While we were in LA for vacation, we stopped into Restoration Hardware on Beverly Blvd. We’ve always been big RH fans, so stopping by the flagship store was definitely on our to do list. Okay, well, more on my to do list than Greg’s… but he was a good trooper.

As we walked up to the store, the first thing we saw was the outdoor furniture “showroom” courtyard. Basically, this consisted of lots of ultra comfy and delicious outdoor furniture, mini white lights, candles, soft music and outdoor chandeliers that couldn’t even fit through the front door of our house. In other words, breathtakingly gorgeous. Needless to say, it was what I call, “an Instagram moment”…

I know. Who wouldn’t want to host a party in a space like this!? With all of the fuss over the few photos I posted on Instagram, I thought I’d put together a little post of the photos I snapped as we walked through the store. Keep in mind these are just iPhone photos and therefore, do not do it justice. Whatsoever.

Talk about an amazing movie room, right?!

I’ve been seeing these chairs online and in the catalogue for some time and always wondered if they were comfortable. I can tell now tell you, yeah, they are very, very comfortable.

I love these chairs paired with the mirrors, lighting and side tables. The candles on the side tables are battery-powered but look so real – more real than any other battery-powered candle I’ve seen before. Find them here.

I’ve had a thing for Chesterfield sofas lately. Seeing this giant, luxurious, deep version made me fall in love more. I also love the grain sack pillows over in the corner of the sofa. Find them here.

If I could pick out any bed for our bedroom, I’m pretty sure this one would be it (we have so many projects going on right now, I can’t even start thinking about the master yet). I love the clean lines, reclaimed wood frame and the nailhead finishes. Uhh, makes my heart happy. Find the bed here.

A more modern side of RH. I’m really digging the moss centerpiece on the coffee table. They don’t sell it – it was just for staging – but I’m sure it would be relatively easy to DIY something similar.

Doesn’t that look like a comfy bed to curl up in with a good book? The columns make the area feel so palatial and full of character. I also love the gallery wall in a grid pattern over the bed.

This room was filled with bunches and bunches of fresh white flowers. I’m a total sucker for white flowers, so this room was especially swoon-worthy. I really like how they built the hanging shelving unit from rustic wood planks and chains. I also like the numbered tin buckets. Very clever!

Last but not least, my favorite room in the store, the “Tea Room”. It’s filled with canisters of tea, books and magazines and, of course, comfy furniture and how about those birdcage chandeliers?! I also love the staircase and how the artwork goes all the way up towards the ceiling to take the eye upward.

Over the weekend, we made the hour and a half trek up 95-North to Ikea and as promised, I’m back to share.

Anyone who has been to an Ikea knows that the sea of shelving and good prices can be a tad overwhelming and a whole lot of awesome all at the same time. We invited my mother-in-law to come along because she’d never had the Ikea experience before. Like I was my first Ikea trip, she couldn’t get over the good prices and even scored a few things for her kitchen along the way.

Before we went upstairs to the Showroom, we stopped by the Ikea Family kiosk to pick up our membership card. With the membership card, you can get special prices on certain items each month as well as special discounts at the restaurant. We joined online earlier that morning, so all we had to do was type in our email address, password and out popped our nifty orange membership card.

Heading up to the Showroom, the first room that jumped out to me was this light and airy living/dining room. I liked the medium wood toned furniture and the feminine touches throughout (like the chandeliers over the dining table and the light gray and pink curtains). I also liked the wicker chairs at the head of the dining room table. Ordinarily I wouldn’t think of adding wicker to a dining room, but there’s something about the “relaxed elegance” of it that’s growing on me.

Things at Ikea were abnormally busy this weekend (which is why I don’t have that many Showroom photos)! In all of our Ikea shopping trips, I don’t know if we’ve ever seen it that busy. I kept having the urge to straighten pillows and accessories before taking a photo, but with so many people (and an abnormal number of toddlers!), it was pretty much impossible and I had to let my semi-OCD-ness go.

Though my spirits were lifted when I noticed Mary Poppins playing in one of the sample living rooms. Yes, classic Disney movies melt all of your problems away. It’s true.

I love this small chest of drawers (only $149!). It would work great in a small foyer (like ours) or wide hallway and look really spiffy spruced up with some interesting hardware.

After going through the Showroom, we stopped by the restaurant for some dinner. When we go to Ikea, we normally break up the trip in four parts: Showroom (furniture-testing and inspiration-getting), Restaurant (eating and list-checking) the Marketplace (shopping and, well, more shopping) and then finally the Warehouse (box-collecting and money-spending). It’s always nice to through lunch or dinner in the middle of the fun to be able to soak in the Showroom madness and regroup before the serious shopping begins in the Marketplace. After all, my mother-in-law had to have the legendary Ikea meatballs on her first-ever Ikea trip. It’s a must.

Along the dividing wall where we ate were these wooden boxes filled with three “crazy-haired” (as Greg calls them) faux plants. It made me wonder how a longer version would look hanging on the wall in the carport where we’re thinking of a vertical garden. After all, I am a plant assassin so it might be a good idea to just get faux ones. They aren’t going to be in direct sunlight and we therefore wouldn’t have to worry about melting, so it’s something to think about.

Coming out of the restaurant was the Ikea Family section where they have items marked down for members. Being a notebook fanatic, I couldn’t resist these little cute notebooks! They had fun modern designs (one with flowers and the other owls), so I “had to” pick up two for $1.49 a piece ($1 off the regular price).

Moving on the Marketplace! When I saw this huge stack of white ceramic coffee cups, I immediately thought they would look so cool with painted gold dots on the outside – kind of like the Kate Spade Twirl bottles. It’s almost like Greg could read my mind because he just looked at me like, “Please, we have so many other projects going on at the moment. Keep walking”. Husbands.

I loved the color combo of these tea towels. I could totally see this in a room… Mustard yellow, teal, pops of purple and then gray to ground everything. It would make a great color combo for girl nursery or even a teen girl’s bedroom.

There were so many great finds in the market place, that I felt like I was snapping a photo every five steps. We also liked this gray and white low pile rug (for $19!) and these work lamps. I like the silver, but you could always spray paint it a high-gloss crazy color, like chartreuse! I’ve been on a chartreuse kick these days.

I’ve always been a sucker for gallery frames and sometimes it’s hard to find good-priced “non-cheap-looking” ones but this large Ribba frame is one of those. Coming in at just $24.99, it measured at 28″x40″. I wish we had a photo to put in it or this baby would have been in our cart for sure. Speaking of our cart, this is what it looked like before heading to check out…

We went home with 4 fax plants, 3 white metal shallow shelves, 2 spiral notebooks, 3 white ceramic pots (now that I’m home, I wish I would have gotten more!), a magnetic knife rack (that’s not going to be used for knives), and two packs of magnetic containers. Oh, and the reason we came to Ikea in the first place…

Six 74″ floating shelves to go above Greg’s desk (which we talked about here). We’re going to have to cut them down to the exact length of his desk, but we’re super excited about getting them up on the wall. We’re putting them up tonight and will be back Wednesday to chat all about it.

As I said on Instagram… We came. We saw. We conquered. All in all, the Ikea trip was a success and definitely worth the 1.5 hour drive. It was fun to show my mother-in-law around the gigantic store and check the new catalog items. We even managed to score a few things for the house in the process. Did anyone else make an Ikea trip over the weekend? Get anything cool?

I totally forgot to snag a photo of the outside, so I snagged the first photo from here.

While in LA, we went to the seriously coolest store ever: Tini. I first came across their website over a year and a half ago because I was looking for a large light-up marquee letter. Ever since, I made a point of checking out their online inventory now and then. It’s ever-changing, and they have the most interesting things – not your ordinary antique store. Needless to say, Tini easily made it to my list of must-do things while here in the City of Angels.

Celebs like Jessica Alba, Seth Rogen (Greg’s doppelgänger), Ryan Gosling (whom I got the sheer pleasure of seeing in Beverly Hills later in the afternoon!), Mandy Moore, Justin Long, and Olivia Wilde have all been known to shop here. Set designers for Mad Men, Heroes and a bunch of HGTV shows have also purchased pieces from this place.

Tini stands for “This is not Ikea”. And let me tell you, this place is definitely not Ikea! It’s filled to the brim with one-of-a-kind vintage and antique pieces and reclaimed furniture that will make any interior designer/enthusiast swoon. I totally imagine Emily Henderson going crazy in this place!

Before you set foot in the store itself, the sidewalk is filled with a bunch of goodies. Like the egg chair Abram wanted to take back to the apartment. I pulled for him but Mom said no.

I loved this industrial floor lamp! It would look really cool in pretty much any type of room, but I imagine it looking particularly good in a living room or reading corner.

This little guy had me at hello, but he was about 40 pounds. Too heavy for my suitcase.

To give you an idea of the lay of the land, here’s a shot of the front door from the steps at the back of the store. (This is just one third of the store!) As you can see, it’s full of everything from charming to crazy. Also, notice the brass letters above the door. After you’re done shopping, as you’re walking out the door, they finally tell you what Tini really means. Sneaky!

Right when you walk in, in the middle of the store is a pool table filled with neat objects like a traffic light lamp, a vintage toy car, old suitcases, street signs, and vintage magazines. By the way, I love how they used a vintage pool table as a display table, but you can buy it for $2,950.

The gas station number four reminds me of the number 7 I bought a few months ago, but with the colors reversed (it’s a red 7 on a cream background). I just haven’t figured out where to put it yet! For some reason, I also love the goofy looking man-with-flowers chalkboard on the right. Obviously, it wouldn’t fit at our house, but I bet it would look really cool in a quirky loft apartment somewhere. Any takers?

Oh, the frames! The chalkboards I could make with these guys…

I completely fell in love with this desk! It looks like it belongs right on the set of The Dick Van Dyke Show!

Tini also had a pretty hefty collection of suitcases. These could be used for so many things, but I love the idea of stacking a few up and using them as a nightstand. It would add a lot of personality and charm to a modern room.

Way back in the back of the store (actually, I think it’s where they clean/repair items), there was this set of wooden crates. Aren’t they awesome!? Yet another thing I wanted to snatch up, but it wouldn’t fit in my suitcase!

If we had a game room, there would be a pinball coffee table. For sure! (That’s an amazing idea! –Greg) I also loved the marquee letter sitting on the sofa, and the barstools stacked up in the top middle of the photo.

If I had a friend named Oprah, I would buy this vintage letter for her. But I don’t, and they didn’t have an A or a B, so I refrained from snatching it up.

If you looked up, you’d find rows and rows of light fixtures (I’m telling you, they have everything!). I particularly loved the red barn-style pendant lights.

More marquee letters! Ever since I saw that episode of Picker Sisters where they turned an old marquee sign into an art piece, I’ve wanted to get my hands on one. I’ve been on the lookout for a B or an arrow, but so far, no luck.

I’ve always been a fan of industrial accents, and now that we have a house to decorate, I’m constantly on the lookout for random industrial boxes, bins, shelves and such that can be used for something else. Tini had an entire section of old metal boxes that would be prefect for just about anything.

How crazy awesome would these chairs look reupholstered?!

More letters! These guys were about four feet tall and said “Yo”. Yet another thing that would look awesome in a quirky loft!

Now can you see why I fell in love with this place?! It’s modern, vintage, crazy, and unexpected, all rolled up in a whole bunch of awesome.  Have any favorite pieces?

For more information about Tini, visit their website here. A lot of the items mention in this post are available on their online store here. Warning! It’s so awesome, you’ll be browsing for hours! If you live in the LA area, you can check it out in person at 515 S. Fairfax Ave, in Los Angeles, 90036.