New Pretties for Tilley

Back to more of the design aspect of our work on Tilley...

I was out at our local Canadian Tire to get a few things for a renovation of our back room - sandpaper, wood filler, stain blocker, the basics.  I happened to notice that they were having a huge sale on all of their winter things....and....they were unloading all their new spring items!

Last year when we were looking for general houseware items for Tilley I was looking online for some nice dishware.  I was also looking at every possible store in our area that would carry the same thing - unbreakable but stylish dishware.  The online pieces were beautiful but expensive and by the time we were looking in stores, most of their stock was already sold.  We would find something we like, but they would only have one or two pieces left. Most annoying.

As I noticed that the Canadian Tire spring stock was being unpacked, I also noticed that the spring outdoor dishware was being unpacked.....and "Oh Glory Be" I found it! 

If you look a little farther back in our posts, you will see that we had decided on green for our glassware and dishware and had found ourselves some lovely cups and goblets.  Well now we have dishware to go with them! I absolutely love the Victorian style botanical pattern and perfect green.  When I first saw them I was thinking "nuts they're porcelain" and I had to actually walk up close and  tap them to see what they were.  I was incredibly pleased to find they are melamine.  I purchased four of each so we can accommodate guests as well.  I am very much looking forward to using them this season!

The Waiting Game

You know that anxious feeling you get when you have ordered something special online, or it's the night before Christmas, or your parents just promised to drive out on Saturday to get you your very own puppy, well that is how I have been feeling.  It has been a few weeks now since we dropped off Tilley at the guru's house to have her interior done and we are still waiting.  We know the demolition is done, we know the wiring and the leaks have been dealt with, we know the material has arrived and we know that he is working steadily on making her perfect.  What we don't know is when she'll be ready.  It's making me crazy!  Not postal crazy mind you, but cranky, anxious, want to call him every day and ask "Is she done yet?" "Is she done yet?" crazy.  It's not a pretty picture.

So to try and tame my impatient beast I decided to start thinking ahead to when we have Tilley back home. I like to do something I call imaginary retail therapy.  How does that work?  Well...as Inigo Montoya would say  "Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up".  It is very much like window shopping, but with a plan in mind and more information gathering.

There are things we know we will need for Tilley after her makeover.  Practical things like storage boxes, dishes, cutlery and so on and so on...   The easiest way to do imaginary retail therapy is online.  You can easily Google items of interest and see what pretties magically appear.  Like these lovely storage solutions:

 Or how about...

Restoration Hardware storage solution      A little pricey, but so beautiful.


The other thing I have been searching for are plates (dishes in general) that are non-breakable and practical, but fit with the steampunk look.  This is a little harder. I would like to get melamine or similar but not in crazy summer colours like bright orange or lime green - not that I don't love these colours but not for Tilley.

This I do love!

http://bongenre.com/patterns_detail_marvista.html

  The Bongenre website is amazing!  Bongenre Elegant Melamine  Who knew you could purchase such lovely melamine dishware. 

So to conclude - the therapy continues (with a little occasional dark chocolate thrown in) to help me relax until our Tilley is home again.