easter hours

chirp chirp. just a quick note... the shop is closed good friday (april 22nd) but back to regular hours on saturday/sunday. of course, the online shop keenly awaits you holiday or not.

This couch will be your beast of burden.

When I see the photo of the black vinyl button-tufted couch that recently left our store for a loving home in the east end of Toronto, I can’t help singing The Rolling Stones song ‘Beast of Burden’. Why? you ask.

Well, it has a cool aloofness on it's own, but once paired up with the right fixtures and furnishings, a bold in-your-face kind of style is revealed. Think ‘rock star’, older well-worn-in rockers of the 60-70’s, hence The Rolling Stones! Plus, I like to swap the lyrics in 'Beast of Burden' from "am I tough enough..." with "am I tufted enough.." I can't help it! Blame the inner geek in me. Tufting can be that hint of toughness that anchors a room, especially when it comes to a central piece like a couch, which often acts as the workhorse. A well made couch takes the beating, carries the weight and still keeps giving the comfort.

Years ago I saw this vintage LIFE magazine article on Annie Leibovitz’s iconic photographs of the Stones 1975 Tour of the Americas. It just feels so right that the furniture these hardened souls lounged on would reflect their personas. Like this image of bassist Bill Wyman getting a shoulder massage backstage on a black tufted leather couch. (Check out those pants - awesome!) Tufting seems to be popping up everywhere, gaining in popularity – from 30 Rock to Mad Men to Modern Family. I guess I'm not alone in my love for tuft.

      

What’s great is that not only do these pieces add extra texture and character to a room, but much like a rock star, as long as the upholstery is well cared for, these handsome devils develop a greater appeal and patina that just gets better and better with age.

   

Elee*

SHOP SHOTS!

The shop changes a lot from week to week. Items come in, items go out. We like to mix things up, it must be our restless hearts!
Here's this weeks peek:

Colours that put the Spring in your Step

William Shakespeare said it best: "April, dressed in all his trim, Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing."
Shoes in sweet-tart pretty purples, yellows, golds, pinks, creams, and aqua hues. From $15-$30, these darlings can brighten your day and give you that little hop, skip and jump as you step into Spring.




Happy Spring!
Elee*

Spotted! Brunswick Fiberglass Children's Chair!

I stumbled across this site today, called Numero 74 - a children's handmade and vintage shop with some oh-so adorable things. But what caught my eye was a white Brunswick kid's chair that is just like ours! Now the site operates out of Paris and so it's especially neat to see a piece of American made vintage, intended for children, make it's way over.

With the conversion(from Euros) theirs comes to...wowza! $262.34CAD(not including shipping.) Ours is a steal at $45CAD and like we mentioned in the item posting, if you don't have wee ones these lil' chairs are great as side/night tables or plant stands. And honestly, just a collection of them against a wall would break hearts to pieces!

Take a peek around Numero 74, their blog is also filled with great shots of their shop and tonnes more inspiration. In fact the one shot of all the mini chairs hanging gives me an idea for a possible window display.

xomike

Spotted! This week - Ralph Lauren does a crochet tie!

I was snooping online and happened to stumble upon mrporter.com, a mens fashion blog, and they were featuring Ralph Lauren's Black Label Blue Crochet Tie for $95.  Today we happened to dress up our "james" (aka. male dress form) for spring with a smart vintage wool blend tie in a bright red and burgundy weave knit.

We also have a brown wool knit that I find to be just as smashing as Mr. Lauren's blue crochet tie and ours fits well with a tight budget.  Both the red and the brown wool ties are going for $15 each - what a dandy deal!  

Enjoy the day,
Elee*

Sample Sale Madness!!!

Early February Sale with Jenny Bird, Dean Davidson and the Beckermans was a blast! Just wanted to pass on some links to photos from other blogs and some photos we took ourselves.

Plaid Mag Blog

Beckerman Bite Plate

Ron Wan

The Backseat Stylers

 

Jenny Bird

 

Beckermans

Dean Davidson

UpsideDive