Persian style rugs at Ikea. Yes. Ikea.

My Mom has been searching for two carpets for her master bedroom for over a year. If anyone has tried to find the perfect rug for a home - you'll appreciate the frustration in trying to find one.  It took me three years to decide on one for our living room and even then, I ended up going custom.  Mom wasn't looking for broadloom, but instead a persian - It ties in with the rest of her decor and would give a beautiful warmth that the room was needing.

We went to Elte back in April, and although there were many gorgeous rugs- the prices were sad to say, way out of budget. Mom had already decorated her entire home, and is at a point where the bedroom she doesn't want to spend a great deal on it - but at the same time, the rug had to fit with the rest of the house and style. Rugs - especially persian rugs, are just right off the bat expensive. But I kid you not when some rugs are over ten thousand dollars. We found some online or at consignment stores but the trouble is we're pretty particular with colour - rugs can change depending on a room, lighting, and whether you're looking at it straight on, or lying down. I founds a few awesome ones on sites like Etsy* like the ones below - but it was pretty hard for Mom to commit if she couldn't return one...

For this room we stayed away from rugs that were final sale or online finds. Which kind of cuts out a lot of rugs. But I thought I'd point out the ones above because the prices are ridiculously good. I've debated purchasing a few ones that I've seen on Etsy, but we don't really have that disposable income to take chances with. (And I'm so picky with colour)

Fast forward to last week, and Kay posted a picture of a beautiful rug that looked like a Persian rug on Instagram and when I asked where she had gotten it she said Ikea. (That was the last place I expected her to say) Mom and I scooted over to Ikea to look at their rugs and found one that was pretty gorgeous. Priced at $1,000 it's not inexpensive (especially for Ikea!) but it's one of a kind, and - reasonable for the size. If you've ever searched for Persian rugs you'll know that the price actually was pretty fair. So, we wrapped it up and brought it home and Mom seemed happy enough with it. (You can see some of the Ikea pricing on their rugs on this page)

The trouble was, Mom needed a second rug to coordinate with the one from Ikea. In her bedroom you take a few steps down to a dressing room that is off her bathroom. (She is a lucky lady). So we needed two rugs that would work together as both are visible at the same time. They didn't need to match but they did need to work together. So the hunt was officially on for a second. A few days after the Ikea purchase, Mom randomly went to a little carpet store at Yonge and Lawrence and found not one, but two carpets that were contenders that could have worked with the Ikea one. However, once we got the two carpets into the bedroom, it was obvious that they were way nicer in her room than the Ikea. So my brother and I rolled up the Ikea one and put it back in the car and these two are now hers.... Sooooo jealous.

The two winning carpets from Eclectic Home (Toronto shop)

As you can see the two rugs she went for are totally different but work together. They look like they have been there all along and add a gorgeous warmth to the room. I'm a firm believer that sometimes you do have to splurge on the right pieces - I would say that about our kitchen countertop (I have yet to regret paying more for quartz after seeing red wine spills and strawberries left out - and yet no staining!) and also for us, having gone custom. Mom did the same thing - she waited and had a set budget on what she would spend. Anyhow, I thought because of the varying sources of rugs, others may enjoy this shopping experience and the few tips on where to find rugs.

No. 1 Custom Rug - See our carpet that we had made in this post
No. 2 Ikea - Check out their rug department for the oriental rugs
No. 3 Etsy - If you can stomach not being able to return something, the prices on some rugs pretty awesome
No. 4. Eclectic Home, 3275 Yonge St., 416-322-0080. Mom dealt with Mostafa Tehrani and he was very helpful!

*Affiliate Link 

Last week I heard the news that Joe Fresh was had started an ecommerce site - with free shipping on orders over $50. I wasn't too excited at this news as I had never personally worn Joe Fresh. I know. I think I'm the only Canadian woman not to have worn anything from their line. Although I hadn't worn their clothing, Oscar has grown up wearing their stuff - so I was a little bit intrigued to see what I could get for him for the colder weather that is around the corner.

As you can likely tell from the photo above - that little visit to the Joe Fresh website last week became less about Oscar and more about me. I saw a number of pieces and before I knew it I was checking out with more items for myself than for Oscar. (You can see how big the order was from this Instagram pic) I thought that for sure I'd end up returning some items but after trying it all on, I kept it all. I bought this skirt and LOVE it. These two silk shirts (this one and this one) and also got this striped shirt which is sooo reasonable. I'm so happy with the quality and the styles.

I cannot compliment their online ordering or selection enough - the delivery came 1 day after I ordered  and I returned a few pieces that didn't fit Oscar to my local Joe Fresh department without hassle. Such a great experience so worthy of sharing. Loyal shopper now.

I'm wearing in that awkward photo of myself in my super messy living room -  Stripe Merino Skirt / Silk Pop Over / Necklace 
Oscar's hat / Slouchy Skater Hat (that is not really slouchy on him, but whatever)

Tonight I got to have a fun night out and went to Yorkdale to check out the new Zara Home - A store I had been, up until recently, 100% in the dark about. I'm was pretty familiar with Zara for their clothing, but the the Zara Home stores I was totally clueless about. (For the record, I'm in the minority. I think everyone but me knew about this stores existence.) Anyhow, I was definitely curious to see what all the fuss was about. Want to see what they have in store? See more photos of the new Zara Home that opened at Yorkdale. Not in Toronto? You can shop online at www.ZaraHome.ca

Ps., An open letter to Aubrey - if you're looking for something for Christmas for me - or my half birthday, the "hotel" style tableware I've shown above I drooled over. ;)

If you're on my shop's e-mail list you would have heard that I brought back calling cards to my shop and about the crazy sale of 50% off that ran all last week. My calling cards been absent from my shop for almost a year while I searched for the perfect paper for the cards - so to celebrate their return we hosted a pretty awesome sale. Since it was so popular of a sale (and because a lot of the orders we did last week were for bloggers) I thought you may like to see the new designs and take advantage of the pretty crazy savings too. The sale have been extended until Friday - be sure to enter SAVE50 in the checkout and get 50% off the calling cards.  xo Lindsay

Like Baker's Twine? I'm obsessed. My new favourite colour is black - it goes perfectly with kraft wrapping paper. I thought I'd post about a sale going on in my shop for this week only - when you buy 1 roll of twine, you can pick a second roll, free. Buy two rolls, you get an additional two rolls free ... and so on, and so on. Anyhow, this won't happen again anytime soon so I thought I'd post here because it is such a fun promotion. Click here to read more about the sale. xo Lindsay

I still love to shop on Etsy even though it has grown so huge that it sometimes is pretty daunting to find the cool little shops. I often browse people's favourites to find neat new items, so I always love doing posts like this. So anyhow, here are some of the newest items I've added to my favourites lately.

Top Row / Necklaces / Bowls / Vintage Pull Toy / Middle Row / Octopus Coat Rack / Mouse  / Gold Ring / Bottom Row / Lionel Ritchie Milk Container / Green Tartan Pillow

Ok - so HOW CUTE is that little mouse? And that Lionel Ritchie Milk container!? It appears to have sold since I favoured it but maybe more will be added.

If you're looking for THE perfect set of wooden blocks, check out Melissa & Doug Wooden Architectural Block Set. They are amazing. My Mom gave this to Oscar for his birthday and they get played with every single day. We make tunnels, parking lots, more tunnels. They are thick pieces, making it easy for little ones to stack. The price may seem a little steep, but truthfully they are 100% worth it. It's kind of the perfect gift from Grandparents. :) xo Linds

Ps., Although I like to shop locally and support stores I love, I just did some price comparison and this set is available on Amazon for $50, and it looks like they ship to Canada. Grab them. 

I wasn't going to post again until next week but I was itching to post these. I get a a lot of daily "sale" e-mails from shopping sites. With the exception of some scarves recently at Zulily I've never jumped at buying something. What I love most is that I'm introduced to new product lines I may not have known about. Here is a roundup of the e-mails I get daily and what I'm kind of loving enough to come out of hiding to post this for the weekend (because these sales are limited runs)

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