May
15
Sooner or later, everyone needs it.
Filed Under art, home, shop | Leave a Comment
Was that title riveting? Are you dying to know what it is? Hey, the Shop Tart has never claimed to be the best at titles. What is it already? Framing. Everyone, sooner or later, needs to get something framed. And it’s not cheap. The Frame Shop on Rosewood does a good job and their prices are reasonable, on the lower end of what the Shop Tart has seen here in Columbia, actually. If you haven’t been, you’ve driven by a million times. (Photo stolen shamelessly from the Frame Shop’s Facebook page.)
There’s no point in quoting prices, because every job is so different. Let it suffice to say that they have always been happy to suggest things within the Shop Tart’s budget. She and her husband were there recently — with two different projects — and the prices were not shocking, not one little bit. Anyhow, they also have cool local art and bits of furniture and cool home stuff here and there. Like this amazing pitcher, with matching ice bucket and glasses. Who’s feeling an afternoon poker party fueled by Long Island Iced Tea? This gal right here!
There was plenty of lovely wall art, nothing crazy expensive, all framed and ready to grace your empty walls!
Also spotted: A table full of sweet plug and light switch plates, a great way to add an interesting little accent to any room.
The Shop Tart is obsessed with gold accents — they bring warmth and light to any room. The vibrant colors in this make it even better.
And…the Shop Tart would gladly show you what she had framed, but she and Mr. Shop Tart keep forgetting to go pick them up. She will certainly show you as soon as they get them back.
Who’s your framer? Do you use the same shop for everything or do you have different types of things framed at different places?
In today’s post…
- The Frame Shop, 3100 Rosewood Drive, 803-256-1601
Happy Shopping and don’t forget to tell them you read it on the Shop Tart!
May
13
Dispatch from the Acres: Yard Yeti
Filed Under art, France, home, Paris and London, shop, wish you were here! | 1 Comment
The Shop Tart is enjoying a quick couple of days in Paris and — with the upcoming Forest Acres Festival, it seemed like a great time to hear from Julie Turner, SC Wordsmith and Dispatch from the Acres author. As for the Shop Tart, well, this is the view from the hotel.
And for those of you who spotted Le Comptoir on Facebook and Instagram, good eye! That was the Shop Tart and her husband’s first stop, delicious, as always.
Without further ado…
Dispatch from the Acres: The Yard Yeti
by Julie Turner
I’ll never forget the day he skulked into my life. It was buzzed by text from my dear friend Jennifer who knows me — gets me — from top to bottom.
“YOU NEED THIS!!!!” she texted with every ounce of excitement intended.
With another buzz came The Photo. It was blurry, clearly snapped on a low-speed drive-by. Whatever-It-Was looked like a statue, and it looked like it was in front of Forest Lake Gardens, a rockin’ locally-owned yard and garden center curated by owner Joseph McDougall. And, boy, was that thing pink — the shade of pink practically trademarked by Pepto-Bismol. “That Thing” turned out to be a pink concrete bigfoot statue. And Jennifer was right. I was in love.
I can’t offer much of an explanation for my love of the yard yeti. He’s oh-so pink, concrete, and now he stands guard under the dogwood in my front yard. Perhaps he’s a pink beacon of what I love: whimsy. He’s a perfect companion to our still-burning Christmas lights and the flying propane-tank pigs. He’s the ideal addition to our outdoor décor: a cross between miniature golf course and Pee Wee’s Playhouse. But, as Jennifer knows, that’s the Turner style.
But I’m not alone in this appreciation of the elusive one. In fact, our squatch was the second to appear on Oakwood. Today there are three roaming along our street and who knows how many others slink about the other boroughs of Soda City.
Mandy Medlock is the proud owner of a maroon squatch, a gift for her husband Tom on Father’s Day last year.
“Every time we drove by the garden center we laughed. We had to have one,” she said. “Kids playing at Citadel Park see him and ask us if he’s really alive!”
Self-described squatch-lover and fellow Forest Acre-ite Kevin Roberts received a brown yard yeti as a birthday gift and today he stands as faithful companion to Mr. St. Francis, Facebook’s only concrete catholic. Kevin says he grew up terrified of the bigfoot that surely lived in his densely-wooded backyard. His squatch is a reminder of a fear conquered and, of course, of the two very cool friends who gifted said squatch.
My friend Shannon McDonald of Forest Lake Gardens — the hands-down best place to find a Christmas tree in this town — was kind enough to give me the deets about the yetis and how they appeared in The Acres.
“Joseph thought a pink bigfoot would be a great symbol for men’s prostate cancer awareness,” she said. “He said since women have a pink ribbon, men should have a pink bigfoot! He’d always watched the bigfoot stories and found them interesting, starting with Six Million Dollar Man fighting bigfoot.”
That particular bigfoot, Kevin informed me, actually turned out to be a robot, a fact discovered in an epic battle in the California mountains.
In the end, the squatches were added to the statuary inventory because they made Joseph laugh. “He had no idea how they would take off,” said Shannon. “Pink is the biggest seller and outsells all other colors combined. Most people like them, but there are a few who complain about the horrible pink statues sitting by the road.”
You, too, can join our small, dedicated club and get a yard yeti for your domicile, too. The regular bigfoot is $100 and the super-talls are $350. The joy they provide? Absolutely priceless. You can choose from pink-, brown- or natural graphite gray-coated.
Personally, I recommend the pink — for prostate awareness.
Forest Lake Gardens is located at 5210 Trenholm Road, just across from Trenholm Plaza. Hours are Monday-Saturday, 8:30 am – 7pm and Sunday, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm. If you stop by for a closer look at their wide selection of yard yetis, grab a bag of boiled peanuts. For you, not the yeti.
-by Julie Turner
There you have it! Forest Acres style and Parisian style really aren’t that different. Or are they? The Shop Tart welcomes the debate!
Happy Shopping and don’t forget to tell them you read it on the Shop Tart!
The Shop Tart Loves…
