Birch + Bird Vintage Home Interiors

With all the rustic wood touches, crisp white walls and carefully curated decor, this lovely home has a great vintage, modern feel yet still feels comfortable and homey.  I’ve never taken the full tour until now and I could move right in.  Now, that I’ve paired back our belongings to only things we love, I hope that I can similar focus while collecting pretty things for our home.  I think this home is a good example of what I’m after.  What do you think?

 All images for Skona Hem

With our girls getaway only days away, I need to get back on task.  Enjoy the rest of your week!

For someone who co-owns a vintage Etsy shop, I sure haven’t been inside a thrift store or junk barn for a very long time. With Rachel’s move drawing near, there didn’t seem to be much of a point to keep collecting stock if it just meant her having to pack up half to move across the continent. And Florida will surely be a treasure trove all sorts of mid-century modern goodness! But now, with a Spring market in the works for the end of May (more details to come, hang in there!), it’s time to get our thrift on and we’re making a run for the border Friday morning for a weekend in Seattle with some girlfriends…woo too!

Rochesters

Mark Rochester, a vintage furniture dealer in the UK, recently contacted us and introduced us to his shop and interior design work. We’ve got a weakness for salvaged schoolhouse finds, not to mention industrial relics and lighting, so the reclaimed pieces over at Rochesters were right up our alley…

Rochesters

Rochesters

Some of our favourite vintage items to thrift for are industrial chairs, signs, stools and lighting, paint-by-numbers, maps, globes and atlases, solid wood furniture, wooden crates, ceramic knick knacks and pretty much anything else that catches our eye. We try to stick with the motto to not buy something unless we would display it in our own homes. We haven’t always shopped this way though…it’s been very easy to fall into the trap of buying things because they’re collectible or “on trend” with vintage buyers, but it’s also far too easy for storage spaces to start overflowing and the line between seller and hoarder to become very blurred. So we’ve learned to buy only what we love and our ever-changing home decor (not to mention our husbands!) thank us for it…

Country Living

 Photo by Hallie Burton via Desire to Inspire.

Interior Magasinet via Emmas Design Blogg. Photo by Birgitta Wolfgang Drejer.

Schoolhouse Electric via Design*Sponge

I love seeing a blend of new and vintage pieces in a space. Aged items add warmth and personality while a good balance of new pieces keep things from looking too dated or frumpy. As you can tell by most of the homes we feature here, glamorous rooms that look too shiny and “finished” don’t really speak our language. Personally, I’m drawn to homes that look lived in and have a sense of history about them…

Better Homes & Gardens

Janis Nicolay

 Photo by Hallie Burton via Desire to Inspire.

While we have had some very amazing vintage goodies found for us by friends and family, it’s always more fun to dig for buried treasure ourselves. Some of our luckiest scores have been from our favourite junk barn (check out our very first blog post about it!), which we haven’t visited for several months, and our favourite junk man must be wondering if we fell of the face of the earth! Before Rachel leaves, we’ll be sure to go there (with the kids, of course!) and get our hands dirty while putting his dear mind at ease…

Vtwonen. Photo by Jeroen Van der Spek.

Apartment Therapy

Trendey

Country Living

Do you share our love of the vintage hunt as much as we do? What sort of thrifted finds get your heart beating faster? We’d love to hear! We’ll be sure to take photos of our excursions this weekend to share with you next week. Enjoy your Tuesday!

 It was nice to step away from work and do some visiting with friends and family this weekend.  The time seems to be ticking faster now and I’m feeling more anxious and excited than ever.  So much to do and so little time.  On Saturday night, Lily and I had one of our classic work/sleepovers at our place with our girls which is always fun.  The plan was to tackle our taxes but somehow we were distracted by Pinterest and started working on the details and logo for our upcoming Spring market instead.  It’s funny how that happens.  But we’ve got something really pretty going on and can’t wait to see the final product.  We are working with our friend Jessica, from Trove Vintage Rentals & Handmade Affairs, she also drew up our logo and print work for The Old School Market and both of the Fieldstone markets.  She’s been fabulous to work with, and always seems to read our mind.  For inspiration and “research”, we often use Pinterest and we’ve been admiring the business cards that Ez collected from the Alt Summit.  There are some beauties out there.

 Creature Comforts

Pretty, right?  We hope to attend the Alt Summit next year so our business card needs some freshening up if we want to stand out in that crowd!  It’s always good to keep things on trend especially when it comes to your business.  First impressions are key.  The Rifle Paper Co. is a favourite of mine and I especially love the custom portrait calling cards.  Their studio happens to be in Winter Park, Florida and I will definitely stop by for a visit.  Mommy calling cards are great idea too, don’t you think?

Rifle Paper Co.

111 Creative

Antidote X via Beast Pieces

 Pink Olive

 Hazel Wonderland

Ink & Ivory

Hopefully, we’ll at least get a good head start on our taxes this week.  It’s so hard to start the no-fun tasks but it always feels so good to get it behind you.  No.  More.  Procrastinating.  Here’s to a sunny and productive week!

What a difference a week makes! Wasn’t it only Monday that we announced our decision not to host a Spring market? Well, as the saying goes, when one door closes another one opens and we’ve been offered the use of an amazing space to hold our next event at the end of May! The majority of our decision earlier in the week was based on our difficulties finding the right location. We were dreaming of a unique, slightly industrial indoor space to capture a fresh new feeling for our fourth market and it just didn’t seem to be happening. And just when we’d given up hope (and announced it to you all, oops!), the phone rang and opportunity knocked. Enough cliches for you? Ok, I’ll stop, but we are super excited and will be busy pinning down the final details so that we can announce our Spring plans with you early next week…hang in there vendors!

Small Talk Studio. Art by Alyssa Nassner.

If you follow us on Pinterest, you may have noticed that I’ve been collecting quite the bundle of typography, graphic design and font inspiration. Another one of our goals for the year (which will now be bumped at least a couple months down the line) is to refresh our logo and blog design and Rachel and I both love the look of hand-drawn and illustrated type. More than once, I’ve come across the gorgeous illustrations of Alyssa Nassner and I thought I’d share just a few of my favourites, all of which can be purchased from her Etsy shop, Small Talk Studio…

Small Talk Studio. Art by Alyssa Nassner.

Small Talk Studio.Art by Alyssa Nassner.

Small Talk Studio. Art by Alyssa Nassner.

Small Talk Studio. Art by Alyssa Nassner.

Small Talk Studio. Art by Alyssa Nassner.

 I think the Fortune Favors the Brave print is my favourite, especially as we dive into our next market organizing adventure. Do you have big plans for the weekend? We’re having family here to celebrate our little Sadie’s 6th birthday on Sunday and the sun is supposed to be shining, hooray! Whatever your plans, wishing you a colourful and sun-filled weekend!

There is good news in the weather forecast, the sun will be shining in a few days!  I’m so looking forward to doing some cleanup in the yard and it’s always a bonus when the sun is shining.  The rain, snow and wind really did a number on our yard and it’s looking kind of rough.  It will feel good to get some fresh air, work outdoors with the girls and check another task off my list.  My to-do list isn’t looking as long anymore but I’ve still got a fair bit to accomplish, like cancelling subscriptions, making sure our address is changed, putting together the paperwork for our visas, last minute appointments, compiling school curriculum for the girls, not to mention the sorting and purging that’s been going on for some time now.  Our days are numbered, 22 to be exact, until we jet off and I get to see my husband again.  We’ve never been separated this long before and we really miss him around here.  I can’t wait to have all the work of moving behind me so that we join him in the sunshine!  But for now, some sunny inspiration to carry me through.  Enjoy.

Better Homes & Gardens

Zulily

 Hooray photo by Andrea Dozier

 the 10 cent designer via sfgirlbybay

 Ish & Chi

Rachel Cooks Thai

 drika b.

 Monkey Mind Design

Better Homes & Gardens

Have a bright, sunshiny day!