Like most babies our Otis is wide awake at night. I'm slowly starting to adjust to this schedule. I think myself better than Stu. Otis is a week old today. He's a really good baby and only cries if he needs something. The only tricky thing Stu an I are trying to get used to is getting peed on by this little guy. It's like a race against time, during a diaper change.
And speaking of time, we still managed to fit some in to do a shop update this week. Check the shop for some great and unusual vintage items.
So. Stu and I have been keeping this little secret on this blog. For the past few months there's been a little person growing inside me. It was hard not to talk about it on this blog, but we both didn't want to share it with the internet until he arrived. And yesterday he did! His name is Otis, and he has my nose and Stu's lips. We haven't yet decided on his middle name. He is the sweetest and Holly is super excited to be his big sister.
It was a tough pregnancy for me, so much morning sickness (or all day sickness) for the first four months, trying to find the balance with Holly and working with Stu on the shop all the while finding it harder to carry around my ever growing body, and for the last month I was stuck on bed rest in the hospital. A month of bed rest was tough! Luckily, since Stu and I have an online shop, I was able to continue to do shop updates with him via my laptop, keep up with customer emails and post on our blog. As I write this I'm still here in the hospital, but I think Otis and I are going home tomorrow or Thursday. I cannot wait.
Will post pictures soon, but for now this is my belly at 8 month and Holly.
We were fortunate enough to find more antique wood carpenter letters & numbers and have just updated the shop with them. I've spoken with a few of our antique friends in the business and some of them feel that this style of wood handicraft dates as far back as the early 1900's. They certainly are unique and really stand apart from the modern day craft store versions. There's a wonderful wood patina to them and I love the use of finishing nails rather than glue. You can really appreciate the craftmanship that went into them, sometimes assembling up to 7 individual little pieces for one single letter (as in the "S"), all the while ensuring that they can each stand on their own - even the "P"! I also have a great affinity for these because I once stumbled upon a "J" that I bought for Janet when we first started dating...many years ago.
The newly redesigned surf magazine Foam just came out. We are excited to have been included in this super cool issue. See our vintage PUNK alphabet blocks in the spread below.
When Stu and I first started dating in college, he made me a mix tape. (aww..) On it was the song After Hours, by the Velvet Underground. It's been one of my favorite songs since. Now, Stu and I sing it to Holly every night during her bedtime. It's cute hearing her sing it to herself sometimes when she is playing. You can listen to it here, on this sweet youtube video i found.
1 - 2 - 3 ...
P.S. We've updated the shop today too, see what's new!
We have small bathroom in our bedroom that we've never used. Not once. Maybe because our main bathroom is bigger and that's also where Holly has her baths, brushes her teeth, etc. and we're always together anyway. But no more. I've made it my mission to make this bathroom so appealing, so enticing so....awesome, we'd be silly not to use it. My mission: Submarine-themed bathroom.
I'm taking my inspiration partly from the movie, The Toy, with Richard Pryor (one of my favorite movies) and partly from what I think a submarine-themed bathroom should be (and yes, Janet does get worried sometimes that she may have married a 5-year old boy).
There is a scene in the movie that takes place in the Bates mansion bathroom (where Richard Pryor takes a bath with Eric Bates with their clothes on) and the bathroom is outfitted with amazing model ships behind museum glass display cases. This bathroom is, of course, gigantic, but it's a good starting point and I'm going to work off of that. Here are some pics of the blank slate bathroom as it stands today, crisp and clean. Please definitely post with any suggestions you may have. Currently I'm on the lookout for a periscope.
It's so fascinating to see people's living spaces. How they arrange their homes and the things they choose to surround themselves with and keep in their homes. I love it when you visit someone's home for the first time and you immediately feel their personality from their treasured items in their home. What they choose to hang up on their walls, photos in frames, and furniture they've chosen.
There are so many chances now to see how people decorate their homes, in the sneek peaks on the design blogs, magazines and all the home design shows on tv. I love to read Cookie Magazine's nesting blog and recently came across this sneek peak into Geninne's beautiful home in Mexico. Her home is lovely and inspiring.
It was also very exciting to see she is a Three Potato Four customer and has some of our prints (both vintage + new) hung up in her home. See more image of her homehere.
Okay, well, it's really really rainy here and doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon, so we're going to extend our Free Shipping promo through the weekend (ends 12pm EST on Sunday, 7/6). All domestic orders over $25 will be shipped free of charge via USPS Priority Mail. Happy 4th!
Celebrate the 4th of July with Free Domestic Shipping on all orders over $25 - today only (ends 12pm EST)! Orders eligible for free shipping will be shipped via USPS Priority Mail. No coupon codes necessary - shipping charges will be deducted during checkout.
Every year my best friend's parents have a huge fourth of july BBQ party. There's swimming in the pool, lots of good food, a softball game, fireworks (some pretty impressive illegal ones too) and it's just an all day fun event. Last year there was an added element - SUMO wrestling. They rented big sumo suits and a fighting ring, it was so fun! We're so excited this year for it because SUMO is back again as well as a powdered donut eating contest (which i think stu will do well in, he has competed in many a contests in the past and may have the technique down). I managed to find some photos from last years SUMO. Stu and I fought each other and I think I won. I love the photo where Holly is in the background watching us, she looks a little scared. I think she just witnessed Stu plummet me to the ground - I'm the Sumo down on the ground.
Stu and I love color. Our home is filled with so much of it, we both are always drawn to fun happy colors more than the more demure and subtle ones (a style i do love but always have a hard time achieving in our home). Our love of color of course influences what we tend to look for Three Potato Four. This week update is slightly late, but we've managed to fill this update with tons of color.
My favorite color is orange so I am super excited about the vintage ceramic giraffe that Stu scored and also the orange vintage phones. Also in the shop are amazingly beautiful and graphic tea towels and a too sweet new bird shaped vase from j. mendicino which you can get a glimpse of in the photo too. Check these out and many more fun, happy and lovely colorful items in our update today.
Like most babies our Otis is wide awake at night. I'm slowly starting to adjust to this schedule. I think myself better than Stu. Otis is a week old today. He's a really good baby and only cries if he needs something. The only tricky thing Stu an I are trying to get used to is getting peed on by this little guy. It's like a race against time, during a diaper change.
