Herman Miller - modern living at its finest

These photos almost make me want to sell my crap and buy all Herman Miller. Almost. And build a house like these. (Photos by François Dischinger)

Flea market finds

I have mentioned on occasion that Ottawa is very limited in flea markets/thrift/antique shops. The few we have pretty much suck a**. This morning after a greasy breakie, the hubby and I drove an hour out of town to a flea market in Morrisburg called McHaffie. It's pretty much a whole bunch of crap but amidst the crap I found a few things (and my husband scored some stuff that he was looking for, but more on that another day).

I have always loved old portraits, especially class/team photos like this. I scored this little one a few weeks ago, so I think I'd love to start a little collection of these (but they gotta be CHEAP). It was about $25 and is 34" x 11". The frame is wood and in great condition as is the glass so I think I scored just on that alone. 

I seem to be drawn to glass bottles, and although they are somewhat useless, I could not resist this one as it was only $2.

Not sure what I'm going to do with this, but I'm imagining it in a bathroom with hand towels rolled up and placed in each slot (instead of milk bottles as I'm assuming this was once used for). This was $5.

Christmas scores

I adore Christmas - I love shopping and spoiling my family rotten. And I love being spoiled right back. I do have to say though, one of my favourite gifts was the donation of 2 hens and a rooster through World Vision on my behalf from my parents. I blogged over on the mourning cloak some of the clothing goodies I received, and I thought I'd share some of the house-related stuff I scored here. 

These first 2 photos were gifts my husband the genius selected for me that I didn't even ask for but OMG he knows me SO WELL.

Ah HELLS YEAH - an espresso machine! Now we're going to be coffee addicts with this thing in the house. My hubby already has been making great espressos and lattes. 

So much fun - camera lenses for my iPhone! This kit came with a 8x telephoto (with holder and tripod), a 2x telephoto, a fish-eye and a macro/wide-angle. From Photojojo. 

My toaster and hand mixer have been irritating me lately (they don't work so well anymore) so I asked for new ones from my parents. I got both but only took a photo of the mixer because it's alot cuter than the toaster. Love the red!!

I was sick of my cutlery (BORING) so I asked for a new set that had funky handles. My mom picked this one out, by Gluckstein. I freaking love them. Now I need to get a new insert for my drawer beacuse they take up so much space. (Good excuse to get a nice wooden one to replace my ugly plastic Ikea one). 

These framed prints were part of my husband's gift from me. I picked them up at Images on Bank, and they are by Hidden Moves. Perfect for a guy with 7 cats I'd say. :-)

Christmas wrapping 2012

My life has been chaos (nothing new there) so I wasn't really able to get organized for the holidays this year. I did manage to get all my shopping done so that is a blessing. I decided to go simple with wrapping as I did last year and bought brown craft paper from the post office. Turned out they had white too so I used both. The other day at Home Depot I picked up a couple rolls of twine, and saw rolls of fluro pink duct tape and picked one up thinking I could use it for something or other - then realized it would be fun to use on the presents. (Although I didn't realize what a pain in the ass duct tape is to use so next time I'll buy some cute hot pink "normal" tape on Etsy). I was also at Staples and came across these adorable retro-ish labels that I fell in love with. So with all these random purchases this is what my Christmas presents look like: 

I should totally do this...

...especially now that I am a proud owner of a vintage carboy.

via FRYD + DESIGN