local shop: birch paperie

It was a weekend full of cards—a preschool graduation card for Alden, a birthday card for me, and father’s day cards for the dads in our life. My new favorite card shop around is Birch Paperie in Tangletown—that hard to describe section of Seattle that isn’t quite Wallingford, and not really Greenlake, and is best known for it’s bakeries and coffee shops. Birch Paperie is located next door to Mighty-O Donuts, and if you blink, you'll probably miss it. But don’t let the size of the shop fool you, it’s packed with carefully selected letterpress cards, beautiful patterned papers, and a few other handmade and luxurious items.

The first time I went in the shop, I expected the prices to be pretty high, but I was surprised to see that most of the the cards were in the $4 to $5 price range with a few as much as $7, but several in the $3 range. If you've bought cards at Hallmark or practically any other retailer, you'll know that most greeting cards these days—even the most basic—are at least $2 or $3. I'd much rather fork over an extra buck to support a local business, selling the work of mostly local artists.

Patrick was able to stop by Birch on Friday to get the cards he needed (isn't the birthday card he and Tula picked out for me cute?!) and I had planned to slip in after our usual Saturday morning donut pilgrimage to pick up a father's day card—yes, I know I’m a procrastinator. Plans quickly changed when I woke up on Saturday, my birthday, with food poisoning. Instead, I spent the morning curled up in a ball, thinking my body was going to turn itself inside out.

Because the shop has very limited hours (it's generally only open Thursdays and Fridays 11–4, and Saturdays 9–2) I was out of luck this holiday. The kids and I decided to go the homemade route, and put together a card and some stories that they each wrote for their dad.

Good thing I have a few more family birthdays coming up, though, so that I can still go card shopping. Maybe the Father's day cards will even be on sale. Stop by and check out the shop if you're ever on the hunt for the perfect card. It's also a great excuse for a detour to Mighty-O for arguably the best donut in town.

A La Modern

Last Friday I was doing a little research on the Kyes tray I bought at Deseret Industries, and I stumbled upon A La Modern, a fabulous little online shop started by two collectors, Bryan and Linda, with a love for "one-of-a-kind, special treasures that you can't find in normal stores." I think this would a great place to find unique and lovely gifts. I know I'll be checking their inventory the next time I'm looking for a birthday or housewarming present.

They are currently having a sale on their goods from Scandinavia. I don't know what my recent obsession with salt & pepper shakers is all about, but I think these ones are really fun:

Figgjo Lotte Shakers - $28

Here are a few other things from their site that I'm particularly fond of:

Stelton Ice Bucket - $35

David Douglas Cups - $25

Upsala Ekeby Pitcher - $40

modern doors

We were fortunate enough with our recent home purchase to inherit this great front door. It is the original door on our 1976 northwest modern home. It's starting to show some wear, but I expect it to last several more years. If the day comes that we do need to replace it, however, I know exactly where we'll go. Just up the street from us is Frank Lumber, or better known as "The Door Store."

A few years ago, when we were living in our first house, we decided to upgrade our front door to something more modern. Not knowing any better, the first stop we made was at Home Depot. Although we never really dug too deeply into their custom order catalogs, we were pretty underwhelmed at our options. There were plenty of styles to choose from in the craftsman category, but not much that fit our tastes.

We did our research and were thrilled to come across The Door Store. The service was outstanding and the options seemed limitless. We were also surprised that the prices didn't seem that far off from what we had seen at the big retail giants. We were able to browse their selection of solid doors to pick out the wood grain we liked the best, choose where we wanted the window, and pick the kind (pattern) of glass—all without raising the price of the original door we saw in the showroom. We chose this simple, one window door.


Here are just a few of the modern & midcentury door styles they offer:

modern fabric resources

New fabric can be an inexpensive and great upgrade throughout your home. Use it for curtains, throw pillows, seat cushions (like my recent chair before & after), or stretch it on wood frames and hang it as art. Admittedly, I have a stash of fabric stuffed in the closet (aka: craft purgatory) awaiting the sewing machine and staple gun. Pictured above are a few pieces from the closet. The top pattern, which I picked up at a friend's garage sale, is in queue to become curtains for my little girl's bedroom.

My two favorite places to find a wide selection of modern fabrics online are purl soho and reprodepot. But most of the time, I prefer to shop for fabric in person so that I can accurately see the pattern size, colors, and weight of the material. My favorite local shop is Pacific Fabrics (I like their parking), but when I get the chance I'd love to pop into Crush in Wallingford Center (Bonus: Trophy Cupcakes is right next door). If you are looking for some smaller pieces of fabric at a great price, Buttercuppity Fabric's Etsy shop has a nice sale section, offering smaller yardage for $6.50/yd or less.


above: Tulianen by Pia Holm for Marimekko

I'm still waiting for the perfect project that would justify a purchase of some Marimekko fabric [wiping drool off keyboard]. But for a tight budget, Ikea has some great modern designs for $7.99/yd or less.
above: Ikea's Fredrika fabric - $6.99/yd

Blue Carrot Shop

I came across Blue Carrot Shop the other day and fell in love. If you are searching for vintage and kitschy accessories, Alexandra, the shop's owner, has plenty to choose from. The prices are obviously higher than what you'd find at the thrift store, but if you don't have time to thrift, or maybe you just don't like to, the price might just be worth it. Too bad I didn't find her store until after those Helvetica salt and pepper shakers were sold!

As a side note, I recently bought a vintage beater like the one pictured above at Goodwill for $0.69. It was a steal, and I love it so much I would have easily paid more money for it if I had to.