Second Wind : A day out in St. Jacobs

I have a couple of clients wanting some vintage and unique pieces of furniture so I decided to head out to St. Jacobs this week. It's a little village (yes, they call it a village) just north-west of the city that I've been wanting to check out for a long time because I had heard it was very quaint and there was a large salvage/vintage shop there called Artefacts that I always see advertised in the decor mags.

So, I headed out with a friend on a beautiful late summer morning for the one-hour drive to the country (sounds so Gatsby but we took Highway #401 most of the way).

We landed here and I was excited just to see the warn barn boards and garden pieces outside - couldn't wait to see what was inside.

When we walked inside the place was just brimming with vintage goodies from church railings, wood and iron shutters and stained glass, to hardware, tiles and lighting. Just feast your eyes on these beauties:

green doors - right on trend for 2011

this fixture hung from the barn ceiling (about 20 feet high) and it still looked big!

Door knobs and door knockers in all types of patina
almost looks like a shoe display, doesn't it?

pewter door pulls

intricate wood panel would look amazing over a large doorway
or even over a sofa

buckets of vintage brass door knobs
I could see a collection of these on a wall as a unique display

Egyptian tiles with colourful patterns
the large white one on the top left is a drawing of a woman on a hand-made tile

vintage tiles

All kinds of doors, windows, columns and decorative objet!

fretwork shutters - could be used as wall art they are so pretty
imagine these painted in teal or green lacquer

stained glass windows (oops on the dark photo)

love the patina on these oversize columns

decorative vent covers with intricate patterns

don't care for the shiny gold but look at the intricate details on this piece

We left the barn with thoughts of coming back after we toured the shops but ended up spending some money on jewelry (spelling is not Canadian) we found at this cute shop that sells designer inspired pieces:

the lovely Karen Lamarche was so helpful and sweet!

dark grey walls with hits of hot pink everywhere

my friend got this necklace for her birthday
it comes apart into 5 different strands to give you lots of options on how to wear it

I got this Cartier-inspired silver ring (shown wrapped around a paint chip)
and a pink, summer butterfly bracelet

I also got this leather, studded clutch

We found a cute little boutique that sold funky, well priced clothes and accessories called Traces of Heaven and we both picked up a couple of items there too.

Then we had lunch at a great cafe/deli called Kokken Village Cafe. The roasted red pepper soup and panini were amazing and fresh pastries are made daily by this lovely lady.