Store Love - Lost Ark Antiques

During my visit to Nanton over the Easter long weekend, I stopped in at Lost Ark Antiques (1915 20th Ave).  There are a lot of great antiques and collectibles in this shop.  I should say that there are a lot of great antiques and collectibles in this town as I've only profiled two shops and my parents and I wandered through half a dozen more.  A visit to Nanton is definitely a great way to spend an afternoon.

Lots of lovely kitchenware in great condition

I love the vegetable ceramics - so kitsch

Store Love - Sentimental Journey Antiques

I visited the town of Nanton over the Easter long weekend.  It's a small, quaint town just south of Calgary with fantastic antique shops and art galleries.  I quickly fell in love with Sentimental Journey Antiques (1901 - 20th Avenue) during my visit.  This shop is huge with three floors full of fabulous finds.

A great feature of this store is that it's housed in the Keeley Building.  Built in 1909, the main level was once a hardware store and the top floor was eventually converted into apartments. These former officer apartments now display antiques, collectibles, lighting, books and kitchenware.

I'm on the hunt for a hutch

Really great rustic kitchen utensils

I love the blue-green glass on these cabinet doors

A collection of wooden rolling pins

This green glassware looks amazing displayed as a collection

Store Love - Iron Crow

I stumbled upon a fantastic antique/vintage shop this week, Iron Crow (4403 9 Street S.E.).  I was searching through kijiji and found a few items attributed to this store and attempted to look them up.  They are so new that at this time they have no social media/websites, etc. so I just decided to pop by and see what they had.

The shop is an absolute find.  Lots of lovely antiques, collectibles and refurbished pieces. The prices are very reasonable and I really liked how the store was set up so that similar items or themes of collections were together (i.e. western, nautical).  I'm really looking forward to their upcoming grand opening.

Great bench/coat rack with storage 

Propellers and other nautical paraphernalia 

Carved figure and several wooden winches

Fireplace mantle and stained glass windows

Lovely wooden filing cabinets

Old fire extinguishers 

Skis, sleighs and snowshoes

I loved this unique, adjustable metal and wood shelf 

Corner shelving unit

Old metal toys

Antique buffet

Great wooden cheese box

New kitchen buffet

Butter presses

Various coffee grinders

So many great pieces to choose from

Wooden panels

I have a thing for boxes/containers/trunks/chests

A large collection of frames

This shop is certainly worth a visit and I'm excited to go back for a second look.

My New Desk!

I finally found a fantastic vintage table at Cozy Cottage Interiors that will work perfectly as a desk (I'm writing this post from it).  It is a lovely drop-leaf table with that "perfectly worn in" look I was aiming for.  I decided to paint the legs and base of the table a deep black-blue - Old Navy and keep the top as-is.

Old Navy 2063-10 - Benjamin Moore

Trying to figure out the right 'blue'

No 'before' photo as we took apart the table to get it into my car 

Such a lovely deep blue and Regal provides great coverage

I primed the legs before painting them 

Shoppy admiring the first coat - three in total were needed

Project finished and I added a chair and lamp from Restoration Hardware 

A few more accessories in place and I can start working 

A small shelf to the left and some artwork will finish things up 

Detail photo of the worn-in table top

Store Love - Inside Avenue Antiques

I love antique malls and have found a great one in Calgary.  Inside Avenue Antiques (3419 8 Street S.E.) stretches over 10,000 square feet and includes 30+ vendor booths.  You can find magazines, china, silverware, furniture, lamps, and lots of kitschy accessories.  The selection and prices are great.  I took photos of some fabulous finds:

Russian hand-painted door

Fiestaware

Collection of radios   

Antique windows

Vintage tins

Telephone switchboard 

Rows of oil lamps 

Fantastic rewired artichoke pendant

Store Love - Uniquities Architectural Antiques & Salvage

I had the chance to stop by Uniquities (Bay 2, 2501 Alyth Rd. SE) today and I was a smitten kitten. It reminds me a bit of The Door Store in Toronto but stocks significantly larger pieces of furniture.  The owners travel to Europe four times a year and bring back huge shipments of architectural salvage, furniture, lighting and an assortment of unique accessories.  Uniquities also got the seal of approval from Tommy Smythe in the August 2012 issue of House and Home.