Happy Hallowe'en from Ethel!!

While Ethel is out at a glamorous costume party (dressed to kill, we might add), we're at home handing out candy to the neighborhood kids. And if we don't get any more, there'll be more candy for us!
Happy Hallowe'en everyone!
See you at the store!
p.s. our house is still on the market and we just reduced the price. So if you're in the market, please check it out! We may even throw in the tiki bar if the right person comes along!
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=10046672&PidKey=336985259

Let the Light in!

It's getting darker earlier every night now and we love the look of the store all lit up with vintage lamps. But you know what we love more? Sending those lamps home with customers!

Here's a pair of vintage 50's table lamps all dressed up with new shades from Aristocrat Lighting.

Priced at $225 each, or $400 for the pair, these brass beauties have pink, grey and gold details are perfect for your rockabilly retro lounge or just to dress up a dreamy bedroom.


If pink's not your colour and you want something more masculine, then check out this big blue baby.


The base is a lovely blue ceramic with brushstrokes of green, and has a wood neck and wood finial and with it's original linen weave shade, it's perfect for a bachelor pad or Scandinavian style space. It's priced at $375.

UPDATE: Big Blue has sold!

If Big Blue is too manly, then how about this exquisite Murano glass lamp?
This Italian beauty has a new silk shade, is so pretty and feminine, and is priced at $595. Perfect to dress up that Hollywood Regency sideboard.

If Hollywood glam is too much, then how about this minimal Space Age lamp?

Looking like something straight off the set of 2001 a Space Odyssey, this lamp has a light up band in the base and reminds us of R2D2. It's priced at $125 and would be perfect for your Moon base living room.

So let Ethel light up your life!
See you at the store!

Purple spirit day

We all know that Ethel's favourite colour is turquoise. But today, her favourite colour is purple.
Why, you ask? Because purple represents spirit in the GLBTG community and wearing purple today has special meaning for those seeking to honour the memory of young people who have committed suicide after homophobic bullying. Life is too short for beige, as we say here at Ethel. It's also too short for bullying.

Atomic Playhouse still for sale

Our fabulous house is still for sale, with a new lower price.

http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=10046672&PidKey=336985259

If you know anyone who's looking for a Don Draper worthy house in the 'burbs, please pass this on!

UPDATE: Our house has sold and since we're moving into a smaller space, some of our fabulous personal collections will be coming into the store!

Sexy Sofa Time!!!

Ethel is always encouraging people to "Go big or Go home". Why live in a dull space? Why not have some fun with colour and shape? Life is short, so why should your sofa be?
If you are having trouble finding that signature piece to build your room around, then check out this baby!

Custom built as a prototype in the 60's by local furniture designer Eduard Kubis, this beauty has been fully reupholstered by Princess Perfect, and comes with the groovy coordinating triangle and octagon throw pillows in the George Nelson designed Quatrefoil fabric.

The sofa is 11' long and is priced at $2800. It's a one of a kind and we think it's pretty spectacular!
See you at the store!

UPDATE: Sofa has sold!

Things that make us smile

Sometimes we don't need a big new thing to make our day. It can be an experience, like getting a good seat on the streetcar, hearing one of our favourite songs on the radio, or even just a good cup of coffee. Even though Ethel is, for the most part, a store and stores need to sell things to survive, we hope that our customers get just as much enjoyment out of visiting the store and seeing something that makes them smile.
We smiled when we found this set of four vintage "pin up" themed coffee mugs (to have that perfect cup of coffee in!).


These lovely ladies are vintage fifties, were made in Japan, and totally embody the cheeky sense of humor that is typical of a lot of novelty ceramics from that period. They're priced at $75 for the set of four, and we think they'd be perfect as a bachelor pad housewarming gift, or just to put a smile on someones face. And heck, even if they stick around the store for a while, we know they'll make our customers smile.

UPDATE: The mugs have sold....I guess this blog really does work!
See you at the store!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We here at Ethel wish you all a fabulous Canadian Thanksgiving!

And remember, Ethel has lots of vintage cocktail glasses if you need a drink to get through the day!


We will be closing early today (4pm), closed tomorrow (Thanksgiving Monday), and back in the store on Tuesday.
See you at the store!

Chair love, part 2

I guess it's because we live in such a wonderful city, that the Fidoodle city blocks sold out long before the country blocks. Don't get me wrong, we have the utmost love and respect for our rural friends, but I think moms just liked the city blocks better.
Anyway, Ethel is not one to let her customers (especially the little ones) down, so we just got another order of them in.

These blocks are designed and manufactured right here in Toronto and are made from locally sourced maple flooring offcuts and use non-toxic inks. They're priced at $30 a set and are perfect for the baby hipster in your life. You can see more fabulous Fidoodle at their website. http://www.fidoodle.com/

We also got in another lovely little chair from Princess Perfect today.

This chair has all new upholstery and foam, a solid teak frame and the sloping arms make it perfect to use as a desk chair. We went with a grey fabric as we felt it looked quite masculine and we think it turned out quite smashing. It's priced at $595.

See you at the store!

Chair love

We've talked about Princess Perfect, our upholsterer, many times on the blog, but we just can't sing her praises enough. Lisa Jo does such beautiful work and we always love showcasing it in the store.
Today we got this gorgeous chair in from her.

It has a newly refinished frame, new webbing and, of course, the fantastic new cushions and matching pillow in a luxurious circle pattern, chartreuse chenille with chocolate brown piping. Here's a detail of the pattern.

The chair is priced at $695 and would look tres sophisticated in any space.
UPDATE: This lovely little chair has sold!

Lisa Jo also did some Eames dot pillows for us, in the classic reversible charcoal grey.

These pillows are 18"x18" and the fabric is from the Maharam "Textiles of the 20th Century" collection. They're priced at $150 each and would class up any modern masculine space with their Eamsey goodness!

We are also introducing a new card line to Ethel.

Claudine's Calling is a Toronto based card company who's cards are designed by Claudine Crangle, the company owner (and chief, cook and bottlewasher). The orginal hand-cut and designed drawings are printed on high quality linen stock and are blank on the inside, so you can come up with your own witty message. Our favourite is the "Italian Driving Insults" card.

Perfect for birthdays, weddings, or just to say "hi".
So come by the store and see what's new.
See you at the store!

We "heart" hot chocolate on a cold day

Yucky, yucky rainy day here at Ethel. But we've had a lot of friendly faces (on two legs and four) drop in to do a little mid-century shopping. Well, more browsing than shopping, but that's okay, too. A few of our architect friends dropped by (one is the editor of a major architecture magazine, another is also a painter, and she's having a gallery show down the block at Parts Gallery on October 14th).

Of course on a day like today, when sales might not be as brisk as we'd like, we try and remember that and support other neighbourhood businesses. Lunch today came from our friends at Sushi Marche, and then, around 4 pm, we got a few hot chocolates from Te Aro, one of the coolest cafes here in Leslieville.
So, it's all about staying warm and cozy on a day like today. And if shopping for vintage furniture and housewares doesn't do it for you, we certainly understand...so much so we're on our way home to make a big pot of chili and light a fire!

See you at the store!