I played hooky from work yesterday afternoon - I had products in production and nothing waiting my immediate response - so we scooted over to the new aquarium here in Toronto. I've been excited for this to open ever since I saw it being built. I am fascinated with underwater creatures - I could go weekly and find new things to stare at. Unfortunately it is a wee bit expensive - It cost almost $90 for Aubrey, Oscar and I to go - but by the end of the visit I had even Aubrey (who is pretty skeptical of things) raving about how well they did and how worth it the visit was. Oscar was in heaven, and loved seeing animals he had only seen in books up close.
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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 

When Etsy asked me to curate a collection the other week, I tried to have a number of Canadian shops on my list. For me one of the joys of Etsy is that a lot of the sellers ship to Canada (I've never had one that won't) - so rarely is location an issue for shipping but I liked a challenge and happily found a number of cool Canadian vintage shops. In my hunt I came across Modern Squirrel, a Toronto shop that caught my eye first for the great photography, and second - for really cool finds. I had fallen head over heels for the sugar and creamer set (shown above) and a plaid blanket (below) from her shop and e-mailed the shop to ask if pick up was available.  The nicest person responded to my note - it turned out to be Maarit, the owner and we arranged a meetup in Leslieville the following day as I happened to be meeting Tim for coffee and had someone watching Oscar at home.

The following day at Bobette and Belle I met with Maarit who had taken the streetcar over to meet me. Since I had some time before I was meeting Tim, we sat down to have a coffee and I got the pleasure of hearing more about her and her shop. Soft spoken and radiating with a kindness that is kind of hard to explain, Maarit told me about how she has moved to Toronto from Estonia and proceeded to meet her husband here. As she said; "[I] ended up falling in love pretty much as I exited the airplane". Over coffee it became clear that she obviously has a knowledge of pieces and makes a point of picking items in the best condition. Although I could tell her collection was beautifully curated in her shop, hearing how she spoke about pieces and who made them made me appreciate her shop and her ability to "pick" even more.

Over coffee Maarit showed me the blanket I had picked and exclaimed that it looked better in person than it did in the photos. She was right - although the photos were amazing in the listing, no photograph could have captured the quality of this blanket and I knew right away why it was priced as it had been. It was even more reason to adore her and her shop - she knew quality and knew how to price a piece. The blanket was adopted immediately by Oscar and sits in my bedroom and we snuggle under it at nap time. For some reason it brings me the greatest joy being under it.

I don't typically have the chance to meet an owner of a shop, let alone have an opportunity to sit and have a cup of coffee with one - which is why a longer post - It really was a treat and gave more appreciation for the online stores and the business owners who run them.

Although you can't have my fabulous blanket, I have been adding a lot of blankets to my favourites on Etsy forever as I have a wee obsession with plaid. (I blame it on the cottage) Plus, today is the first chilly day here in Toronto so I felt this post was well timed. ;)

Ps., Maarit has started a blog!

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. ;)

The Bay kindly invited me to the preview of their Christmas Street at their flagship store in Toronto today. It's an invitation I accepted right away.

I have fond memories of going downtown with my family to meet up with my Dad after work so that we could walk to see the Bay Christmas windows. Although it was cold and dark out, the windows lit up and were magical with moving toys, and sparkly lights. That tradition continued through to when I was a young adult -  although it didn't happen every year, they are occasions I will cherish.

Later on when Aubrey and I celebrated our first Christmas together we went to The Bay to find our special first ornament. Aubrey (who is Jewish) was introduced to the excitement of finding the perfect ornament for the tree that year at the flagship store.

Walking into The Bay today to see "Christmas Street" was a very special moment for a variety of reasons, many of which I mentioned above. At the core of it all Christmas wouldn't be complete without The Bay.

The preview was amazing - the ornaments are gorgeous, the collections are HUGE (candles, stockings, ornaments, vases and wreaths) Perhaps another huge moment was finally getting to meet Brian Gluckstein who was a true gentleman. His collection is truly magnificent and the attention to detail is stunning.

So thank you to The Bay for inviting me this year - It brought back fond memories from Christmases past. If you are by a Bay, I highly recommend visiting their Christmas collection when you are going to look for the perfect ornament as I do every year.

xo Linds
Ps., I met up with my Mom for coffee after the preview - so it was a pretty awesome morning. :)

I love hotels. I've stayed in a few really amazing ones in Toronto like Hotel Le Germain (uber modern and cool), The King Edward (so fancy), and last January at the InterContinental (I really loved the room). Three years ago Aubrey and I traveled to Ottawa and stayed at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier and it was amazing. (Highly recommend) and perhaps one of my favourite hotels was the Four Seasons in Costa Rica for our Honeymoon (which we stayed in only for a 2 days because of an emergency back home) Truthfully I'd stay every weekend in a luxurious hotel if my budget allowed. I love the shampoos, the beds, the room service. I seriously LOVE hotels.

So you can understand my excitement when we booked rooms at the Fairmont Royal York for this past weekend. The reason for the stay? My sister and I were having an old' fashioned girls weekend. On the itinerary was a fancy afternoon tea and then our own rooms on the Gold Floor. Unfortunately there were some major room issues so I can't really share (or recommend) the awesomeness of the rooms, but what I CAN recommend to you is their Afternoon Tea in the Library Bar. It was lovely! The service was professional yet friendly, the food delicious, the surroundings were perfect. I also had the company of sister, so the tea was perfect.

Have any awesome hotels you recommend? Toronto, or elsewhere that you REALLY loved?

Ps., Like afternoon tea? Here is a list of BLOGTO's best places for Afternoon Tea in Toronto.

We had a little celebration tonight at my Mom's, one that required a cake. I purchased this cake from Knead Bakery that is in our neighbourhood. This is your classic neighbourhood bakery - Small, and tucked off the main road, it has the most delicious breads and sweets. The cake was so gorgeous that I felt as though it was worthy of its own post. I have yet to see a cake ever decorated like this before. Even if you can't visit the bakery - you may find this photo as inspiration for your own cake decorating adventures. xo Lindsay

Last night when Aubrey came to help with bath & bedtime with Oscar - I made a dash for the car and decided to go for a much needed retail therapy trip. The joy of wandering HomeSense slowly without a screaming, wiggling child is heaven. I picked up a few things for the kitchen but I'm reluctant to buy much until things can have a permanent home. Here are some shots from last night that you may have seen me tweeting. [Top Left] That ottoman was $69 and if Oscar had a pink bedroom you'd better believe that I would have picked that up. [Top Right] That little whale pitcher was very Jonathan Adler and was $16 and he made his way all the way to the checkout with me, until I decided to leave him at the store. I'm trying to be mindful of bringing in less random "stuff" that wont have an purpose all the time into our home. [Bottom Left] HomeSense has a collection of very organic wooden bowls that are absolutely gorgeous. [Bottom Right] And HomeSense is my go to spot for baskets. I never, ever buy baskets elsewhere. Just some shots from last night from the needed "Time Out" for Mommy. ;) xo Linds

As the kitchen renovation has an end date in sight, I've once again found myself being drawn to the softer decorating process for our home. I'm looking at finding an area rug for our TV room, blinds for the kitchen, decorative objects. There is a shop in Toronto, Angus and Company that I have been in on occasion - I recently started following on twitter, and then "liked" them on facebook and my heart has skipped a beat on more than a few occasion at the photos that they post. That starburst mirror I fell in love with - I called to ask how much it cost (turns out it is $1,700 approx). Unfortunately it is out of my budget but I don't doubt its value. Honestly, they really know how to style a room and use a mixture of old, and new items together. Although the majority of items are well over my budget, this is one of my favourite shops to follow and hopefully be inspired by for our own home. xo Linds
All photos via Angus & Company's Blog