{that one great thing} Michelle's store clips

While I'm wrapping my head around a particularly difficult bit of writing today (oh, deadlines), I thought I'd hand things over to the talented Michelle Carangi of Montreal design firm, Holley & Gill, who, along with her husband Conrad Buck, creates gorgeous cushions and headboards with hand-printed patterns - love their Feathers design - in water-based inks on 100% cotton. Anyway, after meeting Michelle at the Interior Design Show I bugged her into contributing that one great thing, and she picked some very handy-dandy vintage clips.

Michelle Carangi: On becoming home owners almost seven years ago, Conrad and I have collected many special little items that have allowed us to inject some personality into our decor. 

Most of our finds have been vintage as of late simply because our taste tends to sway more towards the traditional and classic. Having been lucky enough to have traveled quite a bit over the last couple of years, we’ve collected so many different postcards, business cards and photos from places we’ve been and from people we’ve met. And so, when I found this set of vintage wall-mount store clips from Etsy shop AM Radio, I knew it would be the perfect solution to display them all. 

We need to be surrounded by what we love, and we’ve learned, sometimes the hard way, that buying things because they’re on trend will result in pieces that have no meaning and ultimately end up collecting dust. Whenever I walk by this display, I walk by all of our happy and unique memories and can add to it forevermore.

{that one great thing} Marie-Eve's cabinet

I miss Montreal. In fact, I lived there for 3 crazy/fun years before moving to Toronto. Fellow blogger Marie-Eve Best of Lake Jane calls Montreal home, and I must admit to being more than a wee bit jealous, not to mention that I'm also a tad envious of the lovely little cabinet that Marie-Eve picked as that one great thing. Oh, and if you're planning on heading to MTL any time soon (and you REALLY should) be sure to check out Marie-Eve's Montreal Design Guide that she created for Grace at design*sponge.

Marie-Eve Best: My grandfather worked for the Post Office in High River Alberta for over 15 years. In the 1970's, the Post Office did some renovating and they discarded many of the old pieces of furniture that had been around for decades. My grandfather rescued this antique set of drawers used for storing stamps from being thrown into a garbage pile. He brought it home and it became my dad's bedside table/record stand. Later on, my dad added oak legs to the piece and it became a side table in my parent's living room.  As a child, I remember being so impressed with its automatic locking system. You have to open the bottom drawer in order to unlock the top ones - It still works today! 

When I moved out, I inherited it and used it in almost every room. It was an entryway catch-all, a bedside table, a TV stand, a tiny vanity… Now it sits in our living room and is mostly used as a catch-all for receipts and cables.  Although the piece is over 70 years old, the wood has just the right amount of wear and tear. It's a quirky little item filled with sentimental value.

Montreal mon amour

I love Montreal. There, I said it, I moved to Toronto years ago and I still miss MTL and try (albeit unsuccessfully) to stop in for a few days at least once a year. So this morning, researching new gear that was debuting at Design Week in Milan, I ended up - somehow - on a pretty new online store called Montreal State Of Mind. The site is dedicated to Montreal based designers from the worlds of fashion, art and decor and there were a few things that caught my eye that were totally worth sharing. The doormats from Couper Croiser are so sweet and cool, and way more fun than the yawn inducing mats usually on offer (yep, the second one can be customized), and that arty piece following the mats is actually a numbered hand silk-screened scarf by atelier b that I think would look totally smashing framed as artwork, or stitched into a pillow. Seeya, I'm off to rake our freshly roto-tilled garden into shape and get the Eco-Lawn seeded! 

   

Speedy Gonzales

Yesterday I had to make like Speedy Gonzales and run around town like nobody's business. My day started well enough, with a preview of the just-opened One of A Kind show in Toronto, except, rather than a leisurely stroll I only had 20 minutes to check it out before my next appointment. Gah! Needless to say, I'll be going back to have a proper poke around (more cool stuff to come).

Here's one thing that definitely caught my eye as I was dashing about - These are the hot and fresh hand-painted Splatter Morph Pads by Montreal firm, Schleeh Design. I'm bananas about well-designed paper goods, and I just loved the loose and splashy colours - very Pop!