Cow Town Low Down: Louche Milieu

Why hello there.  I know. It's been a while.  

I hit a bit of a rough patch this spring and unbeknown to me, apparently every cell in my body thwarted me from my blog this summer and redirected me to a (insert one) [patio, backyard barbecue, hike in the rockies, garden and river float].  It was a glorious summer; the hottest on record here in Cow-town since, get this, 1881.  And hot for Cow-town, because it's glacial here most of the time, is really very pleasant (25-30 Celsius) and solid. sun.  Honestly, you couldn't have paid me enough to leave my backyard this summer. I did loads of gardening, barbecuing and have 130,000 mini tomatoes I have no idea what to do with.  And I feel totally refreshed and ready to tackle some indoor fall/winter projects as well as a blog re-design which I plan to launch in the new year.   

So while relishing in my selfish summer, a brand spanking new/old mid century storey opened in Calgary: Louche Milieu - 'Living Modern like it's mid-century' (now why didn't I think of that?)

The lovely Laura in her store

Owner Laura Atkins has been collecting and selling mid century furniture and jewellery for some time now and finally found a perfect little spot in a converted garage in the Wildwood neighbourhood (in the same mid century strip mall as my buddies, People Food).  

I had a chance to visit the store shortly after it opened in August (and found a couple of pieces for my collection). Her pieces are thoughtfully curated and exquisitely arranged in a visual smorgasbord of want/need. Only the sexiest legged mcm furniture and glammy glam costume jewellery seem eligible to cross the threshold of her indulgent little store.  She also carries, when available, those wish list classic mcm pieces like a beautifully intact Eero Saarinen marble topped 'tulip' dining table, Herman Miller/Eames rocker, and a Hans Wegner 'X' table with danish cord CH23 chairs circa 1965. I warned her not to tell me if she finds an Eero Saarinen Womb Chair, cause lordy knows I need a new pink bathroom...

MCM feast of fields

I might need to pick up that little yellow mirror in the corner....

Gorgeous coffee table. I need to profile Gordon Atkins work soon (a native Calgarian)

Did I mention the vintage bags and german pottery? 

Scores: mcm vase and print by local artist, Thedor.  

Louche Milieu is open Friday and Saturdays 12:30-6pm or by appointment.  (Louche Milieu Blog or her Facebook Page: Louche Milieu FB Page)
Tell her I sent you.  But don't buy the stereo if it's still there. It's mine. (kidding) 

LP

Weekend Scores: Vespucci High River Antiques

Sorry almost a full weekend behind - cracks throw me off. This week's Weekend Scores are from Vespucci High River Antiques in High River, AB. They deal mainly in MCM. They have a fabulous collection of lights, glasses and decorative items organized by colour and/or type. The antique store is in the town's old court building and upstairs is nearly untouched. Original trim, high ceilings wooden floors, decorative trim and a beautiful central skylight. Fun to explore and pretend to lock your mom in the jail cell. ha ha. The girls came with me this trip. Lily has been antiquing since she was really little and has a good eye for treasures. For the littler one, I'm focusing on just getting her to stop running around the breakables.

High River is a quick puddle jump south from Calgary and is a sweet little town to saunter through. Plus, there's an authentic diner behind High River Antiques complete with swivel stools at the bar, juke boxes at each table and quirky, lovely staff.

Some images of the store:

Wall o' black panthers

Sleeping Beauty's spindle whorl

Upstairs in the old courtroom - most of the furniture is upstairs

Turban Kings

Lights and glasses

Carnival glass

Lights hanging from the pressed tin ceiling

Pondering this for my living room....

A perfect balance of mime and light.

Two orange lights = double love

Meanwhile, at a store nearby. Stumped on where to pick up a Scrunchie? Look no further, High River has a whole stand of them!

And below some of my scores:

I love succulents. But needed some pots for display. High River Antiques had loads of these German-made pots

Pots

Kid's treasure

Purple ash tray. Even though we don't smoke, they're fun catch all's for bedside tables or front entryway tables.

I'm a sucker for rainbows. This one now adds a punch of colour on my living room couch.

I bought this one with the intention of spray painting it some fun colour. It looks fantastic just as it is in the living room.

Relaxing after a long day of treasure hunting.

LP

Weekend Scores: Mid Century Inspired Spring Collection at Superstore

It has been cruel and cold here in C-town of late. -30 with windchill. So we've all been pretty cooped up in the Prairie House. Yesterday we had a bit of a reprieve (warmed up to a balmy -6) so I ventured out to Superstore. For you non-Canadian readers out there, Superstore is Canada's answer to Target - but with groceries. I'm one of the few lucky women whose husband prefers to do the grocery shopping. Either that or he is secretly annoyed with the extra purchases I bring home after every grocery trip. Joe Fresh clothing is at Superstore. Joseph Mimran is the creative director of the line and also designs for Club Monaco. It's dangerous to even walk by. Butter? No I forgot to get butter but look at these adorable boyfriend crop pants! ay. We always starve during the weeks I grocery shop.

Anyways. After being inundated with cold and bleak and white and slushy mud for months, Superstore's new Spring home line which was just launched is the antithesis to life in Calgary since last November. And with inspiration from mid century modern colours and designs. The most coveted items? A pink bathroom collection! I sent hubby back today to pick up some items for El Pinko (I wasn't allowed to go).

Flamingo pink bathroom accessories. Flamingo not included.

Same collection in yellow, and green and aqua (not shown).

Shower curtains

Bird clock - I picked this one up for baby's room

Picnic tablecloths

Oh colour, how I've missed you.

LP

Weekend Scores

I am officially breaking up with ReStore in Calgary. Hubs and I have faithfully visited every one of the stores on countless occasions and have found almost nothing in the way of mid century treasures.

I read in the paper on the weekend that ReStore had combined all of its stores into one big gigantic warehouse of potential awesomeness in the Northeast so we headed out yesterday to check it out. He had one last chance...

You would think that with 28,000 square feet of space that there would be some room for little delights donated from at least one of the oh, 4 million mid century bungalows in the city. Mais non. In fact, upon arrival we noted that the 28,000 square feet is actually devoted to reject sinks and faucets from retailers, bad 1980s couches (you know the dark blue and green velvet kind with wood trim?), a very healthy supply of vinyl doors and windows with yellowed trim and brass pendant lights circa 1991. Woh woh...

Lucky for us, ReStore was only half of our weekend o' thrifting. We dropped by Mid Century Dweller (hubby's first time) on what was hopefully one of many future Saturday afternoon dates sans kids. Bit of antiquing in Inglewood, faucet/sink shopping at Robinson Lighting, and a quick dinner at the bar at Mercato. Divine. We found a couple of really great items for the house at MCD (a million thank-you's Dinah!).

Here's some pics from our weekend scores:

Art show print by Richard Mortensen, a Danish abstract painter (1910-1993). This one dates to 1961.

Pink scale for El Pinko!! So cute! The glass magnifies the numbers and it lights up. So I can weigh myself in the middle of the night. Or on the sly after I've eaten one too many handfuls of chips.

I am on a sink rampage for El Pinko so will have lot's of updates on local new and used's in the City.

LP

Gran Treasures

Renovations are aaaaalllllllmmmmoooost done. And I'm so tempted to post photos. But it's just not as effective an 'After' when it's only partially done. So we must wait. In the meantime, a posting to tide over...

My Gran passed away last September. One of my favourite people in the world. She was delightful and bratty, loved her gin and crosswords. She couldn't keep a single garden plant alive, constantly hit the wall of her garage with her lightening bolt emblazoned car and single handedly kept the kitchy 'most annoying present ever' industry afloat. Everyone in my family dreaded the years when that creepy singing fish was popular. Inevitably, one of us got it for Christmas.

I still really miss her.

Gran lived in a little house at Shuswap Lake. And my family and later hubby and the kids spent many years sitting on her deck and skipping rocks and floating at the lake. No one could bear to be at the house without my Gran so the family decided to sell the house.

After the house sold last month, we met my parents and my aunt and uncle at the house to help to clear out her estate.

Lily in Gran's living room - very excited to see her Bama and Bumpa from Vancouver.

We were fortunate to pick up a few items that will be well loved at the MCM House on the Prairie. But because I am ever trying to be environmentally conscious (read: evil) and won't let hubby get a truck, we couldn't fit any of it in our car. So this past Saturday, Jason rented a truck and drove out to Shuswap. 12 hours of driving. In one day*. Here's some pix of some of the things he brought back:

All the pretty period appropriate flowers I can grow in my suburban 50's dreamhouse. Oh wait. I live in Calgary and can't seem to keep anything alive.

Jason thought this one would look good in our rec room bar. Not to drink though. Because it's Creme de Menthe.

A sweet little bar set.

Some dancing teacups of my Great Grandma's.

How freaking awesome are these?

Noguchi inspired teak side table made by my Gran.

Little lamp you can grow a plant in. Or not. Because watering a plant that is plugged into a wall seems risky.

My Gran saved everything. Including every pattern from the 1960s to the 1980s. All size 14, 36 bust. Lower right: Not sure where one would wear a sweatshirt material jumpsuit with a turtleneck? Space?

Michael Jackson for kids. Top right.

And for those nights when I have a hankering for bowling...

And my favourite piece. A teak sideboard...

To hold all the records on the new record player I got for Mother's Day. Woot!

We feel so blessed to have little reminders of Gran to spice up the Prairie house. She was one of the coolest cats out there and a big part of both our lives.

LP

* Clearly an attempt to gain some points from the recent Vegas/fishing trip/hole in floor.

Bad Teak Store. Bad.

So hub and I decided to risk a visit to our favourite mid century modern furniture store in New Westminster (Mid Century Modern HOME) during the holidays. We are looking to replace a very sharp (but beautiful - so somewhat tragic of a loss) coffee table with a nice safe rounded teak version. Risky because we ALWAYS end up buying way more than we anticipate and usually something we weren't even looking for.

Think we made it out alive? Of COURSE we didn't.

Found a nice coffee table but a little out of our price range ($800 - yeeeeoouch!). So to ease the wound, we found a stunning teak wall unit (Transformer style - with cabinets and drawers and hangy things we can interchange with our mood), a mad 'Mad Man' chair for Jason to chill with his homies, a cute little 70's chrome and disco blue velvet swivel chair for me and this rad glass pendant and teak light for the kitchen.

Here's some pix of our new additions:

Bit 1 of three of the wall unit

Orange Mad Men chair

I am banning myself from this store until further notice...

ps. Move is officially pegged in Feb. 12-13. Just finalizing some paint colours and fabric samples. We're (read: I'm) going with a grey palette.