Flutter and Porch Light -- more favorite Portland stores

Sundays of late have been family day, no work, only play, at least that's the plan. Last week, Jim was distressingly ill so there was no play :-(  Today the plan was to get out for a low-key "doing nothing with particular enthusiasm" day, starting at IKEA to scope out cheap white sofas for possible future purchase, and progressing to Mississippi Ave, one of our favorite Portland shopping-eating-strolling streets. 

And that is what we did, but the Mississippi part was very brief, so this isn't much of a "Portland neighborhood ramble" post. Not enough "rambling" occurred! We did get to catch up with a dear friend. And we did eat bland low-carb substitutes for our usual dish (the Che Guevara) at our favorite burrito place, Laughing Planet. And we did make it into two of our favorite stores.

AND made it out without buying anything. Which is both triumphant and sad. 

Here they are:

Flutter *a delightful disarray of found objects and clutter* is a crazy treat for the senses. The owner does the most magical and weird displays; it's not a huge space, but I could happily take pictures there for hours. Cabinets and bones, art books and tulle, jewels and antlers and bird cages, you never know what you'll find. Every time, it's a new experience. 

On this occasion, I found the taxidermy to be all dressed up and ready for the ball.

{keep reading below}

Who is that masked deer?

A word of advice:

Never trust a hyena, no matter how awesome its headdress.

This looked to be a bird bath painted lapis blue and filled with pixie sticks.

Because why not, really?

Lots of chandeliers, tatty parasols, vintage dresses:

Tutus too.

And because you can't try on vintage tutus in just any old dressing room . . . 

this confection of a tent, that looks kind of like the princess powder room from a medieval tournament. 

(They had those, right? :-)

*lovelovelove*

I *think* the owner is a photo stylist as well, and also lends props for shoots. 

They also have a gorgeous blog.

A few doors down is Porch Light, totally different sensibility, just as fun. It's a vintage home boutique specializing in rustic, primitive furniture and mid-century fun goodness. Yum yum yum. 

I went light on photographs because I figured I wasn't buying anything and I felt guilty.

I'm sure store owners would much rather you buy something, and for my part, I would rather buy something too. But, you know. You can't always be buying things! Even if you could afford to, where would you put it all? 

If I had bought something, I think it might be this set of painted metal plates:

And this blue metal rolling rack. Love it! 

Wouldn't it be great in a kitchen, to hold produce and sundries?

It had no price tag on it. Maybe I'll wander back by some day soon and inquire :-)

After being in a number of antiques malls of late, I really appreciate the carefully curated and cohesive selection of goods they have here. Antiques malls are really fun, but man is there a bunch of not-my-taste stuff there. Like, 98% of it really. I'm not into the "foo foo" styles. I like rustic, unfussy, a little dinged up, unpretentious. I like everything in Porch Light.

So that's it for today's brief non-rambling ramble. I want to get back for a properly leisurely day on Mississippi -- hopefully a sunny one. There's so much cool stuff there to show you! Like . . . a whole shop of weird light bulbs.

This street, by the way, is a very recent gentrification, a great glimpse of a neat old working class neighborhood that had fallen into decline and has been rescued by a few bold and artful souls sallying in and opening up businesses. Love it.