Le Petit Dej Breakfast Tray by Peter White, $92 at A+R Store

image: A+R Store

With a couple of days off ahead of me, I’m getting ready to paint the bathroom (again). Our building manager has kindly repaired the walls, too, and will be priming today so I have high hopes for the finished look, especially considering the challenge of painting over orange without priming… which I had planned to do previously. The new color, already in parts of our kitchen, coordinates with our transportation shower curtain and complements our towels.

So, nothing new required. Or so I thought. After spotting these fish hooks in a local magazine this morning, I think I may need to head to Ingebretsen’s for some new svensk bathroom hardware.

The hooks, $9.50 each, are also available in black and dark blue. Find them at Ingebretsen’s locally (1601 East Lake Street), or on ingebretsens.com.

Image: Ingebretsen’s

Ever since, oh, January 2nd I’ve been on an organization and cleaning binge. Perhaps the rest of you find yourself in this new-year-cleaning mode as well? If you don’t have the itch to clean, don’t feel bad—I don’t mean to say our place is in perfect order. Given the de-decoration that occurred on January 6 and the distance and darkness of our storage area where holiday décor is stored year round, I’ve yet to deal with a certain number of boxes of ornaments and lights. As they say, no one is perfect. On the other hand, our linen closet is pristine, as is the office area and every surface including windowsills and (!) kitchen cabinets. With all this in mind, I’ve been thinking back to some organization aids found on our visit to one of the fall craft fairs at the Midtown Global Market. There we found St. Paul-based online retailers Olive and Myrtle who carry, among other things, Beehive SoftBowls by MIO. Exploring MIO’s own web site today, I found some other fun treasures. Here are a couple of highlights, including the bowls themselves, which are definitely on my wish list.

Incidentally, Olive and Myrtle also carries one of my favorite gifts from Tom, a game called Pandabo made entirely of bamboo. It’s a bit like Jenga, a bit like Pick up Sticks, and a lot of fun. Tom picked up the game here in Linden Hills at Wonderment, but it’s good to know it’s also available online.

Images: MIOculture.com, Olive and Myrtle

I just found out about littlefactory.com via a post on Shelterrific, a blog I read pretty regularly. What caught my eye on their site were these number placemats.

Order soon if you like the look, with shipping from Hong Kong orders should have been in by the 5th to arrive by the 25th. I may just take my chances…

Forget the food! Here’s the table setting before we filled every possible surface with a bowlful of stuffing.