunday

First random piece of business today is the Urban Barn chairity competition I am a part of. Thursday night I got to see my chair in person and I am so happy with how it turned out (photo above). I love it. The chair is SO comfortable and the grey fabric I chose is heavenly (and perfect for pet owners!). Today is the last day to vote, and then from Monday until the 18th it will be up for auction. (The like buttons under each chair will turn to a bid button. People will then be redirected to eBay where they will place their bids.) Proceeds go to charity, and I chose a local cat rescue organization that helped me recently with a stray cat I rescued. They are overflowing with cats (200 last I heard) and are desperate for funding. So please vote today, and bid if you'd like to take my chair home and help a wonderful organization. I am tempted to bid but I have zero space for another piece of furniture in my house. :( 
At the in-store event Thursday night I took a few photos around the shop of items that caught my eye: 

And of course, I had to bring some goodies home with me:

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Bedroom progress report

 

I had visitors coming. I had a bedroom in disarray. I freaked out. I cursed, snapped at my husband, almost tripped over the dog and set to work. See more on my page.

Repurpose

I have GOT to find a vintage safe to use as a side table. SO CUTE!!

The Selby

Relique

I thought I would take a quick break from my Sunday chores to give a shout out to one of our new advertisers, Relique. It is a really fun shop for those who love anything vintage, industrial and repurposed. Their finds are from estate sales, buildings about to be demolished etc. Gotta love one-of-a-kind items for the home that don't come from Ikea! To note: They are based in the U.S. but do ship internationally (except for some of their heavier items). Here are a few bits and pieces I found on their site that caught my attention...

  
  
  
  
  
  

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...

  
  

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