Antlers!!!

The other day I was talking to my twin sister and she mentioned that she works with a guy named Jim who lives in Alberta (he travels home every second weekend), on a farm in the middle of nowhere (with no TV!!). Apparently he's got a zillion acres of land, and comes across all sorts of neat stuff on his property like deer and moose antlers, and the occasional coyote skull. My sister begged him to bring back some antlers for her and I. So he did! Well, I think he's actually got his niece hunting through the snow looking for goodies for us so she can make a little cash. :-) In any case, I have finally acquired some deer antlers! He brought back 3 this time, 1 rather large one which my sister took so I insisted I should get the 2 smaller ones. They are so beautiful and I love that some gorgeous deer were at one point walking around with these things. Now I just need to find the perfect spot in my home for them....and hopefully some more soon!

A small project and some purchases

I have purchased a few things for my home lately so I thought I'd share them here for those who don't regularly check my Flickr photostream. But first, I wanted to share a quick project with you that I worked on yesterday. Several weeks ago I spotted a batch of embroidered doilies on Etsy (Cheeky Vintage Closet) on sale for $18 which made me think of a doily table runner I had seen on a blog a little while ago. I bought them and realized how colourful they were and not really going to work in my home as-is. So I bought some dark grey fabric dye and dyed them yesterday (my first attempt at ever dying any type of fabric). They turned out perhaps a bit darker than I hoped but they'll do. Now I just need someone to stitch them all together for me (and they reeeeally need ironing). :-)

Ok, now for my latest purchases (which I really have to chill out on until the new house additions are done for the love of gawd!)

On a happier note...

My last post here on my page was depressing. Today I received yet another package (in time for Christmas!) and this time no harm could have really been done considering what it was - so this is a happy post.

These weren't a Christmas present but more a present to myself. :-) I found someone on Etsy selling 10 of these and I had to jump on them. I already had 3 I bought a while back from another Etsy seller (well, 4 but I sent one to Jo) and I freaking love them so now I have 13!!! The 10 were about $180 including the shipping from California which is a pretty decent deal considering I can't find stuff like this here. YAY ME!!!

Merry freaking Christmas

Remember the light fixture a couple of posts ago (here) that my husband found on eBay and bought for me as a Christmas gift? Well, it arrived yesterday (in time for Christmas amazingly, and from the Netherlands!) and we went to the post office last night to pick it up. There were about 6 people in line behind us and when the box was brought out from the back room, there was a collective gasp from the 8 of us. This is the reason:

We opened the box immediately and found this:

So it looks like the box sat in some water, then got run over by a freaking freight train. Someone in the line behind us even said "OMG I'm so sorry". But I can't just blame all the morons who had to handle this box between the Netherlands and Canada. Now eBay sellers or sellers anywhere where shipping is involved, LEARN HOW TO PACK A GODDAMN BOX WOULD YA??!! This seller, as nice as he's being now that we've contacted him about my busted lamp, does not understand that he did something wrong here. If you have something that weighs next to nothing and barely fills a box, you've got to fill the box with something of substance because it will inevitably get crushed. He had my gorgeous light fixture wrapped in a bit of plastic (as you can see coming out of the box) and THAT WAS IT. No bubble wrap around the shade, no popcorn or anything else to pack in the empty space around the light. AAAGGGHHHHHH!!! I am going to try and glue the shade back together and hope that when I eventually have a place to mount this, that the cracked side of the shade can be turned where it won't be so noticeable. *SIGH* Merry freaking Christmas to me.

My favourite Ottawa shops for goodies for the home

So here it is folks - the list I get asked about often enough that I thought I'd just stick it on the blog. Below are my favourite home decor stores, flea markets, online shops etc. etc. that are located here in Ottawa. I'm likely forgetting some (although believe me, there aren't that many) so I'll add when I think of them or when I find new shops. Enjoy!

Alteriors - high end modern furnishings from names you all know and love
Architectural Antique Lighting - so much vintage lighting it's ridiculous
Blueprint Home - contemporary furnishings, lighting, bedding...awesomeness
Champagne dit Lambert warehouse - CDL is an expensive antique shop but they have a warehouse in the basement with lots of MCM and random well priced vintage goodness. Teak credenzas are their specialty.
Funky Furniture - they just opened their shop and I came out with a black leather Eames shell side chair. All MCM, all the time.
Goods - handmade goods of all kinds by small producing local artisans and around North America 
Green Light District - super nice owners, and even nicer contemporary furnishings and accessories from countries afar. I have my eye on the most heavenly lounge chair you can imagine. I'm slightly obsessed with this shop. (***Recently moved shop to Toronto)
Heavens to Betsy - lots of jewelry, bags, and more importantly, knick knacks! I always stop here on my walk home after getting my hair did.
Lee Valley - best place for hardware besides Ikea and Anthropologie
The Modern Shop- Modern lighting and furnishings from all my favourite brands. Bring something to wipe up your drool.
Ottawa Antique Market - alot of too pricey antiques but there's a great MCM seller in there as well as a kilim dealer - it's where I got the large one under my dining table.
Structube - contemporary and modern furnishings. Decent prices.
Urban Barn - contemporary furnishings. Decent prices.
White Monkey - vintage goodies, mostly art deco
Zone Maison - this has been my favourite place for modern knick knacks for years. They carry awesome lighting and a bit of furniture too.

Third World Bazaar

Websites:
Modern Karibou - based here in Ottawa
The GR Shop - not based in Ottawa but it is Canadian - from Victoria B.C. They carry just about every decent piece of any MCM designer. Free shipping in Canada, and they're quick and send lots of emails giving the shipping status. Love these guys. I have so far bought a Panton S chair, an Eames Hang-It-All and 2 Tizio lamps from this site.