Etsy Archives - Jest Cafe

Snooping On Etsy: Beautiful Sconces

June 20, 2016/3 Comments/in Etsy, Interior Design /by Mila

Who wouldn’t want nice sconces in their home? I know I would, so I headed to Etsy to research what they got in this department. As always, Etsy didn’t dissapoint. There are so many beautiful alternatives from modern minimalist brass to antique colorful options. Ideally, I will get a black variety for our master bedroom, to position on each side of the bed.

In this search, I only looked for electric options but there are also plenty of different sconces for candles, which I think are also charming and beautiful.

The nice perk about most Etsy products is that they come in many varieties and can be individualized by sending a request to an Easy owner. If you see something you like, but it doesn’t perfectly fit 100% what you are looking for, don’t hesitate to contact the shop and see what they can do for you.

Here are my final choices, of all colors, styles and prices. Let me know what do you think.

Also, a list of beautiful light fixtures, gorgeous woven wall hangings, and, hanging rattan chairs.

Gwendolyn Wall Sconce – $209 – Worleys Lighting Royal Sconce – $399 – Worleys LightingGrove Sconce – $179 – Worleys Lighting Walnut and Brass Wall Lamp – $105 – Ninosheadesign Pendant Edison Lamp – $188 -Fernweh WoodworkingMid-century Sputnik Wall Sconce – $289 – Nautical VintageeBrass Sconce – $135 – Boxwood Lights
Walnut Plug In Wall Sconce – $99 – BoxWood Lights Angle Pendant – $145 – Gagan Design Pair Of French Vintage Wall Lights -$155.50 – Label FranceModern Wine Bottle Sconce – $68 – VexDecor Linden – $200 – Park Studio LADixon – $250 – Park Studio LA Wall Sconce Modern Lighting White And Brass – $59 – Gdomm Pair French Art Nouveau Wall Sconces – $167.75 – Daisy Roots FranceAntique Green Glass Wall Sconce, 1930’s – $299 – I Like MikesCountry Style Glass Wall Sconce – $102.74 – Light With Shade Wall Sconce With Brass Lampholder – $67.59 – Spark And Bell Wall Sconce With White Ceramic Lamp Holder – $64.65 – Spark And BellWall Sconce With Black Bakelite Lamp Holder – $64.65 – Spark And Bell
Myrtle – $155 – Triple Seven Home Frank – $160 – Triple Seven Home Newt – $98 – Triple Seven HomeEast Modern Brass Light – $190 – Triple Seven Home Double Glass Globe – $99 – Pepe And Carols Wall Sconce Vanity Gold Brass – $109 – Illuminate Vintage Brass Wall Sconce Light – $40 – IndLightsMinimalist Wall Sconce – $104 – Tasso StudioHobnail White Wall Sconce – $21 – Patty Mora Vintage

Let Us Connect:

Snooping On Etsy – Wallpaper For The Nursery

May 2, 2016/4 Comments/in Etsy, Interior Design /by Mila

As you might know, I have been working on my kids’ bedroom for the last couple of weeks trying to get it ready for the One Room Challenge.

Re-decorating a room takes a lot of research – my pin board for the room has hundreds of images. I had to make decisions about color, wallpaper, art, bed, dresser, etc.– you get the picture. This knowledge should not die with me! But it should be shared with others that might want to update their kids’ room.

Let us start with the wallpaper.

Choosing the right wallpaper for the bedroom was the hardest decision I had to make and it took the longest time. I did a lot of research to find the right one. Here is a post I wrote about wallpaper options I was looking into some months ago.

I ended up choosing the Underwater Word (Deep Blue) from Hygge & West because of the dark navy color and copper finish. Hygge & West was nice enough to give me a 20% discount because of being a participant in the challenge. It cost me $320 to get the wallpaper. I bought 4 rolls. It looks AWESOME, guys. Really, everybody that has seen it loves it. My kids love it, I love it, my friends love it. I am SO happy with the decision, which is comforting because I was afraid that in reality it wouldn’t look as good as in my imagination, but there was no reason to fear. The wallpaper looks great!

After writing that first post about wallpapers for the nursery, I kept on searching for more alternatives on Etsy – one of my favorite online places to find cool stuff. There, I found a huge quantity of beautiful papers for the bedroom. Keep in mind that most of these wallpapers come in different colors and sizes, so you can custom made almost all of them!

Here are my favorites (this list took hours and hours of research to put together, so I hope it helps you save time in the future):

Dreamy Wall – Rousseau’s Dream Tropical Jungle Dreamy Wall – Summer Land
Deco Super – Vinyl Wallpaper Dreamy Wall – Forest Fantasy Nursery The Olivia Design – The Giraffe Vinyl Southern Shades Home – Jane Churchill Winnie and Friends Livettes – Watercolor Cactus Wall Mural Pumpkin Truck Paper – Vintage Wallpaper Dream Wall – Winter Land Wall Play – House Complex Southern Shades Home – Manuel Canovas L’ENVOL Southern Shades Home – Schumacher BalloonWall Plays – Striped Seamless Blue Sian Zeng – Dino Wallpaper
Midas Wallpaper Fabric – Imperial Goldfish Wall In ArtistDreamy Wall – Spring Farm Pop Decors

BC Magic Wallpaper – Teepee

Let me know if you like any of them!

Let Us Connect:

Snooping On Etsy – Holiday Décor

December 14, 2015/0 Comments/in Etsy, Gift Ideas /by Mila

Holiday décor is beautiful! I like buying decorations the day after Christmas and save them for next year. This practice has saved me hundreds of dollars, while allowing me to buy gorgeous stuff from expensive stores with a 75% discount tag. I am so thrifty! And I feel so proud when I get these deals! I almost feel like I am outsmarting the system, until I go to the stores and realize that a lot of the decorations I wanted are sold out. Darn! Catch 22, people, Catch 22.

While I wait for these discounts to happen, I indulge on Etsy. There is great Holiday décor on Etsy, and it is nice to know you are helping small businesses while you shop.

Here are some of my favorites Holiday decorations from this site:

Plaster Pinecone Decoration – Kuber Store – $16.64Christmas Tree Decor – Reclaim The Shed -$25Mistletoe Christmas Ornament -Fairy Folk – $16.50Fir Tree Decoration – Flora Sense – $15Bird Decorations – Prince Design UK – $21Christmas Tree Table Top – Flora Sense – $14Pastels Tree Decorations – Julie Collings – $12.95Hardwood Snowflake Ornament – Timber Green Woods – $16.95Reindeer Tabletop Decor – Lobelle shop – $20
Wool Tree Ornament – Soft Tear Concrete Diamond Ornament – Ink Bandit – $19.53 Cooper Ornament – Bookity – $20 Polar Bear Ornament – Wild Whimsy Woolies – $28 Dove Decorations – Prince Design UK – $14

Let Us Connect:

Gift Guide For Men That Like Meat And Science

December 2, 2015/6 Comments/in Etsy, Gift Ideas /by Mila

Buying something for my husband is extremely difficult. He is picky and uses the same t-shirt everyday. Here is a gift guide for men, in case you have one in your life that is as picky as my husband. Some of the items in this list are expensive, but there are also some that are cheap. Let me know if you have any other ideas! Read more

Let Us Connect:

Etsy v/s Ebay

November 12, 2015/5 Comments/in Etsy, Gift Ideas /by Mila

I decided to close my Ebay shop and keep my Etsy shop only. Why? For a variety of reasons that I will spell out below, but, before I do so, I want to come clean and let you know that my shop is super small. I opened it back in September and uploaded only 6 items on Etsy and 2 on Ebay. Since then, I have been adding to my catalogue slowly (up to 18 items now!), and I finally managed to sell some of them. So, am I the biggest expert seller on Etsy and Ebay???? Obviously not, but I can still share some of the lessons I have learned on this journey (Did you see the video where Ana Wintour writes down the word she hates the most? Well, it happens to be “journey” and here is the video. Before you watch it, I have to warn you, as smart as Ana Wintour is, acting is not her strong suit.)

In the beginning, I opened two shops, one on Ebay and one on Etsy. I wanted to see how I did in both of them. Which one sells more? Which one charges less? Which one gives me more visibility? Etc, etc.

Setting up the two shops was pretty painless I have to say. Now, uploading all the items and writing decent descriptions is a different story. That was hard! For starters, you have to take good pictures, which wasn’t that difficult to do because I happen to have a proper camera. If you are taking pictures with your IPhone, on the other hand, you might have some difficulties. Now, writing those descriptions, filling up all the tabs, and getting the price right…, that was harder and very time consuming!

The good news is that people really liked one of my items in the Etsy Shop: the Antique Hendryx Bird Cage, so it got named in a couple of treasure lists and it had a LOT of views, but guess how many sales… ZERO! On the other hand, my Ebay shop didn’t get a lot of views but I started to get inquiries right away. Here is that Bird Cage I was (am) trying to sell:

So, back to the list of PROS and CONS of Ebay and Etsy from the POV of somebody that has just started to open a vintage shop, and is doing so as a hobby:

Etsy v/s Ebay

What I like about ETSY

The site is beautiful and user friendly.
Fees are lower than on Ebay. Etsy charges $0.20 to post an item and 3.5% of your sale.
People are not constantly bargaining you down from your original price.
People are willing to pay more for items in this site than Ebay.
It has a maximum of 5 pictures to upload, so taking a bunch of photos to impress people is not necessary.
They give you stats on your views, demographics and search results.
Your item can be listed for longer than on Ebay.
They restrict what you can sell to handmade and vintage items. I like this because it targets certain clients only.
A sense of belonging to a community. It feels like a personal space to do business. There are plenty of support groups out there for Etsy sellers.

What I don’t like about Etsy

It has less traffic than Ebay.
I sold less items than on Ebay in the same amount of time.

What I like about Ebay

After you write down what your item is (title), they suggest categories to use.
They suggest a price for your item, based on other similar items that have been sold at the site.
Traffic is huge and it results in more sales.
They help you figure out shipping price based on package’s weight and measurements.

What I don’t like about Ebay

Expensive (and hidden) fees. They charge you around 8-15% of your sale, way more than the 3.5% that Etsy charges. I felt you have to be an Ebay fees expert to know exactly what they are charging you when you post/sell an item. Depending on the type of post you do, or category you decide to use, you get charged different fees. This is not clear beforehand. They never tell you “if you post this, you get charged X,” so, at the end of the month, I got a bill for $25 dollars that I still don’t get.
Potential sellers are always trying to bargain you down from your original price. True, people are nice. True, I had great exchanges with people around the US, but, in the end, I lost money because I was asked repeatedly to charge less.
The site is just plain ugly, what can I say.

For these reasons, and the added stress of having shops in two websites at the same time, I decided to close my Ebay account: I don’t want to be bargaining with people constantly (I hate this kind of confrontation); I don’t want to spend all my earnings paying fees; and, I want my site to be beautiful. Aside from this, my experience has been great and I love having this little hobby of my own. Now, I really need to stock up the shop, so I will be forced to go to some Estate Sales this weekend!!!! Poor me.

If you have other insights on this topic, please, share! I would love to hear.

Here are some of my favorite items that are for sale in the shop right now. Cute, ha?

Vintage Jest Cafe Shop

Brass Bookends – $32Pencil Drawing of Two Girls – $35 Poppytrail Carafe in Teal – $25