Audrey Hepburn from the 1960s

Thanks to all who responded to my anniversary post, and welcome to new followers! I will be drawing for the book and necklace Friday and will make the announcement then!

Don't wear these shades when you have a hangover - I have a feeling the blue won't match a green face.

I don't have a hangover here; I'm just groovin' in my retro 1960s blue shades made in Italy, picked up at my fave vintage accessory store in Toronto, The Bead Goes On just off Mount Pleasant Rd.

They were $35.

This style of sunglasses always reminds me of Audrey Hepburn from the 1960s, when she had short hair that was a little poufy on top, and clad herself in swish pantuits and humongeous shades like these.

So many people see Audrey style as her Givenchy or Breakfast at Tiffany's look; but her mod look was just as fab, and my fave.

Here's me wearing my new shades yesterday while brunching with the man at the King Edward hotel in Toronto.

The shades exactly match my thrifted Butte Knit dress (found at Sally Ann for under $10). Though the style of the boots - Kenneth Cole Reaction thrifted at Value Village for $49! - may be inspired more by the 1970s, I think the whole ensemble is still pretty swish.

Maybe I look a wee bit Audrey from the '60s, yes?

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Easy peasy holiday centrepiece

Sorry for the late post tonight. As I sit and do my holiday cards tonight I'm basking in the glow of this grungy-glam makeshift centrepiece.

I found these Williams Sonoma green pear-scented tea lights at my neighborhood dollar store (where I also got the cards). I plopped them on a silver tray I've had for years, picked up at a thrift store (silver trays are always in abundance for super cheap at places like Value Village), and voila, instant centrepiece.

Simple, elegant and all in five minutes - the Grunge Queen way! Now I must finish my cards. This week I'll also show some thrift gifts and a MISTAKE thrift outfit that is rather elf-like in its appearance! Goodnight!

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Top 10 Toronto Thrift Shops, part 3

Sorry I missed yesterday; here's part 3 of my Top 10 Toronto Thrift Shops, starting with number 5 ....

East/Central:

5). Value Village
2119 Danforth Avenue
416-698-0621
www.valuevillage.ca

It’s more expensive than Stretch Thrift or Sally Ann, but the selection is there and let’s put it this way: VV is a for-profit enterprise and it’s its job to get you good stuff. Still, I'd shop carefully ... Bongo Jeans can be close to $20 here where I’ve found them for $5.99 at other places.

Best deals: I always raid the jewellery cases as I’ve found some gorgeous retro and even vintage pins for a couple bucks – these tend to be underpriced compared to the sterling stuff (though the pin pictured above IS sterling and was bagged for a few bucks at VV). Often – and like many other thrift shops – the pricing gods at VV will underprice a well-made designer piece as they don’t know its value – meanwhile the mass market stuff is overpriced.

Best finds: 1970s boho velvet & paisley blazer, $7.99; scads of fab, mostly retro costume jewellery for $5-10 each; two Oriental style lamps for $24.99 each; Nine West booties in mint condition for about $14.99. Bonus: donate a substantial bag of stuff and you get 20 percent off.

6).Neat Things
1126 Queen St. East,
416-778-9453

This shop is jammed packed with furniture, decorative accessories, art, and other baubles. Leave the kids at home as there's too much bric-a-brac precariously balanced, and make sure you call first as owner Ellen's hours aren't always stringent. I love this place, though, and have spent good quality time rooting through everything. The prices are really reasonable, and there's no telling what you could find. My best finds: Liberty of London scarf - beautiful - for a couple bucks; retro Italian suede bag with red leather interior, for about a fiver if memory serves. P.S. There's a string of antique shops along this block with heaps of furniture and decorative accessories...

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Top 10 Toronto Thrift Shops, part 2

Yesterday I started my Top 10 Toronto Thrift Shops; here are my second and thrift picks:



East/Central:



2). Pegasus Thrift Store

931 Kingston Rd., 416-422-0999

www.pegasusproject.ca



This shop is part of the Pegasus Community Project, a registered charity that helps developmentally challenged adults by giving them community-based day care opportunities and employment.



The hours are a bit wacky (call before you go), but I love this thrift shop, especially since it's moved into its new home. It has more of a boutique vibe and there are tons of treasures to be found, mostly in the accessories, book, and knick-knac categories.



I found this suede made in Canada purse with saucy buckle for $9.99. The blue lamp from a few posts ago was also found here.





3). Goodwill

60 Overlea Blvd., 416-422-0998

www.goodwill.on.ca



This is the best Goodwill in Toronto in my opinion. It's a huge store and always packed with heaps of clothing, shoes, furniture, books, art and fab bric-a-brac. Whether I go for a full-on dig or pop in for a few minutes I always leave with a steal. Prices not marked unless they're higher end; there are price caps on end of racks with general price range (blazers, $7.99 and up, etc), which I sometimes find frustrating: how am I to know if it's "and up"? The pricing seems to be at the whim of the cashier - still, deals are too good to complain about and Goodwill helps people in your community find and train for jobs.



Some fab finds recently: jackets galore! A DKNY blue silk jacket for $9.99; a 1980s cropped boil wool blazer made in Toronto by Miranda Lumley ($3.99 as it was 50 percent off day!); a TeenFlo little black dress for $6.99.

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Sun on desk

If I were a true blue photographer, I wouldn't be a storm chaser: I'd be a sun chaser.

After a media photo shoot in my pad (SO excited - will link to article when it comes out this weekend!), I caught the sun sliding across my desk, as you see here.

I had to catch it quickly, though, as it was moving fast.

I love my desk area now, by the way.

I took a dining room table from the trash and covered it with dollar store wall paper by Ralph Lauren.

The lamps are thrift, and the spanky new phone is my recent thrift score. The desk chair was found in the trash, as was the chair to the left of the desk.

The green Toronto Harbour prints were found at Value Village for a few bucks each.




The blue head vase by the white lamp was one of my very first trades - I saw it in a junk store window when I was a starving student and traded a bunch of my jewellery with the owners - they were happy as they gave the bling to their daughter, and I was thrilled to have my first head vase.

See the finial on the top of the blue lamp? It's actually a tortoise shell drawer pull from an old vanity.

And before I knew it, the sun was gone ....

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Super thrift outfit

Happy Halloween!

Here's what I'm wearing at work today for my costume, which is a generic Super Girl Hero type ditty. My pal and colleague Jill is Superman, or Superman's gal, depending how you look at it.

One of these outfits is thrift and the other isn't - can you guess which?

Natch, most of my outfit is thrift, and most items I wear in my every day life when I'n NOT super.

The red cashmere cape was $24.99 at Value Village, the short blue skirt was dug up at Goodwill yesterday for $5.99, the tights and top I had, and the funky disco belt was found at True Blue Vintage in the Junction (2919 Dundas St. West, no website yet) for $15 - thought it was pretty special.

The real deals were the blue suede boots made in Italy, bagged for $14.99 at Stretch Thrift on Pape Ave. in Toronto.

But I didn't win the contest, alas; Jill came in second.

Still I think thrift is pretty super. Maybe I should have called myself Shopping Girl?

Was your Halloween costume thrift or used?

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Updates & new thrifted blazer

I have some important Grunge Queen updates:

One, the Oriental Screen in the trash stayed there for a few, very wet and rainy, days and then was hopefully carted off by some brawny person instead of being dumped in the landfill.

Two, remember my Statement Piece Blazer dug up at the Parkdale Sally Ann for $4.99? Knew it was spanky as it was made in France by Canadian-born designer Tara Jarmon. DIDN'T know it was worth so much until I did a shopping column in Midtown Toronto the other day as saw her blouses for $500 and dresses for $600 in a boutique there. My blazer must have retailed for the same if not more, wowsers!

Three, speaking of blazers, I found this Theory blazer at my local thrift shop. Stretch Thrift, for $6.99. It's a fitted brushed cotton style in this olive-brown colour I'm nuts for these days, and it goes perfectly with my thrifted Bongo jeans (Value Village, $14.99) and magenta Dex top I'm wearing underneath (thrifted for a few bucks).

Also goes perfectly with the Statement Piece Pashmina I bought at a 3-for-1 sale in Yorkville in the summer with my shopping pal, Andrea.

Theory sells at places like Holt Renfrew and the blazers appear to run around $400-$600!

While shopping for the blazer I met a kindred thrifting spirit, Pam, who also shops thrift all over the city. Pam told me she's found Gucci and more in the shops. Hope she calls me so we can do a dig together!!

Thanks to my Editor in Chief at the Town Crier newspapers for letting me pose in front of a picture in his office - makes the perfect backdrop. By the way if you want to read my latest Toronto Shopping Column please follow the link!

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Magic window

My Moroccan hanging lamp (see yesterday's post) has me thinking of this pretty hanging ball I received as a gift recently.

I finally strung it up in my window the other day, substituting ugly fish wire for a bright bow another gift came wrapped in.
Looks pretty magical doesn't it?

I've tried to make this little nook cozy and magical looking at the same time.

I've tied back the Value Village curtains with a ribbon, and put the flower boxes from the balcony (dug out of the trash by my ex) on the window sill. So far the lavender is doing ok but it's so hot in this apartment I have to water diligently to ensure the other herbs don't dry up.

I hung up a blue glass ball I bought for myself on sale years ago beside the other ball.




And if you look closely you can see the tiny yellow crystal I bought a year or so ago (then stuffed in my closet and forgot about it until I unearthed it with joy the other day during a closet clean put).

You're supposed to put it in the south-western most corner of your living space to promote harmony. So that's where it is.

Hope it'll help those plants survive.

Meanwhile I've got my trusty purple water bottle - which just happens to match the sheers, go figure! - on the ready to spritz that lavender away.

I just love plants in the window like this. Not sure what I'll do when the winter comes and the windows get cold - will the plants be ok, do you think?

As you may have guessed I'm new to the plant thing.

My Hibiscus, also hauled in recently from the balcony, is turning yellow. Think it could be experiencing culture shock in this warm and non-humid space.

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Outside comes in

This is how part of my apartment looks from my balcony.

Kinda cozy, yes?

I admit it: I love looking in front living room windows while walking along the street at dusk - not to see people but rather to look at their decor!

But it would seem kinda creepy if one of my apartment neighbors was looking across the way into my pad ... unless of course they happened to be editors of decor mags!

Yesterday's post in which I showed some worn chairs my Mom found in the trash and decorated her patio with has inspired me to bring in my balcony chairs - it's getting colder and the wicker and rattan will get damaged in the rain and snow that will inevitably come, alas....

Outside, these chairs took on a Shabby Chic look, with flowery pillows and such. Inside, though, that frilly dilly look won't go with my decor. Here I created a little nook with empty picture frames and a suede multi-coloured pillow. Cozy wozy.

The faded striped pillow was found used at Goodwill for a couple bucks and the blue wicker chair was from the trash.

With this rattan chair, found at the Sally Ann for $10, all it took was tossing a faux fur rug over top - a look I've seen in decor mags on chrome chairs. The effect is cozy with a modern twist.

I finished off the look with a plush brown pillow found at Value Village for a couple bucks.

Who says you have to store outdoor summer furniture?

For a peep at my balcony with these chairs in the summer, and other outdoor decorating projects, head here.

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Family thrift

I'm back from a lovely vacation and it's nice to be the Grunge Queen again.

But who says I wasn't the Grunge Queen back home? My sis and her fam have become dedicated Value Village shoppers in the last few years (I'd like to think I've inspired them), so one day we ALL piled into the car and hit good 'ole VV.

You can find great designer jeans if you look through the racks carefully.

My sis found a pair of Parasuco's for under $10 there, which she is wearing in the above pic, and another member of the fam pictured here is wearing some Bongo jeans she found for super cheap.

I found a pair of Bongo SKINNY jeans (haven't worn skinnies since the 1980s - I won't be posting a pic just yet) with lovely detailing on the back pockets for $14.99.

And my sis found me the pair I'm wearing in these shots - a City of Angels (by Paige denim) pair of jeans from their Rock n' Roll collection - the button is shaped like a guitar pick and there are sooo many nice details. These jeans, if they still made them, would retail at $200 or so. My price? $14.99.

Did I mention they look brand new?

Wish I could take credit for this find but I gotta cede to my sis's supreme designer jean thrift radar. Thanks sis!

TIP: I get ALL my jeans at the thrift stores. Value Village is good but the jeans I find there are pricier, $14.99-$19.99 generally for makes like Parasuco, Guess? etc that are in good shape and in a current style. I tend to get the bulk of my jeans at the thrift shop around the corner from me, where they usually run from $4.99-$6.99.

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Weddings on rooftops

Eep. Grunge Queen is feeling a bit fragile this Monday morning.

She went to a fab wedding on the rooftop of the Drake Hotel yesterday.

I was worried about wearing black - but everyone else was in the end. My silk tulip shape skirt by Peter Lam, thrifted at Value Village the week before for a mere $6.99, was perfect for the occasion.

I paired it with a sequin top by Planet I've had for years, some pewter shoes and nude fishnet stockings, a vintage bag and my black cashmere cape.

There were plenty of other stylish ladies there, including this lady who danced in the rain with yet another stylish lady.

I have a feeling her cape wasn't thrifted. She looks very Olympia Dukakis.

In fact the whole afternoon - the wedding, the rooftop, the rain, the champagne, the black - it was all very New York.

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Cashmere cape

I wore this red cashmere cape yesterday - too bad I didn't get a pic with me in it and my new-old boho skirt ....

I found this at Value Village for $24.99 - a bit steep for Grunge Queen blood but I'm so in love with capes this time of year. They're endlessly stylish and can be worn with anything, really.

The tag says it was made exclusively for the House of Cashmere in London, England.

Like my statement piece blazers and other coats, I have several capes that I've thrifted - another one is black and made in Scotland by a famous wool house, so lovely.

They're fab this time of year when it's not quite time to wear winter coats but still too cool to go without a cover....

I can wear it done up as you see in this pic, but I prefer the more dramatic look of the shawl over my shoulder, dah-ling.

Have a great wkend!

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New room

Here are some pretty decorative details from my bedroom makeover - which morphed out of a fall closet cleanup over the weekend.

My uber pricey lampshade from Anthropologie looks even more boho girly with some of my thrift store pearls and retro crystal-like baubles laced across the top.

The lamp base, by the way, was picked up at Value Village my first year in Toronto. Call me lazy but the pricetag - $5.99 - is still on it! It's one of my fave lamps.


Showing my bedroom may be a wee bit personal - the Victorian in me is cringing - but he the decor mags do it don't they?

I ended up moving a different pic over the bed as my makeshift headboard didn't provide a lot of contrast.

You may be able to tell that I'm in pared down mode. It feels good to declutter and get rid of stuff that's piled up and clogged my life.

I think, especially with the juvenile folk-like painting, that the look is sort of peasant-y.

The blanket at the bottom of the bed I bought at an end of the line retail store - it was $20 and I've seen the exact same one for $60+ in other stores. Dag is now kneading it to death.

On the wall: a vintage wool Holt Renfrew blazer I've had since high school.

The brass bed: bought with small portion of my scholarship money while doing graduate work in Ottawa - for a mere $125.

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Purple queen: dress bought by subway

Retro purple shades for $3; mauve curtain sheers thrifted at Value Village years ago for a song ... and my new (and not used) purple dress bought on the subway for $9.99!

I'm really into purple these days - makes sense as the Grunge Queen as purple was the colour for royalty - but I'm finding this lighter mauve-y hue looks totally fab with my tan.

I didn't actually buy it ON the subway, but it was close enough, dug up at a no-name store just outside the Bay subway station in Toronto in the hall leading to the underground concourse there.

I've actually found some good booty in those semi-skany shops located in the actual subway stations - one at Eglinton and another at one of the northern subways, Sheppard I think.

Get creative with your shopping and look in places you'd never set foot in typically - you'll never know what you'll find!

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Statement piece blazers a la thrift

Yesterday was the first day of school for most kiddies in Toronto and it got me thinking about fall fashion (wah, summer just arrived in the city too!).

I love fall fashion - the patterned tights, the scarves, the accessories - so many cheap and chic ways to jazz up your closet.

Every fall I pick up a few statement piece blazers at the thrift shop, usually for under $10 each.

I found this thick green one for $4.99 at the Sally Ann. It's made in Japan and says size 15 - likely a plus size there as it's slightly big on me! - but it's thick, well tailored and looks expensive.

A gal pal from work gave me the silk scarf from Morocco that you see with it only days after I bought the blazer - talk about fashion karma!

This is my absolute fave statement piece blazer that never fails to elicit oohs and ahhs - picked up last year at Value Village for $7.99 if memory serves.

It's a velvet (you know my penchant for velvet couches and pillows? Sometimes it applies to what I wear too) patchwork paisley blazer - tres retro 1970s but when worn open with jeans and a cashmere turtleneck underneath, or belted here with my new vintage velvet belt, the look is tres glam.



It's got these crazy long floppy lapels that I need to pin down, but otherwise the lines are just fab.

Here's a back view.

Don't you just love it?

I've never worn it with the belt as I just purchased it but I am so giving it a whirl once it gets cooler.

The statement piece jacket a la thrift: a perfectly wonderful way to add some vroom to your fall and winter outfits!

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70s shawl over my head

Often decor choices come to me on the fly and are inspired by moments from my past.

Growing up in the 1970s my sis and I had twin beds, side by side, with these puffed white headboards that we absolutely adored (and still talk about tho this day!).

Sometimes early early on Saturday mornings when we were wee things (so wee this is just a flash of a memory), we would stay in our beds, tuck our pillows on the top of our headboard so they would hang over our heads like little canopies, then hang our dress-up scarves over the pillow so the scarves would fall down on either side, like a waterfall.

We'd pretend we were princesses living in our own magical enclaves.

Yesterday I was washing this 1970s shawl I picked up at the Value Village years ago. I use it for decor more than dressing up (though I bet it would look fab with that black MEXX dress I thrifted the other day), and I didn't want to stuff it back in my newly cleaned linen closet.

So I threw it over my brass bed. It instantly reminded me of playing the canopy game with my sis.

Nice to know the creativity of youth can still inspire you today ....

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Mirror, mirror - not on the wall

I'm feeling a bit betwixt and between in terms of new decor ideas. It's finally summer in Toronto yet despite the warm temps and some humidity it feels more like fall ... except it doesn't yet feel like fall, if you catch my drift.

My point? It seems too late to keep streamlining my pad, as I naturally seem to do in the summer, yet it's way too early to haul out the velvet drapes and go to town with cozy winter decor.

One feature that stays the same in my space no matter what the season: mirrors. Lots of them.

I'm not a narcissist, really. It's just that mirrors reflect light and make a room look bigger, and whatever the season, that's a good thing in my humble opinion.

So how many mirrors do I have? Seven, I think, not including a small funky one on a stand that I'll show you tomorrow (thrifted, of course).


The cool thing about the larger ones you see here is they're so versatile. I don't even hang 'em; I just prop 'em.

They can be turned sideways to create a different shape.

This gold mirror was $14.99 marked down from $19.99 at Value Village.

I like that it's a bit of an oxymoron: it gestures towards glitziness with the gold, yet the gold is painted over a rustic wood frame.




And it's no secret that mirrors just look so glam.

This (very heavy) wood lacquered one was on major special, over $200 regular price but if memory serves about $60 at my fave mirror and framing shop in Toronto, Syllogy at 217 Danforth Ave.

They have regular screamin' deals, cash only, on their huge wall mirrors, which they make themselves.

Heck you can even plop 'em on the floor, and balance a painting on top as I did here.


Lesson: you can move mirrors around your space just as you'd juggle pillows or candlesticks.

And they don't just have to hang on the wall.

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Classy glass

My streamlining of clutter project has meant I've had to curtail my weekly thrift store digs, and in an effort to save moolah I avoid my local Value Village, which tends to be a bit more expensive than my local thrift store.

But I couldn't resist this gorgeous tealight at VV for $2.99. It's by Orrefors glass and it's uber heavy.



My sister received two of these for Christmas from a relation who loves buying expensive things, so I knew it cost something sweet retail.

I just love the design - it looks like a bunch of frozen berries clustered all together.

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Chair from the trash

Remember my garage sale booty (two posts below and I still have more to show you!)? On my way home that day I found this fab faux bamboo chair in the trash - fully functional!

I believe in trashing Karma: if you want something in home decor, it will eventually come to you in the form of garbage.

It's a big chair, maybe a dining room one, that I would have used at my desk if it weren't so large. For now it's tucked in a cozy corner by my dining room table.




I plopped a cusion on it I found at Value Vilage for $1.99 - it has an old tag on it that says "The General Store on Mount Pleasant Ltd Toronto" - a shop that I can't find a reference to so it must be long gone ....

I bought the coverlet that's on the seat that day too. After the garage sale I strolled around an area in Toronto called The Junction and previewed some of the photography exhibits for the Contact photography show premiering that night.







The Junction is a haven for semi-junky and architectural salvage shops. Mark Taaffe's relatively new store, on Dundas St. West near Keele, houses all kinds of quirky items this deal diva could just eat up.

I walked away with this shawl, something Mark called a great example of Victorian Industrial prowess, if memory serves. He told me it came in a box marked "great-grandmother's shawl" and was apparently bought in a London market in the early 1900s.

I love it, eventhough it's worn and is stitched up in places ... but that adds to the charm for me. It's wool and large enough to function as a table cloth, duvet coverlet or even a wall hanging. Mark let me have it for a song.

More on Junction shops soon.

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