I spent most of my day today in a most unexpected way because I did not intend to visit a massive Home Depot-like store called Toom but as it turns out — it was quite fun! Though I found something odd there that I’ll detail below because perhaps a few locals can clue me in on my strange finding… Anyway! I’ve been to these super mega home stores in Germany before but was quite surprised by how similar things felt as I roamed aisles of plants in the garden center and gorgeous pots of all sizes — I felt like I was back home in America. It was surreal really.
I like this pattern above because it looks almost like mosaic tile.
And good news for me is that I found some lovely gray pots for my mini olive topiary trees that sit in the windows. I will work on planting them later tonight since it’s Easter weekend and I’m taking the next four days off since company is coming! Yay! In addition to gorgeous (and cheap!) pots, I came across wallpaper books and a few struck me as quite nice though the one that stood out the most was called Brigitte Home under the A.S. Creation Tapeten brand. The wallpaper book was pretty and fresh and so I wrote down the website hoping they’d have a few images online and they did. But only a few…
So now you can get a taste of how German wallpaper is often presented where I live. Everything here has been such a learning experience — it’s hard to describe unless you’ve lived outside of your country but it’s odd to go from knowing so much about items for the home to suddenly knowing so little! It feels odd but also exciting to walk through mega stores and recognize very few (if any) brands. Many of the products are unknown to me — there is so much to learn and until I’m fluent in German, translating words like Spackle, Putty and Glue Guns can be challenging and always comical. I sometimes feel overwhelmed by it all but I’m on new turf now so I view it as a great learning experience.
So now to tell you about my odd finding… As I mentioned already, I was in Toom shopping for plant pots and was quite surprised to see that they sold fish, bunnies, mice, outdoor fish for ponds, birds of all sorts, and craft supplies and even a bakery for fresh bread. They also had pools of big living clams (I have no clue why, really) and that is my “odd finding”. It was fun to browse wallpaper, paint, grab a delicious piece of chocolate bread, check out some finches and see craft supplies and loads of how-to books that covered everything from how to make your own window decals to sewing table runners. They had lots of storage things and wall decals too. But clams? Big, live ones? With the fish and mice and birds? Can someone enlighten me? They don’t strike me as pet-like. :)
(images: brigitte home)
April 1st, 2010 at 2:32 pm
I guess the clams are sold as “natural filters” to purify the water in ornamental ponds.
April 1st, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Irene – Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! I never thought of that but it makes total sense because they were with the pond fish in a separate pool. Wow, very interesting. I have to tell my husband…
April 1st, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Haha, you found Toom! I love it. I didn’t have one where I lived before (they aren’t in ever German state), but now I do. :-)
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April 1st, 2010 at 3:53 pm
How cool about the clams! I would have been totally confused too…
My mother’s name is Brigitte—that spelling isn’t as common here, so it was fun to see her name!
.-= alex*strawberry lemonade´s last blog ..The sickeningly sweet world of Liz Wolfe. =-.
April 1st, 2010 at 4:17 pm
The Toom here is not like that. It’s like a crappy version of Walgreens. But it is funny how most stores in Germany will have everything. Like the grocery store has bikes, or the home improvement place has a bakery. Kinda random, but fun nonetheless.
.-= Amie McCracken´s last blog ..The Winner! and Paris =-.
April 1st, 2010 at 8:03 pm
What an awesome idea! A great, natural, eco friendly way to purify the water.
.-= Pixie´s last blog ..New Springy Duvet =-.
April 2nd, 2010 at 4:08 am
Love these wallpapers, especially the pink kitchen.
.-= Jolette´s last blog ..Happy Easter! =-.
April 2nd, 2010 at 10:08 am
It sounds like a wonderful, and adventurous store! I really like the Pink wallpaper.
.-= Penny Patten´s last blog ..You & I =-.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:47 pm
haha I had the same reaction as you when I saw them in same sort of shop here in Belgium =)
Enjoy your holiday!!!
.-= Gi – Oh so Jolly!´s last blog ..2 meses!!! =-.
April 2nd, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Hi!
Did you notice that BRIGITTE is one of Germany’s most popular women’s magazines? I quite like it – they have an attitude that goes beyond makeup and dieting, but they cover beatuty, cooking etc. as well …
It seems a popular trend that magazines like Brigitte or Schöner Wohnen now create their own home decoration brands (sorry, can’t think of the proper word in English right now).
Toom have just opened a store in my town. It seems I should go and have a look, although it’s probably just the “small, crappy” version. I wonder whether they also sell clams (weird…).
By the way, I love your blog!
April 2nd, 2010 at 10:12 pm
The patterns are so pretty! Love the colors.
.-= Small Sweet Steps´s last blog ..this to that =-.
April 2nd, 2010 at 11:00 pm
pink wallpaper?!! yes!! always have to love the eco friendly!
thanks for sharing
xoxo
April 4th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
My mom loved shopping at the Toom Markt when she visited me when I lived outside of Frankfurt. She bought fabulous pink flamingo wallpaper and took it home with her – quite the suitcase full!
April 6th, 2010 at 1:15 am
I don’t know if you could ever possibly source this … but in the last photo, any idea who makes/where to find the black lacquer desk with silver legs? That is my dream desk!
April 8th, 2010 at 5:33 am
There’s a town near us that has a cool Toom – now you’re making me want to do a little afternoon shopping trip there. They just opened up a “TKMaxx” (wonder why it’s not just TJ like in the US, it has the same logo!?), and I’ve been curious about it too….hm. Now I’m thinking that may be on the docket for the next week….
Brigitte wallpaper? Well, you never know!
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