327 Queen St. East, between Parliament and Berkley streets, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA. 416.778.6608. email: info@ethel20thcenturyliving.com
Hours: Mondays by appointment, Tue - Thurs: 12pm - 6pm, Friday: 2pm - 7pm, Sat: 12 - 6, Sun: 12pm - 5pm

5.30.2012

Sure, it's just a new template, but with Ethel's new Corktown digs and all, we thought it would be fun to ditch the old, darker look of the blog and replace it with this...what do you think?!?

5.29.2012

Pop goes the lamp!

Look what we're bringing into the store tomorrow!
A pair of Glo-Up Collection table lamps! These were designed in 1969 by Douglas Ball and John Berezowsky for Danesco in Montreal, and they're made of formed acrylic. These lamps embody the spirit of Expo '67 and are a great example of 60's Pop design.


Light On!


Light off!

Lamps are $150 each or $275 for the pair.

See you at the store!

5.24.2012

Colour Blocking

Colour blocking is all the rage in fashion, and you know what they say, what goes around comes around!

Take this pair of 1960's sofas.
Sofas are $650 each
$1200 for pair

Manufactured in Sweden and originally purchased at DeBoers, they have a slab style frame in painted white with their original orange wool cushions.

From the same house are these unbelievable end tables and coffee tables.
Designed by Eduard Kubis, they feature a combination of rosewood veneer and a textured white laminate. The coffee table has a circular plexiglass insert that lights up from within, as well as a half circle cut out on the side.

Coffee table is $375

The matching corner table has two half circle plexiglass inserts on the side that also light up (they're not plugged in right now...one of the challenges with this new space is the lack of outlets!).
Square corner table is $275

There's also a small rectangular side table in the same veneer that doesn't light up.
End table is $175

Also by Kubis is this fantastic platform sofa.
Platform sofa is $595

This sofa has a built in side table and features a dark stained wood and white laminate frame with the original mustard wool cushions. It also has a matching side chair with a white painted frame.

Side chair is $195
(It looks small but is really comfy!)

If you're not familiar with Eduard Kubis, you may remember the gigantic blue sofa we had in our old location about two years ago that was a prototype designed by him. We nicknamed it the aircraft carrier due to it's asymmetrical geometric shape. You can read all about it here in the October 2010 blog post, Sexy Sofa Time.

So don't be afraid of colour and remember, life is too short for beige!

See you at the store!



5.20.2012

Welcome to Corktown!

We apologize for the lack of posts in the last month as we’ve been unimaginably busy! It’s been three weeks since we moved from Leslieville to Corktown and in that time, we’ve turned an abandoned cellphone store


(Storefront BEFORE)



(Front room BEFORE) 

into Ethel’s glamorous new home. We’ve been putting in 10-12 hour days to get it ready for our customers and we’re finally open for business. 
With the help of our contractor, our dear hubby, about 50 gallons of paint and lots of trial and error, we did the following:
  • Removed the t-bar ceiling in the front part of the store, installed outlets for our big plastic ball light fixtures, and sprayed the ceiling a clean fresh white.
    (Spraying the ceiling took an entire day and over 10 gallons of paint!)

  • We hung more of our favourite vintage wallpaper to give the front room some colour and we plan on using the scraps to use as pricecards (still trying to figure out the best way to do that)
  • We removed part of the back wall and door to the back room, and cut and framed out three long narrow windows into the remaining wall to mimic the blocking on the logo. This opens up the whole space to retail and gives us lots of room for fabulous furniture.
  • (This wall used to be orange...now it's super cool!)

  • We painted the front room back wall with a combination of stripes in the store colours and stained wood veneer, again, to mimic the logo.
  • We removed all the cellphone poster brackets and screws from the walls, patched and sanded them and painted mostly everything white.
  • We painted the side walls in the back room white, and the back wall a dark charcoal grey (Benjamim Moore Raccoon Fur). We also covered up a faux tuscan tile themed painted concrete floor in the back room with Glidden’s Slate Grey Porch Floor paint. We even threw in some sparkles for fun!

  • (hubby Dave painting the back wall)

  • We installed a brand new (to us) marble cash counter with the help of some piano movers. The desk was from a closing condo sales office and we’re so happy to give it a new home!
  • We hung our three vintage Swedish cased glass light fixtures (conveniently in the store colours) over the cash desk and hung them in the same staggered positions as the windows behind them.
  • (look at that sexy desk!)

  • We painted and installed three high shelves in the front room to display lots of goodies

  • We painted an existing plaster flower to match the wallpaper.

  • We painted the exterior a combination of the same dark charcoal grey from the back wall, and Ethel’s very favourite colour, Tropicana Cabana by Benjamin Moore. We also had a new sign made by Leslieville’s legendary Ralston Bennett (the same fellow who painted our sign at our old store.
  •   (The oval is gone but it's still Ethel!)

    Finally, we cleaned and merchandised the heck out of the new store, with some stuff from our old location and lots more vintage finds. We still have a few projects to tackle before the store is completely finished but for now, we’re excited to finally be open.
We think Ethel will be very happy here!
So come visit us at our new location, at 327 Queen St. East, between Parliament and Berkeley street.
See you at the store!