window shopping on Etsy for quirky, stylish home accents

I love wandering around the little neighborhood shops near my apartment.  Even when I don’t really need anything, it’s just a fun thing to do by myself or with a friend.  I love getting inspired from the creative displays in the shops that sell new and vintage home furnishings and trinkets, sometimes it even feels like creative research.  I’m always looking for new ways to rearrange or mix up the decor around my own apartment just to keep my living space interesting and fun to come home to.  What makes the local, independently owned neighborhood boutiques so appealing is that the items you find are usually so unique, it almost feels like you’re shopping on a vacation, someplace far away from where you actually live.  What makes these charming little shops so difficult to constantly buy from, is the fact that these fabulous unique finds are usually way more expensive than the decorative items you’d find at Pottery Barn or a Homegoods.  I’ve recently become a huge advocate of Etsy since it’s an online marketplace where the only limit to what is available is your imagination.  I cannot believe some of the treasures I’ve found – and they’re usually very reasonably priced since there is so much competition between vendors.  I decided to do some digging on Etsy to find items comparable to the splurge-worthy items in my favorite local shops.  Here’s a list of item’s I recently came across from bookends and vintage books to vintage pottery, all available on Etsy.com

  

 the items above are available here

  

these pillows are available here

     

the items above are available here

xo,
Lauren

artist spotlight: Norman Parkinson’s fashion photography still bring’s glamour

British photographer Norman Parkinson is best known for his work during his Vogue years-though a bit dated now, these timeless images are still adored by women young and old.  Many of these iconic prints can still be seen in dorm rooms and  apartment’s across the country…despite the fact that they were taken over 60 years ago, they remain a best seller on sites like allposter.com and art.com

Mr Parkinson worked for Vogue as a fashion photographer from 1945-60 and is credited for taking fashion & photography out of the studio and into the urban environment.  His work made fashion more spontaneous and dynamic than ever before and his use of color gave these now vintage prints a fresh, modern and timeless appeal.   Here’s a compilation of just some of his work I adore, which combine ultra-feminine couture and beauty with refreshingly unexpected and exotic locales.

       

 for more information on Norman Parkinson please click here

xo,

Lauren

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