Celerie Stalker

Firstly, how good is that headline? (I hate to toot my own horn, but it had to be said.)

Normally I tend to single out more substantive items like chairs or vintage patio sets or the like to create an entire blog post around, but after spending some time hunkered down with a new book we just welcomed to the shop, I couldn't resist.

The book in question? Fab decorator Celerie Kemble's new book, To Your Taste. Many of you may be familiar with Celerie's work from her numerous projects featured in top mags like Domino, House Beautiful, Home & Garden, etc., or with her line of furniture for LaneVenture (which we sell, incidentally), or with her new line of fabrics for F. Schumacher (which we also sell, incidentally!)

I, too, had long admired her work, but seeing it all together in a compilation, along with her surprisingly helpful design tips and insight into her design process, has transformed me into a huge fan. There are so many fabulous rooms in this book, and (in a rare happening for design books) the text is alone worth the purchase price. There is much to enrich those of you (including me!) preparing to tackle a design project, or perhaps in the midst of one.

Come by and pick one up, or at the very least, sit a spell on our fancy MetroSofa settee and take it all in. We think you'll be stalking Celerie soon, too.

Just Hatched

As a born-and-raised Nashvillian and longtime Hatch Show Print owner, I have always been a supporter of this amazing and storied print shop in Country Music USA.... In fact, it runs in the blood: my dad used to work there as a teenager and make posters for his band on the sly. Hmmm.... maybe he was the original maverick.

But I digress. Many of you graphic design afficionados are familiar with Hatch's incredible woodblock prints they've been crafting for decades, and we in Seattle have a wonderful opportunity to view many specimens up close at the Experience Music Project until July 16, 2009.

Read more about it here.

At the shop we have several of our favorite restrikes on sale in custom Plexiglass frames. Come take one home and create a permanent exhibit of your very own.

Hole-y Lantern, Batman

Thanks to our pal and event & lifestyle guru Kelley L. Moore for the shout-out on her recent King 5 news segment. (If you are in a hurry, fast-forward to the very end of the segment for her mention of the store and our cool Morroccan lanterns.)

The lanterns really are lovely, by the way, and serve as a wonderful graphic pop when unlit, too! We have them in two sizes (medium and large), should you find yourself strangely craving one or more after watching that segment.

Find out more about Kelley here, and watch for her on shows like "Rachael Ray" and "The View." She is quickly becoming a global brand!

Post-Domino Post

We had such a great time at our recent soiree to celebrate all things Domino (well, mainly just two things: their new decorating book and our inclusion in the just-released November issue) that we wanted to share a few images that capture the evening beautifully. (Special thanks to our friend and photgrapher extraordinnaire Liz Ophoven for the fabulous pics.)

Thanks as well to the team at the Adventure School for their awesome balloons and "domino effect" window theme. Check out their incredible Web site...makes me want to jet off on safari.

File Under "We Could Have Told You That"

We are so excited to be named one of Seattle's top shops by NW Home & Garden/Seattle Magazine!

Read the ginormous list here.

On a personal note, next year we are shooting to make it on the "best desserts" list. Can't win 'em all.

The Good, the Bad, and the Web Site

First for the good news: we are featured in this month's issue of Domino; those of you who follow our comings and goings know how excited we've been about this....it's our favorite magazine and, well, it's just plain cool to be in a national magazine!

The bad news is only minor, but we needed some bad news to fit with our trying-to-be-clever post title. Back to the bad news: in the blurb about the store, the name is sort of...incomplete. But Domino, we still love you. Like my grandmother used to say, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

That just leaves the last topic for this session: the Web site. It has been in development for some time, and we were hoping and praying it would be up by now, but it looks like we are still one to two weeks away from the launch of our e-commerce site. Please come back and check then to see more of what we carry, and perhaps even order something of your very own.

If you'd like to be alerted when our site goes live, sign up for our mailing list (see the top right corner of the blog) and we'll let you know. We'll even send you a discount code to use on your first purchase (once we figure out how to do such a thing, of course).

I'd be interested to hear what all you Seattleites think about Rita's selections and comments, should you be so moved to share.

(Rita Konig, by the way, is perfectly lovely, in case you ever wondered.)

The Story of a Sofa

Courtesy of our friend Pamela Hodnefield of PH Design Group, we are the proud owners of a smashing vintage black leather chesterfield, seen above en route to the shop in my husband's equally smashing vintage VW truck.

Here's how it looks in its new home:

How would it look in yours?