Frequently Asked Questions:


Here are the answers to the questions that we get asked on a regular basis! We broke our answers up into categories: personal, our mobile shop, our vintage boutique and our blog. Hopefully we covered the answer to your question on this page, but if we didn't, please don't hesitate to contact us because we will always be adding to this page! Thanks lovelies!


-What are your ages?
Stef is 27 and Erin is 29.

-Where are you from and where are you living currently?
Stef was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Erin grew up in Rosenort, Manitoba and now we are both currently living in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

-Are you both married?
Yes, we are! It's the greatest.

-How long have you been together with your husbands?
Stefanie and Emery started dating in 2003 and got married in June 2009 and Erin and Derek started dating in 2005 and got married in 2010. We did fun posts about our proposal stories that you can read here and here!

-Do you have any children?
Not at the moment, but we definitely do plan on having kids in the future!

-What do you do for a living?
We work full time at running our vintage boutique, Rhymes With Orange, and we are also full-time bloggers. During the summers we also work part-time at our mobile vintage shop too! It feels so amazing to have made the transition from quitting our "day job" and pursuing our dream job!

-Do you have any tattoos?
Yes, we both do! Stef has 5 and Erin has 9. We will be posting new photos soon!

-Is that your real hair and natural hair color?
Neither of us wear hair extensions, but we both dye our hair. Stef's natural color is medium brown, but she has been dying it black for almost 8 years now, and Erin dyes hers pretty close to her natural color.

-Where do you get all of the vintage stuff in your homes?
We get asked this question quite often, and we wish we could fill you in on some magical place to find all the vintage gems that you will ever need for your home, but such a place doesn't exist. We both started collecting vintage items for our future homes when we were only 15, so we have been doing this for quite awhile now. We frequently hit up local Goodwill stores or Salvation Army's, and we also have our favorite local vintage shops and flea markets that we check out quite often as well. Many of our items were also found in online shops, such as Etsy, Ebay or even Kijiji. We have also traveled around to multiple thrift stores and vintage shops in the states and have brought a few vintage gems back with us as well. So the moral of our story? Keep your eyes peeled wherever you go. Check out multiple sources and be sure to check back often because they re-stock their inventory quite frequently. Don't expect your collection to happen overnight, it is something that has to be accumulated over time with the help of a lot of hunting and a little patience!


-What is the year and make of your trailer?
It's a 1956 Cardinal trailer, part of the "canned ham" family, that we named Olive!

-Where did you get it?
We found it for sale on Kijiji in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

-What was the renovation process like for Olive?
Renovations can definitely seem like a very daunting task, but we sort of lucked out in this area because our husbands' and fathers' are all very handy men when it comes to big renovation projects. First of all, we started by completely gutting out all of the wood inside the trailer. We didn't want to keep any of the original cabinets or shelving, so we didn't have to be careful when ripping them out. So basically we were just left with the aluminum shell of the trailer. After that, we bought thin wood panels and began re-building the entire interior, which was definitely one of the biggest challenges of the renovation. We spent at least two full days just sanding it down and getting all of the old paint off before we could start with the new paint. Stefanie's father-in-law owns a big workshop in the country so we brought our trailer into his shop and did all of the renovations inside there. We paid attention to every little detail: we ripped up the flooring and replaced it with pretty new laminate hardwood, all of the shelving units and scalloped shelves were all custom designed and built by hand, and we even found an Arborite table that we tore apart and put back together to make the counter and mini dinette set! The renovations weren't easy at times, and took a little while to finish, but it was all totally worth it in the end! We saved quite a bit of money because we did all of the work within our families and we didn't have to hire anybody. We were very lucky to have access to such good equipment and have talented men in our lives willing to lend a hand!

-Where did you get the custom exterior paint job done?
Stef's husband, Emery, actually did it! He has access to a professional quality paint spray gun and a work space to accommodate a project as huge as our Olive, so he was the perfect man for the job! He took about 4 or 5 days off work and stripped off the original paint coat, gave it a thorough sanding, primed it, made the scallop stencil and applied it, sprayed it with a special lacquer paint, and finally gave it a clear sealant coat. So it was definitely not a quick and simple job, but we are very thankful that we had him to help us out or else we would've ended up paying quite a bit more money to hire someone to do it.

-Do you have any before & after photos of the renovation?
Yes! Here is a quick side-by-side peek of the makeover we gave Olive:
(Quite a difference, eh? You can also read more about Olive's unveiling here.)

-Do you ever plan on traveling outside of Canada?
Yes, this is something we would absolutely love to do! We dream of traveling south to the states one day very soon! We have so many friends and lovely readers that we would love to go visit!

-Do you ever take your trailer out in the winter?
No, unfortunately we don't, we put it in storage because the weather is just too cold up here!

-Do you have any advice for aspiring mobile shop owners?
Do your homework before purchasing a trailer. It is very easy to find a cheap fixer-upper trailer online, but it is definitely not as easy to actually do the renovations. Many people have the misconception that starting your own mobile business is a quick and easy weekend project, and while yes it is way less intimidating than opening a brick-and-mortar boutique, it is still a very time-consuming project. Before buying, make sure you ask the previous owner many questions, such as: Does it have water damage? Are there any offensive lingering odors? Is there rust damage to the exterior that is hidden by paint? and if the answer is yes, then you will be in for more work than you may have originally anticipated.That being said, once all of the renovations are completed and your trailer is up and running, it is a very fun and rewarding job! It's amazing getting to be able to travel around to a different place everyday, meet cool new people, and hang out outdoors while selling a product that you are passionate about! A mobile shop is something we would definitely recommend to aspiring entrepreneurs!


-What is the name of your shop?
It is called Rhymes With Orange! You can read more about it here.

-Where is your store located?
It is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, downtown in the Exchange District at 223 McDermot Avenue. We are open from Monday - Saturday from 11:00am - 6:00pm so if you are ever in the area, please come down and say hello!

-Do you own the shop by yourselves or do you have a partner?
Yes, we do have a business partner, his name is Doug Shand and he used to own a vintage boutique in Winnipeg called Vintage Glory that we moved into last August. While we were there we were in charge of the women's section and ladies accessories. It was actually a very interesting chain of events that took place for us to end up where we are now, and you can read the full story here.

-Where do you get all your stuff?
This answer is very similar to the question asked earlier about where we got all of the kitschy things in our homes. Well, the same answer applies to the items we sell in our shop, but we also go on buying trips to shop in vintage markets, shop at estate sales, garage sales, and make house calls. Also, on occasion people will bring vintage items into our hop to sell to us. Long story short; we get items from all over the place!


 -What font do you use for your header and links?
The header font is called "Swung Note" and we bought it off of MyFonts and the one we used for the links is called "Verna" which we got from MyFonts as well.

-Where did you get the photos for your links?
All of the photos that are used for our blog links were taken by us.

-Can I use your photos for my blog/website?
Yes, you certainly can, but just be sure to link it back to our blog giving us credit. Thanks lovelies!


Do you have a question for us that we didn't answer here? If so, send us a quick message at ohsolovelies@gmail.com and we will do our best to answer it and post it up here right away! XO

10 comments:

  1. hi.
    can you share the names of some of the paint colors you have used in your homes?
    the colors and your style is fabulous.
    thanks for the inspiration.
    xo.jessie lea

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    1. Hi Jessie! Thank you! Yes, we were actually planning on sharing the paint colors from our homes because we have had multiple people ask! Thanks for the interest!

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  2. LOVE THIS WEBSITE!I will be coming to your store as soon as i can!

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  3. I love the layout of your website! What template did you use?

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  4. Where did you get the idea to start the mobile trailer

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  5. Hi girls! I am so happy to have found you via Pinterest! Your pictures are just lovely and oozing with inspiration! I like how you don't seem to discrimate against larger chain stores with your outfits and fashion choices. Thumbs up for showing vintage inspiration without the large price tag. My question is, do you ever have a hard time parting with some of your vintage treasures?

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    1. We're happy you found us too! We definitely have a hard time parting with those vintage gems some times! That's the nice thing about owning a vintage shop though, we can wear something once, and then once we're sick of it or if it's just collecting dust in our closets, then we can sell it!
      xo

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  6. i love your blog! i've had a pen pal for eight years, and she lives where you guys are located. i hope to one day come visit her, we'll have to stop by! i love what you guys are doing. and your trailer!! so cute.

    xo, Samantha
    barefootinthewood.blogspot.com

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  7. Oh my goodness, I just found your site and am in absolute love! Everything is so beautiful :) wishing you happiness and all the best luck on your future endeavors from Saskatchewan!

    anika
    anikasurlaterre.blogspot.com

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