Potting plants in your pied-à-terre is near impossible, but new shop Olla Urban Flower Project makes it easy to get green.

Pots are ready to take home like agave in black concrete, air plants in glass terrariums and mixed cacti in colourful ceramics, or custom order one that suits your space, aesthetic and spending allowance. Specializing in Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging), they also offer bouquets that are anything but ordinary.

Buying local and ethically traded plants, and supporting non-profits by forwarding on flowers after conference events, they have community conscience too.

It's a green thumb dream come true.

Olla Urban Flower Project, 235 Cambie St. (mezzanine), Vancouver, 604-609-6552, www.ollaflowers.com

Nursery decals getting you down?

Art school graduate and mother of two Sarah Edmonds hand draws a delightful Canadian menagerie, like water birds, northern animals or ocean creatures, and has them screen printed as limited edition posters.

The graphic shapes and fun scientific facts will delight your toddler, and the news that they fit a $20 IKEA frame will delight you.

Now that's some smart art.

From US$50 at www.banquetworkshop.com

The Harry Potter-possessed person in your life wants a trip to Wizarding World in Orlando, but your pockets are deathly hallow. In lieu of a Confundus charm, buy them a broomstick.

The new Granville Island Broom Company makes brooms fit for fictional characters and cleaning house. Handcrafted on-site by two sisters trained in the art of broom-making by their parents, the family’s brooms were featured in Bewitched and Harry Potter promotions. They sell standard Shakers, but we say opt for one made with a twisty Manzanita branch ($59-$170).

While it won’t fly you to Florida, a broom given on the occasion of marriage or housewarming brings good luck.

Granville Island Broom Company, 1406 Old Bridge St., Vancouver, 604-629-1141, www.granvilleislandbrooms.com

Forget Bette Davis eyes, we want Garbo’s sketched by Cecil Beaton.

And we get them at Örling & Wu. The new Gastown décor store stocks the award-winning fabric and wallpaper collection made from Cecil sketches which includes “Garbo’s Eye.” The shop, run by a design savvy pair who met at London's Central Saint Martins, features those peepers on a pendant light, but you could have yours as custom-order curtains.

There were other gorgeous goods that caught our eye, like a salvaged wood picnic-style table from Arxe ($4,800), a linen-coloured Carl Malmsten samsas sofa ($6,800) and a red and white vase made the old way by Dutch masters Royal Tichelaar Makkum ($619).

We see redecorating in our future.

Örling & Wu, 28 Water St., Vancouver, 604-568-6718, www.orlingandwu.com

An online store becomes a bricks-and-mortar shop? Now that's as backwards as a Dr. Seuss book.

But it's true: Ashley York the website is now Ashley York the store, new to The Pier on Bowen Island B.C. The best selling clothes and accessories are made by moms, such as the rough-edged denim "guy ties" ($19). We loved the albino sock monkeys, baby balls made from vintage fabrics and the polka dot Australian splat mats for under the highchair.

Not goin' to Bowen? There's even more available online.

Ashley York, The Pier at Bowen Island, 604-947-2200, www.shopashleyyork.com

We're definitely not a smother mother, but neither are we a slummy mummy.

Perhaps that's why we're drawn again and again to the gorgeous wares at Nonchalant Mom.

We can attest personally to the loveliness of the pillows and delicate angel wings of Atsuko et Akiko and are lusting for their new sparkly masks and dressups.

We also love the Fleamarket section for its vintage toddler spoons and forks.

Which we will so nonchalantly integrate into our carefully curated collection of original Beatrix Potter bowls and Birks silver cups… not that we care, or anything.

www.nonchalantmom.com

We’ve been known to gush like geysers over gorgeous shops and Old Faithful is no exception.

The new Gastown store is a hot spring of practical and whimsical miscellany for the home. There’s Roost dishware, washboards and notebooks from Korea with French and Swedish covers ($6-$22). Not to mention bell jars, blankets and birdhouses built from driftwood ($32-$48).

Here’s a hostess gift tip: snap up some porcelain berry baskets ($16-$28) and fill with fresh cherries for the cutest summer take-away.

Old Faithful Shop, 320 W. Cordova, Vancouver, 778-327-9376, www.oldfaithfulshop.com

A regular Kelly Wearstler, you get your kicks rearranging your pad and hunting for throw pillows in the perfect shade of puce.

So we think you’ll be tickled to know you can now customize Jonathan Adler creations online. His new “Design Your Own” service lets you pick and switch your pattern, colours, monogram and sizing for pillows, rugs and tote bags with the click of mouse. And we love that you can give your item a different front and back, so you get two designs in one.

Home today, haute hotel tomorrow.

From $110 at www.jonathanadler.com

When it comes to gizmos we take a Renaissance approach, which means we’ll have our typewriter and iPad too.

Artfully merging both the past and present is the Phonofone II. Created by an award-winning design outfit from Toronto, Science & Sons, it imitates an old phonograph in form and function by amplifying music played through your iPod headphones without the aid of any external power.

We like to think of it as a stareo, not stereo.

$600 at Charles & Marie, www.charlesandmarie.com

We were never that interested in math. But this new furniture store really had us calculating.

Danish modern aesthetic + Thai materials + award winning designer = you’ve really got to check this out.

A surreal lamp made from white silkworm cocoons, indoor-outdoor rattan sofas, and low-profile stools and dining chairs are all begging to be bought.

Okay, so maybe we are good at addition.

Maai Living Furniture, 157 W. Hastings St., Vancouver, 604-282-6113, www.maailiving.ca